Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-27
The Library Table
BY THE BoOKLovER

Barrie's Admirable Crichton," in
an emergency in which life suddenly
reverted to the primitive, dominated
by his superior character a whole
party OF superciviliZed Londoners.
He seems almost abnormaliy self-re-
strained and ambitionless, however, If
compared with Ted, the steward, in
the first novel of Dale Collins, Or
deal" The pleasure cruise of a party
Of rich American and English dilet-
tantes on the undermined and I'M
seaworthy schooner Spray is fail
ure from the start, and soon becomes
a tragic adventure. At Honolulu a
polite Japanese had sought out
Thorpe, a rich American who had won
distinction In science. and had ex-
planned with hissingly indrawn
breath how easy and how romantic
it would be to sail home to New York
by way Of Panama" Thorpe, partly to
please his capricious wife, Viola, had
bought the schooner and had invited
his British friends, Howard. Dorothy
Daley and her old aunt, Lady Daley,
to Join the cruise. So here they are
on the deck Of the Spray in mid
Pacific, all wondering how they came
to be SO foolish. While they play
bridge on deck, the mongrel Arme-
Man steward, Ted, up In the bows
with Petersen, the Scandinavian cook.
expresses his opinion of them. They
think it's goin' to be romantic
They'll get to hatin' this craft and
themselves and us. 1 know them! l
haven't had my eyes shut the twenty
years I've run and carried for the
likes Of them. Their kind on
shipboard need a hell of a lot Of ex-
element, I'll tell you. And here, shut
up of their own free will-to enjoy
Observation-Disclosures to be a funny
job. See? Yes, playin'
good for? Nothin'. They're--they're
they're parasites. 1 tell
you, they fair make me sick!
What can We do to get even with
them-everythin' on their side-po-
lice, laws, parsons, everythin! But
they're swine, just the same. damn
them" From the start the steward,
a man compounded of bitter hatred
and suppressed ambition, with a
grievance against life, dominates the
mate, whose unsavory past he knows;
crew.
Then the trade winds die, the sails
droop and thunder and calm gripped
the sea and sky, ship and soul" After
many days of sitting heat and crack
ling thunder, during which the Spray
lies motionless, like a ship without
a SOUL" the nerves of all are strained
almost beyonod endurance. Old Lady
Daley alone retains complete sanity.
She tries to explain to heir niece the
incomprehensible behavior Of Howard.
Hes not sane-none of US are. You
mustn't hold him responsible-or any
body else. At the moment were in
hells and I've never heard that the
damned were happy or that they
could be expected to behave like the
reasonable and eminently iikable peo-
pie they used to be-" During this
period of madness Ted has completely
terroriged the crew. Then comes the
welcome rain, and the water tanks,
dangerously low, are filed. After the
first gentle rain breaks a terrible
storm-a storm comparable to Joseph
Conrad's "typhoon," which leaves the
Spray a derelict. Reid, the mate, has
gone overheard. either a suicide or
murdered. No one except Ted knows
which, but Lady Daley thinks she
knows. Ted is the only one who can
handle the ship. His hour has come.
He sees himself as an all-powerful
tyrant. a Sultan" ruling this group
Of useless people by his superior
ability and by terror. Christ" he
cried, i've got EN-. Me-the poor
steward"
The reign of terror commences. and
for weeks, while the derelict rolls on
her anchor chain, the three remaining
members of the crew and the five
aristocrats cringe before the awful
Ted. beseech him for water. plot to
Kill him. but fall back before his two
revolvers, almost lose all their man
hood and womanhood in their despair.
Again only old Lady Daley remains
sane. Perhaps she is so old that
nothing matters much to her: per-
haps she Is so completely the aristo-
crst that no mere steward could ever
intimidate her. In the end II is she
who frees her companions from the
horrible domination of the mailman,
Ted.
x :. x X
Although the United States has not
yet become a member of the Perma-
nent Court OF International Justice,
one Of the judges Of the court is an
American, the wise and witty DR.
John Rassett Moore, probably the
worlds foremost authority on inter
national law. Judge Moore has just
published his ripest opinions in a
book, entitled International Law and
Some Current Illusions and Other
Essays" the object OF which, and
to it it's distinctive title is to con-
tribute something toward the restora-
ton Of that sanity Of thinking and
legal and historical perspective which
the so-called World War has SO seri-
ously disturbed He especially con-
tests the judgment. SO often given.
that one of the results OF the recent
war was that "the distinction between
combatants and -combatants has
persisted" Among the questions dis
cussed by him with fullness of knowl-
edge and great sanity of viewpoint
in this noteworthy book are arbitra-
tions, the laws Of war governing sub
marines and poison gas, aircraft and
the radio and the Permanent Court
of International Justice.
The Nobel prize in literature for
1924 has been awarded to the Polish
writer, Ladislas Reymont, for his
four-volume novel, THE Peasants"
been published in translation. Though
Reymont is little known in this coun-
try at present, the award to him of
the Nobel prize will undoubtedly
cause his former work to be trans
lated so that American readers may
soon become familiar with it. Rey-
mont was born in Russian Poland in
1858, Of a lower middle class family.
His education was far from thorough
or advanced, and he was early obliged
to earn his own living. He published
his first story when he was IS, and
from that time has devoted himself
entirely to writing. His own expert
ences form the basis Of several Of his
novels. His chief novels are 1.-THE
Comedian" and Lilly" stories of
theatrical life; The Promised Land"
t.
est industrial city of Poland; 1.-THE
XamnirAn with London for its SET