Life — February 28, 1907 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“That rarest of graces in our present-day novelists, Aumor, is the distinctive note of Mr. Goodrich’s book. There is much through- out the book that reminds one of Boz.”—Pittsburg Gazette-Times. The Balance of Power By ARTHUR GOODRICH of a charming love-story, and in the midst, as well, of a vital, dramatic narrative of brisk, struggling modern x American life, such deliciously humorous characters as SJ the old Colonel, Peter Lumpkin, Messrs. Tubb and Butterson, the rival grocers, Jimmy O'Rourke, Miss Snifkins and the others in “The Balance of Power.” ««The old Colonel, whose amusing sayings are the equal of much that Mr. Dooley ever put forth.”’ —Brooklyn Citizen. «© A huge sense of humor which of itself lends a decided quality to his writing.” —Louisville Times. “The reader of “The Balance of Power’ is first won to attention and praise by the wit of the book.’? —Chicago Tribune. «<The go-ahead spirit breathes out of every page, and in revealing this the author has not overlooked its abiding sense of humor.”? —New York Press. «* Possesses a cneerfuiness and charm at once exhilarating and contagious.’” —St. Louis Republic. Four Large Editions Have Been Printed The Outing Publishing Company NEW YORK my The Lit Z00 > “The Mills of the Gods” HE average manuscript reader is a sad-eyed, morbid person and cynically inclined. Like | the warden of a jail or a lunatic asylum, he ac- quires a perverted idea of the average of human |intelligence, and grows to believe that about | everything is rotten in the state of Denmark. ‘There is, of course, the reward of an occasional golden grain in the tons of chaff; and, too, there is now and then some offering so gloriously bad |as to pierce the gloom of dull mediocrity and force tears of joy from the weary eyes of him who sits in judgment. A society novel recently offered a New York publisher contained a wonderful description of a house-party, and the author gravely stated that | the guests ‘‘partly stood and partly sat!” which | gives one a delightful mental picture of what is decidedly new in society poses. For sheer ineptitude, however, the palm must | be awarded to a would-be author whose heroine |is provided with this rather startling first en- trance: © el advanced quickly, her head held haughtily aloft.” Whether, Salome-like, she car- ried it on a platter, the writer does not state. One sees traces of the influence of Laura Jean Libbey in the (as far as we know) still unpub- | lished love-story of a sprightly heroine named ing, sigh-heaving so popular with large circles of readers. | There were many pretty touches in the book, but | for fine fancy and poeticexpression there was noth- ing to equal the passage setting forth that “Lucy leaned her face against the grate, which left a cold plaid pattern on her cheek !”” But not even the flinty-hearted reader could laugh over the school-girl effusion tied with pink ribbon which contained a violet-scented note and the following piteous appeal : “Dear Unknown Reader.—I give you one rose thought for remembrance. You are my first, perhaps my only critic. Oh, be kind to me!” Not without its pathos was the visit to a pub- lishing-house of a little old lady from the South with a book of sentimental poems under her arm. For a frontispiece she had cheerfully chosen a photograph of her father’s tombstone. When the book was gently declined, she tremulously offered to withdraw the tombstone; and when even that concession seemed to be of no avail, she took her book and went away dazed with | unexpected defeat Chocolates and Confections known for their purity and goodness For sale where the best ts sold. STEPHEN F. WHITMAN & SON, Y 1316 Chestnut Street, Phita. WW WY) WU. comicbooks.com