THE DAILY BRITISH v WHIG. SATURDAY, DEC. 17, 1921, SINCLAIR LEWIS Author of "Main Street.* neighbors. ---------- -- "MAIN ~The Greatest B This story will be published in The British Whi In "MAIN STREET" In the life he des combines unusually large, popular interest with real Watch for "Main Street" Sinclair Lewis has pic cribes we see life as it is STRE ook Sensation of Recent Years g as a serial, beginning MONDAY, DECEMBER 19th. tured people as they are. In its characters lived all about us. We are giving to our reade literary merit. Read It ee ------ we see TT" -- rs a story which all our Canadian Author of "The City of Comrades," "The Street Called Straight," "The Empty Sack," And Others. - Duning one week of November, the Public of 4 nuwber of Canada's large Cities was ticated to an'entirely now Boterest in her wrilers. '"'Canacdisn Authors' Week" was the magic few days when pcoplo who hed and loved books, could 2t lest weet in person Sheir authors, discuss anything taey ehoge with them in bookshop, ice- : furé-ball or drawing room, and carry &Way autographed trophies for the Sreasure bookshelf. Pehaps the mos' outstanding figure, among the big Oazadian masters of the pen, was fhe presence from across the horder of that world-famous writer of flc- tion and inspirational work, Mr, Basil King. Ho has endeared himsel to [every layman, man, woman or child to whom he spoke duiing the period of his stay in Canada, 211 clamor for more information concerning tais great Canadian, whom many haa not known to be a native of the dominion until his appearance during Authors' week, has led the British Whig 'o Publish this article. Basil King 17as born "on sn island fn thé Gulf of St. Lawrence" as the American papers have it, or as we 'know it, Charioltetown, P.E.i. Dasil King is a cosmopolitan, howover, as | most writers are wont to be, and he is planning to apend this wirter in Rome, if conditions perm!t. Ifis per- manent place of redidonce, is a hisvor- fe place in the United States for he occupies the famous one-time home of William Dean Howeils, "dean of © Amer'can letters' yef Cambridge, Massachuse'ts. } The circumstances or op. Mr. r a ow related King became an au by him as follows: "I am somotimes asked how I broke into print.' I never broke 3c: 1 £ll ig. Barly in the ninoteen hund- Peds, at a time when I thought ail yearning for authorship deall, an idea amg to me, while on a irdin, which I thought might make a good short Slory. Falling before the temptation 1 began writing "he story that rignt, Minishing it tvo or three days later. On sending it to 'The Atlanme 1 Was amazed to Pad # accepted and Paid for at once, and published wi n- Be & fow months, A writing career Was. further Lrecipitated by the wet © of parlially Josing Joy sigh!. On the day when I realis®d® that my aves Were 'going' I bought a typowmier, It the worse dameito thet wotat I knew I could tnunage to work it as a Blind man plays a plato. The woot didn't come tp the worst, though it Lame to protty bad. During years of MH as a somi-iavalid, the Itouse of Imagination proved a refuge trom all troubles." . From tho first his anspiraiionsi * frend of mind has colored his work, and 'hand in hand with his greet is of fiction have coms trom oe truly imiahiphant books and articles of his on the Mfo of the spi= fs ways to accomplishment, © strength and conquest. "The Stroet Called Straight," "Ihe City of Com- mdes"', "The Abolishing of Deats," *The Thread uf Plamo" and is last at novel; "The Empty Sack" wie Bose of his works which nave ht him the greatast faire. Tha! trend o: his writing, differing as does from the usual path of suc- --~---- hrs Fo ER v3] ody acl [Make This a {| Book Christmas Here are a few suggestions. Your bookseller will how others of w Fall Books. MASTER OF MAN-- By Sir Hall Calne. One of the "biggest" books of the year, in strength and interest.