Evening star., 1933-12-24
REALLEWlQE IHE NEW BCQDK/
moselle, TO spirits and Nqueurs, with restrained
but keen appreciation of the subtle gustatory
joys lurking in good wines.
CHRISTMAS TREE. BY Lady Eleanor Smith.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill Co.

CHRISTMAS TREE. BY Lady Eleanor Smith.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill Co.
NHNHEN all the Christmas trees which are
" piled up in the shops and along the
sidewalks just before Christmas are
carried away to the many homes. where they
have brilliant but brief day Of supremacy
before they are again carried away this time
by the trash man. what do they see and fnd
out about the families into which they 60 for
their one Christmas? Lady Eleanor Smith
tells what seven London Christmas trees saw
1t is the second day before Christmas and IN
one OF the Dig stores the flower department IS
selling Christmas trees at the rate Of about
one minute After the rush is over, Miss
Heath, saleswoman. in her apartment shared
with her friend Miss Entwhistle, a manicurist,
wonders YEARLY what all the people are Hike
who have bought Christmas trees from her and
what really happens in their homes The
seven chapters Of this Christmas book tell the
tales OF the seven trees which were bought by
the Fenwicks Fraulein Haussemann Lord PEN
arth, Mr. Brodie Nine. Lenosova, Signor
Galvani, and Jenny Lynn. Each chapter Is q
bit of good realistic short story writing and
the stories are tied together by the relation of
ali the trees to the tired saleswoman, Miss
Heath. vino wondered about their destinations
OF course Lady Eleanor Smith has taken ad-
vantage Of the story-teller's right to choose her
personages. Not all Of the trees sold in that
such interesting people. The young Fenwicks
renew their love for each other and their
children before the Christmas tree; Fraulein
Haussemann, lonely woman. finds peace and
happy memories and wishes she could stop the
clock; Lord Penarth sends his Christmas tree
to nursing home, to Lindsay Roslyn, whom
he hopes to marry as soon as his wife will
divorce him. There is an interesting situation
awaiting each tree. quite different from that
imagined by Miss Heath, which Is given in
italics at the beginning Of each chapter.
SPIDER BY Marguerite steen Boston: Little.
Brown & Co.
~RADTT1ON and cults grow up rapidlv II
vi. they are initiated and nursed and given
momentum by sufficiently ardent adher.
ents. The subject CT the tradition may or may
not be really great. It helps II he is. The
WAGNER cult would have grown by itself, but
CnsimA Wagner assisted 1t by her vigorous and
devoted personality. In Spider" Marguerite
Steen tells how Jacoba Debroy married the
composer Richard Adam not many years be-
fore his death and took possession Of him.
When he died she hastened to construct Q ira
ddtion, legend of the great composer whose
sole inspiration was his wife Jacoba. She closed
her eyes to the rather numerous other ladies'
who had provided temporary inspiration to
Adam and whose names appeared in dedica-
tions OF his works. She determined also to OBJ
iterate the memory of them from the public
abundant money this was not Is dif1cult as
might appear. She gave musical festivals, to
which music lovers swarmed. she turned her
three children into secondary publicity agents.
finally she wrote Life There she ran into
difficulties in the numerous letters which gave
disconcerting information about Adams first
wife and his many later loves. There were
even a few children in addition to those Of
Jacoba. She suppressed them by suppressing
the letters which she bought up at good prices.
Then she was defeated by one Of her own de-
scendants. her granddaughter Dendy who fell
In love with young man who turned out to be
q direct descendant of Adams hrst wife, who
was thus brought to light in spite Of all Ja-
cobe's burying. Certainly Cosima Wagner must
have furnished the suggestion for Miss Stems
story, though the details Of Jacoha's life arc
quite different from those of Cosima. It Is q
good narrative and in its entire unlikeliness
to her other work. such as stallion" the
biography OF horse, and They That Go Down
IN Ships" salt water tale, shows the authors
versatility.