Evening Star Newspaper, October 6, 1929, Page 54

The Season Opens in Washington With an Exhibition at the Arts Club—Sargent Drawings at Corcoran—Rugs of BY LEILA MECHLIN. HE season opens with an exhi- bition at the Arts Club, 2017 I street, of paintings by Jane Peterson of New York. Miss Peterson (or. as she is known in private life, Mrs, M. Bernard Philipp) _will personally superintend the hanging of this exhibit and will be the guest of honor at a tea to be given this afternoon &t the club. a which the art committee, Miss Eleanor Parke Cust chairman, will be hosts. The season’s program could scarcely | have been more auspiciously inaugu< rated, for Jane Peterson’s work, while essentially sound, is bright and gay and extremely vivacious. It is the kind | of work which is modern in spirit but traditional in fact, holding fast to the | best of the old and assimilating and adapting what is most worth while in the new. Her style is broad and dash- | ing. Her pajntings were characterized for a good many years by marked indi- | viduality—an individuality which swept the beholder off his feet because of | extraordinary cleverness. Her later | work is more studied, more compact, more experienced, but no whit less wvigorous or personal. Jane Peterson has studied under Brangwyn, Bilanche and Sorolla, and her work shows to scme extent the in- fluence of each of those masters. Her use of strong line, definite boundar: of color, recalls Brangwyn: her nice adjustment of values, Blanche, and the sunny, gay quality in her work may be regarded as souvenir of her months with Sorolla. 1 She has painted in many parts of | this country—at Gloucester, in the Canadian Rockies—here and She has also painted abroad, in Spain, | Venice, France. She has even painted in Constantinople, and has the honor | of being a member of t American Painters Association of that great Eastern capital. Miss Peterson exhibits with the Na- | tional Academy of Design. the New | York Water Color Club, the American ! \Water Color Society. the National As- sociation of Women Painters and Sculp- | tors, and the North Shore Arts Asso- | ciation, organizations of which. in most instances, she is a member. Numerous | Pprizes have been awarded to her by her { colleagues, showing appreciation in thel profession. The Brooklyn Museum, the Syracuse Art Museum and other public | galleries, as weil as numerous private | collectors, own her works. The exhibition opening here at this time will include city and seaside pic- tures, as well as still life studies and flowers. A very characteristic example | is a picture of Venice painted from the window of a room which Whistler one | time occupied and thus giving pre- cisely the view that must have fre- quently met his eye. This exhibition will continue at the Arts Club for two weeks, when it will | be replaced by a group of water colors | and etchings by Lesley Jackson of this | city, and a collection of original draw- ings for book jackets lent by New York | publishers. | An extremely interesting program of | fortnightly exhibitions from now to the | last of next May has been arranged by | the art commiitee of the Arts Club, | including works by local snd out-of- town artists—a program of diversity in | interest and upheld to a high standard. | Among the out-of-town artists who | have promised to send exhibits are | Henry B. Snell, Henrletta Wyeth, the | daughter of Nathan C. Wyeth, well | known illustrator; Marion Hawthorne, the wife of Charles W. Hawthorne, and Gertrude G. Brown of I ich, Mass. Among the local artists who will present | invited exhibits are Marguerite C. Munn, Clara R. Saunders, Mary Riley | and Hattie E. Burdette. Among the etchers exhibiting will be Philip Kappell and Frank W. Benson. R | 'HE Corcoran Gallery of Art will not begin its special exhibitions until the latter part of this month, but from November 24, when the first of this series opens, there will b successive showings until and threugh May. Most_ notable among these, perhaps, are two international exhibits, one of | the works of contemporary Belgian painters, under the patronage of the Belgian Ambassador; the other of vorks of Canadian artists of today, which the Canadian minister will sponsor. The Belgian exhibition is the first on the program. _ Invitations to the private view on October 24 will shortly be is- sued. | * ok ok kK AT the Corcoran Gallery of Art is now to be seen in the special ex- the right of the main staircase, a col- lection of drawings by the late John Singer Sargent which has been pre- sented to the National