Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-06
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the Booklover

/ When Hugh Walpole turns to thu
fantastic. he is not at his best: "Forti.
tude," THE Duchess of Wrexe," 1.-THE
Dark Forest" 1.-THE Cathedral" anC
THE Old Ladies" were written in seri.
Gus mood and, one is sure took some
time to write. Such IS his menta
energy that Mr.. Walpole apparently
does net enjoy loafing holidays. but Sc.
lectS some beautiful spot, often in Corn
wall, and there relaxes by writing ar
impossible mystery story. The result
OF one such holiday season was the
Portrait of a Man With Red Hair,
whose horrors are SO horrible that the
reader laughs instead OF Shuddering
Unlike most mystery stories, however, il
is original and manages to be remem:
bered, If only for the intense scene ir
which most OF the characters are lost
In q Cornish fog and wander about
until. to their CONSERVATION, they FIND
themselves in the very place from which
they have been trying 10 escape. An
cther OF Mr.. Walpole's holiday myster-
les mas recently been published, Above
the Dark Tumult.' In the dedicatory
ncte to friend, he says: "Once be-
fore had holiday and wrote a story
ABOUT red-halred man and have been
distressed ever since at the scientific
remarks made about that gentleman
Now again, in the middle of investiga-
ton into the Herries family, have TAX
en- g. holiday and enjoyed myself over
something that is taie and nothing
put tale" In passing, we are pleased
to learn what We were already almost
sure of, that there are TO be more
chronicles OF the Herries family, for
Rogue Herries," published last year, is
one OF Hugh Walpole-s most careful
and convincing pieces or fiction.
4 x X Il
In Ernest Poole's novel 1.-THE Har-
Dor, New York Harbor was the center
almost the chief. character Of the story
So, in Above the Dark Tumult," Pic
ca0llly Circus Is the center of the action
and, with its blazing lights and crawl
ing human beings. is 50 pervasive that
1t seems almost to have personality. OF
MS inspiration for the story, Hugh Wal
pole says: Meanwhile, a momentary
vision that had of a room high above
the leaping lights CT Plccadilly has be-
trayed me into sheer story telling" The
story which this vision brought to him
Is sun1clently lurid, but it drags in the
teIllng. Gum, who tells the story: OS-
mund, Helen, Hench, Butler and the
reptlllan Pengelly and his fat, SNUG
brother are all real enough, but they
are long time in getting into action.
10 be sure, their actions, when they do
take place, are so violent and ill-judged
as TO suggest that quiet rural sana-
forum for mental cases is indicated for
all concerned. Hench and Osmund
would surely have been forcibly placed
IN some such institution except for the
interference OF fate, a tragic enc for
OSmund and comic enc for Hench.
who found an outlet for his diseased
1ancleS as popular itlnerant preacher
at seaside resorts. That Helen and
Gum should have settled down to
happy married life, leading a normal
existence IN cottage, seems incredible,
oily Circus. ending on the roof of the
Tr' falgar Theater, among the chimney
pots.
Looking for keynote Of above the
Dark Tumult," one finds it in Ger
vantes' Don Quixote" Gum, unem-
pioyed and desperate, with only half a
crown in his pocket. has committed the
unutterable extravaganza several days
before of spending 81 of his last Is
shllings on the four volumes of Lock-
hart's edition OF Don Quixote." This
would have been possible only to a
visionary to whom the satisfaction of
an intellectual craving meant more
panied Gum throughout the terrible
night and found permanent resting
place on the cottage table where he
wrote the story of the Pengellys. Gum
had the book under his coat as he
wandered the streets, wondering whether
to spend his last half-crown on a
frugal meal or on a haircut. He car
ried 1t with him into Osmunds fiat
above Piccadilly. 1t lay on the re-
fectory table during the visit of the
first Pengelly and was left there by
Gum when he and Butler carried the
limp man down the stairs and prop
ped him in a corner OF the hall. To
Gum the Don Quixote" was "a re-
minder that this fantastic adventure
into which I had plunged was only
one facet of a life that was on the
whole always normal and sane" The
Don Quixote" witnessed the first kiss
of Helen and Gum and stood on its
rose-colored bindings and danced for
JOY" 1t was not with Gum when he
mounted the steep stairway to the roof
OF the theater. for he had left it on
Helen's table, but it was afterward re-
covered and became for them the SYM
Dol of their excursion. into the world
of crime and Ebnormality.
X \
How much American children enjoy
meeting boys and girls of all nations
in the pages of story books is shown
by the II foreign stories among the
Is books of fiction in the list of juve-
nile favoriteS which appears in Book
list Books 1890" just published by the
American Library Association. The
books which go into this list are Sc
lected by about 20 children's Librarians
for their actual popularity with young
readers. Those books which carry chill
dren around the globe on the magic
carpet of imagination include two
stories from the Swedish THE Tale of
a Little Wee Woman" and Wanda and
Greta at Broby Farm" The Boy With
the Parrot" transports readers to Qua
temala; The Singing Sword" introduces
them to Denmark, and THE Black
smith of Vino" provides glimpse of
Poland. The Portugal of olden times
is revealed in spice and the Devils
Cave; in "Ood-lo-uk, the Wanderer,"
the readers meet an Eskimo boy of
Alaska, and in "Liang & 10" become
acquainted with two Chinese youths.
They also make friends with THE Cat
Who Went to Heaven" in Japan; Han
sci the Gander," in Bavaria; "Bappo the
Donkey" in Sicily. and The Painted
Pig" in Mexico. Other times, as we'll as
other lands, appear to fascinate boys
and girls, as is shown by the choice
of five tales OF early America, includ-
ing one of adventure among the In
dams Not single fairy story appears
among the 1880 selections! Nor is there
any comment to indicate whether the
omission is caused by an increasing
taste for realism among little chill
6ren or merely by lack OF convincing
elves, brownies and genii in the books
written for them The list may be con-
suited at public libraries.
X y 4
1.-THE Tyranny of the Skyscraper" is
the title of one of the Princeton lee
lures Of Frank Lloyd Wright, one OF the
most original of American architects
His lectures delivered at Princeton last
year have been published in a volume
Modern Architecture" Mr.. Wright is
modern without being futuristic. He
I,olio,,ae that chot,1d Y1nf continue