--§y.75. MARTIN confiBY's VENG EANCE-S : % h EATEN A SL HELEN OF OUSE~ t. .Probabl k 'this fal had a remarxabdle vopular appeal, is demonstrated dy ihe phenomenal success which nia stories have received when drxaatiz- ed for the motion pictures. His best work has been used for the screen {and his name upon any scenarid prac- | tically ensures its enthusiastic recep. tion by exhibitors as well as the 2ub- lic. As someone wid, "as long es reopio are as interested in the writ- ers of film as tho actors, there is no dangor of the movies becoming un- desirable." The showing of Basil King's pictures in Canada last year proved that theres wes »0 danger of cinema-deterioration hens, wt wy. rate! The popularity eof *Barch- bound" will not soon be forgotten. But Basil King bimwelf'says, as some- one told him when he frst under- took writing as a serious ti'ng that like Jacob -- he must serve eeves years for his master, and seven years for Rachel, or success, and only cow Is he enjoying the fruits of his ja- bor in the company of bis bride--re- cognition. ' In an interview especially secared for the British Whig Mr. Xing mace many references to bis life and work teresting to his largs public, It was during a gathosing of friends in the bookworid, and al- though Mr, King telked with eprit on almost every aspect of current events, it was not until @ young wo- xan present, who had receniiy re- over from a serious illness turned {tho conservation that tlhe wuthor {spoke of anything concercing him | self. "Mr. King, I pereoraliy owe you a great debt," ehe said. drawing ber ohair toward his. You have saved my life twice. Once when I had 108: {my fathér, a few years ago--aud [just & month ago, when i raced |Ceath wyself. The first time, I read | your articles on 'The Abolishing ef £ magazine ('key have appeared a'so [n book form) and they practically | Death" wher. thoy were munning in | 8270 me 'ke courage 10 ¥0 sn when {I had though' to go under complete- {lly. The second time, during my iH- | ness, 1 was given a copy of your ast {novel "The Empty Sock" and the | guotation you made a theme of in tne book, carried me through my wors: {ours not only suffering but actual { fear, and, I think, saved me from that worst enemy of an ill person, setf pity The quotation I {mean is the one remembered from the bible by Bob when he lay wouna- led in hospital, 'Thou therefore em- |dure hardness as a good soldier of | Jesus Christ.' » The talk went on. 'I have roceiv- jed criticism of that character of { Bob," said Mr. King, 'but in reality {he is not an inspired creation of my own brain, but a typificaion of weat {T have come to call the 'post-war young man.' Hé #s not to be found oa {every street .orner by any means, |but he is not lacking in any group {of men who have been through the fwar, He has acquired a faith, an cessful ction, | undorstanding and maturity of mand | no' to be exaggerated, and an ideal- [tem, thet in a strong young person, | very nearly baffles those who have ool 'acually seen the influences | whieh have produced him. Also the jcomment that it 4 unnatural that {such a type should desire mating | with a personality so much removed, land a scemingly lower nature 20 Jenny's. This is not unnatural. I | have aiways found that men of his | type choose the less thoughtful 'ype {of woman. As George Elliot says, there is something in the stronger nature which invariably recds the weaker." : "The Empty Sack" deals with "Bs question of sentiment and what art it should play in business. Through the diamissal of an elderly omployse, @ banker is indirectly responsible Lor that man's son becoming a thier aad a murderer, and the marriage of the boys's sister to his own only son. The character of this boy and the combination of lack of guidanes, ag impulsive nature and 'overpowering circumstance which affect his as- tions, is taken directly from life, Mr, King says. Basil King's interest in people for themselves for themselves. as well as his work as a humanitarian and stu- dent of life in every aspect, often takes him to the great prison in tae United Stats, "Sing Sing." He has two great friends. who have been murderers--and as hea naively pit it, "a murder is just liks any other man." The (wo men whom he par- ticularly visit are cxceptionally well- bred and educated persons, but Mr. King admits that to speak, ag he is often called upon to do, in the gen- cral assembly, is terrific. The con- stant association with each other, he is convinced, is the most thorough punishment the criminals confined is prison suffer, and he adds "perhaps the nearest thing to hades on earth." . . . The sight of a conqueror is always an inspirinz thing--but the senti- | ment of the people of Toronto 'ow- ards this outstanding Canadian or Canadians, who has so quietly and so nobly fought his good fight aga'ast fatl'ng health nd blindness, must pa great. And the picture of the now famous author not only preserving his own fine feeling of optimism and endeavor, but from his own preoe cupations orying courags and cowmfor: to all corners of the English speak- ing world, is tremendous and up- lifting. Canada pays tribute *o Basil Kiag. ANNE MacLEAN. THE FLAMING FOREST. By James Oliver Curwood. Cosmo- politan Book Corporation, New York, publishers. 