Gallery of Art by Mr. Sargent’s two_sistors, Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Violet Ormond. To the student of art these drawings are of enormous interest and value. Even in the prezent day when drafts- manship is said to have gone out of fashion they give indication of the sound structure on which Sargent’s art was based and his reputation estab- lished. To all appearances, these draw- ings were made swiftly, surely and with ease, but it is a fact that Sargent did | not invariably draw easily, that draw- | ing to him was always a feat, and that whatever he drew he approached in the spirit of contest—difficulties to b2 over- come, success to be achieved; not as a plum drops softly into one’s hand, but as a crown to be won. Some of the drawings in this collec- tion were preliminary studies for his paintings in the Boston Museum; some | are of still life objects.: The majority, ! however, are of heads, arms, legs, bodies in various positions. ¢ Even to the uninitiated this collection gives indication of the enormous amount of study arc of effort, the con- tinuous process of learning that any great artist must go through and does | carry on continually, gladly. as the learning process ceases, as long as there is nothing beyond to strive for, the joy of production is at an end.. The | great Sargent was a perpetual student, | a tireless worker—one who loved not! only art but the labor of production, the effort of striving to do not only well, byt better—always better. * ok %k DURING the Summer the Corgoran Gallery of Art has made some changes in the re-arrangement of the rugs in the Clark collection. Two or thrée of those that were in the base- ment heretofore have .been brought to upper galleries and placed on display. One, a unique piece, an Ispahan rug of the sixteenth century, wonderful in de- sign, exquisite in color. is now to be seen in one of the picture galleries on the first floor, entered through the Cor~ coran Galley’s sculpture halls. On the wall in one of the upper cor- ridor galleriés has been placed one of the gigantic rugs of the collection, like= wise an Ispahan ruf of the sixteent: century—red and blue, 46 feet long one timy in the possession of a kin of Portugal—a regal work, not only ¢ yaaster craftsmen, but of a genuin artist. Rug experts who visited this counti &uring the Summer are said to ha geclared that these rugs in the Cla: vollection are unsurpassed, in fact, th their equal is not te be found todc even in France. / “The wo-called Polish rugs in the Cla eollection, whi¢n were hung in one the period rooms before, have now be placed in the long gallery wherein one of the beautiful old mantelpiece: te in tint but jewellike in ocolor. Delicate in Je - they may now be seen n As soon | I 6t docnnsin | ~ Clark Collection. | use, either ancient or modern, will find | !in these rugs in the Clark collection | something more than a standard of excellence. If one knows the best, ene| will_not take up with that which is totally inferjor. Our American manu- facturers are today producing, in the | spirit of the past, some excellent rugs, | fine in patiern, durable of weave. | The fact that one of the Clark rugs is now hung from the balcony in the stair hall, so that it catches the eye of |the visitor immediately upon en‘rance !and makes a charming background for the sculptured figure in the central gal- |tery, calls special attention to this se | tion of the Clark collection at this time. * Kk ok K S a loan the Corcoran Gallery is showing at the present time por- traits of the former Secretary of State, Mr. Kellogg, and Mrs. Kellogg, by de Laszlo, painted abroad when Mr. Kel- logg was on his diplomatic mission, the | outcome of which was the now famous | Kellogg Peace Pact. A picture of the signing of th Mr. de Laszlo and presented as a tribute to our Nation for permanent placement in the White House. The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Kel- logg are a little more than half length. Mr. Kellogg Is seen seated in a simple armchair against a_dark drapery partly drawn aside to show, indistinctly, a globe of the world. Done with Mr. de | Laszlo's usual facile manner, it makes no pretense bevond that of presenting gravely a distinguished personality. The portrait of Mrs Kellogg, intended as a companion plece, is likewise done brush has been made to tell. There is ing command of medium—not only he Turkish- | command but mastery. But in effect | “FROM WHISTLER'S WINDOW.” IT IS CONTAINED IN AN the painting is reticent. and one feels back of the eyes the