THE GOLDEN SPIKE

The part that money plays in the molding of lives, -- this is presumably ""the golden spike"" which forms the theme of the story of Harvey Claymore, son of a middle western journalist. But one forgets the theme in the interest in the unfolding of life in a small town which considered itself fairly sophisticated; in a country district center, where the county weekly was issued; in a small college, where Harvey speedily forgot the springs of his own motive power, only to be caught up short with his father's death and the facing of the decision as to what his future path was to be. Then, as instructor in the history department of another college, where he hoped to delve deeper into his favorite subject, he runs into the girl who had played a part in his adolescence, and the emphasis shifts again. The story is an authentic bit of Americana, just as surely as Main Street -- and it carries one back to the Floyd Dell of Moon Calf and The Briary Bush, in its sureness of touch in handling the development of awkward adolescence and budding maturity. A man's book, possibly more than a woman's -- but a book that should have a wide appeal to the Floyd Dell public. It shows distinct advance over his recent books.