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-- WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1925 Are You of Fiction, Biography, or History? For lists write to ESTHER GOULD local paper. care Interested in books Travel your GLOOMY, INDEED! "THE SHADOW OF THE GLOOMY EAST" By Ferdinand A. Ossendowski E. P. Dutton & Co. Ossendowski has not written an- other "Beasts, Men and Gods" in this, his latest book "The Shadow of the Gloomy Fast." His subject matter it not so startling, so spectacular, nor is the narrative so continuous. In- stead of the story of a mad escape through countries almost unknown to us, this is vivid and indeed sufficiently startling sketches of experiences in at least partly known places--various provinces of Russia. Dr. Ossendowski considers the East itself a "gloomy shadow." And so it looms in his book--Ilike the cloud which rises up from a forest fire and in an instant seems to envelop the whole sky. And the elements of the forest fire are Bolshevism, Russian mysticism, strange distorted forms of witchcraft and a state of mind which leads to utter desperation and despair. In speaking of this mental confla- gration the author says: "The people are bending beneath its horrors. Drug-doping and self-immolation of the most insane kind are spreading. . So they cut their throats, hang themselves in barns and forests, drown themselves in rivers and marshy lakes, pour boiling water over themselves, swallow poison, or fling themselves into flames." While reading such statements one must, to keep ones sense of balance remember Dr. Ossendowski's own de- finition of his works when he was confronted by scientists, that he wrote not as a scientist but as an artist. One cannot help feeling that he has done what so many modern artists do, exaggerate for the sake of em- phasis. Real and vivid as are the sketches one cannot believe that the conditions they portray are as gen- eral as he would have us believe. But in any case Dr. Ossendowski has written a brilliant book. He re- counts his experiences in Russian vil- lages where witchcraft and heathen practices are paramount, where per- verted sects like the "floggers" carry on their mad rites, where it is a com- mon custom for young girls, bound in a lonely forest to "marry the Devil." Devil worship has its priestesses and its priests and "numbers a great many professors, and disposes of large and ever increasing funds." Dr. Ossendowski then goes on to the state of mind of the so-called in- telligensia, of the Royal family and the nobility before the War, he leaves no part of the complex nation un- touched. The impression of the book is like the lurid reflection that a great fire throws on the under side of its own smoke cloud. A GOOD STORY "THIS MAD IDEAL" By Floyd Dell Alfred A. Knopf Floyd Dell can certainly tell a story. He has an ease of motion which sweeps one along from the first page to the last. In "This Mad Ideal" the motion is not quite as sure and com- pelling as in Mr. Dell's first novel "Moon Calf." Perhaps having been a boy himself he is able to carry us along a little more surely with Felix Fay than with Judith Valentine. The theme of the two books is the same. Those who would fly high must fly alone. They must be free from the entangling alliances which enmesh ordinary people. They may pause in their flight for a day--an hour, but they must go on. Judith Valentine knew that almost before she knew that she knew it, when her only sympathetic friend, the doctor who had saved her from life- long invalidism, told her that he was running away with the woman he loved. But "Perhaps I shan't even be a doctor any more. It's taken some- thing out of me all this... And Judy --if you hear that I've become a bum, selling patent medicines on the street for a living--just remember, if you can, how it all happened." She falls in love with Roy--a shy inarticulate artist whom she keeps afloat by her own efforts as one would keep a bit of dandelion fluff in the air on a windless summer day. Then comes the moment of final de- cision. "She stood looking down at him, pitying him, pitying herself. They loved each other. If she mar- ried him, their striving would be over. They would stop trying to do impos- sible things. They would be content with each other." Judy's mother and father had real- ized that in marriage something was surrendered and they had rebelled. But in rebelling they both went down. Yet Judy persists in this "mad ideal." "They had ambitions. They had condemned themselves to be tossed about in loneliness forever on a sea READ HE WAS A MAN By ROSE WILDER LANE Floyd Dell says: "If I were to name an American writer of-great- er beauty and power, I don't know who it would be." $2.00 Harper and Brothers New York Publishers Since 1817 N.Y. A New Novel by the author of THE BROAD HIGHWAY THE LORING MYSTERY By JEFFERY FARNOL A delightful cloak - and - sword romance with a murder mystery that defies solution until the final pages are reached. $2.00 wherever books are sold LITTLE, BROWN & CO. Publishers Boston By the author of The Covered Wagon THE SHIP OF SOULS By EMERSON HOUGH A vigorous, enthralling novel of life, adventure and love in the far North. The scene is a fur trading station--the characters, the pion- eers of today. $2.00 For sale at all booksellers D. APPLETGN AND COMPANY 35 West 32d St., New York of vague unrest. Why . .Why not be happy, like other people?" A word would awaken him and bring him to her but Judy cannot speak it. "She waited a moment longer and then turned and went softly out of the room." A NUTTY PUN "TI call that a bit of perfect cast- ing," said director Roland West, when he was making "The Monster," the Metro-Goldwyn picture. "For the role of 'Daffy Dan' I have cast Knute Erickson with the accent on the 'nut.'" F. I. B. ART SHOP formerly Gairing Fine Arts 1642 Orrington Ave. Phone University 770 Picture Framing--Regilding--Canvas Repairing and Frames, Mirror Resilvering, Gifts and Greeting Cards NOW! BUY NOW!!! Combustion Fuel Oil Burning Equipment Used in North Shore Homes for more than five years. Protect your health by having an even temperature in your home during the chilly spring months. one Combusiic Fie) Qil Burner 1000 GALLONS OF FUEL OIL FREE Henry Ford selected "The Combustion" Why Thousands Have Selected The Combustion Equipment Completely automatic--controls thoroughly dependable. 1. 2. 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Stokes Co., New York When We Were Very Young Verses by A. A. MILNE With over 130 drawings by E. H. SHEPARD As charming as the verses of Eugene Field. Price $2.00 E.P.DUTTON & COMPANY Publishers NEW YORK URING the past few years much I of thetelephone plant in Illinois, originally erected at pre-war costs, has worn out or been outgrown, and has been replaced, at post-war prices for material and labor. This has added great- ly to the average in- Winn. 1101 LLL EL ZZ a ZT 7 Ea ZZ Za EE, POPULAR BOOKS The Book Store Alice McAlister Skinner WINNETKA 724 Elm St. LU LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLL ET Ed dd 27 7 77d vestment per telephone One Policy Keep in Touch with Home \ \ J HEN business takes you away over night or for a longer time, it is a comfort to know | that you can reach home quickly over Bell long distance lines no matter how far away you may be. To keep the family informed of your whereabouts 1s a sensible precaution. 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