Evening star., 1928-06-16
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the Bo0kioper

John Galsworthy makes Washington
MS milieu In short story which Is q
postscript to his "Forsyte Saga" or, as
he calls 1t, one of 1.-TWO Forsyte Inter
ludes." In this Washington story.
'Passers BY" Soames Forsyte and his
daughter Fleur and her husband.
Michael Mont, have reached Washing
about the world. The object Of these
travels has been to repair damage to
Fleur's self-esteem caused by recent So
cial discontinue In London and, IL pos
sible, to arouse her interest in the per-
sonality of her husband, whom she had
married as an indifferent second choice,
because she could not marry Jon For
syte, the son OF her fathers divorced
first wife. Irene. In Washington, at the
Hotel Potomac, which Soames pro-
nounceS with the accent on the first
syllable until he is corrected, all the
benefit of the six months of travel
threatens to be undone when Soames
discovers that Irene and Jon and joins
| new American wife are also registered at
the Potomac. For nearly "a hours he
schemes desperately to prevent Fleurs
| finding out that Jon Is at the hotel or
meeting him by accident. and at the
end OF the time, almost Ill from the
worry, he gets his little party TO the
train, with the secret still safe. But he
has had glimpse Of Irene, after many
| years-an Irene with silver hair instead
| Of golden. but even at 60 beautiful
woman. The glimpse has made him.
vaguely uneasy: she has irritated him
as always. "Ah! she had had many
| faults, but the worst of her faults had
always been, was still. her Internal
mysteryi" This is the story. 1t is, like
all Galsworthy's stories, we'll told, and
| we have feeling OF relief ourselves
when Soames arranges for a cab in the
early morning, with breakfast on the
train, and we know that Fleur Is not
going to meet Jon.
Parts of this story undoubtedly give
Galsworthy's own impressions Of things
| seen when he was in Washington. The
| first scene is in Rock Greek Cemetery
before the Adams memorial by Saint
Gaudens. He (Soames) did not re-
! member statue that made him feel so
| thoroughly at home. That great green
| ish-bronze figure OF seated woman
within the hooding folds of her ample
| cloak seemed to carry him down TO the
/ bottom OF his own soul Some
called 1t Grief; some The Adams Me-
mortal He didn't know, but in any
case there it was, the best thing he had
, come across In America, the one that
gave him the most pleasure, in spite of
all the water he had seen at Niagara,
and those skyscraperS in New York.
Three times he had changed his posi-
ton on that crescent marble seat. vary
ing his sensations every time. From
where he was now the woman had
passed beyond grief She sat in frozen
very remarkable! There was something
about death! He remembered his own
father, James. quarter OF an hour
after death as if--as II he had been
told at lastl A red oak leaf fell on to
his lapel, another on to his knee;
Soames did not brush them of. Easy
to sit still in front of that thingi They
ought TO make America sit there once
| a weekr Mount Vernon also wins the
approval of Soames, or Mr.. Galsworthy
himself. Mount Vermont The situa-
ton was remarkabiel With all that
color on the trees, the grassy cliff. and
below 1t the broad blue Potomac, which,
even Soames confessed, was more I'M
posing than the Thames. And the low
white house up here, dignified. and
private. but for the trippers-almost
English. indeed, giving him feeling he
had not had since he left home. He
could imagine that fellow George WASH
ington being very fond of 1t. One could
have taken TO the place ones self. Lord
John Russells old house on the hill at
Richmond was something like this, ex-
cept, OF course, for the breadth Of the
river. and the feeling you always had
In America and Canada, so far as he
had seen. that they we're trying TO fill
the country and not ucceeding--such
NJ
time"
AIdous Huxley takes as the motto Of
| his Proper Studies" Pope's famous
line, The proper study of mankind is
| man" The author claims to be only
| an intellectual amateur with sociology
! Cal and anthropological leanings, but
| his disconnected essays are crammed
with sound reason and written with a
| delightful irony that makes them very
| good reading In his opening chapter
on THE idea Of Equality" that rela-
lively modern but still rather ancient
dogma Is controverted. Concerning
our rationaliZing thinking on this mat
| ter he says: For most people nothing
| which Is contrary TO any system OF
ideas with which they have been
| brought up since childhood can pos
sibly be reasonable. New ideas are
| reasonable II they can be fitted into
an already familiar scheme, unreaSon-
able X they cannot be made to Mt.
| Our intellectual prejudiceS determine
| the channels along which our reason
| shall fiow" Some Of Mr.. Huxley's other
| chapters are on varieties of intelligence.
education. political democracy. the es-
sence of religion, a note on dogma, the
substitutes for religion and personality
and the discontinuity OF the mind.
M. Paul Claudel, the French AM
! bassador, writes of Andre MauroiS. his
| fellow countryman and author Of Dis
raeli,'' You know postprandial speeches
are a great opportunity for what we
| call 'cliches' and what you, think, call
| tags One of the worst tags OF our
| international opportunities is better
understanding between nations Any
thing from poisonous gases to shooting
| competitions Is supposed To promote
| understanding between nations I do
| not know that nations will ever better
understand each other, but / am sure
| they know precious little of each other
| M Maurois Is one of the few men who
| really know the things they write. He
| writes about English life and literature
and has mastered the difficult art
| OF presenting them TO the French pub
lie In such manner that they can be
both understood and liked and
| am confident that he will bring about
| IN France love for America with the
same good work he has done In Eng
| land"
| n
The amateur gardener receives so
| much encouragement nowadays that
any one with scrap Of ground almost
feels 1t necessary TO apologize II he Tor
more often she) does not read book
ON gardening. send for a catalogue or two,
and at least set out few bulbs climb