Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05

tration of this familiar acceptance.
Times have changed. For better, for
worse? However, let us not follow the
line of argument set by the question.
Rather let us follow the story of a
woman who, a dozen years older than
her lord, succeeded nevertheless in
maintaining with the great actor that
Disraeli so certainly was the role OF
leading lady throughout the drama of
their married life. GoSsips by nature,
we have overemphasized that fact oil
age on the part of Mary Anne, over
stressed her sprightlinesS. turned an eye
of ridicule upon her possibly hectic VI
vacity. In a word, We have condemned
her with scanty praise drawn from lit
tie or no knowledge OF the facts. Here
is Mary Anne, full length, in the sum
Of her career as the wife of one dis
! tinguiShed man and then of another.
Under the gayety there is a practical
mind working. A good business woman
here forecasts, possibly, the competent
woman so familiar to us in the present
But the wife Of Disraeli had no femi-
nine ambitions. Her consuming desire
clearly was to satisfy the domestic side
of the life Of the great man who came
| to such pre-eminence in English poll
tics against the determination and the
prejudice of English leaders. That she
declare in a sustained attitude of hon.
age and Difference and praise. Indeed,
here is a great love story, one to be
counted with the best. To be sure, 1t
lacks some of the elements that most of
us demand in high romance. but on
| the other hand, it includes much that Is
of definite worth in the study Of the
man and the woman, testing passion by
way of the eXigencies of actual life. A
sympathetic attitude makes for revela-
ton here and close adherence to the
content of Mr.. Sykes study of Mary
Anne DisraeN in her setting Of English
political and social life.
X X y
MARSH-FIRE. BY Mattel Howe Farm
ham, author of Rebellion" New
Yord Dodd, Mead & Co.
YOU will call this a pretty good story
of it's kind, think. And a good
kind. too. since it is a story of women
Universal in scope, at any rate. Girl
business woman, wife, mother, with a
general fringe of femininity besides-all
here, and these are the elements that
make the whole matter go. No men?
Men to be sure else what would these
women find to do? AS matter of fact,
however. there is but one man in the
case. Michael Fielding. The story is,
in substance, that of the young woman
in the Office Of the business man, a def
mite part in the economic situation. as
distinct from the domestic role assigned
to the female by custom and tradition.
An engaging theme For this modern
departure has produced. or IS producing,
somewhat anomalous product
neither fish, fowl, nor good red herring.
Barred from domeSticity, the woman
Graves it, and will for a million years
yet. Set into the business scheme, with
its particular urges and demands, she
cannot approach it with the single mind
OF the man. There are overlappings
that divert her in the new role, that
distort her even. 1t is the study of a
young woman in this new activity that
engages the author here. There is a
wife at home with whom Michael is
much in love. There is the girl in the
Office with whom the reader is not in
love, nor is Michael as matter of fact.
She is disturbing young woman, or
would be If she we're better turned out
As 1t is. she is too crude. too obvious,
too jumbled in her desires to be=either
the business success or the woman be-
loved. Mind is on crooked, you see
Her fiattery of Michael is much too
patent as2 such. Even Michael, who
can absorb an astonishing amount of
praise, feels. vaguely the overfeedine
that is being administered. No, this girl
will hardly do. She is not sufficiently
representative, either, in this raw dis
closure to carry her through. However
here is a novel that runs the familiar
course OF domestic love grown a rrifle
pale. Coupled with this are those tenn
porary fillings-in that sometimes accom-
pany a situation of this sort. But in
the main, 1t is the story of the girl
Turned bushes woman and finding her
difhculties thereby. Readable? Yes
but not convincing. 1t has not enough
Oh retlcence, not enough of suggestion
and implication. A promising writer
though.
JOHN CAMERON'S ODYSSEY. By
Andrew Farrell. Drawings by Charles
Kuhn. New York: The Macmillan
Co.
A NDREw FARRELL is here merely
telling the tale as it was told to
him, his job to set down in writing
what Capt. John Cameron told him
about his rovings the world over. Now,
John Cameron is dead. This is the
story of 80 years given to the pursuit
of adventure by sea and land. Born in
Scotland, buried in Japan. Between
these two points pretty nearly every
conceivable thing came the way of
this wanderer-EaSt and West, back
and forth--Australia, the United
States, both sides of it: Hawaii, China
and Japan. Among the curious ia
miliarS Of this strange man is John
Barleycorn. They go to. Jail together
and, thereafter, have many a high ad-
venture. Not to the exclusion. how
ever. of much besides-storm and ship
wreck, sickness and hunger. danger
from hostile natives here and there.
friendly intercourse with these too, now
and then; some work; some idleneSS.
Sounds much like the regular program
of the vagabond tribe, doesn't it! And
such it is-except that in its own in
dividuality, in its own way with the
story. it turns out brand-new. fresh
with the zest of its recital with the
homely guSto of experiences recaptured
alive and throbbing with the heart
beat of true excitement In my minds
eye"-Andrew Farrell talking-"I can
still see the old fellow, boyish-hearted
at "a Stocky, deep-cheSted. broad.
powerful, with a white thatch and
white mustache and beard. a sparkle
in his gray eye-I can still see him
rolling over the sky line to suggest that,
in view of the phase of the moon or
the photography OF Mars, 1t was time
for us to splice the main brace. So
we did" Qn Honolulu. this)
Here is truth tied up to an adventure
that possesses change, danger. endur-
ance, folly. wisdom, the underworld
seen from the moving points Of this
modern Ulysses. Robust and exciting
and human.
ONE BY ONE THEY DISAPPEAR.
BY Moray Dalton. New York:
Harper & Bros.
MINE men drifting in an open boat