Evening star., 1933-02-07
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
NJ. C..

PAGEANT. BY G. B. Lancaster, au-
thor of Sons O. Men," etc. New York:
The Century Co.
One hundred and forty miles south
of the southeastern tip Of Australia, and
separated from that continent by Bass
Strait, lies small speck of rocky and
mountainous territory which was dis
covered in 1912 by a Dutch navigator
named Tasman, who called his find
Van Diemans Land in honor of his
patron. 1t was on this little heart
shaped island, now known as Tas-
mania, that England in 1904 established
a penal colony and from that year until
1853 overran it with convicts OF all
descriptions. In 1853 it was declared
a British colony and so remained until
1900, when it became the smallest state
of the commonwealth of Australia.
1t is in Tasmania that the entire
scene of Pageant" one of the most
entertaining novels in recent months,
is laid. G. B. Lancaster, whose real
name is Edith j. Lyttleton, was born
in Tasmania, and though she moved
with her family to sheep station in
New Zealand before she was old enough
to be acquainted with her birthplace,
she is stepped in the romance and his
| tory of the place of her nativity, and
|
to gather the material on which she
has based her novel. 1t has been 10
years since the public has enjoyed
publication by this author, and 1t
will be the sincere hope of those who
read Pageant" that it will not be so
| long time before another book makes
its appearance.
Two of Miss Lyttleton's great-grand-
| fathers were pioneers in Tasmania, hav-
| ing gone out from the Peninsular Wars
in search of fortune in sheep, hides and
tallow. Though all of the characters
in Pageant" are purely fictitious, the
basic material on which this tale of
the fortunes and misfortunes of two
pioneer families is built is of record,
therefore combining fact and fiction into
an historic novel of high merit.
Pageant" is vivid and convincing
| portrayal of life in Tasmania over a
| span of three-quarterS of century, be-
| ginning in the year 1926, when Capt.
Comyn and Maj. Sorley chartered a
200-ton schooner -rigged vessel and left
England for Van Diemans Land, arriv-
ing at their destination some 10 months
later. Heroic men and women were
these, whose dauntless spirits in the face
of encouragement and danger played so
important a part in the conquest of
the island. Aristocrats by birth and in
spirit, the Comyns and the Sorleys come
face to face with civilization in the
raw. with nature in the raw, and with
their own loves and hates in the raw.
The new country, like their own lives,
was full of color and beauty-and can
kerous spots of sordidneSs.
In this day it seems almost incredible
that not so many years ago such places
as the penal colony of Tasmania were
| actually in operation, breaking mems
souls along with their backs. Boat load
after boat load of convicts dumped on
the island every month and promptly
forgotten by the Crown; f1ogged, placed
In dumb" cells and worse for so slight
an offense perhaps as speaking to a
superior. A few such places of e1ile
still exist, of course, but public con-
demnation has at least reduced them to
very few.
For service to the landholders in Tas-
mania convict labor was free The law
OF England required the landowner to
furnish nothing but one pair of pants
and such food as he saw fit to give to
each convict. But with the island over
crowded with convicts and but few land
owners to employ them, most of them
turned into bush rangers and pillagers,
forming into outlaw bands and con-
Quoting terrifying raids
The story of the conquest of Tasmania
Is told through the lives of the Comyns
and the Sorleys. The two families be-
ing as different as it is possible for two
families to be, there is no one-sideness
in the telling. A bulwark against any
storm, Madam Comyn reigns supreme.
French to the core, ambitious, keen
Wltted and sharp-tongued, proud and
HnmnalllnU Mo ic the af 1,< <lx, 4
wonderful woman. In contrast is Lsu-
iSa Sorley, minus personality. brains or
ambition for anything except domestic
principles and the political aspirations
OF her husband. Stalwart Capt.
Comyn, completely captivated by Ma
dam after years of marriage to her.
impetuous, liberty loving, courageously
holding to his convictions in the face of
opposition, and withal a lovable and
amusing individual. James Sorley meas
ures short always in a crisis, as is the
way with many men who aspire to poll
tical plumS. Then there are the Mer-
rlcks and the Keyes and others, all of
them Interestingly alive, and deity fit
TED into their proper inches in the story.
From the children of these families
comes the true perception of what tenn
peStuouS loves and bitter hatreds can
build and wreck in the restricted envi-
ronment of pioneer territory, particular
ly back in those days when sons and
daughters dressed, and thought, and
married as their elders commanded
The children of the Sorley family were
not difficult to manage. They did as
they were told, married as they were
commanded, and those of them who
strayed slightly from the straight and
narrow path OF virtue did SO at the
expense of some one else. With the
ComynS matters were different. Ma
not SO easily realized. OF william. the
eldest son, she knew what to expect.
Steady, dull and competent, he married
Susan Merrick and produced a family
larger than any one except millionaire
should think of. Among them was
beautiful blond Jenny. in whom Madam
centered all her hopes when her own
children failed her. Her second son.
Oliver, turns out to be nothing more
nor less than social parasite. selling
the FAMILY jewels to crafty his ex-
travagant tastes, planning marriages for
relatives irrespective Of any sentiment
other than his own determination to
land in the lap of luxury. NAB. the
youngest and most beloved, is Madam,s
last hope-until Jenny offers possibili-
tles-and he, to, is a failure. But with
all his faults. it is Nab who stands
out in front with Jenny, and Madam
and Robert Snow as the bone and
sinew of this fascinating and colorful
tale. Robert Snow. convict, undoubt-
edly gentleman in former days. is too
splendid and too dramatic a character
to meet such an untimely end, but per-
haps that Is the fate which should have
been meted out to one who determined |
SO passionately to avenge wrong.
OF Nab and Jenny there is too much |
to tell in SO many words. Their lives
were too full-or too empty-te analyze |
characters is to be understood. Iovahle
impetuous. tempestuous Nab, and quiet
beautiful, Self-sufficient Jenny. To Ma |
dam. who loved them too dearly. thev
were unquestionably the only two prob.
lens in her long life which she failed
to conquer. But to the readers of her
eyrIricita r