Evening star., 1933-04-23

{ TENN1NG PARK is a London suburb, on q
- hill. but may be said to be rapidly sliding
Gown hill socially. 1t was once elegant aristo-
cratic and at that time Samuel Hollidy bought
the Park and its mansion, because he had SO
much money he did not know how to enjoy it
and imagined he would find satisfaction in
being landed proprietor after his retirement
from the motor manufacturing business He
soon found himself incapable of that particular
kind of satisfaction and cut up the Park into
small building lots, whereon sprung into being
flimsy little villas. affairs of cardboard and
tinsel in which came to live people as un-
substantial as the houses. "On the Hill" Is the
story OF one day in the life of Samuel Holiidy
and some of the other inhabitants OF Stenning
Park. Samuels wife, an ex-barmaid. has only
two interests. her housekeeping and her
Stephen a weakling who could arouse interest
in no one except undiscriminating. mother
Stephen has, nevertheless to the surprise OF
his father tmore discriminating than his
motheD managed to marry q rather attractive
girl. daughter of the former squire of Etenning.
Perhaps Samuefs money had something to do
with 1t. for Annes parents were reduced to
something less than genteel poverty. Anne
marries Stephen. but she loves Richard, Samuels
adopted son, whom, though you couldn't trust
him yard out Of your sight, you couldn't help
liking" Samuel finds Annes lack of RESPONSE
bility and of what he has been accustomed
to consider principles charming, and secretly
wishes she might have been his wife instead of
Stephens, but of course he remembers Glenn
entina Is his wife and there is nothing to be
done about that. The Hollidy family furnish
the unified theme of the narrative They are
never absent from the scene for long. But,
minor themes, are q group Of what taken out
Of their setting. would be good short stories
about the other dwellers in Stenning Park
There are the thrifty little clerk and his tall
wife who have decided that they might afford
a hAby inst One". he school mistress vho IL
tired of teaching French nothing but French;
Arthur and Phyllis, who have their troubles,
which are cured by tragedy. Samuel Hollidy
is also involved in the tragedy The closing
sections, describing the fierce gale which ragged
over Southern England, contain some vigorous
writing. The style Of the whole book Is ad
mirable in its realism, its suppression of the
unessental, its avoidance of false emotion even
under circumstances which might tempt .
writer to its use. Lewis Gibbs Is q nom de
plume Of 4 writer who is said to have spent
most of his life in London
ALL SURVEY: A Book of Essays BY G. X.
Chesterton. New York: Dodd Mead 4 Co.
c EATED on the top of Parnassus, Chesterton
- surveys the world and something of the
flesh and the devil well. for some of his
essays bear the titles On Old Men Who Make
Wars" "On Negative Morality" "On Suicide:
North and South" "On Modern Paganism"
ON Monsters and "On Love-" OF course
whatever he says on all the subjects of the A
essays is Chestertonian, which is to say that
he is nearly always paracoxcal, single minded,
in that he sees only one point of view, and not
at all averse to dogmatizing He has certain
fixed ideas, of which he never doubts the
rightnesS. He does not descend to argument;
he merely asserts and. presumably, feels sorry
for those who differ. But his powers of satire
and originality and his ability to write on
almost any subject make him good anti6ote
for mental stagnation. In the essay "On New
Tax" he suggests taxes talking and on
writing, especially when both are accompanied
by ignorance For instance, suppose everybody
was instantly fined a small sum for mentioning
the name of Einstein. The money would be
refunded if he could afterward demonstrate to
committee of mathematicians and astrono-
mers that he knew anything about Einstein"
Many of the essays involve Mr.. Chestertons
views OF other authors. In the essay "On Sense
and Sound " he says: There are individuals,
of course. like Mr.. James Joyce or Miss Ger
trude Stein, whose prose may be said to be of
doubtful sobriety. The prose writing of Mr.
Osbert Sitwell is not especially Sitwellan As
the term is applied to his poetry" In the essay
"On Education" he admits his own inability to
decide whether educators can be expected to
put the school in order before anybody has
put the state in order" and adds: But will
not discusS my own remedies here, which
would involve indecent illusions to q third
thing called the Family; now never mentioned
i'll respectable circles"
PREFACE TO POETRY. BY Theodore Maynard
M. A., Lift. d. New York: The Century Co.
DERHAPS there is definite loss to the world
Dday because so few people read poetry
or are at all interested in it. More of the spirit
which produces real poetry and appreciates it
may be one of the things most needed to ban
ish fear and encourage hope. The author of
Preface to Poetry" himself a poet and head
of the English Department at Georgetown Uni
versity must believe this. for he says that
poetry is necessary to the human spirit" His