Evening star., 1925-06-16
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE TREASURES OF TYPHON.
Eden Phillpotts. The Macmil.
]. C.. M.

THE TREASURES OF TYPHON.
Eden Phillpotts. The Macmil-
Ian Co.
Had The Treasures OF Typhon,"
Eden Phillpotts', new romance, been
set in the present 1t would have Of
fered as it's initial motive no more
than the familiar picture of father
and mother bewildered and distraught
over their output in the way OF OH.
spring. A stranger in the house. That
curious alien strain, separating so
many a sire and son, which is the
prime source of widespread parental
concern. The hen that matches the
duckling, the goose that brings forth
a swan, are in the ineptness of their
rearing fair examples Of those human
fathers and mothers who so frequent.
ly find strange fledglings in the home
nest. Now parental love bulks large
with personal vanity. It's ways are al
ways the right ways, the ones for chill
dren to follow without question or
demur. Its deepest wounds come when
child repudiates these ways OF right
eousness. when it refuses the family
outlook, when it turns away from the
clearly marked path spread out before
1t through the richness OF parental
| wisdom. Such rebellion is a common
place in these days Of new freedom
| Therefore, the world Is filled with
anxious parents running hither and
thither calling upon God and man for
light on the ways Of their own chill
dren, for means of herding them back
into the safe family close. They call
upon the school for help and upon the
church, and upon the multitudinous
means OF child culture that hordes OF
barren people are inyenting for the
succor of humanity. A literature has
sprung up around this rebellion OF the
youngsters. Stories and plays, studies
and reports, are piling high around
| recalcitrant youth. Realistic litera-
| ture, all this, neglecting no part of the
literal truth of the sad matter, ignor-
ing not one of the calamitous Sc
quences of this lawless odyssey of the
Meantime. youth goes bithely on its
way. no different from the youth OF
any other age.
1t appears here in The Treasures
| Of Typhon" that more than 1000 years
ago parents were having precisely the
same torments over their children as
these of today are. having. Then, as
now, the young folks refused to stay
! put. Then. a S now, they were dis
| Coverers finding worlds of their own,
determining for themselves the nature
| Of their own crusades, setting values
where the fathers saw only folly, out
| lining dreams that were pa ssed upon
as mere moonshine. The Greek boy,
| Typhon. wassof this same unconform-
/ ing pattern. Luckier, however. in his
parents than most boys. either of that
| day or this. one. For, while these
| two yearned deeply to have the son
| follow their own fair and successful
ways, they at the same time realized
that every human being is a sanctity
whose essence must remain inviolate.
In their distress they. happily, betook
themselves for guidance to q wise
man. Epicurus. And Epicurus. look
| ing upon the comely lad, OWNED at
| once that he was not wrong, only
different. Being different is no sin,
| though 1t is commonly looked upon
as such. And Epicures took Typhon.
Then he set him upon a long pill
grimage, with nothing to help him
on the way save the power to hold
| converse with all the growing things
around him-with the grass and the
! trees, with plants of every habit and
device for holding on to life by way
| of adapting themselves to each turn
| of their own environment. A few
gods, a few men along the way, but
! Typhon's chief c ompanion was the
world Of nature sprea ding long and
| inviting vistas, setting I'D barricades
against his progress. arresting him by
| the profound wisdom of their lives by
| the plain simplicity OF their course.
/ by their unmindfulness of a thousand
daily useless diversions, by their one
ness and constancy and ultimate
fruition. The point of this pilgrimage
was to find strange plant, Softer
by name. And Typhon sought it far
and wide. And at last he went back
| TO Epicurus to say that he had failed
in that search. He had not found
| the plant, Softer. But he had, you
see, because in the long ways of soil.
| tude and peace and time for thought
he had found himself. which. as Epi
Gurus told him, was that which he
had been sent out to find. He him
self was the -'rize, the Softer of his
own seeking.
| A story of deep wisdom and great
beauty. It's wisdom springing from
the sound philosophy which it pro-
| jects, a philosophy that refuses the
world of cluttering utilities and holds
| fast to the few and simple verities. Its
| clear beauty comes from a perfect fit.
| ting of this high theme with living
words of true and poetic revelation
| Cast in that long past and stepped in
the glamour that distance yields, the
tale reads like a parable. Yet it is
|
! the present in it's Interpretation OF
youth and age seeking adjustment
as IL it were some story drawn of from
| yesterday, or tomorrow. The poet
| PhillDotts. the poet and philosopher
has for this fine and high discourse
set aside Eden Phillpotts the faithful
| chronicler of Dartmoor. and Phillpotts
the occasional mystery weaver.
| = X 4
PALI4IETER.. Felix Timmerma MS
| Harper & Brothers.
Perhaps you don't know Thinner
mans. Clearly your loss, but not an
! irremediable one since the easily win
ming "Pallieter" Is at hand to set UP
an acquaintance which Hendrick Will.
lem Won Loon offers in a few words
| about the creator of "Pellieter" What
does Timmermans do with himself!
He writes and he draws and some
! times he plays little music. Often
he does nothing at all but sit and
| smoke and think. Sometimes he just
sits and smokes. And sometimes he
Just sits Van Loon talking to make
this enviable picture of Timmermans
And what about "Pallieter" himself?
| He is the man who goes forth to meet
the world with smile. And now and
then the smile breaks into the loud
broad laughter Of an honest man
whose pocket is empty, whose soul is
/ free of care. and who has noticed that
the birds sing for rich and poor
alike
| A little Flemish village and the
small world roundabout 1t is the home
of Pallieter, the background Of all this
happy to-do. And the interests that
so engross him are the shining sun
Ia miracle of every morning. except
when it rains and then that is a
| mira cle ton And IN L> nm u +l,.