Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-02
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the R0okIoUer

"''u ny Mazo de la Rocne IN ner At~
lantlc Monthly prize novel. "Jalna.'
rivals in its reality Thackeray's New
comes and Galsworthy's Forsytes. We
are All glad to meet them again in Miss
dc Ia Roches sequel, ''Whiteoaks OF
Jalna." Opening the pages, we anx-
louSly count over the members OF the
family. to be sure that no one has died
or severed connection with the family
In the interlude between the two books.
They are all here. Grandmother White
oak. more than a hundred. Is still eat
'1g prodigious meals, scolding her par
OF Boney; demanding immediate kisses
from different members of the family.
and keeping them all In suspense over
the ultimate disposition Of her property.
Her eldest son. Uncle Nicholas, finds his
govt trifie more troublesome and eats
his cheese souffies and drinks his native
port deprecatingiy. His Yorkshire ter
rier, Nip, sleeps on his bed and warns
his old back at night. The younger son,
Uncle Ernest. still slender and elegant
at "a. keeps his bedroom in meticulous
order and INDUCES in melancholy
thoughts about his mothers undoubt-
edly approaching death. His Persian
cat, Sasha. has shocked his sensibilities
by having a kitten in her old age. Her
daughter, Aunt Augusta. Lady Buckley.
who has come over to Jalna from her
widows comfortable home in England
to care for her mother in her last
years, is as much irritated as ever be
cause that malicious mother persists in
calling her Lady Bunkley' or Lady
Bilgeley." pretending to forget. She
has considerable satisfaction in presid-
ing over the Jalna household, though
whenever she Is offended over anything
she meditates upon her speedy return
to England as soon as her mother Is
dead.
Old Adeline Whiteoak. once Adeline
Court of Ireland. and her three living
children form the Oldest and the older
generations at Jalna. Then there are
all the grandchildren, children of old
Adeline's son. Philip, and his two wives.
all three long since dead. Nicholas,
divorced; Ernest, never married, and
Augusta, married late, have contributed
no offspring to the Whiteoak clan.
Kenny. eldest son OF Philip and his first
wife, is master of Jalna and guardian
and means of support for all his half
brothers and sisters. He hopes he has
stif1ed his love for Alayne. his brother
Eden's separated wife, but is not sure
Of it. and when he sees Alayne again
he knows that he must again muster all
his powers of self-control Meg, the
other child Of Philip Whiteoak's first
marriage. having married her old lover.
Maurice Vaughan, after 20 years of
arrangement, has achieved baby and
become very sentimental mother. She
has not lost her love for little extra
meals at all hours. and her figure grows
daily more rotund. OF Philip White
oaks second marriage, Eden, the poet,
Is the eldest child. In "Jalna' his love
Of beauty and his poetic gift appeared
80 hi ak aAn
He has not changed. But he has de-
veloped tuberculosis during his outlawry
in New York, and Alayne. no longer
loving him. but loving Kenny. returns
10 Jalna to nurse him back to health
and further adventures with women.
Piers is as good a farm manager for
Kenny as ever, as sulky and truculent,
as jealous of his young wife, Pheasant,
daughter of Maurice Vaughan. Piers
and Pheasant are happy together. with
their baby. young Maurice, or "Mooey,"
though Piers sometimes gives way to
suspicion OF Pheasant when gloomy
memories OF her former affair with
Eden assail him. Finch. long. lanky,
blond boy Of 20. unable to pass his
examinations. loving music above all
things, Is prosecuted by all the family,
except perhaps Kenny, who, though Sc
we're, is just as far as he can conpre-
bend Fincf1's character. Finch becomes
the central figure Of "Whiteoaks of
Jalna." Finally there is Wakefield,
delicate 12-year-old boy, with weak
sions when any Of the family are too
much for him. He is Renny's especial
charge and favorite.
So
The chapter of "Whiteoaks Of Jalna"
which describes the family earthquake
following the reading of old Adeline's
will Ia a masterpiece. All the tremen-
6ous energy, badly restrained; the jeal-
ousies and the clannishness Of the
Whiteoaks are brought into action.
Every one Of the family Is stunned
then outraged. by the disposal the
grandmother has made Of her property,
which she had announced long since
was to be left intact to one heir only.
The heir is the most completely stunned
of all. When the storm breaks he would
give his whole newly acquired fortune
il he could escape from its fury. In
the hallway, where Kenny is in private
conversation with the old lawyer, young
Wakefield tries three times to ask.
Who Who . Who?" but each
time Kenny grips the back of his neck In
the sitting room the calm Is assembled.
Nicholas bites hard on his pipe In cor
ner and strokes Nip with trembling
hand. Ernest necessarily rubs the nails of
one hand on the palm Of the other, then
taps his teeth with his nails. Augustus
eyes are full of tears. Finch crouches
miserably on an ottoman. Meg Is furi-
Gus and teary by turns. Piers looks in
one direction with blazing eyes. When
Kenny enters the passions of all break
the slight restraint, which has been put
upon them. The Whiteoaks are not a
restrained. reserved, a suppressed
family. In the quarrel which follows 1t
is not only the will Of old Adeline which
is involved, but all the family griev-
ances for years back-the fact that
Kenny has been supporting them all cit
is Piers, not Kenny. who mentions this).
Augustus sacrifice in coming from Eng
land to Jalna, Piers secret marriage to
Pheasant. Meg's delay in marrying Maui
rice. Then dinner is announced, and
they all eat vigorously the thick slices
of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding,
Drowned potatoes and steamed black
berry pudding served to them by Kenny.
ITO a family of weaker fibre such a
scene as the one just passed in the
sitting room might have ended all ap-
petite for dinner. 1t was not so with
the family at Jalna. The extraVagart
and wasteful energy of their emotions
now required fresh fuel. They ate
swiftly and with relish, only in an
unusual silence for they were still OPP
pressed by that empty chair between
Nicholas and Ernest"
X
Robert Frost's title for his collection
of poems, West Running Brook" is
an allusion to the custom of Vermont
brooks in the region in which Mr. Frost
lives Of running east. The brook of the
title poem broke this rule and runs
west. sign of originality which makes
it worthy of celebration. Most of the
poems are on subjects suggested by the