sit.er's thoughtful mien. There is probably on one in the world today who has bbeen so much a painter of the great as de Laszlo. His sitters have been renowned of all nations. Yet he is known to throw himself with ut- most enthusiasm in painting, as a friendly gesture, some perfectly un- known person, giving the portrait away as a souvenir of pleasant, friendly inter- course. In the presence of great art, | for instance, most lately the art of | hibition gallery on the second flobr to Egypt, he stands as it were, with bared | JANE PETERSON. WHOSE PAINT. NGS ARE NOW ON VIEW AT THE ARTS CLUB. heed, humble, a learner. He is keenly sensitive to beauty. He is exceedingly unbiased in his estimate of the work of other painters who are seeking new paths, e is a sincere artist, one who, it times seemingly superficial, is, tual fact, unspoiled by success, and among his -works are not a few which should assure him lasting re- membrance, a “place in the sun.” “ZINN ' 'HE Phillips Memorial Gallery was to have opened the first of this month, but owing to certain changes in lighting arrangements which are not_yet complete the opening has been postponed for a fortnight. That this gallery will be open this season, not simply three afternoons, a week, but every day is good news in- deed. * ok K o® SIMULTANEOUSLY the art schools cf Washington open at this time. The Corcoran Schcol of Art has its usual average enrollment, and the same | staff of teachers this year as last, with i the exception of Mr. Meryman, who is | at the present time on a vear's leave of | absence. The staff consists, therefore, )mu year of Burtis Baker, who has spent” the Summer abroad; Mrs. Ma- | thilde Mueden Leisenring, Eugene | Weisz and Carl Mose. | * ok kK DUPONT CIRCLE is becoming one of | the art centers cf the city. Here, {lo~ated this season the Critcher School la( Art and the newly established Hill | School, while just off the cizcle on Con- | necticut avenue Margarct Yard has he | classcs, | The Hill School has been establishod by Clara Hill, pupil of Augustus Saint- Gaudens, Denys Puech and Jean In- jalbert, recipient cf the medal of the Academie Julian ‘in Paris, whose work is well known in this city. Miss Hill | has associated with her at the school | for the Winter Dorothy Walker, gradu- | ate of Frank Alvah Parson's School of there. | With reserve. Each stroke of the artist's | Fine and Appijed Arts, New York. as | instructer in~ Mterior decoration, and | a terseness in the technique ‘bespeak- | Benson Moore, painter and etcher of | this city. Mr. Moore will give a course in etch- A PAINTING BY JANE PETERSON. {IBITION AT THE ARTS CLUB. | ing, an art ¢n which he has not only gained proficiency, but won reputation. |~ Under Miss Hill's special charge will be ciasses in modeling, th» making of garden -sculpture and pottery tiles. ‘ Dupont Circle, with its trees, its | flower beds, its beautiful fountain and | its children at play, affords, Miss Hill believes, innumerable subjects for paint- ing students, and Dupont Circle lies | beneath the windows, as it were, of the ‘ Hill School of Art. * K K K ‘HE Abbott School of Fine an Commercial Art at 1624 H street, | announces as visiting eritics for the coming season Willlam Partridge and Henry B. Snell, the latter conducting, | as heretofore, a professional painters’ concourse. On the advisory council of the Abbott School are Clifford K. Berry- man, Royal Bailey Farnum and M. B Neale. | Other schools opening at this time include the National School of Fine and Applied Art, of which Felix Ma- hony is head, the pupils of which have carried off many prizes in open com- petition, not only in poster work, but |in ccstume designing and interior dec- oration. . | 0ld Morocco History Is Discovered in Shop Arab and European scholars here are deeply interested in a genuine illumi- nated volume belonging to the works of El-Bekri, famous Aram geographer and historian of the early days of Morocco, which was recently discovered in a na- tive shop in Marrakech. This work dates back to the begin- ning of the sixteenth century and is artistic in its rich colorations. Local authorities have ordered the removal of the history to the library of Cherif El-Kittani at Fez, where are kept other | famous documents relating to civiliza- tion in North Africa. **present is treaty was painted by, at No. 1 and No. 6, respectively, are' | ' DR.C. Ciwu. _—TUin’~ wend Photo. Wu Faces Critical Issues on Return ___(Continued From Third Page.) nounced as out-of-date, the expectation is that Germany, Austria and Hungary, the