Evening star., 1932-01-23
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BookIoper

In his last novel, Maid in Waiting"
Galsworthy has left the Forsytes,
though F1eur and Michael Mont come
into the story as minor characters and
Soames is mentioned as being missed
since his death The new family m
troduced in Maid In Waiting the
CharWeus pronounced Cherreh. mas
not the solidarity, the clan character
istics Of the Forsytes and none OF them
| Is as personally interesting at SoameS'
the two Jolyons, Irene, June ana al
the older generations which preceded.
The maid in waiting" Is Elizapetn
name Of "Dinny," who, while waiting
for the right husband, plays the part
of manager in the affairs of her
brother and some OF her friends. Her
efforts remind one of at least the title
of the play when Bunty Pulls the
Strings" They seem rather frantic
and scattering and to depend Tor tnelT
success upon the willingness OF several
men to do her bidding. There Is an
other managing woman in the oooK
Jean TaSburgh. who marrieS Dmny
brother Hubert and promptly taxes
over his affairs, so that the poor 1ei-
low then has two kindly, unself1sh, Ell
flcient women in charge of him. Inc
|
and reSourceful, but the men are rather
nerveless creatures, especially the Two
bothers of "Dinny" and Jean, Huoert
CharWeu and Allan Tasburgh.
u X -
Maid in Waiting" is double-plot
novel. The main plot is as thin and
improbable as the scandal 1mbrogno
of Fleur Forsyte Mont in THE Silver
Spoon" 1t is unthinkable that the
British government would even Tor
moment consider the extrad1tlon OF
British army officer to Bolivia because
of the unsupported charges that he mao
beaten natives for mule-sticking ana
had shot one native who had attacked
him while he was on an exploring ex-
pedition in Bolivia His sisters efforts
to save him from disgrace as an army
officer and from extradition turnlsh
the details of the main plot, which Is
at no time very convincing. The sec
ondary plot is more interesting and
real than the main plot. The tragic
story of the insanity Of Capt. Ferse,
its recurrence, the suffering of his beau
tltul wife, Diana, who Is determined 10
do all she can to save him, yet fears
him and no longer loves him, Is In
tense, but free from exaggeration If
compared with real life. The unset
fish devotion Of Adrian Charwell, mu-
scum curator, for Diana through many
years, always ready at her need, ask
ing nothing Is in harmony with his
whole character Of old-fashioned chiv-
airy. The most dramatic scene of the
whole book is part of the secondary
plot, the scene in which Adrian Char
well and his brother Hilary, rector In
a slum parish Of London, pursue the
insane Capt. Ferse over the South
Downs in an attempt to prevent his
suicide. The stiffness of the Downs
as the sun wears on toward setting is
made to suggest, not peace, but some
thing sinister. THE sun wore on due
west, till it was almost level with his
eyes; the sheep had ceased cropping
and were moving slowly together over
the hill, as if waiting to be folded
Rabbits had stolen out and we're nib
bling the grass, and the larks, one by
one, had dropped from the sky A
chill was creeping on the air; the trees
down in Weald had darkened and solid
ltled and the whitening sky seemed
waiting for the sunset glow. The grass,
too. had lost it's scent; there was no
dew as yet. In the wood above
birds rustled and chirped, on their way
to bed. The dew had begun to fall, and
into the blue twilight the ground mist
Of Autumn was creeping. Shape was
all softened, but the tall chalk pit face
still showed white. Though not so
! yards from road on which cars were
passing, this spot where Ferse had
leaped to his rest seemed to Adrian
desolate, remote and full of ghostli-
ness"
! In Maid in Waiting" as in some of
his other books Mr.. Galsworthy rather
drags in American characters in order,
apparently, to show the defects eli
| Americans in general, or, at least, their
,inferiority to the British. Prof Hal
! lorsen, an American explorer and
anthropologist, is given prominence in
the story as a decent sort of fellow,
but entirely incapable of comprehend
| ing the subtleties of English culture
He talks in way that Galsworthy may
have heard in the United States or in
listening to Americans in England, but
in a way most of us would hardly
recognize as common to educated
Americans. Surely our college pro-
! fessors are not in the habit of be-
ginning all their sentences with Well"
or of freely using such expressions as
Gee" Bunk" Bully" Hell of a."
and God -darned." Hallorsen is repre-
sented as good-natured, but very thick
skinned He does not know 1t when
his British hosts and fellow guests make
fun of him to his face at week end
house party. There is no suggestion on
the part of Mr.. Galsworthy that per-
haps the British manners displayed on
| that occasion might be open to criti-
| ciSm Hallorsen is made the excuse for
much discussion of American char
; acteristics, and their differences from
British characteristics, always to the
advantage Of the British. Perhaps this
is to be expected from a patriotic
! Bri;on, or perhaps Mr. Galsworthy has
been embittered for some reason. or
perhaps he agrees with George Bernard
Shaw that the best way to become pop
ular with Americans is to abuse them.
In fairness to Mr.. Galsworthy, however,
1t must be admitted that he does not
handle his own countrymen too gently
at times. British officials as such do
not stand high in his estimation if we
child said Michael, blowing smoke at
the parakeet, it's got to be much more
subtle than that. You don't know
public men. The thing is to make
| them do OF their own accord out of
| high motives what Is for their own
good. We must get Walter (the home
secretary to do this from low motive,
and feel 1t to be high one. That's
| indispensable" Young lady, no
body in any official department ever
| says anything. He always thinks it
over. Administration has to be like
that"
** 4
A new novel by Maristan Chapman,
THE Weather Tree" is, like THE
Happy Mountain" and "Homeplace," a
story of the Tennessee mountains, spe-
cifically of the remote little community
Of Glen Hazard and its inhabitants
Some of the characters of the earlier
books again appear-Wait-Sti l-on-the-
Lord Lowe, Rashe and Barsha Lowe,
Fayre Jones, Chad Lane and Ed Gill
low An outsider Lynn Clayton comes
to the settlement and attempts to inn