Evening star., 1935-06-05
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
KATE CHASE, DOMINANT DAUGH-
TER. BY Mary Merwin Phelps.
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
Margaret CermOnd.

TER. BY Mary MerWin Phelps.
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
Co.
Nearly a decade OF work has gone
into the building of this comprehen-
sive biography Of one of the
most famous women who have
figured in the social and polit-
ical life OF the National Capital.
When Miss Phelps began the research
for material from which the history
Of the Chase family was to be COM
piled she found a great mass Of docu-
mentary and other printed data re-
garding the man who served as Sec
retary Of the Treasury under Lincoln
and later as Chief Justice OF the Su-
preme Court Of the United States,
but it dealt largely with Salmon Port
land Chase as a public servant rather
than as a private individual, and
there was almost nothing from which
to reconstruct the life Of his bril-
liant daughter. 1t required dill
gent study Of the historic records OF
PENNSYLVANIA, nearly two years OF
reading the Chase papers in the Lii
brary Of Congress, visits TO the Chase
home OF the SOS in Washington and
EdgeWood and to the 0prague estate
in Rhode Island to CLEAN the facts
and traditions concerning the distin-
guiShed citizen and his ambitious
daughter, who were TO be portrayed
Jointly from a domestic and personal
point of view.
The result Of these years Of appli-
cation by Miss Phelps is a noteworthy
dual biography, in narrative form,
that gives a newer and clearer picture
of the woman who held no price too
high to pay for the qualification Of
her ambition to have her father
elected President of the United States.
and whose influence upon him and
upon other men OF postCivil War days
was far-reachng. The private life
of the Chase family and the social
Whirl of the COS and '70s, III which
Kate Chase Sprague ruled as queen
for a while. and then descended all
most to oblivion through her unscru-
pulous disregard for the inevitable con-
sequences Of her association with
Roscoe Conkling. are set down with
out bias or prejudice. The story Of
this brilliant and beautiful woman and
her distinguished father is a distinct
addition 10 the biogra aphical and his
torcaI literature of social and off,
cial Washington.
THE ALLEGED GREAT AUNT. Be
gun by Henry Kitchell Webster. In
disnapolis: The Bobbs-Merrtll Co.
When Henry Kitchell Webster died
his work on THE Alleged Great
Aunt" had barely begun. He had
given his characters form, brought
them to the small town in New York
State where the major events OF his
plot were to take place, and had partly
developed the complications in which
they were 10 be involved His usual
procedure in composition Of employ
ing a blackboard diagram OF charts
and graphs had not been followed,
perhaps because OF his illness, and
when the task Of completing the story
was entrusted to Janet Aver Fairbank
and Margaret Aver Barnes, warm
friends of the well-loved and popular
author, they had no outline TO lndl-
cate how the novel was 10 progress
or what climax it was to reach. The
story of their ambition TO finish the
novel and the course of study in which
they engaged to fit themselves-both
of them have distinguished reputa-
tionS as writer's Of serious novels
for the carrying On Of the work that
Mr.. Webster had believed would be
his best is almost as interesting and
fascinating as the tale which Is now
produced by a trio of authors.
The character from which the book
takes its title is an ancient and dy-
manic woman. once a famous singer
and the toast of both Europe and
America Young Gilbert Meade has
suspicion that his father has been
tricked into paving fortune to the
lawyers of the old woman upon the
presentation of claim, after the death
of his Uncle GilbeI'. that he had
married her forty years ago. BY all the
rules of normal life old Lily should
be dead, and the young man believes
that she is dead Upon the pretext
of writing biography of the woman
who is alleged TO be his great-sunt,
he goes to Stanwix Falls in the hope
of proving his theory that the hundred
thousand extracted from his father
had been paid 10 crooks.
To his amaZement Gilbert finds
that old Lily Is alive. though not at
the moment occupying the once pala-
tial home that his infatuated uncle
had given her. Inquiries as to her
whereabouts bring only vague an
swers from the representatives. TO
whom the money has been paid She
is abroad. not within range of COM
munication. and there is no word as
to when she will return. Then,
through the clumsineSs of a Secre-
tary's fumbling hands. a sheaf of
papers falls on the floor. and in help
ing the girl pick them up Gilbert sees
/ a letter addressed to the object of his
search at hotel within a block of
his own home.
The plot thickens rapidly from this
point. involving Gilbert and mys-
teriouS girl who has been engaged by
Lily De Long as a companion, in a
series Of adventures that race along at
top speed, with the dominant old lady
never losing the center of the stage,
even in the closing scene.
In addition to the intensely inter
eSting love-mystery combination. for
which Mr.. Webster had particularly
distinctive talent. there is the second
mystery of trying to determine just
where the Aver sisters took up the
work which death cut short. Mr..
WebSter's pen was stopped in the mid
die Of q paragraph. Mrs Fairbank