Evening star., 1932-04-16
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.

The Stevenses are not a remarkable
family, just average people. but rather
nice. after all. Perhaps in choosing to
write his novel, THE Fortnight in Sep
tember," about them, r. G. Sheriff..
author of Journeys End" intended
them to represent almost any conscien-
tious, not very ambitious, clerk and his
commonplace but entirely human family
The story of the holiday of the Stevens
family at Bognor during two weeks in
September is so told that before we have
finished 1t we know exactly what sort
of people they are and everything of
| Importance which has happened in their
| individual and family lives. At the end
we know, too, that Mr.. Stevens will
never be anything but plodding clerk.
but that he will always find content
ment in his family, his compact little
house, his garden and his yearly Sep
tember holiday; that Mrs. Stevens will
always be a timid, inarticulate little
person; that Mary Is likely to have the
same sort Of life her mother is living
that young Ernie, bumptious at present.
| will probably not be as agreeable a man
as his father, and that Dick, suffering
! at II with discomfort and unrest of
which he searches for the cause while
at Bognor, will surely attain to greater
, achievement than is envisaged by the
family outlook. The story opens on the
afternoon before the holiday begins.
When MRS. Stevens is anxiously survey
ing the sky over the railway embank
ment at the bottom of her bit of garden
behind the little house at % Comma
road. Dulwich. 1t ends as the whole
| family wave good-by to their landIady
Mrs. Nugget, who stands in the door
way Of Seaview at Bognor. During the
two weeks all the usual things have
happened and been done. Mr.. and Mrs
! Stevens have been going to Seayiew for
81 years and the children for as many
years as they have, respectively. been
alive. This year, as in past Septembers
they have had their surf bathing, their
midmorning lunches on the sands, their
walks on the promenade and across
country, their band concerts, their teas
in Mrs. Nuggets musty sitting room
Yet In some ways this fortnight has
been different from all the others-more
disturbing, more keenly enioyed-be
cause all have felt a foreboding of
change.
Fully third of The Fortnight In
September" is devoted to the prepara
tons for the holiday on the part of the
Stevens family Immediately before de-
parture and the journey to Bognor.
This is as it should be, for the night
before the holiday begins is voted by
the family as almost the best part of
the holiday. A special supper marks the
| occasion tof such viands as will make
| good sandwiches for the next day); the
last packing is done; each member of
the family lays out the clothes to be
worn on the train; Mr.. Stevens takes
an after-supper stroll in the garden,
smiling the sea air in imaginative an
tlclpation, and finally, Mr.. Stevens gets
out his marching orders" long sheet
OF Items for each one to attend to on
the following morning. The episodes of
the morning Of departure give Mr.. Sher-
riff opportunities for some of his best
humor. When Mr. Stevens reads from
his marching orders" the item, Take
Joe round to Mrs. Haykin-also bath,
seed and two cuttlefish Shells" he looks
over his glasses uneasily at the assem-
bled family. THE duty of taking
Joe, the canary. TO Mrs. Haykin, next
door. was always disliked There was a
tlnge OF anxiety in Mr.. Stevens voice,
Tor last year there had nearly been a
| quarrel over 1t. For this duty meant
thanking Mrs. Haykin and staying there
a Few minutes TO talk Mary accepts
the duty, rather grumpily, and the en-
suing visit to Mrs. Haykin is described
with appreciation of the smoldering
feelings which do not quite come to
the surface. Awaking early in the
morning, Mr.. Stevens has the kindly
IDEA of starting the holiday pleasantly
by stealing down to the kitchen and
preparing tea for all the family. While
the kettle is coming to a boil, he re-
members something and goes back to
ms bed room for his false teeth, SO that
he can smile at the family when he
takes their tea to their bedsides
Though he may not have achieved
striking success in the business world,
| Mr.. Stevens ranks high as a family
| man. Every one fuses for fear the
porter will not come for the luggage,
but he comes, exactly on time. Mrs
Stevens always feels panicky over the
change at Clapham Junction, but un-
der the carefully planned leadership of
Mr.. Stevens they are all successfully
| transferred from their local train to
the main line train. "Clapham juno
tion is perfectly all right if you keep
your head" Already, as they stand in
a group on platform eight. they begin
20 feei like citizens of the world, in
stead of mere Dulwich suburbanites I"
They found the luggage all right with
! the porter beside it, but their trunk
looked smaller at Clapham Junction
with the piles of other luggage, than it
cid when it stood by itself at their
own station"
Fortnight in September" but there are
glimpses of genuine pathos and a
recognition of the many little ironies
Of life. If Mrs. Stevens had been
asked what part of the holiday she
most enjoyed, she would have said
with orthodox feeling, 'Why!-all of
| it. of course!" But if she had been
sworn to tell the truth, she would have
| admitted that the part she loved best
| was the hour from until 10 in the
evening, when Ernie was in bed and
Mr.. Stevens and Dick and Mary were
out and she sat alone in the sitting
| room at Seaview, in the one COM
| Portable armchair, with her needle
work and her glass of port wine. 1T
was a pity the family did not know
her true feelings about this time when
they left her by herself for they all
| felt rather selfish as they filed out of,
| the sitting room to enjoy themselves
without her-they thought Of her sit
| ting there deserted and lonely" The
nearest approach to tragedy is Marys
realization. on the evening before their
! departure for home, that her weeks
acquaintance with Pat Mackenzie, the
| godlike actor at the Bognor Theater.
is not the something tremendous" she
| had felt sure would happen to her on
this holiday; that 1t is not going to
alter her whole life and put an end
to the yearly family holiday; that it is
not the wonderful beginning of a new
and thrilling lfe-that 1t has been
only "a bit of fun to while away a
few pleasant hours of holiday" The
whole holiday. begun with such eager
ness, enjoyed with such zest, ends
with a shadow Of sadness for all, ex-
cept the persistent Ernie, who departs
hugg1ng the yacht which has been a
| the whole hnlidau AGar.r,n sa-SS-. Is