Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-07
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the Booklover

Francis Brett Young has two distinct
styles in his novel writing, he writes
long-but not too long-novels of Eng
lish country life, such as Love is
Enough" (not as sentimental as the title
sounds) and his recent novel, 1.-The
Redlakes"; then in entirely different
mood he writes South African stories of
white mems adventures ard native
magic, such as "Woodsmoke, Pill
grim's Rest" and The Crescent Moon"
Each type DR.. Brett Young does excel
lently. In his English type he is decid-
edly Victorian, with obvious modern
notifications. There are delightful old
English country houses. of Elizabethan
or Queen Anne period formal and tangled
gardens. UNCOVERED churches, narrow
lanes between Towering hedges, fields
and downs across which hounds and
huntsmen in scarlet pursue the fox. In
THE Redlakes" the setting is chiefly
Devon and Cornwall, with a South
African interlude during the World
War, when Jim Redlake is there on a
ranch and in the British Army The re-
stricted locality where most of the story
takes place is Thorpe Folville, where
the Grange is the home Of DR.. Weston,
Jir's grandfather and country doctor
for the whole neighborhood, and the
Castle is the seat of the Essendines. The
scene shifts occasionally to London,
where Jim studies at st. Lukes medical
school, and late in the story to Corn
WALL where Jim inherits an estate at
Trewern from an old cousin, Walter
Delahay.
The characters in THE Redlakes" are
not as numerous as the characters in
q nial-aYoc or Y0nUnI HIlf ~
number those in most of George Eliots
novels. Many of them in their person.
alities suggest George Eliot's creations,
though of course twentieth century life
and motives contribute to the charac-
terization. DR.. Weston is a truly Vic
torian country doctor, kindly, knowing
the personal and family history of every
one of his patients, skilled in the prac-
tice of old-fashioned medicine, follow
ing the hounds almost to the last week
of his life. In contrast to him is DR..
Fosdyke, thoroughly modern surgeon,
operating in a London hospital. Fran
els Brett Young's literary interest in doc
tors and medicine is the result of his
own medical training and practice. He
never evades the details of disease and
Illness, as do many novelists, because
he knows all about them and finds them
interesting. So we follow the course of
Jim's pneumonia and DR.. Weston's
Bright's disease. Mrs. Weston is a real
Victorian villainess, with her head
flattened like that of snake; she is
almost a maniac in her love for one
daughter and her hatred for another
daughter and that daughters son. Mar
garet Weston is the typical, old-fash-
toned husband hunter with her mothers
efficient help; her first fiance breaks his
neck on the hunting field, but her Sec
ond, a nliddle-aged, INSCRIPTIONS law
yer, doss not escape her. George Red
lake, Jinls father, Is entirely modern,
egotist, brutal in his self1shness, amor
Gus when there is anything to gain by
being so. vain, at first an embittered
failure, then popular success. Marcus
Hinton, millionaire banker and art
Cynthia EsSendire, the pursuing female
Of the spscies, are all very modern.
X X X
One of the Victorian things about
"The Redlakes" is the way condolences
occur whenever they are needed to help
along the plot. Ones credulity is often
strained by these opportune happen
ings. The most striking example of
this Is the tour de force by which Jim
becomes the heir of Walter Delahay
Distraught by grief over the death Of
his grandfather and indignant over the
trick by which his grandmother has
caused him to be disinherited, with a
little of the old bitterness lingering
from his love affair with Lady Cynthia,
Jim goes on a walking tour in Corn
wall. He finds himself in the neigh
borhood of the old home Of his grand
mothers people and decides to inquire
the whereabouts of the estate of the
Delahays. He has no success, becomes
lost, and chilled and weary, stumbles ny
accident into the garden of the very
place he is hunting for. What is even
more of a coincidence, the owner, Wal
ter Delahay, who has lived for years
in South Africa, happens to be at
Trewern for a short stay and takes Jim
in, nurses him through the pneumonia
which follows his fatigue and exposure,
and later makes him his heir. But
why find fault about the way in which
novelists bring about pleasant results,
in these days when most of their re-
suits are so unpleasant? The impor-
tant thing is that Jim is able to become
a prosperous country gentleman, in a
beautiful Cornish locality, and to marry
gentle, charming English girl who,
we are sure, will make him happy. It
is also agreeable to know that the
Snake-headed grandmother Is furious
over his good fortune.
~ ~
Julian Huxley, who recently spent
four months in East Africa as a repre-
sentative of the Colonial Office ADJ
visory Committee on Native Education,
looks upon Africa as perhaps the chief
field for future development of the
British Empire. In his book Africa
View" he gives a mass of facts and
many suggestions for the organization
and government Of the black races by
white rulers. He declares his faith as
an imperialist when he says: IF a
contact with bit of the British Co.
lonial Empire has not vet made me a
full-blooded devotee of Kiplingismus, it
has certainly shown me the way to a
spirit of liberal Imperialism" He also
says that, though Great Britain may
sink to second-rateneSs as an industrial
power If she can but retain one
turning out men with a gift for the
administration of primitive peoples"
she may still keep her place of SUI
perlorlty In the modern world.
X X X X
The quality of the Christianity of the
Emperor Constantine Is discussed by
G. P. Baker in his book Constantine
the Great and the Christian Revolu-
ton" Mr.. Baker believes that Con-
stantine was a sincere Christian but not
a mystical, self-abnegating one. Chris
tianity was with him a political asset.
The church was becoming a powerful
force in Europe and Constantine pre-
ferred to have it with him rather than
against him. Though the Defender of
the Faith, he wss not baptized until
he approached death. At the Council
Of Nicaea he was greatly concerned
that the church should not be divided
and weakened, but apparently rather