losers in the World War, will press for reconsideration of the Versailles and other peace treaties on the ground that such treaties have grown. inapplicable and if not revised might endarger the | peace of the world. The compromise on Mr. Wu's resolution was dictated by this apprehension on the part of the allies ‘The next three months will 52 moves ___(Continued From Th ! costs, have declined somewhat _since 1925, but it is not unlikely that manu- | facturing cost at Muscle Shoals would | likewise be somewhat less than during | that year. ! Of course, no development or opera- [tion at Muscle Shoals could succeed, from an economic or commercial stand: point, unless the right type of men, as operations there. It is a certainty, however, that ard rangements can be made for operation of Muscle Shoals that will yield a re- turn to the Government and to the tax- payers who supplied the money for the original development. Scientific opera- tion on a commercial basis will result | in the production of high-grade con- centrated fertilizer at prices below present levels. Such production would be a constant check and regulator to hold fertilizer prices generally at the lowest levels made possible by science and consistent with good business prac- tige. The farmers are not asking for a subsidy; but they do ask and are en titled to the benefit of the Government's investment and the natural resources available for the benefit of griculture. Regrets Dealings With Ford. It has been a source of great regret to me that the dilatory action of Congress in dealing with Henry Ford several years ago resulted in 'he withdrawal of the rord ofier. 1 supported the Ford ofier and believe that if that offer had been promptly accepted we would now be enjoying the benefit of much lower- priced 1ertilizer for farmers. Mr. Ford's demonstration at Muscle Shoals, under the 8 per cent profits limitation provi- sion, soon would have forced other fertilizer manufacturers in the United States to adopt advanced chemical methods and the entire business would by this time be on a sound basis in- stead of on the present precarious basis, with manufacturers losing large sums of money, according to the testimony of representative of the industry before a congressional committee last Spring. Because of the great bulk and rela- tively low plant food content of most of the fertilizer distributed in the United States today, transportation and handling charges make up a large percentage of the final costs paid by the farmer by the time this material is spread out on his land ready to ald crop srowth. Most of the fertilizer manufacturing plants are for this same reason located as near the user as pos- sible. This tends to keep plants small and inefficient, but . still does not eliminate the necessity of transporting heavy and bulky raw materials to_the processing and mixing plants. This ig freight and handling cost is unques- tionably one of the very important reasons why farmers west of the Mississippi River are not yet using fertilizers to any great extent. What we need, apparently, is a real breaking away from old-time production and distribution methods and the utili- zation of modern developments in the way of cost cutting, both in the fer- tilizer factory and in the methods of getting it to the farms and on the flelds. We shall probably see big changes along this line in the next decade or so. But something like the Muscle Shoals plant seems necessary to crystallize this line of action and make real progress. Painted as Power Project. ‘Unfortunately Muscle Shoals has been painted in recent years as primarily a power proposition. But the fact still re- mains that we spent the taxpayers’ money at Muscle Shoals for the declared purpose of producing nitrogen for ex- plosives in time of war and fertilizers in time of peace. Nothing short of a fun- damental change in relative needs, from the standpoint of the Nation and the individual taxpayer, could justify ab- rogation of this declared purpose. Certainly we still need a Government nitrogen plant for purposes of national defense. Certainly we still need nitro- !gen for fertilizers. So long as we im- port a million tons a year of nitrate of soda from Chile, no one vould under- take to argue that we have no need of nitrogen. Certainly the farmer was never in greater need of cheaper ferti- lizers as & means of reducing his pro- duction costs. ‘We have been told also that Muscle Shoals electric power is tco “valuable” to be used in producing fertilizers; that this current should be saved for electric