The New York herald., 1922-02-19
In Which We Discuss the Front Parlor in Fic-
tion Issue Warning to Parents, and Are
Disgruntled Over Another Shakespeare
Play.
By DONALD ADAMS.

memoirs been written then they
| would probably have been streaked
with a coarsencss which we did not
| find in them.
The author purports to present the
| life story OF an Engiishwoman born.
we guess. some time early in the last
century. She was born a midget. Of
parents who were normal in size. No
where in the book are Miss Ms ac-
tual dimensions disclosed. There are
delightful hints. subtle approxima-
tions. She tells us that as a child
she perched on the edge Of the
library table and read from books
propped up conveniently, and that
| when there was need of turning a
| page she walked across the table top
| and turned 1t.
English critics have found in these
memoirs a great newcomer among
| children's books. Well, there are
| chapters in it that will delight the
most unimaginative Of children, but
| we are ready to wager that the par
I ent who reads it aloud will have
| cause to mutter incoherent things
1 about Mr. De La Mare for not hav-
ing told just how small this midget
| was. There are just thousand and
| one questions occurring to us at the
| moment that "The Memoirs of q
| Midget" is certain to provoke under
such circumstances.
Gould she climb into O thimble,
papa?"
Gould she climb into my bed?"
| "How big do you think her nose
vast"
We dare only to hin, at the her-
rible possibilities.
| All Of which, OF course. is not beins
quite fair to Mr.. De La Mare. There
Is beauty in this book. as might DC
expected by any one who knows MI
De La Mares poetry. The early
chapters. in which Miss M. describes
her adjustments to the physical
! world in which she found herself
are done with a marvellous deiicacy.
Picture her out of doors:
"My eyes dazzled in colors. The
smallest of the marvels or flowers
and flies and beetles and pebbles. and
the radiance that washed over them
would fill me with a mute. pent uT
rapture almost uncomfortable. Butter
flies would settle quietly on the hot
stones beside me as if to match their
raiment against mine. If proffered
my hand with quivering wings and
| horns they would uncoil their deli
cate tongues and quaff from it drops
| of dew or water. y solemn grass
hopper would occasionally straddle
across my palm. and with patience
l made quite an old friend of har-
vest mouse. They weigh only two to
the halfpenny. This sharp nosed.
furry morscl would creep swiftly
along to share my crumbs and snug
gle itself 20 sleep in my lap. BY and
by. suppose. it took to itself wife:
l saw it no more. Bees would rest
there. the panniers of their thighs
laden with pollen: and now and then
a wasp. his jaws full of wood or
meat. When sunbeetles or ants drew
near they would seem to pause at
my whisper. as if hearkening. AS II
| in their remote silence rendering and
sharing the world with me. All child
ish fancy no doubt: for proved far
less successful with the humans"
AS for the maturer years OF the
Midget. the little adventures of her
life with Mrs. Bowater and the
| strange friendship with Fanny b.
water. there is no reading of them
| without fldgeting unless you have
power TO flee for the time being from
this insistent century. There are
many pages Of the Memoirs that can
be read only in a gently creaking
rocker with a crocheted back.