Evening star., 1933-09-23


of life. Burns last years were a trag,
edv not of a degenerated nature. but OF
a great spirit and passionate poos
broken
THE PARADINE CASE. BY Robert
Hichens. Garden City: Doubleday
DOran & Co.
Mr.. Hichens has descended from the
heights of passion and romance. from
concern over conflict between love ana
religion. since his Garden OF Allah
davs. Now he admits to his workshop
the plebeian and gregarious mystery
tale. But he writes mystery yarn su-
perior to the average. This one Is lohg.
which will suit the mystery ian so mucn
the better. Mrs Paradine Is OF course
beautiful. and something OF a SPHINX; as
she needs to be when she Is accused OF
poisoning her husband. who is blind
and a war veteran. Sir Malcolm Keane,
K. C., is her defense advocate ana ms
efforts to save his client from the well
known swift British justice meteo OUT
to murderers form the much nVolVeu
plot. Lady Keane is interested In the
case. for reasons which develop uneX-
pectedly, and even her dachshuno
Sausage. plays his part. The ]uoge'
Lord Horfeld. cynic that he Is, nkes
pretty women. which is an adVahtage
for the defense The fact that Mrs.
Paradine is of Danish ancestry is moth
ing against Denmark or the Danes
Even Nordics can. ON occasion, COM
init crimes. or at least be accused OF
them. Mr.. Hichens' style is, as always
colorful.
Some of the August best sellers were
as follows. Fiction, Anthony Adverse,
by Hervey Allen; strangers Return,
by Phil Stong; Marriage in Gotham,
bv Ishbel Ross: Little Man. What
Now?" oy Hans Fallada; LAS the Earth
Turns by Gladys Hasty Carroll, ana
Grand Canary" by A. j. Cronln. Nom
fiction: Marie Antoinette," by Stefan
Zweig; "lO0,OO0,000 Guinea Pigs, py
Arthur Kallett and F, J. scnllns'
House of Exile" by Nora Vain; Arch
es of the Years. by Halliday Suther-
land: Julia Newberry's Diary and
British Agent by R. F. Bruce Lock
hart. The best seller test is not always
a best literature test; in fact it almost
never is. This list is, however, rather
good one.
The Great Wall of India is not as
famous or as maSSively constructed as
the Great Wall of China; it is not
visible to the eyes of casual tourists, but
nevertheless it is there. Ian Hay. in his
book, The Great Wall of India" says:
up and down its invisible length are
scattered men whom Hyde Park ora
tors have never heard of-soldiers. air
men. police, civil Servants-hololns
their wall year in. year out. and keep
ing it in repair by the use of certain
rare and infallible elementS-common
sense, fair dealing, humor and stark
courage" On his first visit to India
Mr.. Hay went to Peshawar, one OF the
most dangerous border outpoStS. and
from there over the Khyber Pass and
across the tribal territory, from which
he could look down into Afghanistan,
home of hostile tribesmen forever en-
dangering the security of British con-
troll The materials for the building OF
the Wall Of India were not stone, NOR
tar, cement, but Roads. scout posts,
tribal territory. border militia, khassa:
dars (native forces), board-wages, CHG
ha parties frontier musters which keep
the Pathan troops busy, jirgahs meet-
ings of tribal leaders. under British
auspices), civil hospitals-all function
ing under the reassuring shadow of the
regular army
that she is, still does not interpret with
unbroken solemnity the march OF
women from a state of suppression to
a state of reasonable self-expresSion.
Her book, Angels and Amazons'
Doubleday. covers 100 years. 1888
1888 There were before 1888 certain
grumblings which indicated that some
women at least were beginning to tug
at the traditional bandages which tied
them to the cradle and the cookstove.
The complaint of Mistress Margaret
Brent is an instance. Back in Colonial
DAYS, she appeared before the Maryland
House of Burgesses and suggested with
some force that she should sit in that
dignified masculine House and be given
the right cast not one vote but two, one
as executrix of Leonard Calvert. first
Governor of Maryland. and the other as
attorney to Lord Baltimore. OF course
she was not admitted, but few of the
more radical members had sneaking
sympathy with her She was an early
Amazon. Others have followed in her
train. Mrs. Irwin's book is full Of
stories of the careers of many of these
later fighters. Humorous anecdotes are
abundant, for the trail blazers in the
woman's movement were always conSid-
cred fair subjects for ridicule on the
part of scornful, and sometimes terri
fled, men as well as women who feared
that they might crash from their pedes-
tails If they put folded papers into
ballot box They did not realize that
the pedestalS would crash anyway and
that the votes of women would make so
little difference In the trend Of national
life. ,-.