lighting and small motor uses. sort of propaganda falls a little flat on cows!oul ears today, when we are fint it impossible to sell most of our current at any , and when what little we sell at Muscle Shoals goes at about 2 mills per kilowatt hour. ‘The present installation at Muscle Shoals is able of producing aj xi- I'mately 5,000,000 kilowatt houts of elec- tricity daily, with the exception that for '3 few days in the dryest season it may | Se |drop down to around 4,000,000 kilowatt hours. = But_according to the records kept by the War Department at no time has the present purchaser and distribu- | tor of power—the Alabama Power Co., .which serves all that area for hundreds of miles—used as much as 50 per cent of the total amount available. " puring the year 1928 only 216,859,000 kilowatt hours of power were used out total of 1,776,199,000 ince January of thé |of an available itt - hours. - year the amounts of current well as equipment, were used in the | From Geneva Where He Added Prestige on the checkerboard of the Far Fast which may rank among the most fin- rtant in a century as China presses expel Russia, Japan, the United States, England, France and other pow- ers from privileges enjoyed under treaties in China, privileges which all the powers have expressed a willingness to give up as quickly as China fur- nishes to them satisfactory evidence of | het ability to safeguard life and prop- {erty of foreigners in China and tn compensate for any property of foreign- ers seized or nationalized by China. Challenge of Muscle Shoals bzen almost negligible. Fig- ures available for the first six months | show that only $70,488 worth of pow=r | was bought at Muscle Shoals by the | power company—not enough to pay mere operating expense and upkeep of the power plant and dam, to say noth- ing of depreclation or interest on Un- cle Sam’s investment. It is only fair to add, however, that more of the power could be sold if the Government were willing to enter into a five or ten year contract. But this simply means that with this power contracted for a term of years and at a low price the power company could interest electro- chemical industries to move into this area and use the power for electric fur- naces and other wholesale purposes. ‘The truth of the matter is that there is more electric power available In the lower Appalachian region than any on= knows what to do with. Mr. Hoover said in his Seattle speech in August, 1926, referring to the Tennessec and Cumber- land Rivers: “If adequate headwater sources were provided and the location of a dozen points throughout the system, a total of about 3,000,000 horsepower could be developed, the cities of Nash- ville and Chattanooga could be placed upon modernized water transportation and the floods of the Mississippi miti- | gated. The devotion of a large part of | the power which could be created here to the development of the electro- | chemical industry is a national neces- | sity for industry, agriculture and for | defense.” Tennessee Power Possibilities. A survey of the Tennessee River Val- ley, just completed by United States engineers, shows power pcssibilities on the Tennessee and its tributaries amounting to not less than 8,000,000 horsepower (including appropriate steam auxiliaries). Furthermore, the development of electricity from coal has feached such a high state of efficlency tl the Alabama Power Co.—the chief factor in that region—now uses several steam plants in preference to develop- ing additional waterpower. The total installed electric power in the Tennessee River basin in 1926, according to the Government survey, ‘was but 871,650 horsepower, of which only 482,760 horsepower was hydro-electric, the rest being steam. The total demand for electric power in this area during the same year was only 168,300 horse- power-years—that is, continuous horse- power. ‘The fact is that it is the pressnce of too much potential electric power that is worrying the power companies of the Southern Appalachian region, rather | than any lack of power. The power companies are not particularly fim- ested in securing the current at Muscle Shoals for themselves. Thomas W. Martin, president of the Alabam: Power Co.