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OUR BOOK REVIEWS THE FIGHTING CHANCE. By Robt. W. Chambers. (D. Appleton & Co., Publishers.) While we may hesitate to say that a 1 ‘great” novel has just been completed with the appearance of “The Fighting Chance,” still it is a work which deals so fully and so thinkingly with some of the vast problems of our American civilization that the story must prove a valuable contribution to current American literature. Apart fi'om its value as a piece of absorbing fic tion for which the numberless readers have waited impatiently from week to week, there is a fine phil osophy to the story that results in holding the read er’s attention and which also creates a wholesome interest in some of the gravest social evils of the day. The character studies are excellently well done and the personalities of the various actors in the story are clearly and strongly impressed on the reader’s mind. It is seldom that we find a piece of current fiction dealing with as deep an undercurrent of moral struggle as does “The Fighting Chance.” It might almost seem as though its moive twere to awaken all the old questionings contained in the time-honored subject of Love versus Mammon, and of sturdy honesty versus smooth and questionable diplomacy in business maters. After a very human struggle Love triumps over tradition, environment and heredity, while honesty and loyal friendship bring to their ardent adher ents a personal peace only to be had from the un swerving conviction of Right, and a sturdy opposi tion to Wrong, wherever and whenever encountered. This may be said to be the motive or the principle of the story, but so cleverly is the impression made and so subtly are the facts woven and arranged and adjusted that the reader never once feels he is being made a target on which to impress great moral issues. The Golden Age, however, welcomes a novel of this sort and is glad to give its readers the following very brief resume of the plot of “The Fighting Chance”: Like several pieces of recent fiction, the scene of the story is laid among the ultra society set of New York. A young girl, charming, beautiful, courted and universally admired has, at the opening of the ®tory, just betrothed herself to the most eligible young man of her acsuaintance. Her principal ob ject in doing this is to safely anchor herself by an early and wise (?) marriage, for she knows the history of the female members of her family and that history does not redound to their honor or credit. Sylvia Landis, therefore, thinks she sees a safe opportunity to become socially conventional and morally safe, by a loveless marriage with How ard Quarrier, a man who is ultimately described by one of his own feminine relatives as being com posed of a “tuft of pompadour hair and a pair of woman’s eyes protruding from the golden dust-heap his father buried him in.” Sylvia, on the other hand, has but little money though an unquestioned social position which she longs to maintain, and for many months she hopes to be able to tolerate Quarrier, even after she has met the man she really loves, in the person of Stewart Siward. In one of the many stormy scenes between Quarrier and Sylvia the girl excalims: “Why do you want me to marry you—you do not care for me?” and Quarrier re plies, brutally enough: “A man cares for but two things—his money and his heirs to it!” There is no further chance of misconception on the part of the girl as to what her future will be—simply the figurehead of the Quarrier establishment, which is being bought by the master for a fixed sum, as it were! Knowing this she still struggles, but is final ly mastered by her real and very strong love for Siward, even though she knows that he is himself struggling in the grasp of an inherent tendency to ward periodic dipsomania. His failing being more psychical than physical he sees in a marriage with Sylvia his “fighting chance” to overcome The Enemy, and when she sees it, also, the battle over Evil is won for them. Another character in the story who may, indeed, The Golden Age for December 27, 1906. be considered the real hero of the book, is Beverly Plank, a young man of German descent, who craves a position in New York society which he finds his vast fortune cannot purchase. He is sponsored, however, by the Mortimers, friends of Sylvia Lan dis, and he becomes interested in Siward to the extent of saving the latter’s small fortune which has been jeopardized by Quarrier and his associates in an illegal and illicit “deal.” Plark frustrates these plans, by masterful business sagacity, succeeds in being accepted by society and finally marries Lelia Mortimer, whose husband, Leroy, has been killed in an automobile accident. Leroy Mortimer is one of the best drawn characters of the story, for in him is pictured all the bestial and revolting characteristics of a man steeped to the lips in self indulgence, and whose moral sense is as blunted and deadened by long disuse as his physical body is be sotted and weakened by excesses. In the death of Leroy Mortimer, however, the reader experinces his first and perhaps his only regret in the story —the man follows his wife into a restaurant, makes a scene in public and almost strangles him self in a fit of blind rage. It is to be regretted that he did not drop dead during this scene or meet with some other humiliating end as a direct result of his methods of living rather than just to be killed by his own reckless and ignorant