Evening star., 1927-11-20

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knowledge of every sort. So much
in defense of Miss Eiker's literary
basis for this theme. The majority
OF writer's work with subjects at sec
ond-hand, as they must. This cour'
ageous and gallant young woman has,
obviously, been putting her own two
eyes TO good usage, to finely sharp
practice. Having looked the matri
mOnial field over to the best of her
chances for such activity, she has
gathered the theme of matrimony up
through q group of individuals coming
under it's bond. To these she has ap
piled the sharp instruments of sight
and insight, of mind bending nat
urally toward certain incredulities, oil
an independent spirit that belongs, or
should belong, to all women, of a re-
fusal to accept inequalities In the
man-and-Woman scheme of life to-
gether, of brilliant speech. of clear
gifts of intellect sharpened by training
and well-used opportunity. SO equip
ped, Mathilde Eiker, taking these va
riOus couples up in her hand, turns
them, matrimonially speaking, inside
out, strips them of their instructive
cOncealments. makes no bones at all
of exposing the chGese-paring business
of plain bargaining that matrimony is.
Caustic, brilliant, pyrotechnic--oh, and
most readable is this writer in care
less hand thrust against the cherished
line of make-helieVe that ell women,
and most men, pile up in support of
an institution that offers some sem
blance of safety to the confused way
farers along the road that leads
where? The book is too glittering.
Some day this gifted girl will prune
and weed her riotous garden of in
vention and implied investice. Under
such modifying influences we shall
have novels from MathiIde Eiker that
do not literally skin the world alive.
so to speak but, instead, novels that
will enrich and delight for their com.
petent drama and their honest out
look upon modern -ife.
CPLANDS. BY Mary Ellen Chase.
Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
YET upon the coast of Maine and its
near shore side, "UpIands" pic
lures that locality in such intimacy
Of detail, in such companionship OF
spirit as to give it the name of home
to this author. And so it was the
home of Miss Chase all through her
childhood and beyond. Even yet with
many wide experiences around ner,
she says II would rather work in my
garden than to do anything else in
the World--eXcept perhaps, read, or
walk in England or in Maine. In
effect, "Uplands" projects the inttu-
ence of locality upon chara cter, traces
the sure lien of the land upon the
generations dwelling within it, 1t de-
picts the struggle of the occasional
rebel who seeks release from the bond
age of the soil Keyed TO the motive
Of escape, the story obiectifies this
theme by a group of New England
people. three of whose younger MEM
bers revolt definitely against the hard
land and the harder humans that ii
has produced narrow folks set ir
their own ways of life and religion,
uninspiring men and women, unfeeling
toward any out-reaching of the spirit
beyond their own narrow limits.
Faithful to the characters which she
so clearly understands, faithful to the
locality where she herself was reared.
this writer has created a most inter.
esting story which sums to a finely
discerning proof of the tenure of the
birthplace upon the hearts of its chill
dren. The drama, stepped in the life
or the Maine coast. moves forward,
clean-cut and close-rigged. TO cover
not only the longed-for escape but to
reach as we'll the inevitable yearning
to return, finally. to the roots of their
being in the home soil. Here is q
novel Of clear quality whose reserva.
ole -
structure contribute in almost equal
measure to an effect that conno:es
within the term classic"
\ x x i;
THE SOWER OF THE WIND. BY
Richard Dehan, Boston: Little
Brown & Co.
I INDER the Biblical promise that
as We sow so also shall We reap,
Richard Dehan IA woman by the way)
has projected the almost melodra-
matte career of Gaspar Barboas. Jew,
in one of the new settlements of Aus.
tralla. From poverty to wealth by
way of the pearling industry, from
no influence to great power despot-
ically exercised, from Indifference to-
ward women to the wild worship of a
cultivated native girl of the northern
tribes--from all this, to the harvesting
by unscrupulous ways to achieve de-
sired ends. runs the story of this
man. Beyond the reaping, however.
lies the promise of salvation and re.
demption, though no one knows, be-
cause the story ends, whether or not
Gaspar BarboaS accepts the condi-
tions of another way OF life. Barboas
with his supporters and satellites is
set against an Australian background.
so opulent in character. so infinite in
detail, as to indicate long and inti-
mate association of the author with
this locality. There is a great fund
of knowledge about Australia set out
in the story--its native people, its ami.
mails and their ways, the vegetation
in it's amazing variety and habit, the
look of the land. the moods of its
days and nights, the feeling of the
land is here in marked measure. Re-
ligion, differences between the mission
aries and Barboas, on the one hand,
and in it's efforts toward the natives
on the other, comes influentially into
the romance. 1t is. however, the love
of Barboas for Safra. the native girl.
that works the highest point in :
romance that is, throughout, pitched
to a high key of dramatic conception
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