—the company now buying whatever portion of the Muscle Shoals power it wants—stated last December that his company “has practically eliminated Muscle Shoals from its fu- ture calculations and is planning its new installations without regard to it.” ‘What the power companies are inter- ested in mainly, it would seem, is to pre- vent Muscle Shoals power from getting loose in their territory under conditions which might upset their price levels. The outlet for Muscle shoals power is mainly through the electro-chemical industry. And that industry is not yet developed in the Muscle Shoals terri- tory. Mr. Mellon’s aluminum company has large privately owned power plants and electro-chemical works on the Lit- tle Tennessee River, not far above ltlnlasclfry Bbo‘uls. but no electro-chemical ustry of consequence ex! near Muscle Shoals. 3 Proposals Before Congress. ‘Three proposals for the utilization of Muscle Shoals are before the Congress at this time. Senator Norris of Ne- braska is the author of a bill propos- ing that the Government itself operate the Muscle Shoals fertilizer plants in an experimental way and endeavor to sell the surplus power, preferably to municipalities, but to electric power companies if necessary. This bill had my support as a member of the com- mittee on agriculture and I voted for it when it came before the Senate a year ago. Another strongly advocated proposal is |18 that contained in what is known as the Madden-Wright bill. tot:,e :)fler of the ‘;merlun Cyanamid Co. (which operates the”large plant at Niagara Falls), and provides for a leas- ing of the Government's power dams and plants to the corporation, under an agreement for production of fertilizer and sale of same to the farmer on a profits limitation basis. This bill did not come t0 & vote in the A third factor in the situation is a proposal made by the Farmer's Ferti- lizer Corporatio: | and competent writer. - | a-building.” power dams were designated at proper | (M A Volume Concerned With Ttopical America—Fiction From a Number of Well Known Writers—Picture Places IDA GILBERT MYERS. THE ROMANCE AND RISE OF THE AMERICAN TROPICS. By Samuel Crowther, author of “Common Sense and Labor,” ete. Illustrated. New York: Doubleds”, Doran & Co. HERE the majority of writers on tropical America dwell too long and too inconclu- sively upon its history, Mr. Crowther gives the historic aspect of the region in a few leading | chapters of his book. Gives it pri- marily for the purpcse of drawing off | for future use two sallent and vital | points out of that past. The aim of | the Old World was to carry away such wealth as legend had assigned to the tropical lands of the West. This was done by explorer, discoverer, overlord of every sort, to the full extent of the existence of such wealth. Only soil and climate were left for the future to build upon. Poverty, deep and general, stands as one of these vital points of consideration, The other one held the basic problem- of the countries of this area to be political, whereas they were, and are, clearly economic in content. Poverty and politics have been the heri- tage of the American tropics, through war and revolution, through the mal- administration of dictator. soldlers of fortune, conqu’stadores. Having round- ed the past in quick and vigorous and pointed survey, Mr.:Crowther upon this foundation moves out into the new day that has come and is coming to the Southern republics by way of the open- ing up of industry. of trade, of the contacts and accommodations incident to such intercqurse. Chapter 8 gives the story of a' pioneer, the story of Minor C. Keith, a builder of railroads who, with his brother, Henry Meiggs Keith, established lines of inter-com- munication for the whole of this re- glon. And that is a story to read—a daring. intelligent, expert pair of world builders are the heroes of this surpass- ing adventure, Beyond this record of the Keiths the book opens out generally into the field of industry, into trade and commerce as the supreme advocate of stable governments, of wage-earning natives, of a prosperous and contented people, generally. Here, too, is the ro- mance—that is just what it is—of ba- nana culture, of the practical and sub- tle business arts by way of which this tropical fruit made its way into the affections of the great “El Norte.” cre- ating vast exchanges under the pioneer work of what is now the United Fruit Co. It is the work of this company that stands with two other major influ- ences in the progress of Central Amer- ica. The Panama Canal is, to be sure, one of the two. The third is the Wash- ington Conference of 1907. ending the possibility of war between the states and preventing aid by one state to rev- | olutionary factions in another state. Each of these tal on a new signifi- cance in the hands of this upstanding Indeed. one cannot choose special excellencies where all is here of such definite value. In