of the Royal Hotel in Constantinople was of picturesque dirt. As Mrs. Straus said at the time, dirt not only on the hard earth roads and the people, but even on the dogs. In time, however, one is less impressed by the dirt than by the picturesqueness-the venders calling out their wares of fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, all carried on the edges of baskets covered with leaves; the watercarriers with their urns carried on yokes; and the veiled women.

Sir Henry Drummond Wolff was in Constantinople as a special envoy to negotiate regarding the withdrawal of the British troops from Egypt. Acquaintance with him soon ripened into friendship. He was in that awkward situation which sometimes develops when special envoys are sent on missions into territory already represented by an accredited diplomat. There was an evident estrangement between Wolff and Sir William White, the British Ambassador. able men.

Both were exceptionally

Wolff, being detained longer on his mission than he had anticipated, was also compelled to seek rooms at Therapia. He was unable to find suitable accommodations, so we shared part of our suite with him. This arrangement proved to be very pleasant and diplomatically advantageous. I got the benefit of Wolff's tried experience in Orienta! diplomacy.

Frequently we all dined together in the large salon of our apartment. Our party usually included the Dutch Minister, Baron van Tets, and his wife, both very charming. Baron van Tets subsequently became Minister to Berlin, later Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Immediately after my arrival at my post I communicated with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Said Pasha, to present my credentials and arrange for

A

BDUL HAMID'S reception of an American diplomat is faithfully described in next week's installment of "Under Four Presidents." Even the egg-shaped coffee cups resting in jewelstudded holders are depicted. The Sultan is further described at his prayers in the mosque. Mr. Straus reports a series of interesting diplomatic tangles, including his defense of the sale of the Bible in Turkey, and his reopening of the American missionary schools. He concludes the chapter with a vivid account of a journey to Cairo and a close-up of the Khedive.

European, and there was nothing extraordinary about the occasion, after all. The Ambassador's wife was of course typically Circassian; chalky white skin, soft black eyes, small features, an unattractive figure unattractively dressed, with whom conversation was almost nil because she knew only Turkish.

The streets of Pera, the European part of Constantinople, are exceedingly narrow and very hilly, for the city is built on several hills, like ancient Rome; in addition they are poorly paved and dirty. This makes driving dangerous; and, as in mediæval times, sedan chairs are quite generally in use as a means of conveyance for the ladies of the diplomatic corps and the wives of the higher Turkish officials, especially at night to dinners and other official functions. Two sinewy porters carry these chairs, one in front and the other behind, and they shuffle along with considerable rapidity. Usually the lady is carried while the gentleman, preceded by his kavass in the case of a diplomat, walks alongside, except in inclement weather, when he follows also in a chair.

I am reminded of the wife of the German Ambassador at the time, a large, heavy woman, whom the porters quite justly charged double. She, however, was entirely oblivious of her extra avoirdupois and always complained of the injustice of these porters. The Austrian and Russian Embassies were particularly difficult of approach by conveyance other than the sedan.

We certainly were living in a new sphere of life, in a strange land among strange people with customs and habits that brought to mind the age of the patriarchs. There was much to see where some thirty, nationalities lived and did business as if in their own homes-much to wonder at, much to deplore, much to praise and admira

T

SUMMER NOVELS WORTH WHILE

HE midsummer novels have been unusually notable for that season as to intrinsic value or authorship, or both. There are not many single weeks even in the full flood of the fall season that bring into the Bool: Table stories by such well-esteemed writers as Mrs. Wharton in this country and Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Maxwell in England, to say nothing of half a dozen others which certainly are not "hot weather novels" in the sense of being as light and unenduring as summer butterflies.

