Evening star., 1926-11-27
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookIoper.

oyersubtle as to be merely puzZline
and annoying. Vanity Fair suits
Thackeray's great novel as completely
as it does one of the stages OF Chrls
tian's journey in Bunyan's allegory
.'If Winter Comes" is an excellent
title and no one could miss its signln
canoe: in fact, the title is much toe
good for such a piece OF sentimental
melodrama as 4. S. NJ. Hutchinson
novel. and it is by no means certain
that Shelley would have been Willing
to lend 1t from his famous Ode. Many
readers of Gertrude Atherton's BLACK
Oxen" are still wondering how the
title applies to that story OF reJuVena
ton. Edith Wharton's "Glimpses o.
the Moon" is not exactly obvious, but
is easily understandable. Sherwood An
derson, with "The Triumph of the
Egg" symbolizes whole set oi
Freudian doctrines. If a reader OF
Gods Orchid" by the Swedish
writer, Hjalmar Bergman, fails TO
notice one paragraph on certain
page, he will be forever in the dark as
to the meaning of the title.
* * * X
PRECIOUS Bane." a recent novel Dy
Mary Webb, has upon it's title page
the quotation from Milton:
Let none admire that gold is found III he'll
Such soil may best afford the precious pane
The greed of Gideon Sarn for wealth
and success Is like the deadly precious
bane which poisons all who touch II.
1t causes him to crush all the JOY from
his own life and the lives or MS
mother and sister and pretty. childish
Jancis Beguildy. whom he wishes 10
marry, but will not because of the
expense. Poor old Mistress Sdrn
weary and rheumatic from tending
the pigs in the swampy woods. be-
cause her son will not give tea to a
lad for the service, complains TO her
daughter: II tell you, Prue. 1t I'D nave
been better. a power, for us and Tor
him, too, If my son Sarn had bin
born an idiot boy. to play with col
CURED stones and put daisies on a
string And when the old woman
becomes ill and can no longer even
watch the pigs. her son begrudges her
the tea she drinks and the coarse
bread she eats. until she begs OF her
daughter: "Dunna let my son Sarn
come and make me feel as m
burden. He dunna love me. He'd lief
I was dead and sodded." If the greedy
ambition of Gideon is the poisonous
bane in the lives of the Sarn family.
Sarn Mere at the edge of their farm
seems to be their Nemesis. Sarn Mere
is usually gray and troubled. ana an
old Roman cauSeWay enters it at one
side and runs to the bottom of the
mere, where was once a Roman VII
lage. Only for a brief time III the
Spring does Sarn Mere seem "a blue
mist in a yellow mist of birch-tops.
Sarn Mere brings a tragic fate to
Jancis and to Gideon. but a happy
fate to Prue, whose loving, poetic ma
ture has enabled her to overcome
the influence of the deadly precious
bane.
y !: x X
The house in which Goethe was
born in Frankfort and where he spent
part of his childhood and youth has
been restored by the efforts of liter
ary society, the Freie Deutsche Hoch'
stiff. The society now owns the house
and has attempted to restore 1t to the
condition in which it was at the time
when Goethe's father rebuilt it in
1856. Much of the old furniture
has also been recovered from later
owners and has been replaced in the
house. In his autobiography. 'Dich
tung und Wahrheit" Poetry and
Reality, Goethe describes this house
and it's furnishing in some detail, SC
that the society in it's attempt at exact
restoration has had the most valuable
Of guides. The house Is four stories
high. and the upper stories project
over the lower. in the architectural
style which makes picturesque. but
darkens, so many old, narrow streets
Of Europe. The heavy oak front dooi
is marked with the initials of Goethe s
father. J.. c. G.. A white marble
tablet marks the house as the birth
place of Goethe. The most interesting
rooms of the interior are probably the
room in which Goethe was born. Frau
Goethes kitchen and her bedroom.
y II X +
Reverence for tradition. legend and
established art is lacking in John
Erskine. He has modernized Helen
Of Troy In his satire, "The Private
Life Of Helen of Troy" and has made
her much more entertaining than she
is in the epic of Homer. Homer tells
us that the beauty of Helen made al
sorts Of trouble; MIR. Ersk1ne shows
us how It was done. Helen becomes
less a personification, more human
In "Galahad" Mr.. ErSkine takes sim
liar liberties with the legendary here
of purity, the only one OF the Graz
knights who was worthy to see the
uncovered Grail. Sir Thomas Mallory
who compiled the Arthurian legends
which he found in both English anG
French, and Tennyson, who usec
Malory's compilation in writing his
"Idylls Of the King" would unite II
disapproving Mr. Erskine's treatment
He makes Galahad stupid and stub
born. He comes to court country
bow. and falls under the influence OF
Guinevere, who sets to work to mole
his character, and succeeds up to q
certain point. Other characters OF
Arthur's Court are handled with sim
liar liberty by Mr.. Erskine. Ever
Arthur himself does not escape and
like Helen of Troy, will be considered
by many to be improved.
Is the worst enemy of selfish
passionate, clever woman her own sell
or g. devoted but not very successful
husband? Villa Carter leaves this ar
open question in her novelette,, "MS
Mortal Enemy" Whatever the
answer, the reader is never in the
least doubt that Myra Driscoll is the
worst enemy of her husband, Oswald
Henshawe. But Oswald does not seen
to count much. Myra's feelings
moods, Disappointment over life oc
cupy not only all her attention, bu
all Oswald's as we'll. A Christian
ethicist would unhesitatingly pro
nounce Myra her own "morta
enemy; a modern psychologist NIGH
indict poor Oswald.
Achmed Abdullah. connoisseur o
che Oriental, has written another vol
ume Of Eastern stories, THE Swing
ing Caravan" Many parts of tn,
Orient furnish characters and plot
Tor the stOries-Chinese, Russians