Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16

and defines It's course. II Is the
strength OF this story--its strong con-
ception and projection--that viii
bring. that has brought. the quarrel
against II. Otherwise 1t would have
been negligible A fair outlook or not
is for the individual to null over.
That it is q strongly human and a
highly dramatic story is the vote of
large majority of it's readers. An un.
conventional treatment, to be sure,
but such is one of the distinguishing
stamps of this competent and gen.
orally acceptable novelist,
X 4 X g
MEZZANINE. BY f. f. benson.
author of Our Family AflkArs,"
etc. New York, George III. 'boran
Company. ~
ONLY few years ago the novel
- founded upon the subject%6f q
young husband with a wife too old
for him would have been, even in the
hands of pure genius, q pallid and
hopeless failure, it's dismal concIu.
| sion clear before any beginning what
ever had been made. This amazing
| new day. however, has accorded the
impossible theme a gloss of plausible
lty, one which the novelist is keen to
seize upon. since he, like every other
sort of producer, must needs deal in
| wares that are fresh and undimmed
Nowadays, what with Coue and New
Thought and the Hindu Swami, what
with athletics and diet and the mira
Giles or the beauty parlor-what with
| all these, the gallant grandmother of
the moment steps nimbly, even chal.
| lengingly, off in stride with the com
petent and conquering 1apper her.
self. A short race, but an exciting
| one. Such disparity in years on the
| wrong side of the matrimonial ac-
| count provides the theme of this au-
| thor'S new novel. The matter pro.
| crosses, as Mr.. Benson's novels are
| likely to do. along the quiet levels of
English country life-tea, golf, music,
| touches of neighborhood intercourse
The actual story. however, Is an in
| side matter running along by way of
! the fears and apprehensions of the
wife, constantly facing i'm her secret
| soul upon ultimate disaster. A fine
woman. this one, intelligent and big
| hearted. The man is less, an attrac.
| tive fellow, but nothing to count
| much either way. With another sort
| of writer, here would have been an
outbreak and possibly scandal. But.
| like Mr.. Benson himself, these are
| eminently decent folks, so the trag-
/ edy makes it way quietly through
| the husbands strayed affections that
| go roaming after youth. The out
come itself is not convincing. For,
| despite the practised art of the au-
thor, he is not entirely able to make
a clear shepherding of young errancy
1 into the fold of a reclaimed domestic.
| ity. He makes this gesture, but it
| is not convincing because, you see,
| it is straight in the face of nature
itself.
| 4 i X X
! THE GRAY COAST. BY Neil NJ.
Gum. Boston: Little, Brown &
Company.
NEIL GUM is Scotsman, as all
the generations of his family be.
| fore him have been. Looking over
| into Ireland. he sees there a group
| OF writers who. in passionate devo-
| ton to their native land, have en-
| bodied it in literature, thereby send
| ing over the world. not only it's
| facts of landscape and history and
| peoples and customs but its fam
| ing, distinctive spirit az well. Look
ing otherwhere. he sees the same
| thing going on. So, very naturally.
| he asks himself why Scotland, too.
| should not possess or come to possess
| its characteristic literature. growing
gradually out of the many-sided facts
| and implications of modern Scotch
| life. He begins the answer to this
| question with 1.-The Gray Coast"
| With a fishing hamlet on the east
coast--its surrounding farms, its
fronting sea. IT'S daily habits. its Sc.
| rious outlook--and the aid of three
| human beings, Neil Gum here turns
| his intimate, lifelong acquaintance
| with Scotland into story OF human
| hopes and Illustrations, of human be-
| haviors circumstanced by nature in
| a mood of habitua1 austerity, of un-
ceasing exactions. The outcome of
this understa nding conception OF his
own land is story of deep sincerity,
| as 1t is also story marked by def.
| mite structural excellence. This quail
| ity of sincerity, this power of artistry,
coming together. have produced
novel that is bound TO interest deeply
the reader who prizes the true refiec-
tfon of life in this quarter. and that
by way of the skill of the compe-
tent and understanding novelist.
Certainly Neil Gum has contributed
substantially to the excellent design
that he himself has set for a new
| reading of modern Scotland at the
hands of its young and devoted writ
ers. And there is every sign that
this book is but the beginning of his