Mrs. Wharton's "The Glimpses of the Moon" is cosmopolitan in setting and scenery, so that she now shows us New York's social "upper class" (horrid phrase) out of their habitat. It is inevitably compared with "The Age of Innocence," and by some critics with her first success, "The House of Mirth." Probably these three books have attracted more readers than any of her other novels, not because they are finer in execution or in study of social philosophy, but because they are more definite in setting and plan. In the new book, as invariably with Mrs. Wharton's work, the writing is restrained; it has no appeal to emotionalism or mere love of excitement. She creates her characters, each clearly marked with individual moral and mental traits; then she places them in certain conditions to which they must inevitably react in accordance with character. In this story, for instance, a charming and cultivated young couple, with a wide circle of society friends but without much money, deliberately marry with the idea of "carrying on" for at least one year by complaisantly accepting favors of substantial value; in a superior kind of way they live on their friends. But they find that this entails submergence of self-respect, and indirect payment involves disintegration of moral independence. They differ as to how far their complaisance can be carried; and on that rock their marriage nearly wrecks, to be saved by final recognition of the fact that happiness does not really depend on luxurious living and society ostentation, but on something quite dif ferent. The romance bestowed by wealth loses its glamour and the romance of life and love as they rest on independence prevails. “Oh, the blessed moral strength that wealth confers!" proves an illusory sentiment. Mrs. Wharton is too good an artist to argue the case; she lets the people and the circumstances bring the answer. The situation is held close in hand and the reader's interest is never allowed to drop. "The Glimpses of the Moon" cer

tainly sustains its author's recognized position among the leaders in American fiction.

W. B. Maxwell's "Spinster of This Parish" is the story of a woman's love for a man, a love that could be restrained by no obstacles, broken by no hardships, destroyed by no conventions of society. If the lives of these two people had been actual, theirs would have been one of the few surpassing love stories of history. Legally she is his mistress. The man so honored is an explorer, a seeker of fame and danger, an erratic, boyish, self-confident figure. His wife is hopelessly insane, divorce impossible under English law. But the young, quiet, reserved girl Emmeline breaks with her parents, accompanies her beloved explorer to South America, nearly dies and suffers terrible dangers in crossing the Andes with him, for many years comforts and aids him in his efforts to reach the South Pole, cherishes belief that he is alive when every one else believes he has perished, and finally, in advanced middle age, when the insane wife dies, the "spinster of this parish" is wedded to her man. All this is saved from being ignoble by the spinster's dignity, devotion, and steadfastness.

The way in which the spinster's story is introduced to the reader is singular and arresting. When she is asked for counsel by a young girl whose marriage is opposed by her parents, the spinster advises conciliation rather than rashness and says that she "has her reasons." Then the author remarks, "Her reasons were these"-and practically the whole narrative follows. It is strong in its appeal to one's sympathy, but not given to sentimentalism. In absorbing story interest it is, in my opinion, far away ahead of most recent novels.

"This Freedom" is the title of the eagerly expected new novel by the author of "If Winter Comes." It is hardly fair to hope from any author who has just had practically every one reading one of his books that he should forthwith duplicate or exceed that success. It is enough to hope that he will turn out sound, interesting work on a level with his other literary performances. This and more can truly be said of "This Freedom." It will be widely read and justly praised, although there is in it no one single character who appeals so persistently to one's sympathy and liking as did Mark Sabre in "If Winter Comes." This new book is more of a problem novel. Its style is oddly ejaculatory; the pages abound in short, sometimes repetitive sentences that

strike at the same point again and again. The girl Rosalie, who somewhat precociously sees that men have things all their way and that they are important even if generally "beasts," chooses to rival men in their own field, becomes ait expert financier and a banker, then, with her husband's agreement, tries to be both a home-maker and a business woman, and fails lamentably in getting her children started right in life. Their tragedies convince her that "this freedom" of hers is a failure, and the book ends with a new start in making a real home influence for her grandchild. Criticism and comparison aside, this novel is sure to provoke discussion and will be read by every one who wants to keep abreast of the most important fiction work of the year.

For the lover of the robust and adventurous plot story with added literary ability I find among the midsummer books three especially entertaining and worth while. Mr. Bacheller's "In the Days of Poor Richard" not only gives us a delightful picture of Benjamin Franklin the man, but also stirring incidents of Indian fighting and historic glimpses of England and America in Revolutionary times. Mr. Warwick Deeping in "The House of Adventure"* shows that a vigorous and striking novel of the Great War and the days just after can be made into spirited fiction, despite some people's prejudice against war novels. One particularly enjoys the introduction of Clemenceau at the end as informal judge of village villains. The tale is alive with incident and crises of danger and love. Mr. Sabatini's "Captain Blood" is a semi-historical story beginning with the Monmouth rebellion and then taking the hero to the West Indies as a labor-slave. His intrepidity and resource make him a captain of buccaneers, and later, like the famous pirate Morgan, he becomes commander of a British warship. The book is not quite as good as "Scaramouche," for that was singularly original in subject and treatment, but "Captain Blood" nevertheless has a good chance of being also a best seller.

