Books: Ruminant

HERE COMES THE BRIDE—Irvin S. Cobb—Doran ($2.00). With the air of a man rolling a cigar in his mouth, savoring it, puffing, chewing the butt, spurting forth smooth smoke-curls and rich juices as the philosophical fruits of his rumination, Humorist Cobb drawls on and on about intoxicants, ancestors, being homely, the zoo, national holidays, Christmas presents “and so forth.” Very different from “chewing the rag.” He is the delight of a vast audience that relishes: an elaborate Southern simile— (false teeth that clattered) “like a fox-trotting horse with a loose shoe crossing a covered bridge;” an unexpected wise-crack—”King George the Fifth and Queen Mary the Four Fifths;” a sensible suggestion—floor lights, clothes ockers, tractable windows, longer blankets for Pullman cars, wash suits for city men in summer.