Evening star., 1926-10-16
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookIover.


and domestic life in general OF the
period from just before the Civil war
until the present time are described In
Anne Parrish's novel, 1.-THE Perennial
Bachelor" almost as fully and accu-
rately as If the book were a history
Of manners and customs. In this re-
spect this novel is comparable to
Certain People of Importance" by
Kathleen Norris. When Mamma
Campion, who lives in Delaware on
the Delaware River, gives dinner
party about 1850, the menu includes
mock turtle soup, boiled turkey with
oyster sauce, roasted ham, chicken
pie. roast goose with apple sauce,
smoked tongue, beets, coleslaW,
squash, satisfy, fried celery, almond
pudding, mince pie, calf fs-foot Jelly
and blanc mango nodded In blown
egg shells. In her wardrobe are erin.
olines and enormously full gowns or
apple-green glace, black velvet, mauve
and primrose silk: a black lace shawl
with a swirling fern pattern and a
white lace shawl delicate as frost
work." besides bonnets Of silk and
flowers to match all her costumes.
Her three little girls wear Tight blue
chambray dresses, low-necked, With
scalloped ruffles. white muslin aprons
and their best long lace-edged draw
ers." Mammals parlor Is room or
marvels. The carpet Is a garden or
crimson roses. Between heavy Grim
son curtains, looped back from the
windows, hang cages Of canaries and
love birds, and below the cages are
green iron plant stands full of gera-
NUNS growing in pots covered with
putty into which mamma has pressed
acorns and small pine cones. Wax
pond lilies float on mirror under a
glass dome on the table. Each chair
has it's tidy. There is a wonderful
partly filled in with birch bark and
sand on glue. Negro servants live in
quarters across the road from the big
Campion house. the Naples.
X X II y
After the war, when Maggie Cam
pion is a grown.up young lady, she
wears tight basques. three-ruff1ed
skirts, train, a chignon and bangs,
a hustle, an hour-glass corset and
steps from "circle after circle Of petit
coat" when she undresses. Mamma
makes all her daughters practice the
Grecian bend when they go out in
society. The agitation for wOmen's
rights has begun. but mamma thinks
that it Is dreadful. She considers
George Eliot very fast to call herself
by mans name. May CampiOn
sometimes dips red ribbon in cologne
and rubs it on her cheeks, but Maggie
says "only bad women paint their
faces" This is the period also when
''the very word spoon, the sight of a
spoon, was enough to send the young
men off into fits of laughter" Then
follows the age of pompadours, shirt
waists, straight fronts. bead chains,
fudge made in chatting dishes, pyrog-
raphy, Gibson men and girls. The
War with Spain brings back memo.
ries Of the Civil War. The years slip
by and the Campions are growing old.
Almost every house but theirs has
lights. The World War comes and
makes all change more rapid. The
twentieth century rusheS along, with
its automobiles, monographs, movies,
bridge, knee-length skirts and smok-
ing women-and the Campions who
are now left are very old.
X X X X
The Russian peasant Is Russia.
What he thinks, after his slow mental
processes have worked out cOnclu.
sions, that will prevail in the end.
So the success Of communism depends
on the peasant. Economists have as.
serted this over and over since the
Russian revolution Maurice Hindus
Russian by birth and an American
by present choice, has revisited his
native land, and especially his native
village, in order to see for himself and
to learn by talking with the people
what are the real results of the revo
1I1ffnn Hn hac piUnn hic frdinOC an
Broken Earth" One of his conclu
sions is that communism has not cap
tured the peasant. Some of the
younger generation of peasants are
enthusiastic Communists, but more
are violently opposed or stolidly un
favorable. Mr.. Hindus also found
the peasants ready to express their
dislike of the Soviet government ant
not at all intimidated. The average
peasant thinks the Soviet government
more oppressive than the autocracy
Of the Gear. especially in the matter
Of taxes and fines. One of the very
disastrous effects of the revolution
was brought about by the peasants
themselves, namely, the cutting dowr
Of vast forests Of trees. The peas
ants, fearing that they would not ge,
their share in the universal plundel
following the conf1scation of the grea'
estates, hastened to cut the trees fol
themselves. The result has been thu
drying up Of streams and the conse
quent lessening Of productiveness O.
the soil.
One of the greatest of Renaissanc,
painters, Leonardo da Vinci, hat
other professions to which he some
times turned when his fortunes wer,
in need Of betterment. In Rafael Sa
batini's Life Of Cesare Borgia" men
tion Is made Of the fact that in 150
he entered the service of Cesare, Duk
of Valentinois, as engineer and archl
tect. In this service he may have su
perintended the repairs of the Castl
Of Forli, captured by Cesare, and Ger
tainly built the canal from Cesena t,
the Porto Cesenatico. Later he ais
probably supervised the erection o
two fortresses at Elba in the victori
Gus dukes conquered territory.
X X X
Comments on men and affairs ar
made discursively by Lord Riddell II
his recent book, More Things Tha
Matter" We learn that Gen. Botha'
| favOrite amusement was bridge, tha
Jan Smuts loved walking, that Win
ston Churchill is an omnivorous read
er and many other interesting fact
about certain people of importance.
Lord Riddells ideas on prohibition
should be added to the data collecte
by both sides Of the question. A life
long teetotaler, he yet views alcoho
| most impartially. He says that h
| can with equal complacence attend
temperance breakfast or a banque
given by licensed victualers. On tn
whole, however. he does not believ
in prohibition, because he is oppose
| to slavery" He says: Efficiency
precious, but 1t is not the sole objec
Of existence. Happiness counts TO
something, and happiness depends OF
| reasonable freedom" Golf he consid
! ers great debt which American busi
ness men owe to the British, an