Evening star., 1926-12-04
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the B0olelOper.


the personality Of q commonplace per,
son! But the house Of personality is
usually q country house, with q lawn
and O garden and perhaps an orchard
and terraces. Remember Bleak House
and Castlewood and Mansfield Park
Far End" the home of the Vivarts IN
May Sinclair's novel Of the same
name, has such power and. charm OF
personality that 1t dominates the lives
Of its owners. In their earlier years
it establishes it's hold upon them, and
later 1t draws them back and saves
them from tragedy. Christopher vi
vart Is q gifted man and a forceful
one. but he lacks stability. Far End
gives him the roots that he needs.
His wife Hilda is q far-seeing woman.
and tactful, but in London she finds
the complexities of life and Chris
topher-too much for her. At Far
End she feels secure. because tran
quillity, happiness and goodness are
the spirit of the place. She has loved
1t when she came there as bride, and
after twelve years Of troubled married
life she returns to it thankfully and
hopefully. 1.-THE enchantment OF the
old house came down on them, 1t
gathered them again into its peace.
X
Far End lies at the top of Eastcote
village, alone under tall elm tree.
It looks south from behind low wall.
The house has golden walls and
mouse gray stone roof" and mui-
lioned windows, two on each side or
the high jutting gable above the
porch" There is grass plot In front
Of the house, with the elm tree at one
foO0c6 r1ath all around
it. At the back of the house Is
larger lawn, with a pear tree at each
corner. From this lawn the garden
rises in a flight of terraces. each ter
race a fiat strip of grass backed by
long flower bed under a little yellow
wall" Here are rows of blue del.
phiniums and anchusa, purple and
white canterbury bells, white and
magenta phlox, roses yellow and pink
and crimson. snapdragon. flame col
ored and black red tier above
tier, blazing in the southern sunlight.
Tall cone-shaped yew trees make an
avenue. standing two and two at the
bottom Of each flight of steps, In
between grow round-headed lavender
bushes. From the top terrace white
gate leads into a little orchard.
Within, Far End Is equally delgnt-
full. The hall and dining room are
oak.paneled and furnished with OLD
rugs and curtains of faded tones. oak
chests and tables, copper and luster
ware, with roses everywhere. ana
who would not love to have tea with
Hilda and Christopher and his sweet
sister Cecily in this lovely drawing
room? It "filled the whole width OF
the house, with two mullionec
windows at each end. two looking
south over, the village road and two
looking north on to the terraces. Ine
room was full of light-light on the
elder-flower white-painted panenng;
light on the brown gold OF pohsheo
tables and cabinets; light on the
chintz curtains and covers, cnlntz
with a. gay pattern of red roses and
dahlias and powder-blue parrots
Civil War romances have long
since given place to World war
realism. but occasionally a story OF
the former type takes us back to the
social and psychological struggles OF
the earlier war. Such is Meade MIN
nigerode's "Cordelia Chantrell.
romance of Charleston in the tifties
and sixties. Cordelia Chantrell ana
Sallie Penmarch. Preston Balmpflose
and Steeny Chantrell are the Two
couples involved in the far from
happy romance. Unhappiness, how
ever. Is responsible for the career OF
Cordelia. who becomes a spy for the
South in the Civil War, and in carry
ing on her mysterious work finds that
d,Itv and love are not always COM
patible.
The mystery story has tempted Mrs
Josephine Daskam Bacon away from
children's stories, at least temporarily.
"Medusa's Head" is society mys-
tery. with an amateur detective, an
art collector and beautiful young
wife as the chief actors. A jade
Medusa's head, which has disappear
ed, is the important clue to the mys-
tery. and, of course, the young de-
tective unravels all the tangle con-
nected with it and the beautiful
woman. The solution is fairly original.
Mathematical ability and literary
ability do not often go together. why
should they? One alone is enough for
one human being. And when an
author is absorbed in the psychologi-
cal processes Of a character, he can
not be interrupted to consider a
trivial question Of dates, of addition
and subtraction. In q recent novel,
widower about to remarry is looking
backward and forward and balancing
his chances of happiness with a second
wife, as against his fairly happy first
marriage and the negative peace OF
his present loneliness. But in going
over his past he completely ignores
arithmetic. Perhaps the author meant
to make him do SO, as an evidence OF
his confusion of mind. He tells ms
friend that his wife has been dead for
seven years, and later adds that she
was So when she died and that they
had been married for 30 years. But
earlier in the story the Wldo"er-
suitor has announced himself as 81.
Perhaps he said 1t as a joke or per-
haps he deviated from the truth in
order to make himself appear younger
to the middle-aged maiden he is
wooing; but n he was serious he must
first have been married at very early
age. His wife has been dead seven
Years. SO he was 80 when she died.
They had been married 80 years at
the time of her death, so he must
have been married as soon as he was
born.
Count Hermann Keyserling s
"Travel Diary Of q Philosopher" ac-
complished the feat of becoming a
best seller, though non-fiction. 1t is
likely that his new book will be an
even better seller, for it's subject is
1.-THE Book Of Marriage" and every
one is interested in marriage, whether
the view be backward or forward.
Count Keyserling is editor rather than
author of this book. Under his direc-
ton "a more or less famous authors
discuss the various aspects Of mar.
riage, and he himself has added two
ESSAYS. Havelock Ellis, Jacob Was.
sermann, Thomas Mann, Ricardo
Huch and Sir Rabindranath Tagore
n "a O onnoner thu cont frih1lfors The com.