Evening star., 1926-04-18

Bloomsbury, with a husband--Qn, ever
30 much older than she-Who 1s'e
actly like the house. Lives there Tor
10 years. then she turns TO her own
Viking blood. takes the Dit IN her
teeth. so to speak. and runs away to
the other side of the world on wild
ouest of some secret treasure. an
ancient robe of woven gold. But any
thing else would have done as weil as
the robe. The adventure. the feel OF
far places, the whipping OF the winds
of the four quarters OF the eaftn' ine
seSDt escape from danger and the
laughter Of victory. the skies for
roof. the desert for a sanctuary; these
were the things that this young VIKING
must have.
No. she didn't 20 alone. And at this
point the adventure. aa matter OF
course, meets obstacles that are even
more formidable than those set by
wild nature and wild beasts and
heather peoples. That which saves
the girl for herself and saves the story.
too. Is that this Viking is hardly girl
at all. She Is adventure itself. BY ana
bv. to be sure, the woman conduers
the Viking, but that is late. after the
real essence Of splendid adventure
has petered out to q slower blood now
that makes insufficient resistance 10
the growing urgencies Of wonanhood.
No. the story iS not a social document
with sea ndals and wha not to gave II
sustenance. II fs triumphant ad-
venture of the old spirit projected in
spite Of itse modern handicap.
s** IT,
BLACK HARVEST By l. A. Il. Wy.
lie, author Of THE shining
Heights" eic. New York: George
n. Doran Go.
MOT q fantasy" moi vaSsry ~
the imagination. not 2 chimera.
not a phantom Of absurd and gro
tesoue unreslity--none of these Is this
tenselv dramatic novel whose deep
essence has within II the germ or
reality itself. The story issues from
the World War. II is based upon an
undisputed by.product Of the war IL
self OyerreDorted M doubt, we're
the attacks Of the soldiery upon tire
women Of the war zone. But that
there were such attacks is also beyond
dispute. And what reason is there 10
think that the African soldier would
be less savage than his civilized white
comrade In arms. This drama Is based
upon the safe assumption that he was
I n OF less savage. And little black boy
Is born of a white mother who. crazed
by the event. looks upon this black
con as a deiiverer sent TO. rescue peo-
pies from war and its 5unspeaAabif
| effects. Above all. tragic figure Is
| this Klaus Felde. negro son OF white
| mother
| With quite remarka Bile understand
| ing this author depicts the sickenlng
j loneliness OF the great fellow. rejected
on both sides OF the color line. Yesrn-
! ing toward his white blood. yet ready
| To turn. II driven TOO hard. 10 the
/ countless negroes who In Ions years
! Of peace gathered into their veins too
deem currents Of white blood. white
| feelings. white aspirations. \ leader
among such Klaus f'elde might under
! TOO hard pressure come - he. for he
is leader in the instincts gathered
! from A strong white mother. \ erue-
some theme? Oh. quite. But The true
| seed IL there nevertheless. And such
| theme implies for its acceptance hY
| any author a nature that would ne
likely to use it's powers in the direction
Of excess, oversta ement, in the pllirc
Of details to the final qualification n
the whole with its sequence of general
recoil from the matter. Not that In
this case. Powerfully dramatic. won
derfully impressive. the story rests for
these striking qualities upon restraint.
upon a curbing sense of fact, upon the
withholding hand. upon an intuitive
| selection of this right point ana that
one, upon a skillful welding OF the
| whole tragic matter into flaming
arraignment Of war by one of its clear
est and most significant effects.
THE ETERNAL CIRCLE. Ry Jay
| William Hudson. author of Able
Pierre" etc. New York: d. Apple
ton & Co.
TT is the theme that will cause con
tention. not the story itself. The
latter is calculated 10 bring out only
| praise for its straight course and sim
pie lines, for its concern with situa-
tions In which a common interest lies,
| for it's full sense Of those elements
that enter into human character. for
those def exclusions that project per
sonality as self-contained unit OF
motive. trait. attitude. appearance
and beha vior The setting of this
| story also lies wholly within the cir
cult Of general interest. neither so ro-
mantle in casr as 10 suggest unreality
| nor so prosaic as TO present the sor-
didly real. just the middle ground. in
stead, where the great ma jority finds
| jts own background of motive and ac-
| tivity. A pleasant countryside
| stretches here. centerinE upon two
reighboring houses. Its occupants are
| people seasoned by the years lying
just over the borderland Of early youth
itself
And these people are Of an intelli-
gence TO make of them continuing
| Joy. Their pursuits are comfortably
| in between the wholly weighty and the
wholly empty--a middle ground of sub
sta antial interest In few real things,
books. art. clear thinking. arresting
| the men there are two) once loved
| girl who turned from him to mar
riase that proved a failure. Beside
these two men there Is a lady,
widow The story grows by way OF
( the springing interest of these two
men in the lady across the way. The
! central point of the theme upon which
| the romance rests Is brought out by
the ultimate return OF one OF these
men. the discarded lover. to the love
Of his youth. incidentally, this leaves
a clear field for the other one with
the fady whom both so greatly. and
! Justly. admire. However. the point OF
the story comes out in n series OF be-
! Iievable incidents establishing the
! first love Of the two whose romance
had been broken. !, Rather whose ro
! nance had been for the time being
interrupted This theory is that
life is a circle and not a stretch of in.
;; Vulnerable broken beginnings; that all
| things round again upon themselves.
as this romance Is made to do. In
the authors own words. the world is
round I'm more senses than one" Hard.
ly any one Is going to agree with him
in this theory. in the theme supporting
this story, but this variance of .opin-
ion will not serve to mar the reading
Of an admirable and beautiful romance
of everyday modern life.