Evening star., 1932-08-28
~ IDA GILBRI MYER
The Thrilling Story Of the Greatest Book
The Cathed,uh of France, and Some of
the Best of the Early Fall Mo0els.

Quite well this side of a hundred pages the
author has summarized the Middle Ages in
France by way of these enduring monuments
of stone that embody. so completely, both the
material and spiritual life of the people Fol-
lowing this period the Renaissance moved into
Western Europe taking possession and directing
thereafter the art of the West until the mod
ern day. But immutable and forever endur-
ing. the cathedrals stand, historic tables of
stone, the chronicles of medieval France. BY
way of an outline map the cathedral towns OF
the country placed Not another geo
graphical feature appears upon this chart.
From Aries in the south to Amiens in the
north, one gets distinct view of the distri-
button of these great churches. Part of the
finely economical plan of the book as whole
Pictures give aid to the text. Pictures of
Amiens, Notre Dame Rheims and others. OF
certain notable interiors, of certain symbolic
fest lures of this cathedral or that one, like the
monsters of Metre Dame in Paris, the brooding
evil that forever menaces the world. The vine
and many of the flowers of France serve as
symbolic elements in this architecture. The
art is drawn largely from the local life. part
of the people themselves, worked out into
emblems of life and immortality.
thoroughly informed study. The author
is herself a French woman, now living in
America. She knows her ground Add to this
knowledge clearly intelligent seizure of the
purpose of this particular study and you have
an idea of the satisfying characters of THE
French Cathedrals" don't know what you
will do. but shall reach out from this start
ing point to many an adventure, many another
adventure, in field that, of itself, is both ex-
citing and profitable
LARK ASCENDING. By Mazo de La Roche.
author of "Whtteoaks Of Jalna," etc. Bos-
ton: Little, Brown g. Co.
NDD, to find romance so clearly exotic in
~ effect issuing from the hard boiled strain
of New England. Not so odd, after minute
To be sure, Joseph Lincoln has pre-empted
the region, spreading genuine Cape Coolers all
Ll 21,d down the coast. And these, in shrewd
sense and caustic wit, and the Yankee vernacu-
lar, have pretty nearly run away with the place.
But, not quite. In old sea-faring days many
beside Pilgrim Fathers landed in this locality.
Portuguese, Italian, Spaniard and many another.
Some stayed and settled. There were Indians,
besides, to enrich the blood strain of the pro-
sale and plodding Yankee.
Saltport fishing village on the Massachu-
sets coast. Among the villagers. Fay Palmas
and her boy, Diego Fay ran the village bakery
and did 1t well, though many disturbing
cestor mostly of her own imagining, spun di-
verting dreams around her. Diego, plucked
from the loins of a Portuguese sailor, was a lazy
fellow who thought himself great painter in
the making Under this delusion he loafed and
did blobs Of color waiting canvases These
two, set against the homespun of the village,
an enhvening, and excellent bit of charac-
terization. Succeeding events are no less happy
in this respect Strange events, too, 1t must be
owned For on day Fay Palmes sold the
bakery, pocketed the proceeds and With Diego
went off to Sicily, at some mysterious blood call
toward that glamorous isle of the Mediter-
ranean. Right here the reader balks a bit.
In Saltport lived also the druggist, Perley Bond,
very much in love with the widow. One &C
cepts this but that Yankee villager Of any
occupation should pull up stakes to trail off on
SO fatuous an errand-no, let's skip that re-
membering in sympathy that novelist must
have reserves of resource to make the story
come out in any event The story's the thing.
Over in Sicily that bakers money-drawer did
good work An impecunious nobleman hlched
it and the widow with it. Around were artists
of Sorts interesting exiles from many hard
country to live in, song and laughter and
dreams and awakenngs. Better however, much
better than the Saltport bakery And Fay Pal
mas Contessa Montelone, became grand lady,
something of a legend in fact. where legends
like mushrooms, grow overnight. And what
about the Saltport drug store man? He came
too, but his story dims beside the fairy tale OF
the Contessa Sort of a play spell for Miss de
la Roche from the sustained substance of the
Jalna Saga, Lark Ascending"
WINDYJINN. BY Grace Kellogg. New York:
Ray Long and Richard r. Smith, Inc
1T is an old house set high to the beating
! weathers. Haunted, besides. And by an
ancient Arabian demon, which Solomon
was said to have power, accounting maybe, for
some of the sagacity Of this "wisest man in
the world
jim, Jim, jnnee, genii, genius, engine-such
but part of the progeny of this spirit of good
and evil drawn from Eastern mythology. SO.
'Windyjinn" the haunted house on the hill
And let us get back to its particular ghost.
Rather. to the story of thai house and the
lady who took it for place to live Tired
of a successful business career in houses. Jane