42 



THE STATE REVIEW 



Books That, Are Printed 



TKe Looting of Alaska 



Many of the incidents cited in "The Loot- 

 ing of Alaska," lately published in Apple- 

 ton's Book Lovers, have served as material 

 in "The Spoilers," a recent novel by the 

 same author, Mr. Rex E. Beach. In them- 

 selves they carry the conviction of verity, as 

 to fact, although the historical accuracy of 

 the most dramatic situations is hardly nec- 

 essary for added interest. Mr. Beach's 

 style is, at all times, photographic; he 

 leaves nothing to the imagination, delights 

 in bold outline and in thrilling contrasts. 

 When one reads '"There's never a law of 

 God or man north of fifty-three" and the 

 hero's "What I want I take" he is in pos- 

 session of the spirit of the book. The swift- 

 ly moving story is a drama, almost a melo- 

 drama, of life in Nome, when Nome was a 

 city of beginnings, with no care for past or 

 future, but with a feverish impatience to 

 squeeze everything out of the immediate 

 present. It is a vivid portrayal of wild law- 

 lessness, of greed for possession and the lust 

 of power. Intrigue, courage, villainy and 

 reckless heroism all play a part in the dead- 

 ly struggle and final triumph of justice over 

 mfamous greed. There is no lack of action; 

 there is. rather, lack of that repose which 

 alone keeps interest from sinking under 

 stress of continued violent feeling. 



Although Mr. Beach allows his self-dis- 

 trust to lead him into needless hints of 

 future developments, it is only fair to say 

 that he more than compensates in the 

 scene when Helen Chester discovers her 

 long-sought brother. It is unexpected, dra- 

 matic and skillful to the last degree. Glen- 

 ister is the stalwart, all-conquering hero of 

 frontier type; his partner, Dextry, is, hap- 

 pily, of no type but his own. He and Bronco 

 Kid should come to jaded readers as an 

 offset to the mild tedium of summer com- 

 monplaces. If they are promises of origin- 

 ality and virility on the part of Mr. Beach 

 we can look with eager anticipation for his 

 next book. 



THE SPOILERS (?1.50), by Rex E. Beach. 

 Published by Harper & Brothers. 



The Pardoner's Wallet 



In the circle of friends, which many of us 

 hold dearest there are as many known 

 through their books as through the spoken 

 word Who would deny the deep love due 

 that incomparable Autocrat or say to what 

 extent life is better for his writing? It has 

 seemed, since "The Gentle Reader's" friend- 

 ship was secured by Dr. Crothers, that an- 

 other of the Autocrat's family is here for 

 our delight and our quickening. If there is 

 the elegance of Lamb, In the writing or 

 this there is a quaint humor, the friendly 

 bond of understanding between writer and 

 reader, which is more like Dr. Holmes. 

 Were all history made as vital as the para- 

 graph introducing the impudent vagabond, 

 who carried "The Pardoner's Wallet" in the 

 fourteenth century, the libraries would tell 

 a different story of '"most popular books." 

 The undeniable charm of Dr. Crothers' writ- 



ins? is the sensitive, humorously veiled way 

 in which he touches subjects of genuine con- 

 cern. It is as if, respecting the individual, 

 he assumed that precisely this subject had 

 often been in mind and it needed from him 

 merely the light suggestion which is always 

 enough between friends. Has any one failed 

 lo realize the point of "mora! saturation" 

 and to deplore it with humiliation? And 

 are we not, once more, sent on our way, 

 light-footed and light-hearted, after meeting 

 this gentle Pardoner with his "nicely en- 

 graved indulgences for sins of omission?" 



The essays brought together in "The Par- 

 donor's Wallet" treat, according to the pre- 

 face, "of aspects of human nature which, 

 while open to friendly criticism, are excu- 

 sable." If some of the chapters are less 

 attractive than others, it must be remem- 

 bered that all are not in the same vein. "A 

 man under enchantment" is as far removed 

 as possible from "an hour with our preju- 

 dices." Dr. Crothers should be crowned by 

 a grateful public for his definition of tact 

 which is, he says, "the ability to find out 

 before it is too late what it is that our 

 friends do n'ot desire to learn from us." One 

 could not wish, for this reason, when all the 

 world goes pleasuring, better company than 

 this genial, witty and sympathetic writer. 

 THE PARDONER'S WALLET, by Sam- 

 uel McChord Crothers; published by Hough- 

 ton, Mifflin & Co. 



The Debtor 



In "The Debtor," action and environment 

 are alike foreign to the type which Mary 

 Wilkins Freeman has persistently chosen 

 for her previous work. Like her other 

 stories, in being distinctly a "novel of char- 

 acter," it introduces a new type of village 

 life and an absolutely unique theme of 

 moral interest. Briefly told, the story con- 

 cerns a man of reputed fortune, who with 

 ingratiating friendliness and convincing as- 

 surance, establishes his home in the village 

 of Banbridge. Before the meteoric effect of 

 his advent has faded, Captain Arthur Car- 

 roll owns the town chiefly on long time 

 paper without security. The slow awaken- 

 ing of the villagers to the fact that they 

 have been "buncoed" is less momentous 

 than the results which come as Charlotte 

 Carroll realizes the false position of the 

 family. In spite of her devotion to her gal- 

 lant and handsome father, she is obliged to 

 face the moral question involved in their 

 careless and continual indebtedness. Her 

 own integrity, the inflexible justice of her 

 standard, and her great love for her father, 

 combine to prove the compelling force which 

 rouses him to manhood. It i& a piteous 

 story, sordid and depressing until the power 

 of this girl's personality, at the critical 

 moment, throws the balance toward the 

 right. From that moment our sympathies 

 are, curiously, with this elegant parasite in 

 his efforts to stand as a worker among his 

 fellow-men. 



The character most provocative of feel- 

 ings unsympathetic in this unusual family 

 is that of the wife, "Amy." She may well 



strve as type of the "amiably inefficient" 

 woman. Deliberately blind to facts, as un- 

 willing as a fireside cat to have her selfish 

 ease disturbed, living up to the creeed that 

 "a woman's whole duty is to glorify man," 

 she suffers no inconvenience herself and 

 brings down on the heads of all others the 

 inevitable effects of a "laissezfaire" policy, 

 applied to domestic economics. After all! 

 even a pretty woman may be held justly re- 

 sponsible for some measure of influence. 



Mrs. Freeman's style does not change; she 

 is always interesting, gratifying in method 

 and compelling to thought. If her use of 

 epithet is sometimes so picturesque as to 

 prove diverting from the main issue, it is 

 always exact and discriminating. It is pos- 

 sible that the clear-cut picture of Ban- 

 bridge, with its "pugnaciously truthful" Mrs. 

 Van Dorn, might not please any such, actual, 

 little village. There are times when one sus- 

 pects Mrs. Wilkins of finding that the milk 

 of human kindness, if not soured, is, in 

 the phrase of her beloved New England, at 

 least "touched." 



THE DEBTOR ($1.50), by Mary E. Wil- 

 kins Freeman; Harper's. Courtesy of W. 

 M. Palmer Co. 



ROWLAND. 



A London daily tells a short modern ghost 

 story. A man was traveling on a north- 

 bound train out of London. Opposite him 

 was a silent stranger, his only companion. 

 Between London and Derby no word passed. 

 Then as the train drew out of Derby he said 

 pleasantly, "Good line, this, sir, eh?" The 

 stranger replied, "I think it is a'beastly bad 

 line. I was killed on it two years ago." 



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