296 pages, Price, $2.00. If Mr. Curwood is not a syndicate, he is a most prolific producer. "The Flaming Forest" is the twenty-first volume to bear his name as author. LIt is the third the scenes in which are laid in the Three River country-- the great north land watered by the Ath- abasca, the Slave and the Mackenzia rivers, and about which he writes as one who knows and loves the sil- ences, the distances, the forests, the beauty, the wast flower-covered areas, he myriais' of birds, and the hardy, courageous, strong men--and their women--who serve the com- merce of the country as agents or workers for the world's fur merch- ants. In this northern land the Hud- eon"s Bay Company factors 'ruled with strong hands, maintaing order, helping the Indians, being fathers in their communities. Then, when the transfer of the territory to Canada came, 'the scarlet police appeared, took over the duty of maintaining law and rose to almost world fame for the manner in which they did their duty. The cold, detailed, offic- jal statements of their achievements are as stirring as anything fictionists conceive, The chief actor in '""The Flaming Forest" is Sergt. David Carigan, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Sent to bring in Black Roger Aude- nard, alive or dead, wanted for nalf a dozen murders perpotrated fifteen years before, his adventures began early and did not close in the last chapter, He is shot by a woman, Carmin Fanchet, whose brother he had brought to the gallowe. He 'thinks the att was done by Jeanne Marie-Ann Boulein, who helps to re- store him to strength. She is a sie- ter of the Roger Audenard for whom David was in search, and who dfes a man's death trying to save from the flaming forest the graves of nis parents, There are family mysteries and old feuds and many adventures in the record, which holds the at- tention till David and Jean And themselves betrothed, and David makes up fis mind that the north- land will be his home, and with deal Roger's brother as his friend. VITUS, "KONK'RIN HERO.) Ilis Further Adventures With Laly Luck in a New Wiley Book. The further advantures of Hugh Wiley's "konk'rin her," Vitus Mars- den alias The Wildcat and his goat, Lily, are continued in "Lady Luek." (Alfred A. Knopf). The Wildeat would probably describe himself zs the "crapshootingest nigger in the EF. or after," and those who enjoy the language of the galloping domi- nos need go no further. Through all the ups and downs of an adventurous Western tour, start- ing from "Memphis, Ten-o-see" and home again, the story depends on the relation of Lady Luck to a crap same and it is punctuated with the pie- turesque patter of the devotee. Mr. Wiley: "shoots a hundred and J saves her lay" when it comes to de- {scribing the colored brother who | "craves action." The adventurek ingeniously contrived and amusing, Fair warning! Those who prefer the game of duplicate whist are like- ly to echo the "Blaaa!" of Lily the goat, and points no moral, It is a treat- ise on the conversation that accom- panies the rolling of the bones, ---- AT CHRISTMAS-TIME, By Fanny Runaells Poole, I love to think at holy Christmas- time The patient kine may joy's increase; Oxen and cow, with eyes of a ce2p share our peace, So reminiscent of that Night sublime. When near them lay the Child in manger rude, With Maid Divine who pondered in her heart The voices and part O! the eternal bliss cach year rensw- el, » the glory, all a I love to think the sheep have mem- ories Of when the glory fell upon the!r sight, . With that of shepherds, on Gras Christmas night -- Visions--for such do throng tneir tender eyes, Comfort to all God's creatures, loan of them As greatest, comfort we will yaw to bring, Henceforth, anew, the while we Noel sing, And claim heaven's peace, our spirit' diadem, --------t---- Glimpses. Edward G. Lowry, author of "Washington Close-Ups", held one of the most trying posts in the field ~f diplomacy from the outbreak of the war until about the time the United States entered the conflict. He went to England on an agsignment from the state department in the summer of 1914, intending to return short- 1y to the United States but was dratt- od