Evening star., 1924-04-05
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOvER

equal to Brownings in Rabbi Ben
Ezra is to be found in Susan Ertz's
| novel Madame Claire" Madame
Claire" was the name given Lady
Gregory by her grandchildren. Some
times they dropped the madame" and
merely called her Claire" To be
sure. the grandchildren were very
modern. postwar young people. but
| even they would not have ventured to
take liberties with grandmother
VINO was not youthful and modern in
spirit in spite of her eighty years.
when she had become a widow Nine.
| Ciaire had gone, with her devoted
maid Dawson, to live In a suite in
the kensington Park family hotel, be-
cause she valued her sons love too
much to risk living with him and a
daughter-in-law. Comfortably estab-
llshed in Independent quarters, which
sne rarely left. she received frequent
| visits from her son Eric and her
grandchildren Noel and Judy, who
! gave her all their condolences and re-
! celVed hers in return: for Mime Claire
oy no means occupied the position of
! the grandmother knitting in the
chimney corner, with no interests ex-
cept those of the younger genera
tions. She had affairs and schemes of
her own; indeed, she had a lover from
whom came frequent letters
I: 4 !:
Her daughters Millie and Connie
paid her raror and more formal visits,
for she had never been especially fond
OF them. They were not her sort.
Millie was conventional and dull So
ciety woman. the wife Of a man of
wealth and family, and wealth and
FAMILY were the only things that
J counted in her estimation. Nine.
Claire found a certain amount of
' wealth convenient and considered a
| fairly respectable family an adyan-
tage, but her final judgments were
based on brains and character She
had never "outgrown a feeling of
| amazement at having achieved any
| thing as correct as Miliicent" The
other daughter, Connie. Countess Chi
| zozi. was temperamental and was the
| victim OF an almost lifelong infatua-
ton Tor Russian musician. Nine.
Claire did not condemn her. even
when she deserted her husband and
! eloped with Petrovitch. She felt that
Connie could not help being what she
! was. but she herself did not find Con-
! ME congenial. Nine. Claire's feelings
for her children depended very little
on maternal instinct. but a great deal
on their personalities. she had often
| been heard to say she loved Eric be-
| cause he was Eric and not because
! she had borne him. She declared that
| her affection for Judy and Noel was
entirely due to their own charm and
attraction for her, and had nothing TO
| DO with the fact that they were her
| grandchildren"
Nine. Claire did not chafe against
old age. She did not wish she were
young again. She would not have
lived her life over. She considered
that old age had many advantages
over youth and was continually try
ing to impart this view to her old
lover, Stephen de Lsle, who bitterly
! regretted his lost youth and resented
his, gout and phlebitis. Nine. Claire
; mad discovered many good things
ABOUT old age. She wrote to Stephen
! There is nothing like the mirth OF
old age, for old age knows why il
laughs, Ia n,,, - stephen. would you
your gout and your phlebitis. Would
cry. Yes" But don't you see that
you would merely be inviting gout
and phlehitis again? For myself, the
answer is No, no. no. And j have
NOT Tor anything would | be blind
again, uncertain, cropping, feeling nv
! way, wondering where my duty lay.
dreading the blows of fate before
bi. me- struck. yalqins happiness too
mol has died down. confusion is no
more. It's like sitting on a nuiat
hilltop in the light of the setting
sun. rate cannot harm me- have
The Society for the Prevention Of
Tuberculosis should have persuaded
Eugene O'Neill to substitute sous
other disease for tuberculosis in his
play THE Straw" The kisses that
are bestowed and EXCHANGED bv
tuoercular persons in the n,a,-
would horrify any physician or nurse
engaged in fighting the disease
through clinic or sanitarium. Eppene
ONeilI evidently. knows perfectly the
very communicable nature of tuber
culosis and the technique of its
treatment Early in the play the
doctor tells Elaine that she must yo
10 a sanitarium not only for her own
good but because Of her younear
brothers and sisters, to whom she Sa q
, become danger, and that while sba
| is still at home she must be yerv
careful not to kiss them. Yet a few
moments later. when she meets her
nance, Fred Nichols, she throws her
self into his arms and is hurt he
cause he draws back from the kiss
she offers him. Doubtless Fred is too
careful of his health to be an ideal
which is so careless of the welfare
% the beloved? Stephen MURRAY.
whom she meets at the sanitaril,n,
and falls in love with. has no such
fear Of her kisses, perhaps because
! theless, the modern individual edu-
| Gated by newspapers and populsr
| books and lectures in the principles
of hygiene Is likely to, be somewhat
repelled by the display of kissing in
| the last scene between Stephen. who
is supposed to be cured, and Elaine.
who is supposed to be incurable. Even
/ more decided is the reaction of the
| modernist when Elaine throws her
arms arm tas about ton Mary, her her little sister,
| grievously wounded because the child
! shrinks from her. But perhaps this
is carping criticism. After all, Mr..
O'Neill is specialist in emotions, not
| specialist In hygiene.
! Some weather maximS are wise and
some are not, according to DR.. w. J.
Humphreys, meteorological physicist
of the United States weather bureau.
He has written a book called wv Gather
Proverbs and Paradoxes," in which he
shows that although many of the
common sayings about the weather
are entirely irrational, others are
based on numerous and accurate OBJ
servations and are worthy of heed.
Some of the proverbs which are based