Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-13


or great action; some legend reaching
far back Of the tales about real peo-
Pile; some custom or way of doing that
is rooted in an old belief-superstition
we call it It is by way of Mr.. Hudson,
as familiar with the Able Pierre coun-
try as 1 am with Weedsport or more so,
that this sunny corner of France comes
close 10 us in these innumerable little
touches of friendship and long acquaint-
ance. Talkative folks, but not more
laxative than everybody is under the
warmth of friendly interest. so am
wondering how there came into English
two words-"Gascon" and "gasconade"
to signify the "braggart" and big
talk" I doubt If these Gascons are
more Tree with speech than are any of
the others along the warm lands of the
Mediterranean, say those of Provence
or of Italy. Well, never mind. The point
is that here is book of beautiful pic
lures drawn from region of peculiar
charm by the intimate hand of one
who loves 1t.
INFIDELITY. BY Arthur Weigall. New
York: Brentano's.
EOR the making of this tale Arthur
Weigall takes a day of from his
otherwise serious and important pur-
suits. Picking up handful of oddments
from the surface of modern existence,
he here shapes these into that which,
| finished. he names the "Veracious Ac-
count of the Somewhat Farcical Penny
worth Affair" 1t is the business OF
marriage that engages the story in
hand. To be married or not to be mar
ried2 That is the question. Aunt Sarah
said mol" with a sweeping gesture
away from matrimony and toward any
! sort of substitute for such clear bond
age. Aunt Sarah was feminist, q
power. spinster. rich, and the aunt OF
Camilla. But Camilla was In love. She
believed in marriage. of course. SO did
Peregrine Penny. He was in love, too
with Camilla. What to do? Aunt
| The father of the boy Sir Erasmus,
gone if they didn't. What to do? An
| inspiration! Why. just take the little
boys definition Of lie and hold fast
to it through thick and thin: IAN
abomination in the sight of the Lord
and an ever present help in time OF
trouble" And so 1t was. And so 1t
proved to be. in the hands, and mouth,
of the pretty Camilla. 1t was through
the artful lodges of Camilla, through
her deft presentations, through her
plain lying at exactly the right moment
that a turbulent matter, full OF disas-
ter coming head-on. is turned this way
and that by this inspired pilot of a girl
who looked as angels are said to look
and not at all like hardy seaman,
Clever and amusing, bringing out
laughter, loud and long. about once a
page, the story goes its devious way TO
the last triumphant moment, when
-
she patted the shoulder OF Camilla
You're a damned clever girl" Indeed
she was, for she had steered Aunt Sarah
herself into the safe port Of matrinnony
Delightful. Do you have to have q
"lcsson" with every book. even novel?
Are YOU that much OF Puritan yet!
No lesson here, save to keep right on
living lin time of trouble"
STRANGE FUGITIVE. BY Morley
Callaghan. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.
IIERE is a first novel by a young
L Canadian writer. Not his first
stories. but his first novel. A strong
invention, If it be invention. that strips
life down to its nakedness down to
the man driven by something more
persistent. more powerful than the
accidental and superficial influences
around him. 1t is a plain record OF
Harry Trotter. foreman in a lumber
yard in Toronto. Married and In love
with his wife. Not bad prospect. not
bv anv means, to be settled in home
and having q good job. And so the
matter would have gone without doubt,
to prosperity, a family, to something OF
position within his own round OF con-
ditions. 1t didn't go that way because.
YOU see. inside this man was strange
and restless fellow. driving him that
way when he would go this, debating
this action when the outside man de-
sired another, pointing to new scenes
when the man himself was more than
content where he was. A disintegrating
fellow, this fugitive spirit inside, dis
turbing days and nights with beckon-
ings of strange lure. The story turns
out to be, in no very long time, the
course set by this fugitive" to Harry
Tfotter, foreman in lumber yard up
in Toronto. husband of wife whom
he loved. But what is work. what Is
love, under the drive of a restless and
importunate spirit! So changes come
in the following of such lead. Some
thing that looks like success appears.
But it is not success, nor could it be.
under the denials and shifts that
marked its course. Not once does this
author step aside from his place as
plain reporter of a set OF facts that
make up the career of Harry Trotter.
Yet. the reader, following this open ac-
count, becomes In a degree haunted by
the strange fugitive" urging the man
on. for somehow he finds in himself
odd grippings of the same hand. clear
beckohingS of the same uneasy presence.
A hard book. an uncomprOmising story.
concerned only with its own special
case-and yet. the case spreads to in
clude other men, other women. in its
sinister urge toward-what? I'd like
the next novel by this man, il there be
next.
SEVEN DAYS WHIPPING. BY John
Biggs, jr.. author OF "Demigods. :"
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
A STRANGE story with a strange
title. Let's take away at once the
pusZling character of the title by say
ing that this is the name of an Indian
youth who appears, or seems to appear,
at late moment OF revelation or sug-
gestion. The matter itself has to do
with an incident in the life of Judge
La Place, rather with a state of mind
and a course of action Numerically
opposed to his honorable Office of pass
ing Judgment upon wrongdoers and to
the carefully ordered ways of his daily
life. One often wonders what is really
going on inside those impressive officials
who sit listening to the details of this
crime or that one and who finally de-
eide the immediate destiny of another
human, probably not 50 different from
themselves, not in reality. And this
difference, or no difference, is exactly
the theme of the story in hand There
was Judge La Place, clearly above the
tides Of human passion. doing his off,
cial duty and then taking his way to
the calm peace of his home and his
family. Then In that retreat the judge
Is confronted suddenly with an appeal