Evening star., 1926-05-23

Samuel Py Who Astonishing DaryA Novel
cerned With Afr-War Condtions-Taes of Fishing Virgin
Seas-Other Novels of the DAY.
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

IDA GILBERT MYERS.
SAMUEL PEPYS. BY J. Lucas Du-
breton. Translated from the French
by III. j. Stenning. New York: G.
p. Putnam's Sons.
| A N inconsiderable man, counted
| ~ all around. yet for more than
| "A 200 years Samuel Pepys has
4 A time over time demonstrated
| his power to re.create himself
| to the lively interest Of these interven-
ing years. In effect. Pepys has ac-
| tualiy made himself cotemporary
perpetuity by virtue Of the astonish-
ing Diary whose frankness of revela-
! ton serves to set many another man
out before himself, even as it sets
Pepys out in his own eyes. Human
| nature stays about the same. There
fore this plain and intimate self-ex-
posure made almost 800 years ago
reads like the personal yesterdays and
tomorrows Of certain definite human
| qualities.
One Of the few honest diaries, the
Pepys Diary. Not a particularly mer.
itorious one, but an honest one. And
this attribute gives a fair accounting
for its seemingly inexhaustibie life.
Diary Is q source of joy to the painter
OF portraits in life, to the gold digger
In human motives. to the philosopher
hunting his honest man, to the In
diligently ironic observer of men. so
from one point and another these
draw close to Samuel Pepys by way Of
this house.of.life that in such guileless
honesty he built to hearth and roof
his mildly scandalous career.
NJ. Lucas.Dubreton here submits the
hx, nf
Diary to the test Of the literary
Frenchman's habitxal penetration be-
low those surfaces with which the
majority are content to deal. He ap-
piles to 1t the French writer's clarity
of thought and his selective skill in
lifting essentials from the clutter Of
nothings that imbed these essentials.
He exercises upon It the French writ
er's social instinct and that different
outlook upon society which sets the
analytical 0allic mind OF from that Of
the more sentimental Anglo Saxon.
Without any extepuatiOn the latter
reprobates Samuel Pepys out Of the
old sinners own mouth. The former
accepts him as a familiar example Of
the man tribe. smilingly handing him
over as q not exceptional case in those
days. externally so different from our
own times. And around Pepys him
self NJ. Lucas. s.Dubreton gathers the ell
ementS and arranges the parts of
little portrait Of the social life Of the
times. Here is Pepys. trimmer in pol
itics, such as we have today. A sponge
upon his patrons and this, too. Is not
a lost art. Pepys. osling the ladies
and imagining a thousa nd successful
amours that never materialized out
side his own mind. AS for this point
4 AA Aox Af a L. M
Pepys was a poor husband to a pro-
vokingly average wife. Times. you
see. have not changed so much since
this honest man confessed himself to
himself by way Of the Diary which
might stand. one opines. as a quite
general confessional. And with ir
all. Pepys was an honorable and re
spected servant of the king. high In
the favors Of the admiralty which he
served with loyalty and ef1iCiency. The
picture spreads 10 sprightly ex
posure of the life of the court. But it
is, pre- .eminently. the portrait of Pepys
himself that stands clear here under
the hand Of this French. artist. A
portrait that is peculiarly French in
conception. in composition and in fin
ish, one, too, whose qualities have
been maintained by the translator in
THE HOUNDS OF SPRING BY syl
via Thompson. Boston: Little.
Brown & Co.
I"HE Hounds Of Spring" like
- III Winter Comes" in title
and spirit takes the pro-
L phetic mood and word OF
the poet TO promise hope
for a future whose present is far
more gray than golden.
1t is not to be expected that writer's.
especially those Of Europe. will for .
long time be able to set away from
the World War whose effects are %
pressing as TO crowd out from even
art itself themes apart from this en-
crossing one. And that 3 as it should
be- It's the worlds business to re
member the war. So welcome to the
poets and novelists and play writers
and painters who bend their art to
keeping its memory green.
THE Hounds of Spring" is the story
of an English family in war time. II
is. therefore. a story of patriotism. of
heroic parents and sons. a story Of
loss that Is irretrievable and Of the
accommodations that 90 along with
these losses in order that life itself
may 60 on in the home and in the
country. It is besides a story Of
young love. a. beautiful idyl put to
the strain Of war time and its insecuri-
ties. 1t is the family. however. that
constitutes the heart Of this romance
This is the center from which radiate
in infinite delicacy and feeling and
art lines of action that move out into
the war itself and then turn back to
this English family again as the
wise and friendly and understanding
foundation Of a truly beautiful story.
A strong and consistent story besides.
Read it, first, to restore the luster of
your possibly tarnished faith in the
family itself. Read 1t for the young
love that it depicts with 20 much Of
grace. Read it for the outcome-and
you'll not like that. You'll wish that
this might have happened instead OF
that. You may be shocked-probably
you will be. But, remember, this
writer is not a miracle-maker. She
appears to be. instead, the medium of
a romance that is made out Of life as.
in the main. it was lived over and
over again in the English war time.
To this material she has applied a
very delicate and sensitive art Of
storytelling. The combination has
substance and undeniable beauty.
TALES OF FISHING VIRGIN
SEAS. BY Zane Grey. author Of
Tales of Lonely Trails" etc.
Illustrated. New York: Harper
& Bros.
IT'S time to 60. Time to move
~