by Ambassador Page for the work of looking after the German interes:s which had been turned over to the ombassy. This work. was exacting and required rare tact. Although un- tried in diplomacy, Mr. Lowry sue- ceeded in the work so well that he was commended both by Germany and by Great Britain. Immediately after the United States entered the war Mr. Lowry volunteered and was commissioned as captain in *he Am- enboan army, serving for more than a year at the front, . . . A friend recently asked Sarah Comstock, the novelist, who was ber most helpful critic. "I really ba: lieve," she answered, "that the most inspiring one is Zoe Beckley's black cat.' That cat knows how literature is made and when she purrs at wy work 1 feel that it is a good omen. This apartment house .has always seemed to attract pen-pushers and hag many literary traditions. It now harbors in its east tier Zoe Beck- ley and her husband, Joe Gollomb. the special writer of the New York Evening Post; Anna Cogswell Tyler, whose last book is just ou, and Ar- thur Ruhl, who has just written a book based on his experience asa yar correspondent. And that cat is the helpful critic and friend of each one of us. While I was working on "The Daughter of Helen Ken:' she often sheets over my shoulder. Once or twice she even attempted a litile editing, but I had to discourage that. She confided to me that her sym- pathies are all for the flappers sod that she really couldn't undersisad ak.' He Knew Them All Women, fresh from a club gather ing, chatted at tea in an upper Broadway restaurant, differing over the women and children of the White House in the last fifty years. A pink and white vigorous looking sexagenarian at a nearby table ln- tervened. He told them who were the mothers and children, the aunts end nieces that lived in the White House from Grant to McKinley, how they dressed, what was the color of their bair, if they were fat or thin, 'what did to the furniture ar- rangement. 'The club women listen- ed rapt. "Excuse me, sir, but how do you happen to ow all this?" one of them asked. "I took them all," was the reply. "My name fs Prince. I was the 5 As are| Lady Luck teaches no lesson | the attitude of Helen's mother ast] hotographer. No woman over fovsed orerien:" sae ig. hie) | House without trying to have | picture taken there." SHERWOOD ANDERSON GETS $2,000 DIAL FUND The Dial magazine announces tha' its annual aware of $2,000 in recog- nition of 'the service to letters ren- dered by a young American writer goes this year to Sherwood Ander- son, author of "The Triumph of the Lgg,"" "Poor White" and other nov- els and stories of Middle Western American life. Sherwood 'Anderson's lished work was "Windy son's Som," in 1916. "Marching Men," the stories in "Winesburg, Ohio," preceded "Poor White" and "The Triumph of the Egg." |The author lives at Palos Park, near Chi- cago, and has for some time been writing copy for an advertising ag- ency. He was born in Camden, Ohio first pub- McPher- son, provided the series of clay mod- els which are used as illustrations for his latest book. The Dial, originally founded ly Ralph Waldo Emerson and reestah- lished in Chicago by Francis F. Browne, changed from a political fortnightly to a monthly journal o? art and letters, with its offices in New York, in 1919. The policy ot the magazine is to publish the work of Americans and Europeans, with no prejudice for or against tho pew or the traditional forms of expres- sion. In the past year it has pub- lished "La Vie en Fleur," by Anatole France, winner of the Nobel prize for literature this year, and "Four Years," by Willlam Butler Yeats, ----s Rod and Gun, The Christmas 1ssue of Rod and Gun in Canada is particularly attrac- tive and is replete with many stories which will appeal to the heart of the true sportsman. Allen H, Kerr's "Trout Hunting on the Kenogami and Kenlogamesis" as the opening article will prove a realistic tale, while the 'ever popular F, V, Wil- liam's and Bonnyeastle Dale's natta tives are of the usual high standard. The article by A. F. "Clam and Pear] Fish" tedly be of vivid interest as well as instructive. Guns and Ammuritios, Along the Trap-line, and Fishing | Notes, contain several articles valu- able to the various readers. Rod and 2 in Canada is published monthly by W. J. Taylor, Limited, Woodstock, Ont. ~ -- A Perfect Tribute, | "I think Dickens is one of the best |friends mankind has ever had," [wrote G. Santayana