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PRi NTED STATION ERY 200 SINGLE SHEETS 100 ENVELOPES OR 100 DOUBLE SHEETS 100 ENVELOPES' OR 100 SKETCHIES 100 ENVELOPES i the title of Ben Heclt's latest woric, A Book of Miracles. Eachi of the seven stories included in this col- lection is'a miracle, the story of di- vine 'intervention, in, the world of mnen. And the world of! men is por- trayed with that freedomn from illnu- sion and- that: incredible accuracy whicb we bave cornie to expect.of Ben Hecht. To. impose the mira culous upon a comnpletelyý w o r 1 d l'y patterni is >a satigand a difficuit proposition. An Inking o! Mr. Hecbt's tenden~ cies in this direction May'have beeni frît by. those o! you Who. saw, somne four. o!ftve years ago, bis motion Spicture, "The Scoundrel." In tbis work, Mr. Hecht, aided and, abetted by the somnewliat pallid villainies of Noel Coward, attempted to prove that sin, i its miost sophisticated for*r, was yery. amusing, buttJiat sinners ultimately must pay the piper. The impediments furnished by ,a. talented but unadaptable cast and tbe natural limitations of bis me- dium prevented bim from' mak.ing bis point in tbe most effective Man- ner. A Pure Prose No sucli deficlencies, however, are, to be found in A Bookc of Miracles. Here Mr. Hecbt's instrument is pure prose, and prose of such a workman- like and brilliant order that eacb sentence eau stand alone as a mas-, terful achievement. Ini , this style, .periiaps, lies the secret wbich ex- plains how Mr. Hecbt can describe God beholding a moving picture without a trace of sacrîlege, how a miracle can be used to end a mun- dane murder story and stili not be- corne a crude deus ex machina,, bow. God can act surpriàingly like Mani, and, more remarkable, Man can ap-, pear in the image o! God. Mr. Hecht's men are genuine and s0 are their actions. And wben bis iLhosts. his angels, or bis God enter, In the new -Macmilan novel, "The Open Slcy," by L. A. G. Strong. (above), Daevid Heron has failed to make a success of writ- 4.%4J i4of iedcieof 44D P%4T440Or and, on the verge of parting from his wif e, has a nervous break- down. He is sent by his . doctor to the lonely Irish island of Kil- ree, where life under "the open slcy" among simple Jlsherfolk may effect a cure. lfowever, the strange incidents and emotional crises wbich occur in tbe windswept bamlet prove as ful of psychological implications as tbe city life fromf which Heron fled. It is thie innocent wisdom of Sheila, the peasant girl who cornes to cook. for hirn, which brings the story to a climax. Sheila and the parish priest are, two of tbe outstanding characters in, the book. Heron says to Sheila- "You taugbt me tbat my job was to be myseif, tbe self I was borri witb. You taugbt me to keep stili and take tbings as tbey came. . . .. You and Father Morrissey bave had more i- fluence over mne than any one, be- cause you neitber of you tried to do anything to me." ct1 sions in men's lives seldorn take place over a period of years, but are confined to one or two days, at the most. During the Mardi Gras period ini New Orleans-the six short days before Lent-a group of People found the, pattern, of their lives completely altered, and camne to decisions of Iasting importance. Tbey ar e Dr. Ja-, son Kent. who is a bacterioîogist, hbi.s boyhood, friend, wbo is,,a Catholic priest, a cousin who is a successful piaywright, Dr.. Gomez who is. an exiledà Central Ameérican revolution- ist, aid a certain pugiiist usually too sodden with drink to knio*whwat it* is ail about. The constant quality. in this group of changing People is a girl named' Susanna who neyer flags in fier allegian.ce to Jason, althougb at times heurges her to make different decisions. It is with the events in these peo- ple's lives, ail concentrated into a few days that the story is coflcerned. The Mardi Gras goes on i the back- gruna 4&et motif to a thundrous :)rgy of living. And during its raucous and, highly colored progress Jason liasto decide whether he .will go off to do some experimenting of bis own in bacteriology or wbether he wiil settie down in bis own country and help his fellowman near at hand. It is a course of events which is entire- [y unlikeIyý-and this often bappens in making lastirig decisions-whicb brings bim to a point where he sees his way clear and can progress. This is one of those exceptiorially absorblng stories wbich we flnd once in a wbile, neyer leaving its canvas that is fllled with warring person- alities. --The -author is a powerful writer, a fine craftsman who doesn't tell a story unless he bas sometbing to tel. His particular gift arises from tbe fact that lie bas more than, regional view of bis surroundings, and that is tbe general fault of tbe Soû therner. He bas a universal un-. derstanding of, bis characters and tbeir place ini the world. His people aren't just tbe products of the Soutb- ern scene, but corne fromn the general run of active Americans flgbting to establish their ideas in a. land tbat Llý .