In a quieter vein and both marked with sincere workmanship and sound spiritual psychology are Elsie Singmaster's "Bennett Malin" and Edith Dart's "Sareel." The first is an unsparing analysis of a would-be author of prodigious conceit whose self-magnification brings injury to all about him; the second, a surprisingly delicately wrought picture of the love and personality of a

In the Days of Poor Richard. By Irving Bacheller. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.

$2.

The House of Adventure. By Warwick Deeping. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2. Captain Blood. By Rafael Sabatini. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. $2.

1 Bennett Malin. By Elsie Singmaster. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. $2. 8 Sareel. By Edith Dart. New York. $2.

Boni & I

ht.

workhouse girl (Sareel is short for inarticulate Sarah Hill)-a "helpless victim pursued by vindictive destiny,"

HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY KING'S COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR. By W. C. King. The History Associates, Springfield, Massachusetts. Novel features accompany this popular history of the Great War. The pages are broken up by boxheads and blackface sub-heads, topical but not alphabetical indices precede the chapters, and detached "visualized charts" are inclosed in envelopes. will These features scarcely appeal to readers of conservative taste. The story of the war includes its aftermath, the work coming down to "the eighth year of the war," as the author calls the year 1921. The book brings out strongly the evil aspects of German militarism. The style is crisp and incisive, and many of the Great War's dramatic events are presented in vivid word pictures.

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM

JOHN MASEFIELD: A CRITICAL STUDY. By W. H. Hamilton. The Macmillan Company, New York. $3.50.

An aid to the immortality of Mr. Masefield that by turns embarrasses the admirer of his art with its unrestrained hyperbole and gratifies him with an occasional flash of acute insight. In interpretation and discriminating criticism much of the book is almost wholly deficient; it is saturated with enthusiasm that one could wish more finely tempered by intelligence.

POETRY

NEGRO FOLK RHYMES. By Thomas W. Talley, of Fisk University. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2.25. Professor Talley's idea in the compilation of this stout volume was a praiseworthy one, for, while a deal of attention has been paid to Negro spirituals, but little examination of the more purely secular music has been made. He fails in a laxity of investigation which permits the inclusion of distorted Mother Goose rhymes and even some of Stephen Foster's melodies as examples of folk rhyme peculiar to the Negro alone. It is to be expected that a certain amount of material, stanzas, lines, and phrases from other literature will be found embedded in Negro folk verse, but certainly an entire bit of alien work, however distorted, is not to be regarded as an authentic part of that rich heritage. excellent, however, is much of the work which the compiler has painstakingly set down that he may well be forgiven his lack of exactitude. Much of the material is of a broad comical order, but there are times when the reader will observe the primitive singer fumbling toward a poetical utterance.

So

IN APRIL ONCE. By William Alexander
Percy. The Yale University Press. $1.50.
The idea that a lawyer is too matter
of fact to write poetry has been exploded

Edgar Lee Masters and Arthur Davi-
Dicke To be added to the ranks of

yet brought into a safe haven at last by her stanchness and basic firmness of character. R. D. TOWNSEND.

BOOKS

poetical lawyers is the name of William Alexander Percy. In his book (it is a second volume of verse by him) he betrays a legal mind by sticking closely to safe precedents. Although his poems are in old measures and his themes are time-honored subjects, he does manage to imbue them with an individuality, although it must be admitted that it is not emphatic. He adds to the "Do you remember" school of poetry (always a weakness of young men) the following piece, which may be quoted as representative of the book:

TO BUTTERFLY

Do you remember how the twilight stood

And leaned above the river just to see If still the crocus buds were in her hood

And if her robes were gold or shadowy?

Do you remember how the twilight stood

When we were lovers and the world our wood?

And then, one night, when we could find no word

But silence trembled like a heartlike mine!

And suddenly that moon-enraptured bird

Awoke and all the darkness turned to wine?

How long ago that was! And how absurd

For us to own a wood that owned a bird!

They tell me there are magic gardens still,

And birds that sleep to,wake and dream to sing,

And streams that pause for crocus skies to fill;

But they that told were lovers and 'twas spring.

Yet why the moon to-night's a daffodil

When it is March-Do you remember still? Old-fashioned? Yes, but there will be many to like it.

