Evening star., 1934-03-04

new 1OTk. SlIlOn q ScnuSLer.
THE wash Of the over the pebbled beach,
its advances and retreats, and the forward
and backward movements of the inhabitants
of the Dorset town. along the esplanade, past
the Jubilee Clock, the statue of George III,
ST. Johns Church. Harbour Bridge, High House,
Brunswick Terrace and the Weeping Woman
Tavern, form a rhythmic undertone for Mr..
Powys narrative of what happened at Wey-
mouth during a year weighted with fate for
many people. No plot eH,erges from the many
pages of sweeping prose, but astonishingly the
depths of the minds of about 20 persons are
gradually revealed Most Of the depths
unlovely. Not one Of the persons is entirely
commonplace Perhaps no one seems common
place when the depths are known. Magnus
Muir. teacher of Latin. is bound by the memory
of his father, whom he would like to emulate,
but cannot because of his shame-f faced love for
Curly Wix, servant at the Upwey Wishing Well,
who loves Sippy Ballard, the town clerk, but
runs away with Dog" Cattistock, wealthy
brewer. Sylvanus Cobbold, mystic, with q
mania for expomding his eccentric ideas on
the Weymouth esplanade to the discontinue Of
the police ends, as did his father, under the
care Of DR.. Brush at "Hell's Museum" q notori-
Gus private sanitarium for mental cases. In
Q predatory note, Mr.. Powys confides that all
his characters are fictitious, except that in the
case Of Magnus and Sylvanis, certain char
ateristics and peculiarities have been taken
from the nature of the author himself"
The characters whose actions we follow and
whose minds explore with the most sus-
tanned interest are Adam Skald, the "Jobber,"
long obsessed by his hatred of Dog" Catu-
stock, and Perdita Wane, who has come from
her home in Guernsey to be companion to Mrs.
Jerry Cobbold. For months the "Jobber'
carries in his pocket large beach stone, des-
tined for the murder of the Dog" and only
his almost primeval love for Percita proves
stronger than his hatred. Jerry Cobbold. chief
clown in his own local music hall, tn private
life expends himself in keeping the surface OF
his wifes mind smooth through continuous en-
tertainment and in thus forcing into imprison-
ment In her sub-conscious all the evil and
delirium he knows is there. The two show
girls Tssty and Tossty, furnish him some Of
the relaxation he never finds at home. The
characters Of weymouth Sands" are all human
magnets, exerting upon each other attraction
OF repulsion. John Cowper Powys in his power
Of creating atmosphere has something Of the
art Of Hardy and in his subtle Characterization
something of Proust. His prose is 50 flowing
and 50 full Of connotatons that it Is often
almost poetry. Though weymouth Sands is
not as rich in descriptive passages nor perhaps
as perfect in style as wolf Solent," it is freer
from morbid symbolism, almost diabolism and
is equally filled with human drama.
THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD AFFAIRS.
An account Of American foreign Relations,
1888. Prepared by william o. Scroggs and
the research stad Of the Council on Foreign
Relations. Edited and with an introduction
BY Walter Lppmann. New York: Harper
& Bros. Published for the Council ON
Foreign Relations.
A N ANNUAL survey of foreign relations Of
" this type has great value as q reference
book, especially when it Is prepared by an ex-
pert staff. This 1893 volume narrates and
tnterprets the foreign affairs Of the year which
affected the United States and such Of our
domestic affairs as were inseparably connected
with them. The central idea to which the
events related Is the United States as
world power and part Of world economy. In
his introduction, Walter Iippmann gives a
detail, an essay full Of information, from which
the unessential has been eliminated. He holds
that 1888 can be explained only as part OF
the whole postwar period Perhaps future his
torians will explain 1t as part Of pre-war
period, but Mr.. Lppmann does not anticipate.
The anglo American deadlock over war debts
and the gold standard" is the significant cir
cumStance of the year. THAT the American
departure from the gold standard was the
logical result Of Britains refusal to return to
it cannot, of course, be proved. But that psy-
chologically It was the result is, believe.
certain" One reason for the failure Of the
World Economic Conference in June that
"the national and the international policies OF
the administration were radically incompatible"
Other nations participating in the conference
demanded stabilization de facto, which meant
that the administration must surrender its in
dependence Of action in monetary matters and
fasten the American price level to the gold
price level>in the outer world" Mr. Lippmann
--.--.dore that at the present time the United