Evening star., 1925-11-21
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By The BoOkIorer.

Is there a definite time i'm every ones
life when he realizes that he no lon.
ger thinks the thoughts nor feels the
emotions OF youth, that he is an en-
tlrely different man from The man he
used to be, that he has entered upon
his last phase? Prof ST Peter. in
villa Gathers novel. THE Profes-
sors House" does cross this definite
boundary line, when he IS So wears
OLD. lie realizes that he is not old
| enough in time to justify his ina bility
to become interested in new things.
| his loss Of interest in most old things.
MS acute distaste for people. even or
especially those of his own family
But he has lived intensely. if only a
FOR home staying man. I've lived
pretty hard" he says TO his wife. Il
wasn't willing to slight anything
you. or my desk. or my students.
And now I seem 10 be treme ndousIy
tired. One pays, coming or going"
~
Prof. 81. Peter has been feeling
IRENE ndously tired Of everything
FOR some time, but the tiredness fixes
| itself in his attention definitely the
Summer when his wife goes to Europe
husba nd and the professor lives alone
in the empty old house. deserted for
| over a year by his family He cooks
for himself he works a little--a very
little-and he spends hours stretched
on the sand among the pines on the
lake shore and other hours in a re-
clining chair in his walled garden
doing nothing but "halfawake loafins
with his brain" Gradually two
thoughts emerge from his drea ms.
that he has Jared we'll with fate" and
that his life IS about TO end 'He
wouldn't choose to live his life over
he might not have such good luck
again. He had had TWO romances: one
of the heart. which had filled his life
for many years. and q second Of The
mind-of the ina Giuation." The first
was the roma ance of his wife, and The
second OF his most brilliant student
Tom Outland. The feeling that he
was near the conclusion Of his life
was an instructive conviction. such
rs we have when We waken in the
dark and know al once that il is
near morning." Perfunctorilv he cor
suits his physician, because he sup
poses it is the proper thing to do, not
because he is at all interested in his
health. The doctor finds nothing The
matter with him.
Then Godfrey St Peter has a not her
adventure OF the body and Of the
mind. His life almost does come to
ian end. through his own Carelessness
Iof il. but after lapse in his con
sciouSneSs he comes back TO reality-a
new and clearer reality. if a sadder
one. His period of readjustment is
over. He has crossed the border line
into old age. He had never learned to
live without delight. And he would
now have TO learn to, just as. in pro-
hibition country, he supposed he
would have to learn to live without
sherry. Theoretically. he knew that
| life is possible. may even be plea
without JOY, without passionate sriefs.
But il had never occurred to him tina
he might have to live like that.
He doubted whether his
family would ever realize that he was
moi the same man they had said good
bye to; they would be too happily
ipreoccupied with their own affairs"
| The daughter of John Addington
| Symonds, Mrs. W. W. Vaughan, has
written d sketch of her father called
| out of the Past" Ii is an attempt
his family and literary life. Symonds
was one of the heroic invalids of lit
erary history, who, Ike Stevenson,
never allowed the weakness and dis
ease of the body TO conquer the crea-
tive mind. He spent the greater part
of his life. like Stevenson again. go
ing from place to place in search Of
la modicum of health so that he could
icontinue his work He lost out in the
end. but not before he had justified
his fight by the production of his de-
lightful essays and poetry. Symonds
was never a seeker for pity and never
compla ined of his handicap. but was
known 20 his friends as a genial con
versa sationalist, interested in men and
affairs of all sorts and especially in
1.-THE lives and work OF his friends. In
Mrs. Naughan's book many of her
fathers friends and literary associates
share the picture and help TO show
Symonds in his best milieu.
Mrs Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. Dolly
Madison, Mrs. jefferson Davis. Mrs.
Benedict Arnold, Mrs. Benjamin But
Ter, Mrs James G.. Blaine and Theo.
dosia Burr are eXpounded as domestic
characters by Gamaliel Bradford in
his book Wives" Six would have
been unk nown but for their husba nds.
and Theodosia Burr but for her in
famous father, vet Mr.. Bradford con-
the equals of their masculine Connec-
iions All were good household man.
ayers. good mothers. adequate TO
their social positions and loyal and
| devoted through misfortunes, sea ndal
danger and disgrace. Mrs. Benedict
Arnold Theodosia Burr and Mrs.
jefferson Davis were placed in situ-
! ations which severely tested loyalty
and devotion. Mary Todd Lincoln
! i
| ford. His opinion of her is neither
| the opinions of some Lincoln biog-
ra piers.
An old Irish lady. returning to visit
/ in her native County Glare after 40
years of life in Nebraska, passed the
| week of her voyage in quivering, jo'-
Gus anticipation. On the cold, misty
morning when she landed at Cobb,
| as she sat in the dinSy station wait
| ing for one of the infrequent trains
ont, she turned a disappointed face
To her son and said: 1T isn't so nice
after all This same kind of de-
| lusion appears in Johan Bojer's re-
| cent novel THE Emigra nts.' The
people of his story are NorWesians
who, because they could not make a
! living as herdsmen and crofters and
| fishermen from their own rocky soil
/ and cold seas, have crossed the At
lantic and many miles of new country
| and have settled in North Dakota
Here the. soil is rich and easy to cul-
tivate and after the initial struggle
prosperity comes. But, though life
| is less difficult. homesickness is al
ways present-longing for the peaks
and f1ords of the northern country.
1t is only when they revisit Norway
and experience again the precarious-
ness of life there and find themselves