handling of an auto. But as his passing helps to completely annihilate the last of Quarrier’s plans to ruin Siward and as it also leaves his beautiful young wife free to marry Plank, whom he loves deeply, perhaps we should not question the manner in which the end comes to Mortimer, There are several minor characters which are ex ceedingly well drawn, and on the whole we believe “The Fighting Chance” may safely be said to be among the foremost pieces of fiction produced during recent yean. LISTENING TO GOD. By Hugh Black. (Fleming H. Revell Company. Price, net, $1.25.) In this book the Revell Company has made an other most valuable contribution to the popular religious book-shelves. It is presented in the ex cellent quality and good taste that characterizes the publications from that house. The author comes from a successful pastorate of ten years in Edinburg to the chair of Practical Theology in Union Seminary. This book contains a series of sermons of which the first sets the keynote. The. text is Psalm 49: 4: “I will incline mine ear to a parable.” The subject is. “Listening to God.” The development of the theme call upon us to realize intensely and practically that God is talking to us. History, science, providence, revelation and personal ex perience are all channels of communication by which the devout soul may hear the voice of God. The theory of the practical nearness of God to his people on earth, and the consequent possible nearness of his people to him, is the golden cord of truth that runs through all these twenty-seven discourses. The language is simple and elegant; the style is modest and chaste. The perfect composition of the writer is the chief exhibition that he makes of his excellent scholarship, and the ease with which he sets forth the deep things of the Spirit, discloses the fact that the author spends much of his time in the presence of the Lord. The reading of such a book can do nothing but good. Mav the Lord give it a wide opportunity. J. L. D. Hillyer. THE RECKONING. By Robert W. Chambers. (Cole Book Co., Atlanta. Price, $1.20.) The appearance of “The Fighting Chance” re calls yet another piece of strong fiction by the same author. We refer to “The Reckoning,” which deals entirely with the Colonial period and that surrounding the war of the Revolution. The story is not remarkable for any special uniqueness of plot but it is well and skillfully handled and will bear a eareful reading. Mr. Chambers certainly shows a versatility of style in dealing with the various phas es of our national life and if his picture of social conditions in the past as shown in “The Reckoning” is as accurate as that og the present as portrayed in “The Fighting Chance,” then the former volume must be a distinct contribution to the literature of the times in which the stirring events transpired. At Eventide. By S. Burton Lucas. Say not goodbye at eventide, It is the silent hour Os parting day, when far and wide, O’er barren crag and bower, The shadows fall, and aerie tones The soft air fill with widespread moans. It is the hour loved faces peep From out the past; When woes, that in the daylight sleep Wake thick and fast; Hope’s pulse beats slow— Faith’s light burns low, And surging waves of memory’s sea Beat on thought’s shore relentlessly. So if it be that we must part, I, left alone, Must cheek the beating of my heart With stifled moan. If thou wouldst stay that heart’s wild cry, At eventide, say not goodby. THE YOUTH’S COMPANION CALENDAR FOR 1907. A Four-Leaf Hanging Calendar, Lithographed in Twelve Colors and Gold. The new Youth’s Companion Calendar for 1907 is both useful and ornamenbaT. The Calendar prop er is in bold, clear type, and is given plenty of space. On its decorative side it is exceptionally beautiful. Each of the four panels presents a mas terly reproduction of an original painting. On the first leaf will appear “A Venetian Scene,” by Thomas Moran; on the second, “A Group of Chil dren,” by Maud Humphrey, on the third, “A Study in Bird Life.” by Giacomelli; on the fourth, “The Blacksmith Shop,” by F. Luis Mora. Each is worth separate framing, and for this purpose the panels are loosely tied together, so that each may he ex posed in turn, yet all preserved. The panels are 12 inches high by 7 3-4 inches wide. Thp Calendar is copyrighted and published by The Youth’s Compan ion exclusively for those who send $1.75 for The Companion for 1907. Contrasts and Consequences. (Continued from page 2.) tunity to convince her lover that she did not fear a future illumined by his love, even if it deprived her of some of the luxury to which she had been accustomed. Her reply to John’s story was eloquent and convincing, and as she spoke the shackles of temptation seemed to fall from the young man’s shoulders, and again he felt possessed of 'the full moral strength of his race and of his Christian creed, and he listened with grave and tender acquiescence as Eleanor concluded by say ing: “John, poverty does not daunt me; it may mean some trials and some hardships but it never need mean utter squalor, or even destitution, such as you have seen today. Lack of money is not, after all, the poverty to be feared the most, for the only real poverty is loss of honor and probity and the attendant poverty of soul. This we need never have unless we will it so, and all the terrors of what the worlds calls poverty are exorcised for ever, dear, by the Magician, Love, when he waves ■the conquering wand of an upright life,” 11