Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-17
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookIoper

of so many other novels, all famous,
that it has a flavor of familiarity from
the start. Yet it is not imita tive. Her.
ries House in Borrowdale, in its neg
lect, dampness, dirt and general gloom,
Immediately carries ones thoughts back
to Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights;
and its master, Francis Herries, though
not such a completely cruel misan-
thrope as Heathcliff, certainly has some
relationship to him. Father Roche,
with his Jacobite plots and his infiu-
ence over young David Herries. Is Strik-
ingly like Thackeray's Father Holt. with
legitimate descendant of the Castle
woods. in Henry Esmond." David
Herries, when he is grown and has
become the strong man Of Borrowdale,
so that he can lift an OK and, much
more easily, lifts his enemy. Denburn
raises him in the air and filings him
into the Tarn, wildly recalls Black
more's giant hero. John Rid. IN Lorna
Doone" The genealogy of the Herries
family at the back Of the book and the
reiteration throughout the story OF the
family theme of course suggest Gals
worthy's "Forsyte Saga" and makes one
sure that more books are to follow about
the Herries family, descendants OF
David and his wife Sarah. A feature
which aids in placing the various mem
bers Of the family In their habitats and
tracing their journeyings in this book
is the map of Cumberland which Is
spread over the inside cover.
X
Francis Herries, who Is the Rogue"
OF the story, has strange dual per-
sonality. He is violent, brutal, lasciv-
ious, a swsgger and vagabond, q
man who all his life wastes unusual
abilities, and dies having accomplished
nothing good except the begetting of
his two children, David and Deborah.
both totally unlike himself. He ILL
treats his foolish, timid, doting wife;
brings mistresses to live in his home
with his family: sells one of these mis-
tresses at the KeSwick fair: keeps an
old woman at HerrieS House whom all
the countryside fears as witch ana
whom he himself believes to be one,
and buries her in his garden wnen
she is killed by mob; has his cheek
slit from temple to chin because ne
ridiculously spares his opponent in a
/, duel at the last moment: is hated by
all his relatives and neighbors, with the
exception of two or three who are able
to see his other side. With all his
viciousness, Francis Herries Is an ideal
ist He has always expected from HE
some perfection which life has never
given him. He is contemptuous OF
people and brutal toward them because
they seem to him contemplate. Above
ell he despises people who fear him.
Because his son David never fears him.
even when he is in his most furious
RACES and David Is a very little boy,
he loves David with lasting, respect
ing love. He loves the wild Cumber-
land country with a passion which en-
braces its most unlovely aspects, It's
drizzling, continual rains, its bogs ana
mud, its dangerous passes where foot
pads Turk. He thrills at every sight
Of the bumped. lumpish hill. Clara
mara sprawled in the early morning
light; of the dark woods around
Honister Crag. the resort of rascals and
outcasts: of the sun blazing on Castle
Crag; of 1.-The grand and noble hlll'
of the Gavel: of the silvery surface
of Derwent Water and the black depths
of Vast Water; of the mists boiling
I'D the boulder-strewn passes OF Was
dale; Of the glistening sea at Raven
glass Francis HerrieS has at intervals
all his life a vision which is symbolical
of his always unsatisfied longing for
something beyond sordid, material
reality 1t is a vision Of region OF
vast, peaked, Icy mountains. Their
pointed they broke the dark sky: caused
him to cry out with wonder The sky
was dark, the mountains glittering
white, they ringed round a small mere
or tarn, black as steel in shadow. There
was absolute silence in this world. Then
as he looked he saw great white
horse, glorious beyond any ever beheld
by man, come, tossing his great white
name, to the edge OF the mere. He
hesitated, lifting his noble head as
though listening, then plunged in.
and Francis could see silver drops
glistening in the icy air He swan
to the farther edge: and then Francis
was seized with an agonzing terror
lest he should not be able to CLIMB
out of the mere, up the icy sides
of the cliff that ran sheer into the
water. That moment OF suspense was
fearful and compounded of great
love for the splendid horse, a great
tenderness, great reverence and an
anguish of apprehension. Then, toss
inc his name once more, the beautiful
horse mounted out of the mere, strobe
superbly across the ice and vanished.
Then, again, there was great loneli-
ness"
1.-THE Gentleman in the Parlour," by
w. Somerset Maugham Is COLLECTION
OF strange tales of strange lands told
to the author, who is the gentleman
in the parlour of inns, where he hears
things that are told by those who drift
in and out One of the stories Is that
of the old lady who was once maid OF
honor to Queen Supalayat of Mandalay
and assisted in the dethronement OF
King Thebaw. This same story is told
at much greater length in the recent
romance of F. Tennyson Jesse, The
LACQUER Lady" Another of MIR. Maug-
hams tales is that of the English
Masterson who cannot harmonic his
love for Burmese girl and his devo-
ton and duty toward England. the
locale of these stories is, as always In
the work of Mr.. Vaughan, full of color
and illusion of reality. We move
through the "gilded, jeweled. deserted
chambers" of the palace of Mandalay,
along the banks of the Salween, the
majestic river Of Tibet, ando among
the ruins of the tower-templed city of
Angkor Wat.
Anne Green has taste for more
normal, human peonle than has her
brother, Julian Green. Her novel. THE
SelbyS" introduces family of South
erners established in Paris for many
wears. vet retaining their Amaricanism.
Mrs. Selby is an original person, who
has retained her looks even in middle
age. and kncws it; who thinks well of
hsrself. but Is full of kindness for
others: who does not know how to dress.
but has q certain elegance; who loves
her husband even though she is q
modern Partisan American. The Sslbys
adopf a niece and bring her to Paris
and the social conquests Of this niece
and her love affair divide the interest
of the novel with the doings of Mr..
and Mrs. Selby.
X X y