Evening star., 1938-04-03

to the people. To this end it deals
lengthily with the discipline required
OF king and priest and the selfless
spirit of dedication in which they
performed their functions,
When work is so plainly labor
of love as is this one, it is hard
for critic to deal with it. The re-
viewer wishes to emphasize, therefore,
that there is great learning in the
book. and considerable beauty. But
the old critical truth remains in
escapable-no work is greater than
its authors mind.> And in Winged
Pharaoh" one finds what seems to
be its authors mentality in a certain
saccharinity and idealistic enthusiasm
1t does not seem quite beside the
point. either. to mention that these
rather Victorian qualities are in some
what strange company in tale of
the majestic pagan civilization of
ancient Egypt.
FAREWELL 'TOINETTE. BY BERTHA
Harding. Indianapolis: Bobbs
Merrill.
Mrs. BERTHA HARDING, who
assuredly knows a great deal
about the affairs Of Austrian royalty,
has here written novel founded on
an incident in the life of Marie An
toinette, when that princess was on
her way to meet the King of France
and become his Queen. 1t is a slight
thing. ostensibly involving a quickly
awakened and quickly subsiding 70
nance between Marie and a hand
some position who was present on
the journey from Austria to France.
Actually, the story of Maries little
dream only serves the purpose of
Mrs. Hardlng's entertaining scholar
ship, for she uses it as a vehicle
for bringing in an array of legends
and tales concerning the places in
which the royal travellers stopped
Without exception. these stories are
very good ones. while as for the main
story. it is filled out with great and
historical personalities treated with
an almost Thackeray-like irreverence,
gently bat malicpusly humanized. 1t
hardly seems necessary to add that
a book containing such spirited ma
terial is good reading.
HELL'S ACRES Clay Perry and John
L. E. Pell. New York: Lee Furman
e. Co.
THIS book purports TO be a his
torical novel of the 1850s about
the wild East" Us locale is bit of
territory between Massachusetts and
New York which for a brief period
belonged to neither State, This rural
valley was the hideout Of the offal
OF New York and the upstate towns.
1t was the den of horse thieves, race
track touts, corrupt politicians, brothel
owners and other scum. 1t was in this
atmosphere that the first heavyweight
championship of the world was de-
cided in a battle between Yankee
Sullivan and James Morrissey,
battle in which the former outfought
the latter for 81 rounds and was still
fighting when the practically recum-
bent MorriSsey was declared the win
ner. AS might be expected from a
book with such locale, the plot is
highly diverting if not too probable.
Secret societies, vigilantes, "hoss'
thieves. beautiful maidens, pirates.
prizefighters, Van Rensselaers. all
move swiftly through the pages of as
romantic novel as has been pub
ished recently.-R. r. T.
OLD WILLIAMSBURG AND HER
NE1GHBORS. BY William Oliver
Stevens. Illustrated by the au-
thor. New York: Dodd, Mead e.
Co.
MR.. STEVENS, who wrote and illus
trated fine book on Annapolis
last year, turns in this volume to that
portion of Virginia known as "The