Evening star., 1932-07-09
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOEERMAN.

| A Scotch physician with a prosperous
practice in the West End of London,
finding his professional work an in
creasing strain, decided to take leave
of 1t for a time and to indulge a fancy
he had always had for writing. So A. J.
Cronin. in his middle thirties, went of
to his cottage in lonely part Of Argyll
shire. near Inverary, and there, writing
furiously for three months, produced
| "Hatter's Castle" This first novel was
accepted by the first publisher to whom
J it was offered and was Immediately
! chosen by the English Book Society as
/ its offering to subscribers. The doctor
author promptly began another novel,
which was published in the Spring Of
| 1892, Three Loves. We are so accus-
| toned to seeing authors of strikingly
successful first novels capitalize their
| success by second novels, which usually
suggest that the well springs Of origi-
| nality have been exhausted by the first,
that we are surprised to find DR..
| Cronin's second novel even better than
! the first. Both novels make use of the
medical knowledge and experience Of
their author. DR.. Archibald Joseph
Cronin was born in Cardross, Scotland.
| Of Scotch-Welsh parentage. He was
| educated at Glasgow University. where
| he received his medical degree. He
married a fellow physician. Agnes Mary
Gibson, M. D. During the World War
| he was sublieutenant in the Surgical
Corps. His home is now at Arundel.
Sussex, though he spends much time at
the Argyllshire cottage. His favorite
recreations are golf and salmon fishing.
X +
Neither 'Hatters Castle" nor Three
| Loves" follows the technique of the
ultra modern school of fiction. They
are long novels, detailed. full of deScrip-
| tions and characteriZationS, with plenty
OF action. They are not concerned with
streams of consciousness" Both are
reminiscent of the work of the Bronte
sisters, especially that of Emily Bronte.
Both show DIR. Cronin's ability to han
| die dramatic situations. Perhaps the
reason why Three Loves" Is the better
novel Of the two is that the dramatic
situations do not so often become melo-
dramatic. The central character of
Three Loves" Lucy Moore, is not un-
| usual There are many women like her
She is not clever, in fact she is rather
stupid, but she is dogged in her per-
sistence, in her devotion to husband and
son, and in her determination to man
age their lives for them for their own
| good, as she sees it. A proof of her
reality is that we are so often exasper-
ated with her, as the members of her
| family are, and wish that we could only
show her how terribly mistaken she Is
in some Of the things she does. Her
| sacrifice of self, which is so difficult for
h1V fRts c17a Sc v,rf .1a4T, l.
often unnecessary and undesirable Her
pride and her determination to domi-
nate every situation cause the growing
| tragedy of her life. As the story CT Lucy
and her three loves-her husband her
son and her church - progresses, We
! question the right Of any novelist to
turn a young, healthy, happy human
being into piece of human wreckage.
! But then We reflect that this is exactly
what life does, what people often do
| fer themselves. Without being less
energetic in her own behalf, Lucy could
with more justice to herself and her son
have allowed her needs to be known to
! her husbands brother, the Rev. Edward
| Moore, who, with all his selfishness, is
not unapproachable or unsympathetic.
The odious publican, Joe, is, of course,
| impossible. Her pride does her definite
noX's rather conscience stricken uues-
ton about her plans for the future, she
untruthfully tells him that she has
found a position. He is relieved and
feels no further responsibility for her
So she continues, Throughout her hard
life, refusing assistance, refusing even
friendship after the disastrous affair
with Miss Hooking. Her son, failing to
appreciate all she is doing for him,
comes to blame her for the sordid, pow
erty-stricken life they lead and for their
lack Of friends.
The intensely real, everyday life of
Lucy her husband, and her son is
punctuated at intervals by events of
great dramatic quality. Lucy, with
Dave Bowie, rushing through the spray
and fog OF the bay in his boat; the
terrible thud of the impact when they
strike the boat in which Frank and
Anna are going to meet the mail
steamer; the CHASTITY scene by the light
OF the f1ickering lantern when Frank
clings desperately to Lucy at the end,
are the component parts of one Of the
| most dramatic chapters of the book.
The scene in Charlotte Brontes Jane
Eyre" in which the mad wife of Roch-
ester sets fire to the bed of Jane the
night before her wedding is not more
terrible than the attack on Lucy of the
craZed Pinkie Hooking, when Lucy,
contrary to the advice of the physician,
has gone back alone to the apartment.
The whole Characterization OF Miss
Hooking is something of a case study.
The last scene of the book is tragically
dramatic. Lucy, i'll. discouraged, fail
ure, leaves the Belgian convent where
she has hoped to find peace and hap
piness in the last love of her life, de-
votion to her God and her church. She
has been found unacceptable, because
her proud spirit has been unable to
bend in submission to those in author
ity whom she knows to be inferior to
herself. Her journey from Belgium to
London is a nightmare, with her fever
constantly increasing and her mental
control decreasing In London her son
fails to meet her-not his fault, though
he has many other delinquencies to re-
gret-and alone she comes to the end
OF her energies, her pride, her loves.
%*
Masters of education have, according
to Glenn Frank, president of Wisconsin
University. lost their sense of mastery
of the materials of education" In his
book Thunder and Dawn" he Illus
trates this statement by parable. He
says: Research began to throw up at
a disconcerting rate. all sorts of new
facts and new knowledge. These new
facts and this new knowledge were
thrown on the study tables Of the
educators. Before long it became ap-
parent that the new knowledge was
coming faster than the educators could
fit it inteligently into any formula of
education. And there happened in the
fold nf pfiIrpnffOT1 u1hat hon
in Missouri bayfield, many years ago
Six of us were putting up hay on Cal
Shinns farm. Among the six was
swashbuckling braggart who offered to
bet five dollars that he could stack all
the hay that the other five of us could
pitch to him. We took the bet, pro-
rating it at dollar apiece, laid the
base for stack. and began pitching
in earnest. The betting braggart