complete touch with the economic foun- dations of modern life, Mr. Crowther | projects and evaluates tropical Amer- | dca”in its difficult progress toward a common goal. ‘““The progression of the economic empire of the Caribbean is in- evitable. It is solidly founded. For a long while it wjll be confused with po- litical empire.” “No one doubts the benefits of health and wealth. These are the only forces of moment in the new empire. They are the omnipotent. forces. And so the empire must go on These .are the closing words of a study that is as invigorating as the growth to which it is devoted. Romance, adventure, truth and vision come together here out of the hand of this practical student, this sturdy writer who projects economic growth in the terms of picturesque business enterprise. * X xox THE VALE OF ARAGON. By Fred McLaughlon, author of “The Blade of Picardy.” Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Y reading task just then w “Rights of Woman"—but it didn’t chance to be that sort of day. stead, a golden afternoon of late Sep- tember, whispering of wings and far places where pleasures rather than in Old France. “rights” beckoned. So, I reached out for another book, any book less task- weighted than the onc in hand. “The Vale of Aragon.” Inviting call. Where is “Aragon”? No matter. It's a long way off somewhere and I'm on the road to it. New Orleans. Moonlight. there, a giant of a youth—fair, tow- hafred, Nordic. for the pictures that I knew were there. It was a pageent of more than a cen- tury of the history of this region. Prench, Spanish, African, with innu- merable strains of blood in betwzen—ad- to overthrow Spanish dom:nion through- out the New World. king and queen of old Spain. And Loren Garde brushed away what he surmised were the lingering fumes of the wine of old Didier—but there they still stood. And the king growled at him as kings are said to do now and then. The sudden flame of anger. The challenge, the combat. Confusion in the streets, flight, a shipboard, the hnr- | ricane, shipwreck, self-rescue off the | coast of Venezuela by Loren Garde— |and the adventure is on. Here is t | “Vale of Aragon.” Here are th> fight | ing forces of Bolivar. Here the passion | for liberty is at high tide. Here the banners of freedom are calling patriot |and adventurer. a | You sce, something, of the drift of | this romance set against a background of history, that of the wars of lib2ration from Spain which, finally, resulted in events that you can read out of the history book any day. It is the ad- venture of this tale that proves to be its clear captivation. It reads lke truth, as it should. A gallant adven- turer should win out in both war and love. ‘This one does after enormous undertakings and many a last-minute | escape. For a couple of hours, more or | less, the reader is off and away to the | Vale of Aragon and its engrossments. | When he gets back his first question is about the author of this novel. Who, | today, can hold and entertain the spirit of this book? He is some sort of work- | ingman, for this is a workman's book— |orcerly, restrained, cumulative in its | advance, exacting in its facts where | these are required, a fine plece of liter- |ary construction. Well, he is—some |sort of workman. Much as Maurice | Hewlett was, and a few other writers have been—engaged in official activities and recordings. Yet, one day in the week, here is another man—a romantic era to fight wars and make love and to laugh in a rare humor over the wonde: | ful ways of the world. A man to make | enchantment for the duller folks around { about. locking for ponderous themes and use- ful lessons. Yet, a delightful romance | as skillfully constructed as the very best |of them. A joy of a book—if you ask me. Try it. * % x x PICTURESQUE OLD FRANCE. By Herbert B. Turner. Illustrated. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ERE is an author who for 20 yeas has been roaming the world, {camera in hand, hunting for picture points in his own country, Canada to the north of it. Mexico to the south, Japan, Hawaii, Eurcpe, North Africa. With . thousands of . negati made through these areas, with numberless experiences ‘to_his credit, he here sub- mits for the entertainment of readers a book on out-of-the-way places in France. No, this is not a picture book, as you might expect it to be from the preoccupation of this Mr, Furner with photography. Pictures there are, but it is a word book in the main. I'm | thinking that the habitual making of pictures must have a clear influence on | the powers of