Evening star., 1933-06-25

Browning. and owner of the famous Ashley
Library collection of books manuscripts and
letters can be open to no such criticism. The
editor, Mr Hood, does, however, speculate
what Browning, who hated publicity and
trivial gossip. would have thought about the
publication of even these later letters, and
thinks he would have laughed ood-naturedly
and incredulously at the thought of so years of
BoswelliAng in the hope of gathering q siz--
able volume Of his selected letters" The let
tiers here presented were written to many Diff
ferent friends, from 1880 to 1882 the year
Of his death A large number are to Miss Isa-
bella Blagden, close friend of the Brownings
in Forentine days, who wrote to him on the
18th Of each month in memory of his we'd
ding date. and who had agreement with
him that the letters on both sides were to be
burned. He burned hers, but she saved his;
she may have felt that she had no right to de-
stroy any records Of a great man.
These letters, as do those to his wife, show
the human Browning far more than they show
the author. The earlier letters, before the
death of Mrs. Browning in 1861, show ever
present solicitude for her frail health content
ment in her companonship and their con-
genial life in Florence, and absorption in their
son. "Pen." Then there is the letter to his
sister, Sarianna Browning, telling with pathos
and courage of his wife's death. After that he
left italy and lived much in London. As his
son grew older he became a cause of increasing
son for Brownings contemplating second
marriage. with Louisa. Lady Ashburton,
wealthy and brilliant widow She refused him
and the appendix and letters relating to the
subject show Browning to have been both OBJ
tuse and somewhat vindictive In proposing to
her he evidently told her that his heart was
buried in Florence" She told the details to
some of their common friends and they we're
alienated from Browning. His description In
the "Parleying with Daniel Bartoli" Of the
"she-shape" is supposed to refer to Lady Ash
burton. Brownings social life, his opinions
about other authors, passing comments about
his own writings, his affection for his friends,
his resentment against those who gossiped about
him, his interest, even curiosity, concerning his
friends affairs. all make the letters very per-
sonal documents
THE FIRST WIFE AND OTHER STORIES
BY Pearl Buck. New York: The John Day
Co.
IN the eve of her departure for her home in
~ China, after stay of nearly year in the
United States, Mrs. Buck has this volume of
short stories published-a volume which demon
strates her ability in the writing of this type
of fiction as well as the novel. There are IA
stories in the collection which is divided into
three sections "Old and New" Revolution"
and Flood" In one of the second group We
meet again our old acquaintance, Wang Lung,
son of Wang the Farmer of The Good Earth
and Sons The title story is of novelette,
length and extent of plot. 1t opens in the home
of Ii. the tea merchant, where all is outward
peace but inward excitement as Ii and his wife
and daughter in law and her two children await
the arrival Of Lis only sen from foreign parts,
where he has spent seven years. Then the son,
Yuan, comes, and it is apparent that with
him the old Chinese traditions have been re-
placed by new Western ideas. He is ashamed
of the gentle wife, of good family whose feet are
bound and who cannot read and write. The
old couple, the wife, Yuan himself, are all
helpless in this chasm between the old and
the new, and swift tragedy results. Mrs Bucks
description Of the opium habit of Ii illustrates
the delicacy of her style. He thin and
pale with the pallor that opium gives, and it
is quite true that the tea merchant had smoked
opium ever since he had been young man, not
heavily nor greedily, as coarse men will, but
little at a certain hour every day, delicately
mixed, and only the same amount, unless he
had pain of some sort, when he allowed him.
self a little more. Thus opium had made him
sere and emaciated but it had only followed
slightly his temples and cheeks and had taken
every ounce Of supre1uous flesh from his bones
and had yellowed his skin softly and smoothly
Most of the other stories brief; some are
merely sketches with thread of plot. The
Introductory essay by Richard J. Walsh, giving
biographical facts about Mrs. Buck and a criti-
cal estimate of her work, will be Of interest to
the many admirers of her unusually successful
novels. Her life in China began when she was
4 months old and has continued. with few
intervals, ever since. So her knowledge of
China and its people is very Deep and in addi-
tion, Mr.. Walsh says, Few modern writer's
have done much to further the common
understanding of the human heart"
CECIL RHODES. BY William Pioneer New
York: D. Appleton g. Co.
CECn RHODES is an excellent choice for
~ one Of the Appleton biographies. The