Evening star., 1933-05-21

were no boomers, step-ins, no brassieres,
no pajamasf' But there were many petticoats,
both flannel and muslin; long chemises. cor
set covers, high-necked, long-seeved night
dresses, a hustle and two shawl. Her first
home was, of course, house. There were no
luxurious apartments, and flats" usually made
from remodeled private houses, had no great
dignity. As the story progresses we/see New
York changing very rapidly it seems, until
today At the age of 20, Mrs. Nathan says:
II have covered some of the great changes
Of the last so years 1t makes no difference
whether we be 60, 10, 80, life still holds
new interests, new possibilities"
GREAT WINDS BY Ernest Poole. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
IN AN earlier novel of Ernest Poole (recollec-
] ton not perfectly certain says THE Ava
lanche), a nerviously distraught man finds
peace and restoration in his native New Hamp-
shire hills The same situation occurs, under
entirely different circumstances In Great
Winds" John Blake, author. returns at so to
his old family home in New Hampshire, after
many years of wandering about the world, try
ing "to comprehend the quaint and solemn
antics Of diplomats and politicians and finally
turning from governments Ito see what was
happening to plain people in their homes"
From the authors experiences in foreign coun-
tries and from his comments on books and
readers well as the fact that he Is about
to write a book to be called Great Winds"
we are probably justified in thinking that he
Is more or less Ernest Poole himself While
he plans his book, he wonders who will read
1t, as he thinks of the hordes OF excellent
people who still think Rex Beach Is a Sum-
mer resort" of all those others who "can stand
only CHEEKY little tales of the vast multitude
Of wise crack lovers, tapping up froth as cats
will cream" and of those more widely read
and sophisticated cynics, who give their ap-
proyal only to books that show forth the life
Of man as the enchanting progress Of worm
to . manure pile In the long, low, white
frame house where he was born, remodeled
artistically and reverently by his brother the
famous architect Gilbert Blake. the author
Is joined after some weeks by the architect.
Gilbert Blake, architect of some Of the great
towers of New York, owner of two handsome
houses Of his own designing in New York and
Newport Is a haggard harassed man, the vic
tim Of the financial depression combined with
too much family. His demanding and spend
ing second wife, who in spite of her complete
absorption in herself has managed to fascinate
him, and his three children by his first marriage
all overwhelm him with their clamors for
money to satisfy their needs and desires. They
are leeches fattenng on his supposed prosperity,
and no one Of them gives a thought to the
burdens of the elderly man or considers that
the depression may have hit him. In the end
one son. Ned has an awakening and is able
to render some small return for all he has
received uneasily ashamed meanwhile he
recalls his past demands.
Ernest Poole writes of real life so not every
thing Is rosy but he believes in life and in
humanity, though there are so many units
Of 1t which he despises, so his story ends with
hope. The philosophical author brother and
the softly colored Autumn woods and hills
of New Hampshire do much for Gilbert Blake,
and some of his burdens hquidate themselves.
We feel sure that he will find again "the soul
Of his work through the fires Of catastrophe"
So Ernest Poole seems to say, after the great
winds" the storm of the present time, will
come clear Skies bright world. His under
lying thought is expressed in his quotation from
Edna st. Vincent MilIay following the title
page: Faith it is that keeps the world alive"
zEsT BY Charles G. Norris Garden City:
Doubleday, Doran IL Co.
THE monosyllabic and SYMBOLIC titles of Charles
@. Norris undoubtedly arrest attention at
the start and are later found TO fit fairly ade-
quately the large-scale themes of his physi-
cally large books In Salt" he attempted a
critical estimate through his story, of our
schools and colleges, national system of
education. In Brass" he investigated marriage
why it is so often difficult, impossible, for
two peop9e to get along together In Pig
Iron he considered our Industrial system, with
its materialistic influences. In Bread" he
presented the problem Of the woman in busi-
ness and we recall that one objection he found
to the business woman was that she was less
likely to remain with unsatisfactory hus-
band than a dependent woman. In Seed" a
novel of last year, birth-control was the sub
ject The title "Zest' is ironical. The weak,
pleasure loving man selected for the place on
the center stage, Robert Gillespie, may have
sporadic spurts of zest in life, but the net re-
suit Is dust and ashes Under the wrapper
design and frontispiece, by Rockwell Kent. Mr..
Norris has placed quotation from the Old
Testament Book of Isaiah: "And in that day