verbal description. It | ought to have that effect. And certain- Iy something in this case has given Iucidity, composition, color, even mo- tion, to these views of France in its un- 1 usual aspects and moods and effects. | Beginning at Havre and going through Normandy, Mr. Turner moves in leisure- ly way down toward the Mediterranean, gathe) along the way innumerable little Views—natural beauties, retirmg corners, characteristic behaviors of the A bench facing the old Czbildo. Seated | T moved into his mind | venture, war, and, finally, the struggle | Just then there stood before him—a | 1=dvemurer lingering on out of another | Not a great book, if you are| plain people here and there. Compe- tently conceived and charmingly given out, the value of the book lies, how- ever, in the fact of its unusual portray- als, of its side views such as one never sess—oh" never, if he is one of a travel- | ing party, and almost never if by him- self. Por such a journey as this takes time, and revisiungs, and relivings— just such as Mr. Turner has given to 1 You will enjoy this particular kind «¥ | Summer travel, this particular w.* | itself. * k% % THE SUN CURE. By Alfred Noyes. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Cor- poration. THE comic spirit takes possession of Alfred Noyes, distinguished poet, as he now goes a-playing in prose. Here is the adventure of Basil Strode, young cleric, serious—even a bit pon- derous—in view of his many respon- sibilities, in view of his importance as “Influence” and example. Handsome, as he himself would, no doubt, have ad- | mitted, modestly. Withal, a little of a prig—or so thought the very attrac- tive and clever ycung woman around | whom the preacher was forever circling. Then came adventure—stealthily young Basil stirolled off into the de-p country. | Once there and certain of his own ! security from intrusion he tock off his clothes to sun himself, something in | the way that he was hearing so much | about and believed in so little. Leav- | ing his raiment in an old shed. he walk- ed out some distance and laid himself down in the deep grass while the sun |did its work on him. Partially con- vinced of the efficacy of this trial treatment,the clergyman turned to dress himself and go home—some one had stolen his clothes. Here is the place to leave you to find out for yourself just how he managed—dignified young man like that, ecclesiastic besides. Enough to say that the experience did him good, worked off quite a lot of him- :self that he was the better off for getting rid of—and ‘the girl thought 50 too. A very gay little invention, that |laughs its way along, slyly nipping a | person here or a fad there—but a most engaging matter on the whole, because, | prose or poetry, its author is at-home | with his writing hand. % xs 5 SAND. By Will James, author of “Cow Country,” etc. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 'HIS is another James story of the cow country—the story of a wild horse and a tame man. That is, each was this in the beginning. But after the tremendous business of making a cowboy out of a tenderfoot the man - wasn't so tame. It was along about | then that he heard of the wild stallion that every cattleman in Wyoming secretly hoped to capture for his own. A deep secret to the converted tender- foot that he, too, in the course of time began to share that ambition and an- other one. In the vernacular of back country the story moves forward with the stirring business of keeping the enormous droves within their limits of forage and necessary round-ups. Finally along toward the last came the trials of Tilden toward the flying horse, glimpsed now and then by this one or that. ‘In secret he planned. In an equal secret he failed. But there was still a chance and—by and by—the capture was made. By this time the reader is in protest. He didn't want that horse to be caught and tamed. Yet, following the great event, there is a delightful schooling for the stallion. This is the high point of the whole. The fierce rebellion, the hurt pride, the wild out- bursts of rage—and then the very slow and gradual response to the overtures of the man. Food, a friendly touch, a comforting act—repulsed all of them for a long time. Then the slow subsidence of suspicion, the tentative quietude under the smoothing hand—over and over again. Then friendship between the horse and the man—a wonderful thing to any human who has had this efperience. Finally done, it is here, too. Oh, yes. there is a girl and a love story. 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