Evening star., 1933-05-28

house at the foot of the rolling road-it was
always there, on still Summer nights, band OF
scent as tangible as the first terrace Of the
lawn was tangible to his feet" After he has
received, like a man, the shock which awaits
him at the manor, he picks a pink-purple
flower of the Judas tree, which looks scarlet
in the light of the setting sun, nibbles the
blossom and finds it bitter. So the Judas tree
becomes the symbol of the beauty and bitter
ness of his life.
Mr. Swanson's style is suggestive Of the
historical period SO that, with the action and
characters harmonizing to that end, the reader
Immediately finds himself living in the period.
The chapter headings are worded with un-
usual skin, to indicate the subject and at the
same time arouse curiosity, for example; In
which Mr.. Leslie undertakes to improve the
manners of His Majesty's army, and acquires
a family thereby and "in which the bagpipes
come to the forks of the Ohio and Arnett Leslie
decides to pay certain wages in advance"
WITCHS CAULDRON. BY Eden Phillpotts.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
Wis Dryden Dartmoor farm woman Of
n unusually strong character and inde-
pendent ethical ideas, introduced by Mr..
Philpotts in his recent novel, Bred in the
Bone" in which Avis losing her husband under
mysterious and tragic circumstances, attaches
all her hopes her reasons for life, to her son
Peter at the same time harboring secret fears
for him on account of his heredity. "Witch's
Cauldron" is the second novel about Avis
Dryden and there is to be a third. She is
already becoming disappointed in Peter. She
had ceased to be in love with life when her
husband passed out of it and the hoped-for
quickening when his son should arrive at man-
hood and display ambition that might con-
mand her own intellect and brains to furthers
had so far failed her" This sentence gives
the clue to Avis Bryden's character and ac-
tions-her belief in her own superiority OF
intelligence and her willingness to play the
part of judge and executor, or executioner. in
the complex affairs of her own and other
lives Her past decisions and the actions based
them produce a mental conflict for Peter
when he makes some discoveries, and he en<
ters his married life with a burden which
most sane people would have thrown off, since
he is in no way responsible His rugged, prac-
tical uninhibted mother, really responsible.
feels her responsibility no burden and secretly
despises her weaker son.
Whatever one may think of the pros and
cons of the ethical problem one can but ap-
prove some Of the sage advice of Avis. Don't
get reckless nor yet despairing. :. Keep your
nerve whatever else you think to lose Only
a towards feared of truth" Again: "You
work for all you're worth, Peter, and give your
mind rest. Your mind will go on working
behind your back sometimes and then, when
you've returned to it. you're surprised to find
it's got a move on too" The third volume
will find Avis an old woman and Peter mar
ried man, probably still a small farmer, but it
is almost certain that Avis, to whom right and
wrong are merely words, will yet be dominat-
ing the family situation, unless she meets her
match in Peters wife, Grace The rural set-
ting, as in all Mr. Phillpotts' novels. cons
stitutes one of the greatest recommendations
of the book.