Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-11
TIE LIBRARY TABLE
Bv the Bockioper.


with its sharp spines mingled with
fragrant yellow blooms, is made
symboiica, of nature. which TRICKS
human beings by a fair appearance
and then stabs them savagely. in
"t'urze the Cruel" by John Trevena,
pseudonym of Ernest G. Hermann.
This novel of his. written in the
early wears of the twentieth century,
should he better known than II Is.
for it Is vigorously written ana
powerful in it's chara cteriza ton ana
f:tta lism. In brief foreWord MI.
Trevena SAYS: Almost everywhere
on Dartmoor are Furze. Heather and
Granite. The FurZe seems To
suggest cruelty. the Heather en-
DURANGO and the Granite strength,
The Furze is destroyed by
FIRE. bat grows again: the Heather
is torn bv winds, but blossoms again;
the Granite is worn away 1mper-
ceptihly by the rain. This work is
the first of proposed triIosy, which
the author hopes to continue and
complete with 'Hea Their and Gran
ite.' These two novels nave since
been published.
In "t'ur2e the Cruel the char
acter of Pendoggat. hypocritical,
brutal, tenacious in enmity, thor
oughly evil. is symbolically identIt1ed
by the author with the furze which,
beautiful ON the moor, cruelty hurts
the human being who touches it and
is the tenacious enemy of filth, grow =
ng again from it's charred roots when
it is burned over by the annual
Dondn~cof
from burning the big furze brake be-
hind his house at Helmen Barton
because it conceals some of his evil
secrets; but the furze is inextricably
tied up with his evil life and there
in his own brake he meets his
tragedy. The burn1Bg of furze on
the moor is a terrible sight. espe-
cially when the onl0Okers know that
there is a man in the "vuzz." 1.-The
fire seemed to swaAp through with
the rapidity of light, but nothing else
could be heard except the roaring
and the screaming and Kissing as the
big bushes melted away. -. for the
furZe screams when it is burnt like
creature in torment. -. All the
sounds had ceased and already the
great flames were going out, leav-
ing red shoulder of ashes and big
scarlet stems.
X x x
Brightly who trampS the moor
with his poor little monsrel Ju. col
lecting rabbit skins, finds the world
as cruel as the furze. His rubbishy
little clay vases. which he exchanges
for the skins, are sometimes destroy
ed by malicious children or the more
malicious Pendoggat. He and Ju we'll
l-,, 4 ct rs
ard his only shelter is deserted
cow barn on the moor or the cave In
Belstone Cleave. Yet Brightly is an
idealist and never ceases to dream OF
"a little ramshackle cart, with fern
at the bottom for Ju to lie on, and a
bit of board at the side bearing in
white letters the inscription. A
Brightly, Purveyor of Rabbit Skins.
and a lamp to be lighted after dark
and a plank for himself to sit on, and
a box behind containing the red and
yellow vases" Meanwhile, however
hungry he is. he always keeps dup
pence wrapped in q little packet in
his pocket, so that when hunger and
blindness and asthma and the pros
pect of the workhouse or the prison
become too much for him, he car
purchase the rat poison which shall
Jerusalem the Golden of his dreams
and his songs, flowing with milk anc
honey. But the furze has its fragrant
! yellow blossoms, as well as its SHARP
Splnes: and Aubrey and Boobies, the
! two youn" lovers. after walking over
a rough path for a time. finally reach
| the Garden of Happiness. which fol
! them means marriage and a, cottage
lat Garbis Bay. looking over St Ives
at the sea. a lovely place where thu
! sun Shines
One Of the characters in "F1lrzt
! the Cruel is Peter TavN. who is
3'feet in height and looks like a gnome
| He has "a beard like a furze- bush. q
nose like a clothes peg, and a pail
of eyes which had probably been in
tended for a boar. but had got into
| Peter by mistake" Peter aspireS tC
! be a philosopher and keeps q diary
| in which he records his thoughts
about people and things in general
| Some of his observations are: There
| be a lot O. volks in the world. and
| some be vulish. and some be artful
| but me, Peter, be artfuL" 'Tis bet
ter to be happy than good Boot
| full maids what feels ugly still be
bootiful 1t be contrary like, but il
| be true''-and the number of that
thought was northumberland
seventy -one. Mr.. Trevena has obvi
Gus sympathy with his Peter Tavy
| for he is something of an aphoris
| himself and very much Of a satirist
For example: What luck is nobody
! can know, but it is certainly gift
TO be preferred before natural abil
| ity." "He might have started fol
Tavistock presently with nothing los
except honour, which was of nj
| value" up to the time Of his con
/ viction he had never been a thief
! but since leaving prison he had fell
| 1t was necessary to live up to hi!
reputation as desperate character
and so he took anything he coulC
| find" HE Ia preacher), seemed {
pious old man, although he could no
| have been observant, or perhaps he
! had gone about with his eyes shut
AS the Psalmist must have done: bu
| he was eloquent, and his words thun
| dered upon the congregation like
| Dartmoor rain upon a tin roof "A
sober a set Of justices as ever lived
as learned in law as row of owls
| but carefully driven by clerk, wht
kept their heads up. and their fee
from stumbling into the ditch" Life
is not a fairy tale, but a winding patti
between rocks and cruel furZe."
X X X X
Some cherished secrets OF Frencl
cooks are revealed by Alice Hotchkis
Crippen in her French Pastr.
Book" illustrated, and dedicated "t
my daughter, who loves these things
but will not make them" Mrs Grip
pen says that during the war sh'
was able to secure from a number o
the best French chefs some of thei
favorite recipes. which she here pre-
sents for the Use of those who ar
able to appreciate and apply them
There are over a hundred of tn
recipes. including those for sucl
luscious delicacies as gateau ST
] IIonnro n, q rrnn sta PC CaNa rim ca es