Evening star., 1934-10-21

coming 1rlenQS-Blll, Lne nOVeIlSt, Ills
wife whom he no longer loves-in fact,
hates; his nice ordinary boy, Dick, and
his daughter, Rita, the nauseous
depths of whose mind are gradually
disclosed Mrs. Nettleton unpacks all
the photographs Of the late and long
lamented Mr.. Nettleton and begins
her Summer quarrels with her sister,
Miss Kitty. The Cheadles-he Is 9
saccharine poet-begin their usual
raidings on their neoghbors in the
name of borrowing. Mr.. Ripley i'm
mediately starts in his barn studio
monumental mural for the State
House in which the Governors shark
faced daughters must have a promi-
nent place, fully clothed. Statuesque
Mrs. Ripley serves as her husbands
model, whether as Ceres, the goddess
of transportation, the spirit Of Scran-
ton, or Melpomene. Old Mr.. Stirling,
certain as always that this will be
his last Summer, wonders whether it
would be better to do as he pleases,
catch cold and die Immediately, or
take care of himself and have no real
life. Mr.. Leverett congratulates him
self that he has rented the Poplars
and can leave for Europe. The new
tenant of the Poplars, the young
widow Fernando Milbank, arrives and
shortly provides the colony with its
first gossip-that she has attempted
suicide because q lover refused to re-
main with her. She Is one Of the
women about whom men fiutter like
moths and in whom women see moth
ing at all. In the end it proves that
only her unimaginative. business-like
aunt really understands her. Fer
nanda first entertains. then bores most
of the colony. Only Jack Crawford is
singed, and he not seriously. The
tragedy when 1t comes is largely COM
pounded Of melodrama. It leaves
Susannah with an impaired con-
science but grimly victorious. The
characters of the Bridgewater colony,
as they are developed through the
events, narrated through a series Of
scenes, become members Of our own
milieu, our own acquaintance. Mr..
Littell Is q dramatic critic and the
great-grandson of the founder Of Lit
tells Living Age"
I PHOTOGRAPH RUSSIA. BY
James Z. Able. New York: Rob-
ert M. Mcbride IL Co.
MR.. ABBE has always had the free
A'A dom from meekness necessary
to q journalist after SCOOP" His
scoops" have been Photographic
ones. Probably the best, and the one
which seemed most unlikely Of ac-
complishment, was his photographing
OF Stain In his office in the Kremlin
with q portrait of Karl Marx directly
over his head He had had great diff
ficulty In extorting the commission,
and the advance payment, from re-
luctant press offices in Berlin. He
here tells the story, illustrated by 80
of his own photographs, Of his sue
cess in shooting Stain" and in tax
ing innumerable forbidden" pictures
OF Russian city and country scenes
which convey knowledge of condi-
tions under the Soviet Union. His
text Is as lively and individual as
his photographs. Especially indica-
tive Of his powers Of observation and
conveying his impressions is his chap
ter on Stain, whom he found "hu-
man." with a spontaneous and ef-
fortress" smile, but about whom he
reflected: "I couldn't conceive of q
better example Of an under dog who
got on top and Immediately realized
that under dogs must be kept in their
places" and Certainly I would not
like to confront Stain harboring the
least little lurking intention Of put
ting anything over on him."
PEACE WITH HONOUR. BY A. A.
Milne. New York: z. p. Dutton
& Co.
THOSE who know Mr.. Milne only
as the author Of charming stories
for children and adults and Of whimsi-
cal plays will hardly recognize him in
his role as fiery and ruthlessly logical
denouncer Of war. His ironical style
makes his argument more impressive,
and also adds q literary quality which
could hardly be absent from anything
he writes. The reason why the world
has never had peace and seems a. far