Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-24
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the B0oklover

ASullI hDle STlCI1UOu. GQWdTQ SdCkpllle"
West has chosen for his heroine an
equally correct and very human chill
dren's nurse in his recent novel,
Simpson: A Life" 1t is an original
novel, well written, in the type of style
we associate with the best of the Eng
lish novelists. Ruth Simpson-she be-
gins as Ruth, but soon becomes merely
simpsons not an eccentric charac-
ter, perhaps is not even unsual, but is
very definite. with a fixed and cherished
point of view. Her work as a nurse to
small children Is a vocation, deliberately
chosen; maintained against family
opposition; interrupted for a short
period grudgingly; returned to with
relief and Joy; persisted in until the end
of her life. Ruth Simpson Is neither
1.-The eldest, youngest nor in any way
the most important member" Of the
,, Simpson family. The members Of the
family are not at all fond Of each other;
In fact, the family friction is painful.
Robert Simpson, a plumber, has little to
say for himself at any time and appar-
emily accepts his wife's often reiterated
opinion that she has married beneath
her, as her father was a dentist. Their
| children-Joe, Harry, Ruth, Bob, Rose,
Will and Dorothy-crowd the small
house and fill it with their fault-finding
and pickering. Ruth's career begins
when her youngest brother and sister
are born and Mrs. Simpson refuses to
be bothered with the upbringing of any
more children Ruth takes them over
when she herself is only IA, and before
they have outgrown the nursery dis
covers that she prefers taking care of
little children to anything else that she
knows. She has no desire to marry
and have children of her own, but is
entirely averse TO everything connected
with marriage. If 1 married I'd get
like mother" was one of the many
aspects in which the problem presented
itself. AS Will and Dorothy begin to
outgrow her she decides to hunt for
position as a children's nurse, though
her mother wailingly begs her not to
disgrace the family by going out to
service, but to accept the drab young
man who has had the courage to offer
himself as sutton, in spite of Ruth's
lack Of attractions or responsiveness. Il
don't want children of my own" she
| says to her mother. IT don't want any
thing of that sort not anything.
I want to nurse other children, lots of
different ones, all my life"
4 X
The belt of webbing, with a silver
Buddha buckle, given to Ruth Simpson
by her rejected sutton, she wears all her
life as part of her uniform, not from
any sentiment, but because 1t Is useful.
When she is still under 20 she adopts
her uniform Of brown dress, cloak and
bonnet and never alters it in any respect
as the years pass, though she finds it
lnHTpQ C1nUlU HifRRfYlf IN fIA
exact materials and styles as the gar
ments wear out. Her first position,
with Lady Torrent of VAR, Kent, suits
| her exactly, for there are two children
! Wnen she arrives and two more come
as soon as possible. She is soon the
autocrat OF the nursery and accumulates
her medicine closet and a collection of
metlcuIous habits. The children are
rather exotic for her taste, but she
does not attempt to tamper with their
souls, being content to care for their
bodies. She has little imagination is
intensely practical and believes that
healthy, clean children cannot come to
| much harm. Mrs. Price-Stables of
Brentwood, Camberley is her next
| mistress, and in the spacious suburban
villa OF Capt. Price-Stables Simpson
! cares for Peter. Lucy, Rosalind, and deli
| cate Christopher in turn. She leaves
only when the children are so well
grown that she no longer finds salts
faction in them and determinedly re-
| fuses the offer of position in the fam
l!y as housekeeper. She spends a brief
time with Mr.. Jordan Witherspoon.
Wldower, and his albino son Martin
but Martin is so abnormal in every way
that he terrifies her and she leaves.
| she has no mission to abnormal children
Her next place is with Mrs. Cresset of
Canonlake, near Canterbury, and here
she finds the climax of her vocation in
the boy Salathiel, aged when she
becomes his nurse. Her unimaginative
mind nurses one imaginative idea. She
/ sees her life as temple, with a window
Tor each child she has nursed, and in
the temple Salathiel's window is the
| largest and most luminous. With
Salathiel grown and away at school.
and nothing for her to do at Canonlake
but mend stockings and dream by her
1lre, she pulls herself together and de-
cides to leave. Salathiel is finished"
she is no longer needed. and she will
not permit herself to rust, even though
the kindly Mr.. CreSSet would keep her
tnere as family friend and pensioner.
her last experiences are in Germany.
at the beginning and at the end of the
World War, with some family connec-
lions OF the Cressets Her last child is
tne invalid Childeric, who for her is
never finished" OF all her children,
SaIathlel Is the one who seems really
ner own whom she loves uncritically,
who loves her.
~
Stuart Chase is. enrapt,red with
Mexico and tells his reasons in his book
MEXICO. His chief reason is because
| MEXICO Is backward according to mod
ern standards of civilization. He adj
VlseS the Mexfcans not to yield to the
machine, but to preserve all their fine
inertia. Using Middletown as a typical
united States town and Tepoztlan as
oyplcal OF old Mexico, he says, The
| goSpel OF Middletown is work. and the
goSpel OF Tepoztlan is play-one day
IN three, the year around, the Southern
community Is celebrating a major or
minor fiesta. Yet for all their hard
work, fraction of the men of Middle
town is constantly unemployed AND
bowed down with fear and worry. I'm
employment is unheard of in Tepoztlan
ana lear stalks only when earthquakes
the mountains, Federal troops at his
heels"
A number of amusing newspape
breaks, several hundred in fact. are re-
! corded by w. w. Scott in his book,
| Breaks. Unintentional Humor by Tired
Newspaper Men and Others" Some OF
the most humorous are as follows
Mrs. Annie Besant, 80-year-old theos-
oph1st leader, was confined to bed to-
day at the home Of friends in Wimble-
don. A severe child forced her to can
eel all lecture engagements" After
Gov. Baldridge watched the lion per-
form he was taken to Main street and
led rs pounds of raw meat in front
OF the Fox Theater." zone advertise
ment for husband brought a Massa-
chuSetts woman 10 reptiles. She is still
unmarried" This is the first picture
taken showing Europe's other famous
! Oueen Marie with the infant rri,,c ~