Life — November 9, 1922 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

The Latest Books (Continued from page 20) of property, but merely the repeal of a lot of foolish tax and other laws hampering trade and industry. If national and state legislators would only lift from the people their oppressive tax burdens, and leave them free to work for a living, there would be no occasion for new schemes for taking property from one class for the benefit of others. IDE-LIGHTS ON AMERICAN Lir- Ne rE, by Fred Le wis Pattee (Century). Since it is con- ceded that the authors who write about the uninteresting people who merely do things are of more im- portance to the reading public than the millions who carry on the world’s work, it logically follows that the critic who writes about the writers should occupy a still higher position. The confidence given by an as- sured deference to the critical talent may explain the amazing audacity of a professor of literature in the Pennsylvania State College in break- ing a lance with no less redoubt- able a slayer of writing reputations than Mr. Henry Louis Mencken. There was a time when, grand, gloomy, and peculiar, the Baltimore knight, with clang of armor and battle-cry of strange oaths, rode down the hapless writing peasantry with none to front his spear. Now comes Professor Pattee with an es- say in which he smites the slayer of boobs and dragons quite in the ap- proved Mencken manner. The author of prosy platitudes against Puritans; turns out, under close inspection, to be a very Puritan-like person, whose prominence has been largely achieved by following his own advice—to knock somebody on the head every day with a meat axe. The chapters on O. Henry, and on “The Epic of New England,” a neglected record of the exodus from the hill farms of New Hampshire and other New Eng- land States, will have a special in- terest for the Sydney Porter fans, and for that immense number of Ameri- no were either born in New and or wish that they had been. oT (E Love Lecenp, by Wood- ward Boyd (Scribner), reads like an attempt to modernize our old friend, “Little Women.” Here we have an analysis of four sisters who are supposed to vary in character, appearance and tempera- ment. They are not over-interesting types of middle middle-class Middle West femininity. Miss Bovd has a certain knack of “hitting folks off” in an off-hand manner but her Snapshots are much better than her portraiture. OMFORTABLE... ---because they remove the dangers of loss and assure immediate funds--- ——— A'B-A 222. Cheques FOR TRAVELERS About AcB-A Cheques —tniversally used by travelers in every Fioet consensus in presence of acceptor identifies you. Ask for them at your bank or write for particulars to BANKERS TRUST COMPANY New York City —issued by banks everywhere in denom- inations of $10, $20, $50, and $100. compact, easy to carry, handy to use. comicbooks.com