Evening star., 1932-06-18
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.

Gertrude Atherton. who has Just pub
lished her memoirs under the title
Adventures OF Novelist" will. accord
ing to Who's Who in America" be rs
years old in october. Though she has
reached the reminiscent period. there Is
nothing in these memoirs to indicate
philosophic aloofness from active life OF
q farewell to adventure. Mrs. Athertor
obviously enjoys looking back upon al
the varied experiences Of her life, anc
in telling Of them seems to relive them
with relish or vigorous distaste. Per-
haps the great vitality Of her spirit and
style are partly to be explained (she
herself suggests this explanatory by
the Steinach rejuvenation treatment
which she took in New York just before
she wrote her novel BLACK Oxen,' in
which the heroine Is q re1uvenatec
woman. Mrs. Atherton describes hel
treatment and the writing Of the novel
on pages 554-559. In reading "Adven-
lures Of a Novelist" one receives the i'm
preston Of a personality precocfous and
mature from early childhood, extremely
vital, Unconditional, intellectual, egotis-
tic, super sophisticated, "hard-boiled.
Another impression Is that Mrs. Ather-
ton has had a wonderfully good time
all through life-that Is, ever since the
death of her husband after only few
years Of marriage. This qualif1cation Is
not one supplied by the reader. mrs
Atherton herself makes 1t quite clear
and her reasons are scattered through
the early part of the story. When her
not very satisfactory husband set out or
the Journey to Chile from which he
never returned, IT was reasonably con-
tent" she comments, for this mild
phase of freedom was better than moth
ing" When the news Of his death was
brought to her by Rose, her mother
privileged old servant who had careo
for her in childhood, and Rose re-
marked, you're q cool young one.
You don't even look excited" she re-
piled "diplomatically." Perhaps l an
stunned. But you'd better &c
home and get breakfast. 1t was gooc
of you to come"
After the death Of George Goni Attn
erton, Gertrude Atherton turned heI
back on all the legal possibilities caused
by her husbands borrowings and failure
to pay. left her small daughter with
her mother -in-law, of whom she was
always fond, and went to New York tc
make a business Of being a writer. She
had already had a small and somewhat
scandal-producing literary success in
The Randolphs Of Redwoods," novel
In which she revived an old San Fran
cisco scandal and introduced many OF
the elite of Menlo Park, including hel
sister-in-law, as characters. The New
York critics were not kind to her next
novel, What Dreams May Come" ano
she says: II was more Mortified ano
astonished by the lack Of chivalry in
these TRADES than by the wholesale
condemnation of the book" In disgust
she left New York and went to Paris
to visit her ter-in-law, who had for
given her for the liberty taken in i'm
personating her in The Randolphs OF
Redwoods." From this time Mrs. Ath-
erton spent much Of her life abroad
in France, England and Germany. Hel
next novels, published in England, were
more Hospitality greeted by English crit
les, who prophesied that she was the
coming American woman novelist. In
writing her novels Ahe has had the
habit of selecting a new place in which
to write each new novel. After spend
for the setting Of novel, in order 10
she has retired to another place to dc
the creative work. Some Of the places
chosen have been far from comfort
able-poorly heated, scantily furnished
noisy-but in them her imagination has
been able to work. They have included
a picturesque but chilly Sacred Heart
Convent at Boulogne; hotel of sorts
at Fort Ross, Calf, with the sea
laundering at the base of the cliffs and
the Winter wind bowling in the red
wood forest; a lodging in Haworth,
within sight Of the churchyard where
the Brontes were buried; lodging in
Hertfordshire cottage; a neglected old
house in tangled yard outside Rouen,
Washington, D. c. (when writing Sen
ator North'D; resort in the Adiron-
dacks; an apartment in Munich, where
altogether she spent many years; Ber-
kelley Inn, where she was at the time
of the San Francisco earthquake OF
1906, and many different temporary
abodes in San Francisco, New York and
London.
Her writing has always been Mrs
Atherton's primary interest, but sh'
has found time in a crowded life fol
many other activities and for man,
personal associations. Her enjoyment
of people and things has always beer
keen. Even when she has been drawn
with great reluctance on her part, int
enterprises which were not to her taste
she has entered into them with Zes
and energy. Hers is dynamic person
ality. She may often have been. rest.
less, rebellious, indignant, but it is doubt.
full if she has often been bored. Shit
campaigned in California for Woodrow
Wilson, although she had only 'sligh
leaning" toward the Democratic party
had never made a speech in her life, anc
never had wanted to make one" ano
privately admired Roosevelt more thar
Wilson" She was. however, bent upor
being thorough" and so in one of he
speeches attacked Roosevelt as "tht
l00-per-cent male-one had only t
look at that cave-man face" She notes
with pride that the Republican State O.
California was carried for Wilson, bu
confesses that during the campaign sht
was several times privately admonishec
| to be less fippant and to take her sub
ject more seriously. Her very success
full organization and conduct of th'
"ceuvre," LIE Bien-Etre du Blesses il
New York during the World War, wa.
not work of her own choosing. 1t wa!
forced upon her, almost frantically, BY
French friends, when she was in Pari!
for the purpose of visiting the war zone
to gather material for newspaper ar.
ticles. The story which she tells of hel
decorations from the French govern.
ment is an amusing part of the "ceuvre'
experience.
\ X
Not all the life" of the United States
is to be found in the cities. Albert
Blumenthal in his book Small Towr
Stuff" a University of Chicago study
takes a typical small community, Mine
vile, surmised by some critics to be ir
Montana, and describes the industrial
domestic and social life. The popula-
ton of Mineville is about 1,500: that
of the county in which it is located
about 5000. Its industries are silver
lead, zinc and manganese ore mining
and stock raising. The average income
of a family Is less than $4,000 year
but on this families live very well, anc
in times of depression the town takes
cora of its oUn 1lnemDlOVed without