Evening star., 1936-04-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY Margaret Cermond.

A mining camp in Colorado Is the
scene of this very interesting novel by
woman whose pioneering ancestors
were seekers after the precious yellow
| metal In the days when the frontiers
were pushing slowly toward the Pacific
and the mighty Rockies Haunted their
challenge to the courage and hardihood
| of adventurous mankind. She is herself
| acquainted with the swiftly changing
| tides OF fortune in those places where
! men congregate to gamble with Lady
Luck in the search for riches within the
| earth. She has known the feveriSh
| excitement of mining camps when great
| fortunes have been made overnight, and
has seen those same communities dry
| rot when perverse Nature has determined
| to withhold her store of treasures from
| the pickax and the spade. 1t is with
| genuine background of observation and
| experience, therefore, that she brings to
| life in this story of a Colorado gold
| mining community an era that half
| century ago was contributing sensational
history to the Nations development.
The story deals primarily with the
| life of Vannie Swenk, chriStened Evantha
| Aurelia because the name sounded ele-
| CANT and her mother was determined
| that If her child were girl she would
make her into a lady. Carlotta and
Pompey had been little more than drift
wood before they settled in the Dukes
| Gulch. Carlotta had left the farm on
| which she was reared because an itin-
| Grant seller of pots and pans offered an
| opportunity for a more abundant life.
| He left her stranded and she had be-
| come known as the Leadville Lily in
Madam Ewes Garden of Eden. Pompey
| SWenk became her means Of escape, and
| he had married her and brought her to
| the Dukes Gulch, where his prospects
| as a professional gambler were promis
| ing Times had been more often bad
| than good. but Carlotta was contented.
The birth of their child changes the
| routine of life for Carlotta. The baby
| is girl, and before she was born her
mother confides to Tandy Hicklin her
| ambition that IF it's a girl, she'll be
| lady" Tandy is New England re-
| mittance man. He is in love with Car
lotta, disguised with life in general, the
| towns most notorious drunk and the
only really educated individual in the
Dukes Gulch. except Eliot TraSk and
Donald Cameron, wealthy mine owners,
| and Alice Frazer, Cameron's houSekeeper.
| Tandy is pennilesS and worthless except
| for a gold mine which he owns but has
| never had enough money to work. Be-
| cause he loves Carlotta and is tenderly
devoted to her baby his gift to the new
| infant on the day that the community
celebrates its arrival is his only posses
sion-the mine. He names it The
Golden Lady" as an appropriate title
| for the tiny new lady who will, he
| hopes, some day profit by it.
Vannie is educated in the local schools
up to the point where her mother thinks
her training for ladyhood should begin.
| Carlotta then turns her training over
to Tandy, knowing that he will fulfill
such a trust whatever his own beliefs
might be- She asks Tandy to take
Vannie to Miss Alice Frazer, and he does
and from this very remarkable and
genuine woman Vannie receives her irli-
tiation and her training in the ways,
| the speech and the manners of a lady.
Eliot Trask is old enough to be Vannie's
| father. He has lived abroad and In
America and has enjoyed life in his
own way. He has never married. He
| loves beauty in all forms. and is at
| tracted to the Swenk child because her
| coloring and her shyness set her apart
from the other girls Of the Gulch' She
| falls in love with him and he marries
her without regard for her questionable
| ancestry because he loves to look at
| her. Vannie learns on her honeymoon
| that admiration is quite different from
love, and she knows that some day she
| will seek love in another direction.
Fate has many other experiences in
store for Vannie, however, and through
out her adventurous life Tandy Hicklin,
the Golden Lady and Eliot Trask exert
their influence upon her response to the
| demands of civilization. She becomes
very beautiful and an influential lady.
| She knows wealth and comfort with her
husband She lives abroad and she plays
| an important if not dramatic, role In
the Great War, but at heart she remains
| Vannie Swenk.
Romance comes many times to Vannie,
and it is in the development of these
experiences that are part OF every
girls life that Dorothy Gardiner un-
folds the colorful as well as the un-
lovely, the thrilling as well as the de-
pressing events of the pageant OF gold,
the saga of Colorado.
FROM A WAYFARER'S NOTE BOOK.
BY Boyd Carpenter. New York:
| OdCkeLL q AJAtAAO6Ao okiAAAA6
Corp.
These notes are made up into an at
tractive booklet, autographed from the
typewriter observations and reminis-
cences of a wanderer into Europe, Asia
and America presenting the odds and
ends of customs and of the picturesque
in far places, and branching into bits
of philosophy concerning the relation
ships of mankind in the broader sense OF
universal association which bring hui
manity more closely into spiritual COM
panionship with the Creator.
Most of the notes are original while
a few of them are the recorded thoughts
and experiences of others. OF particular
appeal is an Interpretation of the ira
dition of the chrysanthemum in the
imperial crest of Japan. Another inter-
esting chapter deals with books, and
there are also several accompanimentS
of beautiful verse.
The volume is bound in an artistic
paper cover the first inside page carry
ing a number of ancient words of wisdom
pictured in their original character
alphabets, interpreted first in letters
which the characters represent and
finally translated into English.