Evening star., 1932-03-12
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G. BOWERM4N

IN real NE the e1Clbdptes OplnlOnRted
family prolific family of the
irritating, hard TO get along with" In
Cloak" they are altogether delightful
The Considines are not merely a fam.
lily; they are a clan: they are a bust
ness which draws into itself all the
blood relatives and the "in-lsvsr for
their good or i'll. whether they are eager
willing or unwilling. The family was
founded by q horse thief. Anthony Con
sidine, who one October evening led the
beautiful roam horse he had stolen out
Of the Gap Of Storm, across the Vale
Of Honey, through the crumblinr gates
Of Mellick and UP its lighted main
street. The horse thief married the
owner Of a potato and crubeen (pig's
feet) shop, widow, and was killed in
fight over his beloved horse on the
night when his son John was born
John, indebted to his mother for his
natural thrift perhaps to his father
for his acquisitiveness, and TO the hard
conditions Of his life for his early learn
ing Of the lesson OF the value of hard
work, becomes in his mature years the
leading forage merchant in Ireland
known throughout his district as Hon
est John" When he is seventy he is
surrounded by q numerous family, very
proud Of themselves, forming a large
part of the aristocracy of Mellick.
There was no portrait anywhere of
Honest Johns father, who had died in
1890, and his grandchildren often won
dered what he was like. Though they
talked little. and never in public. of his
unedifying history, they knew its out
~ hA ~t4
John Is about to retire from the man.
agement of his business in favor OF his
son Anthony, not his oldest. but his
best loved and most capable son. John
Considine, forage merchant" is to be-
come "Considine 81 Company" with
Honest John as first chairman, Anthony
as managing director and all the chill
dren and children-i -in-law shareholders.
There Is no genealogical chart at
tached to the back cover of Without
My Cloak" as is the case with so many
of the family novels of recent years,
but the reader has no difficulty in re-
membering and recognizing all the
members of the Considine family. They
are too individual to be confused OF
forgotten. Honest John has had thir-
teen children, OF whom five sleep with
his wife in the family vault in St
Stephens Cemetery. His eldest son
Joe, Is doctor in Mellick, rather pom
pous. not SO shrewd as his father, too
fond Of the races. His second son,
Father Tom, is a priest, sensitive, al
most morbidly conscientious, not always
tactful, devoted to the family as well
as to the church. Another son. Eddy
bachelor whose life is not too closely
investigated by the family. is the Lon
don representative of "Considinels .
The last son, Anthony, has been des-
tined from childhood to succeed to the
management OF the business, and in
his business acumen. dominating per-
sonality and satisfaction with the ma
tertal things Of life seems admirably
suited to the role prepared for him
The daughter Caroline, her fathers ia
vorite and the most beautiful of his
children, is the unhappy wife of the
leading lawyer of Mellick. Theresa
plain and stubborn, is the contented. il
not enthusiastic, wife of Danny Mul.
queen, for whom a comfortable berth
has been made in "Considine's," though
all the family recognizes him as a men
| tai lightweight. Mary is nun. The
youngest daughter, Agnes. is her IA
Tiers companion and housekeeper while
he lives, and after his death is trans
ferred to her brother Anthony's house
hold, where she grows more and more
critical and acrimonious with the years
Honest John has also twenty-five grand
children, 'and possessed the means tc
provide well for all OF them. Above
these advantages, he had the love oi
his eight children, who had feared him
in fhai ,-irz
gave him great affection"
%***
Book of Without My Cloak" pre.
sents Honest John and His Children
Book II, Molly, Caroline, Denis" Sc.
lects three of the Considines for tn,
centers Of interest-beautiful dreamy
capricious Molly, wife of Anthony. who
while still in her youth is a sacrifice
to too frequent maternity; handsome
naughty Caroline, longing for romano,
and color in her life, but tied to a stiff
proSaic husband, and Denis, much lovec
eldest son of Anthony, too much lovec
for his own happiness. Book III is en-.
tirely devoted to Denis, the destined
third ruler OF the Considine business
1t is the character of Denis which ex-
plains the title of the novel, taken from
one of Shapespeare's sonnets:
why didst thou promise such a beau
teous day,
And make me travel forth without
my cloak
To let base clouds oertake me in my
way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten
smoke?"
Denis, beautiful as child and young
man. spoiled by his unWiSely doting
father, loving the woods, the fields. the
river flowing past his fathers home,
the garden which he has himself made
over, and above all loving his freedom
sees life spread out before him like a
''beauteouS day" But from his birth
he has been set apart by Honest John
by his father Anthony, by the whole
clan as the third manager of Considine
& Co. He is made to travel forth"
into world that seems to him beaute-
Gus, without the cloak of practical COM
mon sense and materialism which would
have sheltered him from the base
clouds of the business life into which
he is forced. Rebellion and submission
alternate in Denis youth. The submis-
sion always follows the rebellion, be-
cause of his recognition of his fathers
5ACoI lOfC AOA lll1li dIlQ LIE reluctance
of his sensitive spirit to hurt that love
But there are times when he hates his
father, for he knows that the great love
has enslaved him. The climax is reached
at his coming Of age. After an act OF
wild, supreme rebellion Denis is brought
back on Silken leash, this time not
that Of his fathers love. AS the story
ends We can see in imagination Denis
going through the so frequent process
by which dreaming, fiery, freedom
loving youth becomes adapted to the
demands of an organized, conventional
society. Perhaps in the process a genius
Is suppressed, poet or a painter or a
musician is lost perhaps Self-centered
dilettante is merely transformed into a
responsible, useful member of society
Society in this story is represented by
the united ConSidine clan, which at the
first sign of eccentricity or rebellion
against tradition gathers its forces for
the suppression Of the unruly member