Evening star., 1927-04-24

AO"Hu ny men was
conceded. Take a look around IL you
need proof that this fetch has been
| definitely done for. Along with this
| Illusion went another one--that wom-
ans ingrained absorption was to love
some man and to serve him. It had
| already come to be admitted, re-
| luctanly on the part of the women,
| that love was not mans compelling
preoccupation. Rather was II d.
version to him, an easement in the
| between-whiles of seeking success in
business, in politics. in war, In maxi
| ing money or securing power and in
| huence or in other such man size ac-
| tivity. And today this prodigious
young century is challenging even
| this line of division between the male
and female of the species. George
| Gibbs new novel stands as good evil
dence that there is, essentially, no
difference between the two. Tradt-
ton, custom, habit, romance and
| chivalry have assumed a difference
that in reality does not exist. Hers Is
| the story, covering simply a shift in
| the roles of man and wife. The wife
| is resolute and capable. The man
| Is q lovable failure. Therefore, the
wife steps TO the 'front.' develops
business, shows tremendous ability,
w
| in love with her Job, just as men are
expected to locomotives for 1t a
grand passion. as men do or assume
to do. The theme is not difficult OF
development. A seizure of the basic
fact that men and women are no
different in their essential approaches
to life. an elementary fact in psychol-
ogy that is recognized today. Then.
a look around, for cases In point.
Such, the material With it. George
Gibbs, a serious and competent nov
elist, fashions a story OF immediate
interest, excellent in its drama, con-
sistent in It's growth, very. human IN
it's effect. The man? Yes, stin low
able and dear. Read 1t for It's actual
truth to life.
JILL. BY E. NJ. Delafeld, author of
"The Chip and the Block" etc.
New York: Harper & Bros.
WE fail, as a rule, think, to realize
w in full the heroic stuff of which
children are made. In the common
ways of child life this heroic quality
comes out but fltfully. The one stu
alton above all other calculated to
bring it into the open Is that or sepa-
rated parents, on the one hand, or
that of what Is called the disreputable
mother on the other. l know a lad,
a dozen years old maybe, a quiet
youngster, apparently engrossed with
his two dogs. Yet, this boy is, in
fact, on ceaseless guard over the
honor Of his mother, an honor denied
her by a righteous and censorious
neighborhood. There are thousands
of such children. Jill, the girl of this
story, is one of them. A wonderful
child, whose counterpart is multiplied
many times all over the world. These
are children who live on the streets
and not in a story book. Jill is wise,
because her short make-shift life has
taught her wisdom. She Is fearless,
because in her domestic economy
courage is the prime essential. Pro-
tective toward her lovely, worthless
mother, whom she adores. Loyal to-
ward that which she so ardently de.
sires but has not. Yet, with all this,
Jill is just a little girl whose best
companion is a mongrel dog of great
understanding and equal gifts of CON-
forting. Circumstances take jill
away from her mother, but nothing
dims her loyalty nor her dauntless
support of the woman whose faillngs
Jill but vaguely discerns and never
condemns. The story goes on with
the changes that come to this little
girl until, finally, she is no longer
a child. Perhaps there will be other
little story girls coming along, just
like SO many OF them on the outside.
1t is doubtful. however, II any of
these will be able to enter into the
feelings, into the affections of the
readers more truly than this frank,
knowing, innocent, unfortunate child,
Jill, has done and will do.
-
THE BLACK KNIGHT. BY Ethel
M. Dell, author of THE Way of
an Eagle" etc. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons.
THE tanning of the shrew is an in.
- eXhaustible theme, exciting both
to readers of romantic fiction and to
observers in the open. Struggle and
strife between two of the same sex
cannot hope to offer such keen sport
as that set up by the male and
the female. The contest has been
going on for countless ages. Each,
by virtue of the conditions set. has
developed slowly and laboriously O
special technic. That of the female
abounds in subterfuge, contrivance,
subtlety, deception, ffnesse. That of
the male in the strength of a settled
tradition, IN the habit OF domination
in sheer muscle upon occasion. Such
a struggle forms the substance of
this new novel by Miss Deli. A
highly romantic invention as this
writer's novels all are, dealing in pic
turesque adventure quite often at the
expense of plausibility and convic-
ton. Indeed, this whole story moves
back into a period when romance
was synonymous with melodramatic
plots and effects. Nowadays, the re-
bellious young woman who provides
the chief entertainment here would
be counted frankly a pest-stormy,
unreasonable, quite impossible; in
fact, one calculated to excite pro-
family on the part of her adversary |
in place of the long suffering that |
here takes the place of the spanking |
which the girl clearly deserves. Once |
in a while readers enjoy slipping |
away into a fanciful and unbelieve- |
able situation, where facts lose
themselves in an electric display of |
nonsense. And here is a prime |
chance to do that very thing. These |
will recognize the lady in the case
at once, for they have seen her be-
fore-in a different setting. to be
sure, but the same lady, nevertheless. |
And she is again headed upon the
GnPoau ha rdlU a dnIthf in the world