Evening star., 1925-10-10
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOokLOUer.

cOherent, unrelated IDEAS and Stru8-
gle, helplessly to ;get something done,
has the effect of reducing the reader
to the same state of mental ineptitude
as that from. which the imaginary
characters suffer. Dorothy Richard
son is one of the. most industrious rep
resentatiyes of the school. Her crea-
tion% ca He'd Miriam Henderson gropes
her way through the six novels.
Pointed Roofs" .Backwater. Hon
eycomb. "The Tunnel Interim
and Deadlock, without reaching any
goal or even clarifying her ideas. Nlr-
einia Woolfs method is similar to Dor
othy Richardson's, if slightly less de.
tailed. In her novel Mrs. Galloway
she devotes nearly 800 pages to one
day in the life of Clarissa galloway,
who has passed her 5lst year and
Is not happy to be growing old. In
the morning Mrs. galloway is prepar'
ing for a party and thinkinS-thlnk'
ing-thinl<ing. as well as feelinS-feei-
ing-feeling. about innumerable dis
connected things. She continues
rather ineffectiveiy to prepare for the
party and to think all day long. Other
people who cross her path think and
feel, about her and about themselves
and about their past lives. Evening
comes, the party takes place. 1t Ii
rather bore. Everybody goes on
thinking.
With the difficulty always attending
action in a nightmare, several things
happen during the day. Mrs. Dallo,
way succeeds in mendins her green
evening dress. which some one has
trod on and torn at the embassy
party Nov where was her dress
. She would mend it. Her
maids had too much to do. She would
wear il tonight She would take her
silks. her scissors. her-what was it?
her thimble. of course. down into
the rawing room, for she must also
write, and see that things generally
were more or less in order She
does various other things. And then
this dress of hers-where was the
tear? And now her needle to he
threaded. This was d favorite dress
one Of Sally Parker's 's'-and 50 on
The second thing that happens is
that Peter Walsh, an old lover Of Mrs
galloway, just returned from India
comes to call. They look at eac ch
other, as she takes an occasiona
stitch in her dress and he plays with
his knife, and through the mind OF
each runs procession of scra DpS
recollections of the time when they
were IN lONe WlIn edCf1 OTHER. I1t
tells Clarissa tha: he is now in love
with a woman in India, "a married
woman. unfortunately, tn:
wife of a ma jor in the Indian army.
AS soon as he has told Clarissa HI
begins to wonder if he really is il
love with Daisy. though he has CONT
to England to see lawyers about {
divorce for her. 1t occurs TO hin
that he could probably never suffel
again as he suffered when Clariss;
broke her engagement with him. H'
! f1ushes with jealousy when he think!
of Daisy over in India receiving tn,
attentions of some other man. but a
the same time feels pleasa nt1y indie
| pendent to be away from her. II,
wonders whether he shall go to Cla
! rissa's party. reflects that she has al
ways been cold, worldly. but senti
mental, too. Throughout the day hi
| body and his mind wander about aim
! lessly. and in the evening he drift
/ into Mrs. Dalloway's party. is dis
susted by her. fascinated by her al
| ternately. At the end he thinks
| What is this terror? What is thi
| ecstasy? What is it that fills me will
extraordinary excitement? II is Ga
rissa, he said"
Probably the most important hap
pening of this one day is a suicide
Septimus Warren Smith. entirel,
unknown to Mrs. galloway, choose!
the day of her party to carry on
the threat of suicide he has lon.
been making. He did not want I,
die. Life was good. The sun hot
Only human beings-what did the!
want? Holmes tthe doctor
was at the door. I'll give it you,
he cried. and flung himself vigor
ously, violently down on to Mrs. Fill
mer's area ratings" Peter Walsh. a
he is roaming toward his hotel meet
the ambulance carrying the body o
Septimns Warren Smith to the hos
pital. 1t introduces another string o
thoughts into his already crowded
brain. 1t became more and NOR
difficult for him to concentrate
That seems to be the great difficult,
of all the characters in this nightmar
novel. At Mrs. Dalloway,s party tn
wife of famous nerve specials
happens to mention that her husban,
was called up on the telephone jus
as they were leaving home. "A yer,
sad case. A young man (that i
what Sir William is telling Mr.. Daf
loway) had killed himself He ha,
been in the Army. Oh, though
Clarissa. in the middle of my party
here's death, she thought"
x X
Mary Russell Milford was lette
writer who rivaled many of. he
French sisters in that art. Some O
her letters. selected by r. Brimle,
Johnson. have recently been pub
lished under the title THE Letter
of Mary Russell Milford" Her earlies
| letters are dated 1900 and her lates
1855, the year of her death. All ar
full of comment. on the interestin;
events of her time, as the Napoleoni
war, the regency, fhe accession o
Queen Victoria and, the, first railways
The names of many persdnages i'm
portant in the literary. world. occu
| frequently, as Byron, Shelley. Keats
Coleridge, Wordsworth, Tennysor
Jane Austen. But her correspondents
| is by no means entirely occupied witt
| the great. She had as keen IAN in
terest as Jane Austen in the. small
affairs and gossip Tof everyday life
Her own father. a .spendthrift and
| trial to his family furnished her fire
| quent occasion for, comment. whicl
| seems always to have been charita
| BILE. In the following extract she re
| frainS from all blame of the man VIII
has brought his family to poverty
! Yes, my dearest, my mothers for
tune was large. mys fathers good
| legacies from both sides 10000
| pound prize in the slottery-all hav
| vanished -. SO that T. the onl,
child. amongst six Or seven good for
tunes have been. during tn
better part of my. life, strugglin,
with actual difficulty: and. if
should live long ehodgh shall prob
| ably die in sworkhouse-content 81
! to die if preserved from the far bit
father want his accustomed com
forts" =. H.. ~ u. y 4r.t,.. A
~. @,S* * x ".
Fhpep hooEs rrerSa red IN, tho J,.,,