in last month's | Issue of the Dial. "He has held the | mirror up to nature, and of its rrag- . They (his people) are { worth knowing, just as one's neigh- | bors are, for their picturesque char- {acters and their pathetic fates. Their names should be in every ohild's | mouth; they ought to be adopted members of every household a ig In every English-speaking home, in | the four quartérs of the globe, par- {ents and children will do well to real Dickens aloud of a winter's evening; [they will love winfer, and one an- other, and God the better for {*." A Secret Worth Knowing, Asked at one time how he account- ed for his success, Theodore N. Vail, great captain of the telephone in- dustry, replied: "By never being un- willing, when young, to do another man's work, and then, when older, by never doing anything somebody else could do better for me." i -------------- From Father To Son. In "The Making of a Man" (Thomas Seltzer) Mr. Joseph H. Ap- Wallace entitled | will undoub- | her engaging corres. pel gives us an | pondence between father and son at |school--a very helpful and whole {somhe exchange of precept and affoce | tion. A Fresco of Litegary Saints, it may be a sin to suggest tearing 'up a bound volume. But anybody {that is wondering how to decorate a |library might solve the problem by {framing a few of the "Twenty-four Portraits" (Harcourt, Brace & Co.), | by Will Rothenstoin. The list in- | cludes Granville Barker, Max Beer- {bobm, Arnold Bennett, Robert | Bridges, A. Cultton-Brock, T. J. | Cobden-Sanderson, Joseph Elgar, Sir James Fraser, John Galsworthy, Andre Gide, Edmund Gosse, Lord Haldane, Thomas Hardy, A. BE. Housemar, W. H. Hudson, Dean Inge, T. E. Lawrence, John Mase- od | 3 -1q4 (field, George Russell (A. E.) and His wife, Tepnessee Mitchell Ander. ments has composed a fresh world [3 J. J. Thomson, Remember. Remcember--not the Maine, but the poor clerks who stand behind { Book counters day after day hour latter Lour, answering your innumer- lable queries: "Can you tell me {three or four good books for Christ- | mas presents 2" "Io you think this |cne would make a suitable gift," ew, {Da your Christmas book . buying feerly! You can save yourself many {hours of wrangling and lessen the wear and tear on the overworked clerks by consulting some of the Christmas catalogues. ---- Wisdom may come with age, as tho wise man claimed, but no young scat- ter-brain ever makes quite as big a fool of himself over a woman as some of the old birds do. Another reason why life is so hard is 'because the shop girls now think they have to dress like millionaires' daughters, : ----mrm JNEANT almost beyond belief, dies- for infants. This being so, give hier baby relief with ~remember that Fletcher's = Wandin cat on the sil and read the typad |= : MORTALITY in and even today it occupies 'the leading physicians in all countries. The death rate -among infants is being grad- ually reduced through new methods o This reduction in the death rate adapting the precautions taken and remedies used to keep clear of the old methods, and choose after and remedies specifically applicable to infants. is it necessary for us to caution mothers against trying to a remedy that she would use f hygiene, past ages has been something Making History. frightful, sortething time and the mind of new preventatives and new reme- has NOT been accomplished by by adults. Rather has it been long research the precautions for herself? Will she Uastoii.. is strictly a remedy for infants and children ? k Children Of Course You Love You love it because of its you what is the matter when to you for help. But the more you help baby, very Fletcher's Castoria is. It has been used for thirty years. it feels bad. Cry For Your Baby, helplessness, because it can't tell It can only cry and look love baby, the more you want to the more you ought to realize what a wonderful remedy babies' ailments for over An experienced doctor discovered Fletcher's Castoria especially for babies' use. Itisa Drops and have only good to say of i w 's Castorig, e you would not think of prepared especially for Infants and baby. 'Get a bottle of it. See'how the you for helping it. Soon you will learn to depend just for Infants and Children, and of harmless substitute for Castor Oil, Syrups. Doctors who know what is safe and best it. of Fletcher's Castoria aad little one smiles at you a ything for that was not fd Eien hat was au , GENUINE CASTORIA ALways