Evening star., 1934-01-07
6Y SARAH @. BOWERMAN
"reminiscences ofn French AmbasSador-E0a
LIE Gallieuue Writes ofHer Stage Life.
Some Of the MezO Fiction.

v
assembled relatives interrupts his mumbed
prayers to ask sadly: How is it that / never
vet came to see an old man or an old woman
out of this world but the kitchen is always
quarrelling over his bones?" Norry, the old
woman who has come to lay out the corpse,
mods agreement. The prayers and the quarrel
ling mingle until every one knows that Long
John is already keeeling before the Judgment
seat of God" The scene is a masterpiece.
Greed for the land left by Long john for which
he had worked himself to an early death, is
the theme of the whole narrative. The mem
bers of the two families, the ODonnellS and
the Keenes Mag Keene is Long John ODon-
nells sister,, are selfish and unlovely, but
entirely probable. Judith is the dominating
patriarch, with no scruples Of either religion or
ethics no compunctonS with regard to her
six daughters and her two other living sons
when the advantage of Leo is in question-Leo,
whose deserving is least of all. The Fenian
movement enters prominentl iAo the plot, but
on the whole it is story of Irish simple folk"
and their country, near Limerick, which provides
an atmosphere saturated with melancholy, with
sordidness but also with the satisfactions of
everyday life and with the poetry to be found
in the budding and falling Of the linden leaves,
the reedy whistle of the first yellow hammer,
or a backbird calling through the dusk. "A
Nest OF Simple Folk is in the best tradition
of Synge's realism, without his symbolism, with
less idealism and sadness with more earthiness
and humor.
BREDON AND SONS. By Neil Bell. Boston:
Little, Brown & Co.
c CENWICH, with its jg-sa indented harbor
- on the Suffolk coast, depended for its exist
ence on the sea, just did the firm of Bredon &
Sons boat builders The Bredon rlen, through
fnr<r II a1tH uitI,
nant hereditary characteristics of masterfulness,
impatience. irritability, indomitable courage.
Their courage was needed in their unending
struggle with the North Sea In every gen.
Grafton there was one Of the men with recessve
characteristics, or, old George Bredon less
scientifically put it, with a wild strain. 1t
comes ewt generation after generation like "a
like sort of canker. A poison workin' ewt.
On'y it never dew work ewt.' Everybody
fond of these wild Bredons strange graft
the sturdy family tree. They had good looks,
charm and reckleSsnesS that often masked as
courage The Bredon women. as may be sur
missed had little opportunity to develop strong
personalities, yet they live in this chronicle of
the Bredons as variously and as individually as
do the men.
The story opens with the death of one of
the true Bredons, old George, head of the firm,
as the result of an injury when the ruthless
North Sea, in northwest gale, sent a high
tide up over the sand cliffs of Senwich and
washed away the shop of Bredon & Sons 1t
ends with the death of another Bredon three
generations later one of the wild strain, David,
the novelist, as the result of an airplane crash
Between the two deaths there were many
BredonS, some in each generation remaining in
the bodybuilding business and becoming more
and more successful, until during the World War
they had five other factories in addition to the
parent one at Senwich. Other Bredons spread
out in widening stream, away from Senwich
to all parts of England, entering diversified
occupations, becoming more and more modern.
The Old, main stock tended to grow weaker to
be modified, almost to be wiped out. by the wild
strain If the Bredons. in their family history
are not quite as diversified and unique as the
ForsytheS, the Herres and the Broomes they are
still an interesting family and in his vigorous
handling of them and their fortunes Mr. Bell
has written his best novel He has a sure
touch in the development of character and his
Suffolk background, his own native soil is as
well described as Sheila Kaye Smiths Sussex.
GENTLEMEN-THE REGIMENT! BY Hugh
Talbot. New York: Harper & Bros
Mo PAC1F1SIS conscientious objectors
" were to be found in the families of the
Chappells, the Heywoodes and the ST. Quentyns
According to tradition, their men, or at least
some Of them, belonged to the 18th or 138th
Regiment the regiments which were the glory
and provided the staple industry of the county
town of Harwick. Young Alastair Chappen
was taught the motto from childhood THE
18th comes first; but when he asked his
grandfather why the regiments were called
THE Fathers" the old man chuckled and grew
red and went on chucklng. without giving any
answer; and when he asked his father the same