Evening star., 1927-09-24
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Booklouer.

Does the ghost of Sir Henry Ar
| den haunt his library and inhibit his
| would-be biographers; or is it only
| imagination. heightened by the
| sense of doing what he especially
| wished not to be done. which makes
them feel an impression of an un-
| seen. irresistible something" holding
| them back whenever they try to work
at the big library table on which
stands his photograph? Maud Diver
completes her novel, But Yester-
| day." without answering the ques-
ton. She narrates results, but leaves
| the causes unexplained We only
know that in turn Give Arden. Sir
| Henry's son; Alison Owen, his cousin,
and Jarvis Mcneil. his old friend, all
attempt the Life" and after a few
| days and nights of work in the library
all funk it. Then the "Old Lady"
| his mother, survival of a past age,
| tougher at 81 than any of the others.
| her juniors, declares that she herself
will write the Life" of her son. She
| has no patience with the excuses and
delays offered her and sneers at the
| mysterious difficulties" which they
all vaguely suggest.
y n y r
Give Arden, already a writer, has
| been looking toward biography as.
in essence, form of creative art,
yet he hesitates to undertake the
Life" of his father, because he feels
himself inadequate and. more, because
he knows his father had wished that
his Life" should not be written
But, dominated by his grandmother
Give sets himself to the task and for
ma IptfhrS
note books and clippings, until he
comes to feel himself mysteriously
identified with his fathers personal
ity. Then his work is ended by the
experiences of one evening when he
feels his father standing near his
shoulder-potently present-restrain-
ing him. from the destruction of some
long g.treasured letters, and when with
staring eyes he sees the Persian cat
Onyx prowling "restlessly to and fro
with an unmistakable move
ment of his body as if he were in
sinuating it against his masters legs. ;"
The next morning Give goes to his
grandmother and tells her she must
find some one else to write the Life, y
if she insists that 1t must be written
Alison Owen works but three nights
in the large, dim, high-ceilinged
library when she is routed either by
some outside presence or her own
overwrought nerves. He was there
the man she craved to see; and, in
some mysterious way, he was 1mpoS-
ing his mind on hers, paralyzing her
by that inimical feeling. as If the
caustic, critical side of him had re-
turned to unsteady her in the very
hour of achievement" The old lady
willingly releases her from the tasks,
for she has never liked her. Jarvis
Mcneil remains, steady, loyal. "capa'
BILE, il a trifie solid" He settles down
to work in the quiet library, no"
avoided by nearly every one, but never
gets beyond a 'Wast blank foolscap
Sheet headed Chapter One. Unex-
plainably. "here in this comfortable
room. full of pleasant memories, ne
felt himself hindered and veXatious!Y
haunted by the hampering thought
that Henry did not wish him or any
one to do anything Of this kind.
= There it was again-that
goose-hesh feeling, like stealthy
draught Though he had fastened the
window himself), and soft, scratch
ing sound behind him. That
catn" The next day Mcneil finds
that town life doesn't suit him, that
the east winds have touched up" his
liver, and that he must get away to
his country home for a few rourds
of golf. He never resumes work on
the Life" Furious with the inca
pacity and 'fanciful scruples" of the
two generations below her. the old
lady takes over the writing of the
Life" shuts herself in the library
and orders that she be undisturosd.
What she experiences there no one
ever knows, but the. Life" is never
written.
Directions how to have a good time
on nearly every day Of the year are
contained in planning Your Party
by Emily Rose Burt. Birthday par
ties, Valentine luncheons. May day
festivities, Thanksgiving dinners. even
golden wedding celebrations, are fully
provided for. There Is no discrimina-
ton among the ages of man, for the
tastes of childhood. middle age and
old age are all considered in the party
planning.
Margaret Leech, collaboration with
Haywood Broun in Anthony Com
stock, Roundsman of the Lord
makes the following interesting COM
ment upon Anthony Comstocks un-
canny power to put through the re-
form laws he wanted in this country:
an the popular imagination, Com
stock has often figured as man
who, by some devilish control over the
legislators, was able to secure laws
which were tyrannical and unconstl-
tutional. an interference with per-
sonal liberty. Yet, granting that such
was his earnest intention, it seems
too much to ascribe to him all the
credit for the performance.
Often in the fight against obscenity
ne stood alone. Always he was in the
van. But somewhere behind him an
army of Puritans was solidly massed.
For this reason he was feared aud
hated, because he was so strong.
Had his crusade run counter to the
mores of his people he would have
been a pitiful figure, martyr to his
lonely ideal. But. in him people
cursed the spirit of enforced right
eousness made palpable--fieshly and
menacing, with the ginger-colored
whiskers and a warrant and Post
Office badge. He was the apotheosis.
the fine flower of Puritanism. At
the trial of d. NJ. Bennett for the
circulation of obscene literature AS
sistant District Attorney William P.
Fiero thus addressed the jury:
8" 1t is the United States
against d. NJ. Bennett, and the United
States is one great society for the sup
preston of vice."
X X X
The two brothers. Jerome and Jean
Tharaud. are among the most pOpu-
lar writer's of fiction in France today.
Their names are really Ernest and
Charles, but they took the alliterative
names when, as they themselves say,
the craze for authorship took hold
of them at an early age" They were
born about so years ago into a mid
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