Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09
% IDA GILBERT MYERT
The Joseph Pencil Letters, and Richard
HaIibmtm,5 Search for ':NeoO Worlds to
Conquer II Study Of .Iohn BrozOn

crude efforts toward tillage, the trading and
trapping, the Indians in their strange villages,
the starting up Of industry by fur company
2 and road builder-tle slow and unequal adj
vance of civilization toward the West. A
great story, one calculated to make US stop
q minute for = look outward upon that which
this country has become, to mark the miles
and the years lying in between that rough and
glorious period and the amazing quality Of the
present in America. Familiar with the great
West in its history and in It's significance.
Miss Laut here comes to the aid of readers
by way of this graphic true story, by way OF
this panorama OF American pioneer life.
THE RELUCTANT MADONNA My Marguerite
Steen author of Dark Duel" etc. New
York: Frederick A stokes Co.
THE story begins wearingiy. SO many gen.
erations of Beauminsters set downright
or nine at least-that one becomes distinctly
tired OF these various heads of the house Of
Beauminster. Not that this lineal business is not
web done. 1t IS. But, John begat James. and 50
on at quite undue length. does not make for
exhilaration on the readers part. Soon, how
ever Il becomes plain that this course Is neees-
sary to the subsequent course Of the affair
For IN these family recordings It turns out
that these various lords Of Beauminster o6Fer
strange contradictions to one another. strange
to the average run Of man as web. No half
way business among them. Either an saint or
all sinner was one or another Of these heads
of the house. And the sinner was In each case
deep-eyed In his evn doings, social misdeeds in
the MAN, hanging on TO these into Seniie
and pitiful exposure, such it would have been
outside so lordly q family. And the saint of
the house in his turn Is about excessive-an
ascetic, given to penanees and bodily punish
ments for sins that he never did commit
perhaps merely wanted to- At any rate, it Is
one of the latter who, in a moment Of deep sin
as he counted it, while he was away in the
demOralizing sOftness Of Italian air. found him
self married, actually married, to a beautiful
woman. And as soon as maybe in the course
Of nature and marital license this lady had q
son. And that was the end OF her. The hus-
band spent the rest of his life repenting his
one act of worldliness The wife in the early
years Of that curious Wedlock was absorbed with
the child. And rightly. for he was . great Lad.
But In the course Of time this Madonna be-
came . reluctant one-and the story progresses.
partly by the engaging quality Of the youth in
his devotion TO his mother and, after her. IN
his devotion to happy life in general In other
parts the story moves By way Of the states of
mtnd Of this Madonna. 30 reluctant and by
way Of her tentative reaches for compensating
factors In . clearly arid existence. Clever, the
work. Subtle, keenly psychological feminine
In its intuition and thrust, seemingly the story
stays on top most Of the time, engaged in q
waywise. social TODD among the quality of
English folks. A good story from this point of
view. Bat it's preOccupation after all-no mat
ter how deity this is made to take second
place-is the Madonna and what can be done
about 1t. A beautiful woman mindful of her
duty to her lege and her Son-but what q
hegei Shut up saying prayers and doing PEN
anee for furnishing perfectly good wife with
= gorgeous son. That's the case, anyway. And
that's "A uncommOnly well-eOnceived and we'll
written novel.