Evening star., 1925-10-24
THE LIBRARY TABLE
Ry the BOokiorer.

! lin family il Is doubtful II her Ken
worthy family would have won 1t for
her. The pioneer McLaughlins, strus-
| Cling at the same time to conquer the
! stubborn soil and to control their own
| unruly emotions in the effort to found
| homes and community in the Middle
! West make THE Able McI.aughlins'
a vigorous piece OF realism. THE
! kenWorthys" is less convincing. There
! are six of the kenworthys I'm the story.
/ They live in small Illinois town from
! 1904 10 about 1918. Mrs. kenworthy
! is so slightly Skctched that we haN,
not sufficient evidence to agree with
/ her daughter in law Emily when
she says: "She was really great
woman She never did anything
! great. She was q shy person. She
never had much strength h and she wa.
i'll great deal. She vas left a widow
YOU know. whey your uncle was \
baby. And sh" was poor. terribly
poor. And shs just lived along. as ~"
all do. And YET when she was buried
! tell YOU. Bronson. thai there we're
more cars Al nd carriages in the streets
of this town than there are on the
Fourth Of July Everybody kne" her
and everybody loved her
x i +
Mrs. kenWorthy's tW" sons. Bob aud
Jim. seem singularlE ineffective Tor
the sons OF such mother Bob. tn"
husband OF Emily. iq blunt. we'll mean
| ing. insensitive. lie has very limit ed
and vociferous yoca bulary. MY Goa
| Emily" Damned old fool Damned
| Shiny little viper tof his brother s
! wife). The rotten little skunk" are
some OF his faVorite expressions. Jim,
| We are told. is the most noble. int ELI
gent and sensitive Of men, but as he
moves through the story he seems
lacking In Judgment and rather oh.
tusn. When his son turns to him in
bitter need and he finally rea lies
hat the boy is almost frenzied by
doubt of his paternity Jim fails him
| Dathetically-all the more pathetiCalIy
because the author seems TO think Ia.
is adequate. TO Gronson'S savage
questions which 90 To the very heart
or things Jim can reply only WHY.
EronSon' 'What---What an idea -
! Why. my desr boy But look
here" and other similar futiI!tiee.
jim has baen so chiva!rous as To per
nit his adul,erous wife 10 obtain q
divorce from him on the ground of de-
sertion and 10 keep the child. Only
| some time afterWard does 1t dawn ON
his acute lawyers brain hat an in
| Justice TO the child was involved in
this Chivalrous action. Emily the wif
or Bob. Is wise, gentle. patient. true
! al that a woman should be. Her chief
fault, from the readers point Of view.
Is that she is 50 crudely drawn that
| except in few instances she lacks
reality. Martha. her daughter. one of
the two kenworthys of the third gen
Grafton, is negligible
The kenworthys" is. however
saved from being commonpla ce by the
character OF Bronson, Jim'S son. He
* A superboy, vet intensely real
When he faces Jim and demands: II
say. how do YOU know I'm YOUR own
SON. we hardly wonder a. Jim's men
tai paralysis. When he reproa ches his
father: But If YOU had wanted me
bad, If | was yours. YOU could have
come and stole me- We agree wit
| MN. When he assures the two Chi.
caGo LAWYERS who are stranded near
Jlm's camp. that as soon as he has his
dinner he will fix their disa bled motor
boat, over which they have been strug.
enns Tor hours. we are sure that he
! VIII do il without any trouble When
he tells his father that he will never
return 10 his mother. courts or no
courts. we know that he never will
y on We got the funniest old dome on
YOU. he says indulgently to Jim.
You can't get anything through it.
bet If I've told you once I've told YOU
ANA YOU begin all over again lust as
If | hadn't told you. You make me
laugh. When he receives letter
from his dear friend Bill. the chauf.
teur. saving that his mother has gone
10 France, nd eXclaims: Mrs Neile
has gone TO France. Gee. | hope
they torpedo her" we know that he is
Young savage, but considering his
mothers conduct toward him, we have
hN hi
tourteen-y -year-old Bronson By the
t"rce Of his character dominates every
one VINO attempts 10 dominate him
tic wins. Not even the threat OF deaf h
trlghtenS him He glares al the doc
tor md says. You needn't think YOU
can scare me that way"
Dr samuel McChord Crothers ha.
one Of his quaint. whimsical ESSAYS
IN the October Atlantic Monthly. en-
! titled Augustus Basster. Thought
Broker" Like most of his ESSAYS
this helps to sanity Of thought in the
reader. Using the language of Wal
street and investment advertise
ments. DR.. Crothers discourses con
versa tionally on the value Of Thoughts
as measured by those who sponsor
them. on give and take. especially
in religious matters: on 100 per CEN
!
peace. the various temperance issues
tundamentalism and modernism. III.
attitude Of parents toward III.
Younger generation. and on thinking
Tor congressman. usually known ii,
propa ga nda.
A new Jefferson book deals with The
personal side of .lefferson's life. espe
cially that part of 1t pa ssed at Monti
cello. 1t is Jefferson and Monticello.
by Paul Wilstach. Monticello was tn.
chief JOY and personal interest of the
life Of A man whose time was largely
: given no 10 public activities. Though
the beautiful est-.e on the morIpta in
top was great financial burden Il
jefferson, he never seems TO have con
sidered il other than worth while
, was tho center of his ia amiiy and so
: clai life: il was the scene Of his dea II
and there he is buried. Mr.. WilStacl
gives the history OF Monticello. from
. 1710. when jefferson first built few
small houses on the mountain and be
gan living in one of them. until tn.
present time. when Monticello IS owne,
, by the Thomas jefferson Nemoria
Founda ton and is q national shrin,
!, visited every year by hundreds of peo
pie. some admirers af the politica
philosophy of the early President anc
some not. but all glad that the uniau,
estate has been preserved for the fu
ture.
i. St.-Loe Strachey. owner and cd
itor of the Spectator and author of tn,
delightful autobiogra ply, The Adven
ture Of Living" has just completed hi
first novel, romance Of the Frencl
Revolution OF ls4s. called The Ma
u, donna of the Barricades." Mr.. Strs
chey is announced 10 give the Found
ers' day address at the Swa hmore