Evening star., 1927-07-17

age on the oae hand and, less happily
fear, and timidities on the other. just
as, in material homely example. rows
of attractive lawns and neat back
| yards along certain city streets are
| catching and. again, as clearly con
! tagious are slovenliness and dirt in
: other parts Of the same city. A thou
sand nearby cases might be named in
evidence that every human thought
projected into action-either good
action or fills communicable. 1t is
no wonder. therefore, that writer's
| catch moods and themes themselves
out OF the common air cure around
them. Not an implausible reason,
this, for the fact that novels in par
ticular appear in shoals OF identical
subject whose individual quality rises
out Of the special handwork OF the
author himself. Within the past half
| dozen years many a novelist has
| turned directly upon the Bible as his
| field of romance. No wonder. A
| highly dramatic matter stands here,
momentous in history and even more
vital in human idealism. For at the
| center Of this time and place stands
| One so beautifully and basically hui
| man as to promise inspiration to man
| as long as he continues to exist. So.
along with many another story teller
of the day, Irving Bacheller turns
back to Bible times. Against a
carefully wrought background of his
tory-people, events, customs and oc-
cupations that converge easily and
naturally upon the figure of Christ
| he sets the career Of a beautiful Greek
girl whose temptations are no other
than those Of youth and beauty in any
! time and whose experiences. save for
/ their stamp Of the Orient and dis
tant past, are not unlike those of the
present. This girl, in the course of
an absorbing story. proves to be none
other than the one to whom Jesus
said Neither do condemn thee" AS
means of immediate appeal the author
makes use of the device of personal
reminiscence. The girl tells her own
story, tells it vividly. in simple speech.
| in poetic cadence, in a sweep of move
| ment that gathers up, in striking and
| beautiful effect. the great features of
| the period upon which the spirit of
our own modern life is directly based.
| X X \
BUT YESTERDAY. BY Maud Diver,
| author of Far to Seek, etc. New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
THE vitality Of the dead, the persist.
ence of personality beyond tenn.
poral limits is the theme Of Maud
Divers novel. In substance the story
deals with that unaccountable side of
life which, in greater or less degree,
comes under the observation or with
in the experience of almost every one.
For the purpose Of giving an objective
and dramatic turn to this not unfa-
miliar phenomenon. the author con-
structs the story of Sir Henry Arden,
whose biography his wife and son un-
dertake to write soon after the sud
den death of Arden. Family records,
the open course of the mans public
career, the evidence of lifelong friends,
letters and official documents, certain
| illuminating recollections of a vital
character-the usual geographic ma
terial is assembled for the work in
| hand. No sooner is it begun. how
ever, than it becomes clear that Hen
ry Arden himself is taking active part
in a proceeding that certainly is more
deeply familiar to him than it can be
to any one else. More than this, there
is manifest a curiously intimate link
establishing itself between the living
son and the father whose memory the
SON is Seeking to honor and perpetu-
ate. In a word, they are getting ac.
uuainted, these two, by way OF the
living ana powerful personality OF
Henry Arden. This is the controlling
force of the story. a force that serves
to operate actively on the lives of
those engaged In the work. directing
matters and changing them. much as
IL a bigger father than the son had
known had now come more inf1uen.
TALLY into his own life. With theme
that, upon it's face. seems tenuous
and unseizable. this author in her own
competent and thorough.going ay
has created a dramatic story whose
interest. in part. rises out OF every
readers own contacts with mysteries.
| r,ithin himself or without whose