Evening star., 1927-10-16

romances of the same large and lei
surely pattern.
Now see what John Mcintyre has
done. He has turned his back square
I,iy upon such remote and slow going
! matters. Instead he has stopped to
pick up out of the packed city streets
Ia handful of "slag"-refuse human
stuff that the red-hot furnace OF mod.
ern existence can make nothing OF
except to throw out as waste. Just
q city block, just time span of "a
hours, Just a handful of "slag"-half
a dozen or so Of men and girl
this is the material out OF which John
Mcintyre has built a short, poignant,
black and pitiful picture that you can
l'verify any day of your life IL you de-
Fsire so to do. Work? No, they don't
work. Homes? Have they no homes?
Maybe a cellar or maybe an attic. but
probably not. Yes, they steal and
cheat and play small tricks on one
another and are filled with hatred for
people who can eat and wear decent
clothing. These are their enemies,
these soft folks filled up with food.
Here is a girl among them. You've
| seen her many q time. One of the
Ivagrants is her lover, or she thinks
he is. One boy is an idealist, a
dreamer-the stuff exactly of which
worth is made, when worth has enough
ito eat and a fire to move its blood
I.along a bit. And so the story goes
for just few hours. Strong, pitiless
lof you and mes tied to the bare truth
Etof the matter, dealing it out in hard.
short words, that have no soft non
ksense at all in them. A picture so
Fstark and powerful that-well. you
i might hunt for its subject right In
i-
"slag" there without doubt. Not the
most beautiful of this mans books,
but by all odds the biggest, because
1t is here and it is true. both in life
and in art.
A GOOD WOMAN. BY Louis Brom-
field, author of ''The Green Bay
Tree" etc. New York: Frederick
A. Stokes Co.
IS A GOOD WOMAN" steps in beside
n "The Green Bay Tree" the two
| prime Bromfield novels. Everybody
knows this good woman" that Lewis
| Bl omfield has drawn with a hand so
steady and sure that at no point is
there a flaw in either the technical
artistry or the inner content OF the
picture. Everybody knows her be-
| cause she lives everywhere. This Is
the woman who is always right, who
does not make mistakes, the one who
is capable of ordering not only her
| own life, bat that of every one around
her. Those closest to this woman
suffer most--the members of her
family are. in truth. her victims. And
so it is with Emma Downes and her
son Philip whose life she takes in
hand. Under such inspiration Philip
becomes AZ missionary, marries one or
this breed. repents both the marriage
and the missionizing, hates Africa,
makes a mess of life generally, much
to the surprise and dismay Of that
good woman, his mother. The easiest
thing in the world to let this opulent
theme rtrn away with an author, but
here is the point at which Louis
Bromfield proves himself For, while
the story is rich in disaster, all of
which springs from that inexhaustible
source Of error, the good woman, still
Bromfield never overdoes the theme
at any discernible point. It must be
borne in mind that the reader carries
along with him the true tests of OBJ
servation and experience to check up
on any signs OF undue exuberance in
the writing of this tale. No, this is
q true story, even though it does go
to the length of tragedy for every
person who comes under the compe-
tent management of Emma Downes
And. finally. this good woman dies of
herself. She has made clean sweep.
Even sos the matter is not overy1rawn
You Just look around for proof of
this. A ''good woman" is often the
scourge that Emma Downes is--and
SO wellFmeaning, too.
y X 4
THE THIUNDERER. BY Z. Barring
ton. author of GLORIOUS Apollo -
etc, New York: Dodd, Mead
& Co.
THIS is a love story. So 1t is, in
essentials. like every other love
story, there being really but one pat
farm ef0y. fhcrn all Attraction dociyo