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44 WILMETTE LIFE November 22, 1929 ~ ~ u ~ r ,.,/ ' Comnient on Books and Authors I I 'lL ~~~~~~~;:;;;;;:;;;;;;; FRECKLES COMES HOME. By KOW TOW. By 'Princess Der Ling. and go right on talking through them mustrated hy S. Pinkus. New York: Dodd. Mead and company. I In her Yolumes "Two Years in the Forbidden City" and "Old Buddha," I Princess Der Ling has already made notahle contributions to the history of China under the Empire. The present ,,·ork is equally valuable. Here we have the portrait of Lord Yu Keng, her fathcr, type of an upright official; one, to whom the people under his care can present the "Ten Thousand Men Um' hTellas," that is great canopies with ! many ribbons of different colors hanging around their edges; and on the ribbons are written names of men, the donors-even unto ten thousand. The i portrait is drawn with loving care I against the background of the houscj 1old "·hich in true patriarchal fashil)n , always accompanied Lord Y u Keng on his peregrinations from one post to anI ,)thcr, posts in China, in· Japan, and in . France. Here we have Hung Fang the I aggressive, managing maid.- servant who . hegan ~ife as ~ "slave" and who directs the chtldren nnplacahly \Yhethcr thl'\· 1 arc in Paris, or the interior of China; hl're the teacher from Honan who greatly to De~· Lin~·s discomfiture i:'l never left behmd; here arc the secrc·taries. the amahs, and the innumerable indh·iduals \\'ho in the China of the · Empire fnrmed the retinue of a great nthcial. And here last but far from least, we have Der Ling herself, the petted daughter, the favorite ~hild to Lord Yu Keng, Official of the First Class. Chinese Envoy to Japan, and later ·to France. Such intimate descriptions are far too lltllllerous to cite in d.etail. They pro,·ide an authentic picture of a social structure, arranged on definite lines, which has 110w gone forever; a picture which should be comprehended hy ::tll who are interested in question s coi1nected with that \'ast stretch of country to which \\'t' attach the name nf China. Jeannette Stratton-Porter. Doubleday, Doran. The millions who loved the late Mrs. Gene Stratton-Porter's "Freckles," should rejoice that a sequel, wherein the orphaned boy has now grown t·J stalwart young manhood, has been written by her daughter and in such fashion as should meet with the unanimous approval of the elder lady's admirers. These latter will recall that 1.t twentv Freckles \vas taken from his friencfs in the Limherlost country hy his noble uncle, Lord O'More. to the a11cestral famil~· seat in rreland. In Erin, four years on we no\\' find him. Lord Terence O'M ore no ll'ss. transformed against his will into an educated gentleman of leisure. worshiped by th<' faritily retainers, and granted every >.\'ish save his ambition to earn a living, and pining for those he had cared 'for in the long ago. ~or have the Swamp Angel, the Dird \\'oman, Boss McLean forgotten the adored exile. and it i:-. through their united efforts that he is enabled to return happilY to them. The narrative unfolds simttltaneously in Ireland and America, alternate chapters showing the life of the discontented Freckles abroad and nf his dear ones across the sea. ' for three hundred pages. It is not precisely the same thing as talking through one's hat, though the devices are analogous. Whether wisdom is much served by Mr. Natha·n 's loquacity is no longer with me an open question ; yet I hasten to reass ure his faithful admirers, including ·a majority of this country's undergraduates, that he still. from t~me to time, provides the expected noisy display of Giant Crackers , Catherine . Wheels, and Bengal Light s. Being unduly sensitive to nois e and confusion, it is always a little difficult for me to cling to the thread of Mr. ~athan's argument: it is as if l lost consciousness now and then-briefly, of course. Therefore, I dare not insist upon my 4wPression, though I rather think he i!l still pretty well convinced that we Americans are a nation of boobs. No doubt there is a good d.ea 1 to be said for this observation; and, if so, I am certain that Mr. Nathan must have amplified it somewhere. It is a rationalized point of view, howeYer, that \\·ould be more convincimr if applied at large to the human race. But let us not be captious. Mr. Nathan has overemphasized many a good thing in his time. -Lee Wilson Dodd, .Saturdav Reyiew of Literature. - Wilmette J700 OOOKS The Meaning of Culture John Cowper Powys W. W. Norton . . . . . . . . . . $ ).Oo i Europe in Zigzags Sisley Huddleston Lippincott (illustrated) ... $5 . 00 Johnny Reb Marie Conway Oemler The Century Company . ... $2.50 Serenade to the Hangman Maurice DeKobra Payson 8 Clarke. Ltd ...... $2 . 50 Ultra Violet Ray Lamps THE SHADOW, AND OTHER STORIES. B,· ] effcry Farnol. Litth:. Brown. Mr. Fa'rt10l's fan1ritc time and scene, early nineteenth century England, provide the settings and characters irt mo st of these se n·nteen short stories, the first collection of this kind he has yet published. As to material for his plots, he seems to rrely generally upon such venerable standbys as the faithful lover, long years thought dead, returning home to claim his waiting loved 011e, and upon simple variations of tht·mcs equally..,.familiar. The method uf telling certain of the tales, how e\·rr, through approaching the climax by passages of revealing dialogue ·which compactly sum up the past and a minimum usc of description, gives them a dramatic effectiveness abo,·e the rest. The stYle, as in the author's manv costmne romances, is stately, glamor"ous, picturesque, and it is clearly evident that in the novel form his craftsmanship shows to greater advantage than in the medium he has· here essayed. . Hudson River Bracketed Edith Wharton Appleton ....... .... . .. $2.50 $35.00 up HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN THESE MAGIC RAYS Phone Today ~ Dido: Queen of Hearts Gertrude Atherton Horace Liveright ........ $2.50 · MONKS ARE MONKS. A Diagnostic Scherzo. B_ \· George Jean Nathan. Xe\\' York: Alfred A. Knopf. [n "Monks Are Monks" George Jean Kathan has hit upon a fairly amusing device for stitching together a lar~· e number of his characteristic monolog-ues on contemporary life. Miss Lorinda Hope's persistent but vain pursuit of one literarv male after another ,·en· neath· enahles Mr. Nathan to asi snn1c a s.eries of transparent' mask~ Free home demonstratiotz Seven Iron Men Paul De Kruif Author of Microbe Hunters and The Hunger Fighters. Harcourt, Brace . . . . . . . . . . $ 3· 50 North Shore Talkiog Machine Co. 7I 2 CHUkCH STREET, EVANSTON Univ. 4513 7 41 ELM STREET, WINNETKA Winnrtka 3474 The Westminster Alice Saki- (H. H. Munro) The Viking Press ........ $ r. 7 5 Hanna, the biography of a famous man Thomas Beer Alfred A. Knopf . . . . . . . . . $4.00 American states- ------,: lnur <tiQristmas Q;rrrtiug on a Toloff photo is ·also k Christmas gift of rare charm a n d priceless worth. 1: The Kings of England Ho.n. Clive Bigham Dunon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S6.oo Visit India With Me Dhan Gopal Mukerji Dutton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S 3.oo JosEph D. Tolofl Our Pbotograpbs Live Forever 518 Davis St., Evanston Univ. 2178 · Lord' a- Boolu Juat Imide the Weat Davu St. Door