Evening star., 1924-06-07
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOyER

1
The manners and customs of old
New York during four decades are
treated by Mrs. Edith Wharton with
her usual delicate characterization and
satire in her four new short novels Just
published. The attractive wrappers re-
produce a wall paper which was pop
ular in New York houses Of the 1s5os.
'rFalse Dawn" is a story Of the forties.
"The Old Maid" Of the fifties, "The
Spark Of the sixties and New Years
Day" of the seventies.
In the forties every young man
Of family and means had his grand
tour Of Europe to finish his education
and make a man of him.. So Lewis
Raycie of False Dawn" goes on his
travels and at the same time gathers
the Raycie collection of old masters
to enhance the glory of the family
name That the collection is never
appreciated until long after his death
is part of the grim irony of the story
and of the atmosphere of the period
The description of the farewell sup
per given by his parents for Lewis
Racie shows something of the Co.'S
tunes and the cuisine OF the forties:
The drawing-room window opened
ruffied sarsenet dress and Point de
Paris cap, followed by her two
daughters in starched organdy with
hsrk ter stoed toeaceth the Raycie en- epergne n % Of
pierced silver, holding aloft a bunch
Of June roses surrounded by dangling
baskets of sugared almonds and
striped peppermints; and grouped
about this decorative motif were
Lowestoft platters heavy. with piles
OF raspberries, strawberries and the
first Delaware peaches. An outer
ianking OF heaped-up cookies, crull-
cornbread and deep golden butter
led the eye to the Virginia
ham in front of Mr.. Raycie, and the
twin dishes of scrambled eggs on
his wife presided" At this bountiful
feast were also side dishes of dew
lied turkey legs and creamed chicken
hash, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes.
cream" floating island. lemon jellies
and towering piles of waffies" with
slender silver jugs Of maple sirup :"
One wonders whether patent digest
as they do today.
The prim world of the f1fties, a
world of family daguerreotypes,
} heavy gold watch chains, rosewood.
) mahogany. ormolu clocks and gen
it seemed on the surface. Beneath
|, the surface were secret dramas and
} scandals, such as that of Charlotte
) Lowell in The Old Maid" which all
society of respectability. united to
keep hidden. Modesty. appearances,
soundness, safeness, suitability, nice
ness. the usual were the watchwords
of the period, but perhaps there was
as much sowing of wild oats" then
as now.
THE Spark" is the story of man
: who was more or less of an alien in
: the frivolous New York life which he
seemed to have chosen and in whom
from time to time a spark of some
: thing better burst into fame. This
! spark was his real self; was what
E lifted him above his surroundings. In
the forming of his character the
= strongest influence was that of an
} old man he had met in Washington
! back in the sixties. He had never
: known who the old man was, but al
, ways called him my pal in Wash
ington." The old man was Walt
Whitman.
The fourth book, New Years Day.
tells a scandal Of the seventies. 1t
begins: "She was bad al
ways They used to meet at the
Fifth Avenue Hotel" The reason
why she was bad forms the plot of
the story. The burning of the Fifth
Avenue Hotel on New Year day is
: the climax. though il comes in the
first ten pages All the rest is the
. unraveling of the mystery of Liz
: zie Hazeldean's hasty exit with Hen
narrative is told by a boy who, with
. other members of his family, watches
!, the fire from their window across
the street: The group in our win
dow continued to keep an embar.
a rassed silence. They looked almos
frightened, but what struck me ever
more deeply was that not one Of
t them looked surprised. Even to my
n boyish sense 1T was clear that wha
they had just seen was only the con
. hrmation of something they had Ions
y been prepared for"
e * y = x
= Reference was made in this col
q umn to the article in the May mum
t ber of Current History "Assessins
n the Blame for the World War" b,
: Prof. Harry e. Barnes, in which h,
n assayed the relative responsibility t.
be in the following order: Austria
: Russia, France, Germany, England
: The June number of Current Histor,
$ has a symposium by ten we'll know
: university professors of history com
menting on the conclusions of Prof
n Barnes. Two OF them seem to agree
e two more reserve final judgment
SIX OF them are not only convinced
G but strongly controyert the conclu
q | sfons reached. These include Profs
I | Charles Seymour of Yale, R. L. Buel
\ of Harvard, A E. Morse of Princeton
G. II. Blakeslee of Clark, F. NJ Ander
' son of Dartmouth and Bernadotte E
; Schmitt of Western Reserve TIL,
f statement by Prof. Schrnitt is of spe.
) cial Importance, inasnfueh as Prof
e Barnes quoted largely from an articl,
by Prof. Schmitt and had given the
A impression that they were in substan.
Q tial agreement in their conclusions
r But Prof. Schmitt says: '1 believ.
several of Prof. Barnes interpreta
r tions to be inaccurate and
e dissent from some of his judg
s relative responsibility, Prof. Schmitt
writes: Austria would come first BY
all means. But why? Only because
of the promise of German support
which Berlin did not withhold unit
, | Russia, to compel Austria to nego
tiate, had mobilized Therefore,
would put Germany second in the list
Probably Russia would not hav,
mobilized without assurances from
France; so they tie for third place
.. And England. last of all, though hel