Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-25
BOOK REVIEWS.
THE PATRICIAN. BY John Galsworthy.
author OF "a Motley" etc. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons. -


mr. HARAcTER Is fate All are
~$~A in bond to their own ma
lures, and what . man has
~ most desired shall in the
end enslave him. a SIN
lister theme to lurk In the corners and
steal beneath the surface Of what ap-
pears to be no other than an uncom-
monty fine English story. whose CEN
ter is a family deeply traditoned In
caste. The phrases OF appraisement
usually applied to literature. when
brought to bear upon Mr.. Galsworthy's
story, drivel with emptiness This s
first, and above all else, life. with liter
allure serving as it's tool. Every MEM
Der of this English family Is a person
getting up In the morning, going about
the business or pleasure OF the day.
thinking and talking out OF his own IN
side. going to bed at night. sleeping,
dreaming. waking to new day. AZ .
family. too. 1t is a charming reality OF
mutual obligations. But, both person
and family are in gentle accepted bond
to their dead forbears. Two of the chil.
dren Of this house. however, the eldest
son, my lord Miltoun. and beautiful Bar.
bara, the young daughter. under the spell
of the big new present. gather notions
of independence, equality and freedom
outside their own order. So they STRAIN
at the leash toward ideals different from
those of their house. But the bond is'
too secure and at the last. denying their
own hearts and bruising others. they
slip back to their place. theirs to all In
tents and purposes from the foundanon
of the world Around this centered Eng
lish house is the beautiful English coun-
try. well nigh as vital. as sentient: as the
people themselves. John Galsworthy, by
priestly right, enters at will the Inner
sanctuary Of both the heart OF man and
the heart Of nature.
LOVES YOUNG DREAM. BY s. r.
Crockett, author of "The Stickit
Minister" etc. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Washington:
BrentanO's.
One comes out Of this adventure sure OF
having been among the scenes and the
people with which 1t has to do-very en-
joyably In touch with the cautious Scot
and pretty much at home in Eden valley
and round about, from the sea up to
Dumfries and on to Edinburgh. The story
opens fearsomely with a haunted house,
and proceeds through mystery and FOUL
FAINT smugglers. and the rescue OF q maid
of high name from villainy. Then, as all
good stories should, however tumultuous
quiet. untangled close. The adventure is
a stirring one. The love story, purely as
such. Is less moving. 1t seems Calvin
istica1ly thin and bloodless. SO to speak.
However. as a picture OF the Scot strick-
en- with this universal nlalady. it is de-
lightful.. To transfer q glow on southern
ardor to the bridled and wary clansman
would be sin against his native heath
The real pleasure in Mr.. Crockett's work
lies to a great degree in Its exact devo-
ton to every stage and shade OF Scotch
life and character.
THE DwELLER ON THE THRESH-
OLD. BY Robert Kitchens. author
of "The Garden OF Allah" etc. New
York: The Century Company.
With plain righteousness Of manner in
good keeping with an avowed search for
truth and the exposure Of bare fact alone,
Mr.. Hichens makes record-like story OF
a disastrous psychic cross-breeding. Strip
ped of its dramatic contrivances, this as
sumes to be the study Of two men who
under psychic influence became so COM
plefely intermingled In spirit that, upon
emergence to the material plane, each
possessed, not his own soul. but instead
blend of the souls Of both. This condl-
ton was fitted to reshape their material
did do. Dramatized. these two men ap-
pear as associate clergymen In fash
ionable West End church. the rector and
his curate. The former. ambitious. domi'
nant, curious in explorations Of the spirit;
the latter pallid, weak Through these
secret psychic practices, each gives OF his
spirit to the other, the strong man los
ing. the lesser man growing The drama
moves. in pitiless, unfaltering detail
through the destruction Of the former,
who in the supreme act Of death appears
to snatch together the fragments OF his
soul for a complete passing, leaving the
latter with rather less even than his own.
In hasty summary. one pronounces this
a complete departure from the sensuous
elaboration of Mr.. Hichens' other work.
Yet in that. too. there Is q brooding SUD
Nminal sense, elusive, vague, where mere
1t is open and objective.
EYES SECOND HUSBAND. BY Cora
ers Wife" Philadelphia: Henry AL
temus Company.
The fairest way to treat this inimitable
woman Of unholden eyes and mellow, in
dulgent laughter is to gather. at random.
from this altogether delightful account
of her life in Eden with Adam. her sec
ond husband. Going back a bit to her
first choice she says:
"a maid does not know how TO choose
husband. She only knows she wants
lover. No woman in her right marital
senses would have deliberately chosen
my first husband. There Is something re-
voting I'm masculine pluperfectness to
women, once they discover 1t in a man.
The point is, he chose me. 1t is the way
more men than you might think get their
wives IL women had the propriety OF
choice few Of them would take for hus-
bands the men they actually do marry"
Then, about Adam: Men like Adam
have a hfstrionic talent 80 well developed
that they think they are being truthful
when they are only dramatizing their
fancies. Looking back over life, know
the happiest hours have ever spent
have been those In which believed some
lie Adam had told me. This was true
even when I had q profound inner convic-
ton that 1t was lie. only set my
NTH to the sturdfer task of believing IT.
TT appeared that i had been so busy
doing right THAT L had gone wrong. I
had lost that quality of personal feminine
assurance which Is called attractiveness
in women. From being poetry I had be-
come prose: and Adam was man Of
lyrical nature, who could not bear too
This was why he had been attracted to
the little doggerel Of femininity in Wash
ington." "A1l women have a pallbeAring
passion for burying and mourning over
love now and then: and II would horrify
q good many husbands IL they knew how
often their wives bury them. The point
is, we cannot permit them to remain
buried. We cannot endure the self-im-
posed bereavement" I'VE can exist with
out money, without fame, without homes
or children. but there is nothing SO Inn
possible for US as to live without the wear
and tear Of men In our lives" Misery Is
q kind Of degradation Of the spirit
brought on by the mind. not by any cir.