Evening star., 1933-08-26
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.
OLD ITALY AND NEW MUSsOLINI-
LAND BY John Gibbons. New
York: z. p. Dutton & Co.


Mont Gents tunnel, to Genoa, along
the Italian Riviera, and 50 to Rome,
John Gibbons was subjected to fire.
quent embarrassment because Of the
misinformation he kept giving his wife
He had been in Italy barely two years
before and remembered everything we'll,
but the trouble was that so many
things had changed-under the regime
of Mussolini. He told his wife at Pisa
that they had reached the end Of the
electrified railway and she remarked
keeping the electric engine. "And the
annoying fact was that since had
been there before they had gone and
extended the electrification. and now
it runs right down to what they call
! LivOrno and Is of course really Leg
horn" He told his wife that her
breakfast at a Turin cafe in the early
morning would consist of small
biscuit thing" and very tiny cup OF
black coffee; and then the waiter
called out "Am-Eggs?" No wonder he
felt admiringly disguised at Mussolini.
The Riviera resorts had lost their
| dancing and a casino" meant only a
| bathing place, with a restaurant at
tached. and perhaps band during the
season Modern Mussoliniland is in
its way an almost semi Puritan coun-
try"
Those who have, like Mr.. Gibbons,
visited Italy some years ago and then
gone back since the Mussolini dictator
ship will have noticed many Of the
changes he speaks Of so humorously.
In a former book. "Afoot in Italy he
told of his adventures in the land Of
the Renaissance. which was being
rapidly remodeled into a less pictur-
esQue but more sanitary country. His
second visit brought surprises at every
turn, because of the further progress
of the transformation. The welfare
| clinics in Rome his wife found the best
! she had ever seen and became indig-
nant at the inferiority of the English
clinics, with which she was very famil-
| lar And he found one caretaker who
| would not take a tip because it was
against the rules. Everywhere he saw
military units marching through the
streets and groups of black-shirted boys
| and black-shirted girls out with leaders.
| The Italy of the past was not without
its appeal and Mr.. Gibbons fell under
the spell of the terrace at Perugia,
where one stands on the edge of the
world and looks down on the plain Of
Umbria and across at the pinkish bulk
of Monte Subasio. with the monastery
of st. Francis and the Poor Clares'
/ Convent and the rest Of Assist in high
relief against its side. Mr.. Gibbons
offers no especially new information
and no results Of any study. His is a
book of impressions. of man who Is
/ in the habit of observing and Of think
ing. not too profoundly, about what ne
| sees.
FLOOD TIDE. BY Olive Wadsley.
New York: Dodd, Mead g. Co.
Daddy, in other words, Col Forde,
gambler, is very anxious to get his
| daughter Diana we'll married. He can
then be of for the Riviera, where ne
can make a much better living than
in London. His prospective son-in-
law will also. he knows. be willing TO
see him depart. Basil Leviter Is rlch,
respectable. and mad about Diana.
Diana thinks hes not half bad
stick" and "35 isn't so ghastly CID.
| Col Forde assures her dryly that 'one
| still is conscious of existence even III
years on!' With everything thus ia
vorably set, Basil Leviter takes Diana
down to visit his people at Chavening-
| d
Basil also invites, casually, because he
happens to run across him, Tony Blay-
| don. the flyer and rather big noise.
In an instant everything is changed.
Basil's 10y over his engagement IS
r,1dely interrupted Diana is swept on
| her feet. Col Forde is shocked at the
vanishing Of the prospect OF rlch
son-in-law and honestly alarmed for
his daughter. But nothing makes any
difference. Tony and Diana are sure,
with the s,lreness of emotion and In
experience. So ends the first scene.
The succeeding ones are as filled with
emotion but emotion less ecstatlc,
growing more and more tragic. For
Basil his connection with Diana ana
her father is misfortune from be-
ginning to fateful end. For Tony and
Diana life brings conflicts and suf1er-
ing they never, In their flrst whlrnng
enchantment dreamed could exist.
Their love endures, but it is saved by
| the sacrifice Of others. sacrlhce
which they do not deserve. But. use
every man after his desert, and who
should 'scape whipping?"
| The Harper Prize Novel Contest Tor
| 1888 has been settled in favor OF Paul
HorEan of Roswell, N. Mex. for his first
novel, THE Fault of Angels" Mr..
Horgan celebrated his 30th birthday
August /. "The Fault of Angels IS
the sixth Harper prize novel. Previous
awards have been to Margaret Wilson
for The Able McLaughlins" Q923 p:
Anne Parrish for The Perennial
Bachelor" Q925): Glenway Wescott TO.
The Grandmothers" O92O; Julian
Green for THE Dark Journey" O929)
and Robert Reynolds for Brothers in
the West" O93D. The judges for the
! 1898 contest were Dorothy Canfleld
Harry Hansen and Sinclair Lewis. In
writing to the publishers as one OF the
committee, Mr.. Lewis said: Il had not
the faintest notion as to the author
ship of any of the contestants. You
must occasionally have wise guys who
jeer why, of course, the judges are
tipped of who the anonymous authors
are!' Well, here's one judge that hasn't
been. 1 am glad that the vote has
been given to The Fault of Angels.
The central character IS brilliant and
evocative" Mr.. Horgan was born in
Buffalo. n. Y. He Is third genera
| ton American, with German, French,
English and Irish ancestry. Before
writing this first novel he has had ex-
perience as a reporter and musical
critic and is now librarian OF the New
Mexico Military Institute. Part OF his
education included study at the East
man School of Music of the University
of Rochester, and while there he also
worked as a member of the production
staff of the Rochester Opera Company
and at times appeared in the company S
repertoire. His artistic temperament
has found many outlets for he says:
During all these times OF doing jobs,
painting. drawing, acting, singing a
little, and going to parties, I was try
ing to write poetry and stories"
| X X
| Sir Basil Thomson, formerly director
of criminal investigation at Scotland
Yard, has had a remarkable career as
sleuth and author After completing
his formal education at Eton and Ok
ford he spent year farming IN our
Middle West. He was recalled to Eng
1w@ kN1