FANNIE HURST SUCCEEDS IN FIRST NOVEL

A very interesting tale artfullyand pieasantly told, is Miss Hurt's "Star Dust." Yet it is more than that, for like "Main Street" it present a vivid protest against the commonplaceness, the narrow mindedness, that holds the majority of us down to a life of anotony and mundane, materialist achievement. It is a clear cut cross section view of the experiences and struggles of one who, failing to attain for herself expression of herself, gives all that a woman can give that her daughter may grow up to know the freedom and deliciousness of being herself.

It is the story of Lilly Penny--LilyBecker Penny--brought up in the close moral confines imposed by a rightous mother who believed in telling her daughter nothing about anything except the virtues of a "settled married life". So Lilly marries, but after three weeks of marriage, she revolts to flee to New York, where she tries to be herself; whe obtains a heraing for her voice from the great Auchinloss, but it is not a great voice. Who knows but that sufficient freedom given her in her earlier year might not have allowed it to develop? At any rate, Lilly decides that her daughter should have none of the cramping "Chinese shoes" into which she was thrust slue and body the day she was born. In telling of Lilly's fight to gain for her daughter what she could never have, Miss Hurst has an excellent opportunity for interesting narrative, strong characterization, and vivid portrayal of conditions as they are which she does not fail to grasp.

The characters in "Star Dust" are real people for Miss Hurst has a way of pointing out the essential things of there make-up and with broad stroke can quickly conjure up a picture of person and personality that lives. Lilly herself--the reader can feel all her emotions, sympathizes with her; her mather, dear bossy old soul, whose religion is housekeeping, and her lovable and gentle old father, who make a bit of money in spite of himself out of the war. Her husband, the tupication of the respect able business and fireside homebody. The scores of people Lilly comes in contact with in her trying experiences in New York--Miss Hurst's magic pen touches them for a moment, and they live, real human beings, such as any one of us might meet any day.

Her characterizations of cities is as good as that of people. Miss hurst make the reader see the huge undeveloped sprawliness of St. Louis as its grew back from its waterfront to there stolid respectability of kingshighway, the mediocrity of Page avenue, where Lilly move when the war and her father's money came, the verging of the flat city with the clayey surrounding. country. Similarly. The cinema screen of the book's pages, are thrown flashes of all the aired sections of New York Washington Square, Grimace Park. Grand Central Station while it still held the informality of partial construction. Amsterdam avenue, Spuyten Devil, Riverside Drive, all the the part of the city except the canons of Wall street, are brought before the readers eyes by the vividness of Miss Hurst's works.

There is something Deburaulike in "start Dust" in that the child has the success that is beyond the reach of the apparent, in that the parent lives in the being of the child. One suffers with Lilly Penny in her failure to do some thing great herself, and rejoices in the farsightedness she shows in prepare her danghte for the career she could not have. One wonders if perhaps in making a beautiful personality of her daughter in education her to be great sincere the mother has not done greater thing than if she had herself achieved success and one is strongly tempted believe that Lilly Penny is great. The selfishness of a small nature would not have permitted her to sacrifice and battle for the possible success of her daughert; the reader cannot help but her happy with her over the triumph of the long year of struggle.