Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-22
THE LIBRARY TABLE,
~ ihs BookIover


and discriminating in, both style and
psychology, Anne Douglas Sedgwick has
made q study of the ages-old jealousy
between mother-;n-law and daughter
in-law. The first sentence in Dark
Hester shows the theme: ~ suppose
have hated her from the first mo-
ment saw her. Monica Wilmott heard
herself saying, and she saw Hester as
she had first seen her. sitting In the
open window OF the Chelsea drawing
room against the background OF the
river extraordinarily quiet, extraordi-
narily assured, with black' eyebrows and
q thin black cloak lined with red -
The conflict Is at FIRST one-sided, for
Hester is altogether Indifferent to her
mother I'm law, looking upon her merely
as q deplorable Victorian relic who has
probably done great psychological harm
to Give. But as she gradually comes
TO see that the tie between her husband
and his mother has an eternal quality
that his mothers instincts and codes
are his, in. spite Of his veneer Of mod
ernism, then she begins TO be interested
in her mother -in-law. and soon realizes
her as an enemy Monica, on her side.
has realized her enemy from the start
and on her sons marriage has retired
to country cottage. She reflects Bit
terly: And what ought mother In
laws TO do? > = II they don't die
when their sons marry, what are they
to dO?" Monica answers her own cues
ton by trying to Obliterate herself, by
allowing Hester full possession OF Give
1t In easier to resign her claims Alto
gether than TO share them. She turns
over her coy Chelsea house to the
young people and attempts to make her
not too comfortable cottage as artistic
and homelike as she 80 well knows
how to do. But her. loneliness grows
greater instead of less with the passage
OF time, and Give, in spite of his devo-'
ton to Hester, misses his mother. When
Hester discovers how things are, some
thing happens; for Hester after long
brooding always acts.
~ n
The conflict between Monica and
Hester is not merely jealous competition
for possession Of the beloved man: it
is also conflict between two women a
generation apart in years and much
farther apart in all their standards.
Monica Is entirely Victorian. She loves
quiet elegance in her home, soft. har-
monious colors, old etchings and en-
cravings, carefully arranged flowers,
duil rugs, old furniture and china She
tries to be modern enough to believe
that women should have equal oppor
tunities with men, but she secretly can
not understand why Hester needed to
go to Russia by herself during the war.
The idea of pre-matrimonial sex ad-
venture FOR women is absolutely abhor-
rent to her. Hester, ON the other hand,
Is: thoroughly modern! She furnishes
her drawing room In q dozen clashing
coiors, with misshapen stone images and
modernistieS paintings and jazzy dra-
peries. Monica thinks the whole place
horrible. Hester is a devotees OF modern
psychology. and will not permit Monica
To- tell fairy tales to her small son,
Robin. AS for her life before her mar
rage. she tells Give all about It. for
she L. scrupulously honest; but she Is
not ashamed OF 1t and sees no reason
why 1t should have the least effect on
her married life. How could two such
women understand each other, at least
until some great shock had opened
their eyes and minds? Adjustment
might have come by the elimination of
one woman or the other, II Give had
been either wholly Victorian or wholly
modern, but he Is neither the one nor
the other He loves and admires Hester
and accepts her ideas, but he loves his
mother more profoundly. II not as in
tensely. and his fundamental beliefs are
those which she has taught him. BE-
cause both women are sincere and be-
cause both love Give, they are able to
avert 2 tragedy which nearly involves
them all.
Abraham Lincoln, had he lived.
would have been crucifed by the .radi-
Gals In Congress. Andrew johnson suf-
Tered that cr,icif1xion for him In q
new biography Of Andrew Johnson.
Lloyd Paul Stryker shows how johnson
succeeding Lincoln as President AMI
mated by love Of the Union as pro-
found as 1ncoln,s own. put his back
20 the wall and fought Lincoln,s fight.
ne inherited Eincoln's enemies, and
the story Of his conflict with those
enemies is an epic OF valor." The TO-
mantle incidents of Johnson's' youth.
the events or his political career. and
his part in history are woven by Mr..
Stryker into an absorbing biography
He has not searched for bunk in order
70 debunk 1t, but he has dug deep into
the records In order to secure the facts.
and has made johnson live.
A*&
A history of the evolution OF nfedi-
cine and surgery discloses many facts
which seem horrible to us today. but
which also raise the question in our
minds whether our successors in the
world hundred or so years hence may
not consider some OF our practices hor-
rible. Such q history has been written
by Howard w. Hageard, M. D., asso-
clate professor of applied physiology,
Yale University, In his Devils, Drugs
and Doctors. The Story of the Science
OF Healing From Medicine Man to
Doctor" DIR. Haggard attributes the
slowness OF the development of healing
rs science to the fact that It was foT:
SO long considered as a subordinate part
OF religion. The first part of the book
Is concerned with the history of the
nandhng OF childbirth from the earliest
times. and DIR. Hagsard finds that the
women OF Egypt, Greece and Rome at
the height of civilization In those coun-
tries Jared rather better in respect to
care than did the women Of the early
Middle Ages in Europe. Surgery existed
as early as $500 BE-, because pictures
OF surgical operations have been found
OF that date on stones over q tomb near
Memphis, Egypt. In medieval Europe
the barber and the surgeon were one,
ana the combined occupation was looked
upon as mental trade. For the de-
velopment Of surgery knowledge of
anatomy was necessary, and the first
anatomy students were obliged to resort
TO grave robbery in order to secure
material, because of the superstitious
prejudice against dissection. The first
great anatomiSt was Andreas Vesalius.
professor of anatomy at Padua, who
when only %, dissected the human BODY
and drew valuable conclusions from his
accurate observations. Among the in
teresting facts related by DIR. HasRard
are that Cotton Mather, witch burner.
was an early defender of vaccination:
mat the nrst wartime medical agree
ment, forerunner Of the modern WORK
OF the Red Cross, was between the
French and the English after the battle
OF Dettingen, and that Dr. Oliver Wen
dell Holmes WAS thu fSrst a., ss..-..-