Evening star., 1934-11-17
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.

THE SON OF MARIE ANToINETTE.
The Mystery Of the Temple Tower.
By Meade Minnigerode. New York:
Farrar & Rinehart.
The Bourbons were as difficult to
expel permanently from the headship
of France as were the StuartS from
that of England. Reactions brought
them back several times after the
revolutions. Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette both went to their death
by that instrument Of the terror, the
guillotine, in 1893. After the first de-
feat Of Napoleon and his exile to Elba,
Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI,
was placed briefly upon the throne Of
France. When Napoleon escaped from
Elba and marched in triumph to
Paris, Louis XVIII fled in dismay. He
was probably thinking Of the guillo-
tine. He came back when Napoleon
was sent to st. Helena, died In 1924
and was succeeded by Charles x, an
other brother of Louis XVI. At his
abdication In 1880, still another Bour-
bon of collateral branch was
brought to the throne, Louis Philippe,
Due d'Orleans. After his reign,
France made one further experiment
with monarchy, but not with a Bour-
bon, when Louis Napoleon, nephew of
Napoleon I, came to the throne as the
result of a coup d'etat. Meanwhile
there was gap in the Bourbon
family, signified by the empty title
| Louis XVII" Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette left a son of 8, the
| dauphin, who was proclaimed King by
| the Vendee while he was in prison
with his mother. He died about three
years later, mysteriously, probably of
neglect, and at least three different
| graves are alleged to contain his re-
mains.
Mr. Minnigerode begins his mar
/ rative Of the short, tragic life of
little Louis Charles with the record
in the archives of the Temple section
of the city of Paris of the death
of the dauphin on June 6, 1795. Two
tombstone inscriptions are then
quoted, one in Delft, stating that the
dauphin lies buried there and giving
the date of his death as August 10,
l845, the other in Gleize, France,
giving the date of death as August
| 10, 1858. There are other tomb
stones, too, purporting to cover the
bones of the heir of Louis XVI, one
in Chicago, one in New York until
the cemetery was obliterated, and sew
eral in France. This all means that
number of pretenders appeared who
claimed to be the lost dauphin. Mr..
Minnigerode tells, with full realiza-
| ton and adequate treatment of the
dramatic nature of his subject, all
that is known of the life of the
little prince and all the later claims
and conspiracies which grew up
around his legend It is 1.-The story
of little boy who was in the way"
an unusual biography, handled with
| great skill.
THE DARK COMES EARLY. BY
Pendleton Hogan. New York:
| Ives Washburn.
| This story of pioneers from Boston
to Texas in 1884 drops below the
standard of originality in plot and
character which Mr.. Hogan, in "The
Bishop of Havana" taught the read
l AAA6 PAbAAN " CARCCA I1C IldS dlSO
developed a mannerism, slight but
noticeable, of leaving an incomplete
idea suspended by dashes, all right
occasionally. but monotonous when
used too often. The story Is a good
one, nevertheless, as it follows the
! journey of DR.. William Toogood and
his daughter Arabella across the
country by stage, canal and river,
over the big boundary of the fight
ing currents of the Ohio and the
Mississippi, to Texas at last. Texas
lay beneath the sun. All of Texas.
A vast empire 1t was, unexploited,
large, lonely and mysterious" 1t is
as saga of Texas in its early days
| that Mr.. Hogan's novel, both realistic
and romantic, has interest and value.
Arabellas three loves, the dreams
OF the Irish Sir Michael Lorn. the
humorous wisdom of Aunt Vicky Saw
age, more vigorous and adventuring
Mrs. PoySer. and the rough, hazardous
life Of all the colonists provide ade-
quste motive and action, but the vast
plains of Texas, scene of struggle
climaxed by the Mexican War, are
the real cynosure Of the tale.
TAPS. BY Hector Lazo. Boston:
Bruce Humphries.
A first novel by a Washington au-
| thor, and war story, but not of
the standardized type. Mr.. Lazo is
an ex-Marine and is at present an
official in the N. R. A. When the
United States entered the World
War he left Harvard and Joined the
American Marines, returning to Har-
ward after the armistice. There are
scenes OF horror and there is swear
ing in his narrative, but they are
not the staple, as in so many of the
novels which have caused the read
ing public to be tired of war stories"
Taps" describes the developing con-
fict in the mind of a young man
originally fired by patriotic ardor
and enthusiasm for doing his part
in the war to end war;" but in the
end revolving against this patriotic
concept of war and seeing it as legal
mass murder. The idea is the main
thing and is fervently conveyed
through a not unusual story. The
style has its crudities, but is straight
forward and vigorous.
THE GREAT WHITE GODS. By
Edward Stucken. New York: Far
rar & Rinehart.
An epic tale of the Spanish invasion
OF Mexico and the CONQUEST of the
Aztec empire. A riotous picture is
given of the Aztec court and its bar
bar1c civilization before the coming
OF the Spaniards, the feasts and rev.
els, mystic rites and human sacri-
fices. D. H. Lawrence has described
this ancient, sanguinary culture, more
suhtly and artistically, in his novel,
The Plumed Serpent" As the Span
lards looked down from the heights
| upon Tenochtitlan Mexico City,, ris-
ing from cleaning lake of blue, they
saw In their minds a city of fabu-
lous treasure for their enrichment.
Cortez is the chief parsonage of the
story and his invasion, battles, repulse
by the Aztecs and final sack of the
city with the aid of the fleet built by
his men are told with graphic detail
| Marina, the Yucatan slave GIRL Who