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY SONG OF SONGS (THE). Translated by Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D., LL.D. The J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. $3. There are two interpretations of the "Song of Solomon," the one adopted here by Dr. Jastrow and in his English Reader's Bible by Dr. Moulton, which regards it as a collection of ancient love songs; the other, adopted by Ewald and by Renan, which regards it as a love drama. Dr. Jastrow's argument against the latter view would be conclusive if by a love drama we understood a modern play acted on the stage of a theater with change of scenery and a great company representing the royal Court. But it loses its effect if we regard it as a song drama recited or sung by an Oriental story-teller. On the other hand, if

it is only a group of love lyrics of a decidedly sensuous character, we cannot but wonder how it ever found its way into an anthology of religious literature, whereas it distinctly belongs there if it is a drama in which love and ambition are rival suitors of a woman's heart and in which love triumphs with the declaration by the peasant lover:

Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can the floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance
of his house for love,

He would be utterly contemned.

As "love lyrics of ancient Palestine" we can well let the Song of Solomon be forgotten, but as a love drama it will never lose its literary beauty or its moral power.

JESUS AND LIFE. By Rev. Joseph F. McFayden, D.D. The George H. Doran Company, New York. $2.

JESUS CHRIST AND THE WORLD TODAY.
By Grace Hutchins and Anna Rochester.
The George H. Doran Company, New York.
$1.25.

LIFE STORIES FROM THE OLD AND THE
NEW TESTAMENT. By Jenny B. Merrill,
Ph.D. The George H. Doran Company, New
York. $1.
LITTLE BOOK OF SERMONS (A). By Lynn
II. Hough. The Abingdon Press, Cincin-
nati.

NEW CHURCHES FOR OLD. A Plea for Community Religion. By John Haynes Holmes. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.

BEHIND THE MIRRORS. By the Author of "The Mirrors of Washington." G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.50. BOOK OF THE PIKE (THE). By O. W. Smith. The Stewart & Kidd Company, Cincinnati. $3.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INTER-
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION (AN). By
Pitman B. Potter. The Century Company,
New York. $4.

INTRODUCTION TO WORLD POLITICS (AN).
By Herbert Adams Gibbons. The Century
Company, New York. $1.
YOUTH AND THE OPEN DOOR. By George
R. Wells. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.

$2

WH

THEN you reach the close of this paragraph, stop reading for a minute . . . . examine the room you are sitting in, its furnishings and fittings .... then with that picture in your mind, try to im agine the same room in your great-grandfather's day (stop here.... and look. ... and think!)

. . quite a difference, wasn't there, in the two rooms? In yours are comforts and conveniences that your great-grandfather never even wished for.... they were unthought of in his day.

Commonplaces they are in your eyes, but in your great-grandfather's eyes. . . . miracles! Yet this wonderful change in life has come only in this past century. ... the century that has seen the Chemical Engineer take his rightful place in the world's industries. For it is he who, more than any other, has wrought this difference in the surroundings of life and brought into your home a wealth of comforts.

has brought
Comforts!

increasingly higher types of chemists, for men who knew manufacturing as well as chemistry, it was but natural that the du Pont Company's leadership brought to gether one of the finest chemical staffs in America. And also it was natural for this chemical staff, in its researches seek ing to improve du Pont explosives, to come upon other uses for the materials they worked with, and so in time came a series of du Pont products seemingly unrelated to explosives.

Thus came improved Pyralin for toiletware and many other articles-better Fabrikoid for the upholstery of fine furni ture, for luggage, binding books and scores of other uses. These are examples of the way in which du Pont Chemical Engineers have adapted different products for your use from similar basic materials.

Thus came a complete line of paints, varnishes, enamels, lacquers for the decoration and preservation of the country's homes, cars, furniture, etc. Thus arose, too, the manufac ture of dyes, which are based upon the same materials that explosives are based upon, and thus also came many chemicals that America's industries must have.

N

*

been building upon the foundation of chemistry and has always been one of the country's large employers of chemists. When the invention of dynamite and the appearance of other high explosives began to call for

find the du Pont Oval as a guarantee of excellence and as a sign that they come to you through the aid of du Pont Chemical Engineers.

This is one of a series of advertisements published
that the public may have a clearer understanding
of E. 1. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and its products.