Evening star., 1924-06-28
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOVER,

| czarism is described with great sim
plicity and truth in a little book
called my Life" as told by the peas
ant Anissia, revised and corrected by
Count Leo Tolstoi and translated by
Charles Salomon. The peasant wom-
an Anissia lived at Kotchaky, close
to Tolstofs estate of Yasnaia Poliana,
and first told her story to Nine.
Ko,s1n k0u5minskaia, nsfa- sister of Countess
Anissia was married by her parents
against her will to a young peasant,
Danilo, for whom she felt only dis
gust. Il don't love Danilo," she said
to herself, but there isn't anybody
else. And besides. how can I disobey
my father? Soon. however, she be-
gan to get used to him" and years
later when In her old age she was
married to second husband she told
will ever be able to replace Danilo.
When l think of the days of suffering
with him in Siberia my heart beats
faster. l loved him. He. was a
by life Danilo is soft, uncommunica-
| tive, incapable of exercising any
initiative. Anissia is gay and bright;
struggle. The man is inferior
to the woman, as is often the case in
| all classes of Russian life" That the
emancipation of the serfs did not uni
formly improve the condition of the
peasants is recognized by Anissia.
| When her first child is born, on the
| floor of a stable, she is helped into
| the iZba and allowed to rest for two
days. On the third she gets up and
| goes to work with the other peasant
| laborers in the harvest field. She
says or her peasant employer: Il was
always on the point of falling. But
.1 1,
occurred to him that a person might
| be weak after childbirth. 1t was
| then that j ruined my health entirely.
They didn't give me time to recover
my strength. When we were serfs
women were allowed six weeks of
rest before being forced to go back
| to work"
Unable to support his rapidly in
creasing family, Danilo joins two
| other peasants in stealing some cat
tie and for this is exiled to a Siberian
prison. Anissia decides to take her
children and go with him. Much of
this part of the story was suppressed
by the imperial censor when the book
was published in Russia 1t is easy
to see why. One of her children dies
in the filthy prison at Moscow, where
the consignment of prisoners is kept
for some weeks, and the little body is
hurried off with many others to bur
ial, without the mass for the dead
| which Anissia implores. Danilo dies
later in Siberia, after being pitched
| on his head from recklessly driven
| cart, with number of other prison.
ers all chained together, and Anissia
| sees his body carried on a stretcher
through the prison court beneath her
! window. She begs to look upon him
! once more, but is roughly refused
| she asks to go to a mass at the chapel
/ before he is buried and is promised
| that she may. but afterward learns
that he was buried Immediately.
What's that" said |. And what
about your PROMISE" 'Oh. as for
that :: il we didn't lie to you
we wouldn't be able to get away
death she and her remaining chill
| dren make their way by slow and
difficult stages, with almost unen-
durable sufferings. back to her ma
tive village in Russia.
Bunyan's "Pilgrims Progress fur
nished Thackeray with the title for
his great novel-"Vanity Fair" Now
q twentieth century novelist, and a
very modern one. has gone to Bun
yam for title. Struthers Burt has
called his first novel THE Interpret
er's House" He might almost as well
have called it Vanity Fair" for New
| York of 1921 is the scene of the story
tiles as it is. however. Struthers Burt
| believes that the great supercivilized
city may be to a thinker the House of
the Interpreter. So it becomes 10
| Gulian Eyre, the chief character OF
the novel. a middle-aged young man
who is world weary of shams, excite
ment and false values but youthfully
eager for reality. duty and healthy
joy. He finds what he is searching
for and that makes the story; but it
is the sane, healthful and courageous
philosophy of Gulian Eyre, which is
of course the philosophy of Struthers
Burt, which will most appeal to the
appreciative reader.
X X x
The visit of the British poet lau-
reate to the United States has revived
that before his appointment as poet
laureate few, at least in this coun-
TRY, had ever heard of Robert Bridges
AS many of the greatest American
| statesmen have never attained the
presidency, so most of Great Britain S
greatest poets have failed to be made
laureates. In fact, of the eighteen
laureates only five have been well
known poets-Spenser, Jonson. Dry
den, Wordsworth and Tennyson. AT
the death of Tennyson in 1892, the
abolition of the laureateship was seri-
tously considered by Mr.. Gladstone
At that time the claims of both Kip
ling and William Watson were con-
sidered by the general public to be
strong, but both were passed over in
favor of Alfred Austin, who was SO
little esteemed that it became a pop
ular bon mot that Alfred the Great
had been succeeded by Alfred the
Little. The supposed reason why
kipling was not in favor with the
Victorian ministry which appointed
Alfred Austin is we'll known. as is
also the gossip about why Watson
was again slighted when Prime Min
lister Asquith appointed Robert
Bridges.
| X y X X
Readers who followed with breath
less interest the adventures Of DR..
Ferdinand Ossendowski, as set forth
in Beasts, Men and Gods" will also
al in and