Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-13
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BookIover.

tuberculous at Davos- Platz has been
described by the various biographers
of Robert Louis Stevenson and even
more intimately in "Skin for Skin" by
Llewelyn Powys, who spent some time
in sanitarium there. But probably
nowhere has such an exhaustive study
been made of the spellbound life OF
Davos-Platz, with all it's mental re
sultants, as in the two-volume novel
of the German novelist, Thomas Mann
1.-THE Magic Mountain" in German
der Zauberberg." The chief charac
ter Of THE Magic Mountain" Hans
Castorp, goes to the International San
itarium Berghof at Davos-Platz for
a three weeks visit to his cousin
Joachim Ziemssen, a patient there, but
seven years elapse before he leaves, at
the outbreak of the World War. Like
so many before him, he slips with al
most no resistance into the invalid
life prescribed. The daily routine is
so easy to follow. No effort is de-
manded. GAN the days are nothing
but the same day repeating itself-or
rather, since it is always the same day
1t Is incorrect to speak of repetition,
a continuous present, an identity, an
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES words as these
would better convey the idea"
X X X X
To begin the day the bathing mas
ter thumpS on each door and enters
to give the patient within his alcohol
rub. Then follows, for all except "the
bedridden and moribund," a careful
morning toilet, after which comes a
hearty first breakfast of fruits, ce.
reals, cold meats, eggs, Gruyere cheese.
marmalades, honey and hot drinks.
The doctors make rounds during this
meal and ask casually how their pa
tients have slept. Immediately after,
the first prescribed walk takes place,
up the valley path to a bench against
the steep wall of the mountain and
back again. Then, after measuring
their own temperatures this is done
four times day. and entering the re-
suits on their curves. the patients take
the first rest cure, in reclining chairs
in little loggias outside their rooms.
The ceremony of wrapping themselves
In two camel's hair rugs is done with
precision, first lengthwise, on both
sides, up to the shoulders, and then
from the feet up" first one blanket,
then the other in the same way. A
linen shade fastened to the arm Of the
chair protects from the glare Of the
Summer sun and a fur-lined sleeping
sack keeps out the Winter cold. At
II a bell rings for the second break.
fast, another hearty meal similar to
the first, accompanied by a half liter
OF milk all around. The walk follow
ing this meal Is down to the village
Platz and back, and is in turn follow
ed by another rest of an hour in the
logSias. The chief meal of the day is
the 1 o'clock dinner, consisting Of a
large supply Of thick soup, then fish,
meat, vegetables and fowl courses,
completed by rich pudding, cheese
and fruit. Each dish was handed
twice and not in vain. At all
seven tables they filled their plates
and ate; they ate like wolves"
Then, until tea-time, the rest cure
again, during which the assistant phy
sician makes rounds through the log.
gias. After the tea, with all sorts of
beverages and thick slices of raisin
cake with butter, there is a brief walk
either up or down the valley, for there
are only two possible walks. Supper
at Z, the last meal Of the day, is al.
most as varied and bountiful as the
midday meal. A few brief moments of
SOCIAL intercourse in the big hall and
adjoining salons, assisted by the stereo
scope, gramophone, Kaleidoscope or
and then the long evening rest
cure in the loggias, with night lights
and tall glasses of milk on the little
tables. Each day is like every other
DAY except that on Sundays the menu
IS more elegant; once in two weeks
there IS a lecture on psycho-analysis.
once In two weeks a concert and on
FESTIVAL days special celebrations.
X X y X
Few are able, in this specialized
form or life, to retain the psychology
or the life from which they have come
down below" All kinds of peculiar
mental characteristics develop. Like
the lotus eaters, the jewellers here soon
forget their former existence, or at
least remember it only as a dream Of
the distant past. The acquire a feel
ing OF "freedom"-a freedom confer.
red by their illness, which makes their
STANDARDS different from those Of ordi-
nary human beings and causes them
10 SAVIOR each experience to the full.
because time may be short. Yet time
IN us usual sense has no meaning
mere. Inc month Is the shortest unit
OF time and the shortest sentences are
Tor six months. The late Springs
snort summers, early Autumns and
long Winters succeed each other mo.
notonously. What we spend up here
isn't time at all. and the new Winter,
when 1t comes, isn't new, but the
same old Winter all the time" "There
was no time up here to speak OF,
either long or short" OF course there
Is morbid interest on the part of
svery one in the illnesses of the others.
mere IS rule of the sanitorium
against discussion of Curves" condi.
IONS ana symptoms and the manage.
lnent handles all deaths in q discreet
ma secret manner, but nothing can
stop the interchange of questions and
condolences in the dining room, in the
salons and on the paths where the
1ally walks are taken. Amorous emo.
ions are easily aroused and as easily
oecome morbid, so that persons whose
diseased conditions would repel the
normal are attracted to each other
t1yster1a Is frequent and takes two
forms. sometimes wild, historical
laughter greets news of q comrades
serious relapse or death. AT other
Times outbursts Of anger occur from
ne shghtest cause, or no cause at all.
and tend to become contagious. what
was this, then. that was in the air? A
Using temper. Acute irritability. A
nIameless rancour. A universal ten.
lcncy to envenomed exchange Of words
20 outbursts of rage-yes, even to fisti.
cuffs" Altogether, the Berghof is q
place to leave as soon as is possible
With safety, If a man wish to preserve
1is personality. Joachim realizes this
when, leaving without the permission
II the physicians, he says earnestly
o mis- cousin: Hans, come down soon"
X X X
Only 10 days after the United States
uttered the World War the Emerpency
fleet Corporation opened its offices in |
hree small rented rooms, with six |
employees. In six months there were |
1000 employees and 16 offices in differ. |
mt parts Of the country. The story