Evening star., 1934-01-07
WHAT ME BEFELL. The "reminiscences of
j. j. JuSSerand. With illustrations. Boston:


and when he left in 1925 he retired from the
diplomatic service, at the age of 10, with i'm
paired health. Those who knew him, and all
those who love unaffectedy written memoirs OF
men who can tell of accomplishments, will re-
joice that he lived long enough to carry this
volume near to completion, for as John H.
Finley says in his introduction "te pen lit
orally fell from his hand while {, work upon
it but few days before his death. The last
pages are comments on the personality ana
principles of Theodore Roosevelt.
The opening of M. Jusserand's book. in which
he describes the provincial home of his child
hood at Saint -Haon-le -Chatel, where the FAM
lily spent about third of the year. indicates
at least one of the reasons for his happy and
successful life-a rich and wholesome child
hood and youth. The parents provided every
thing in the way of education and outdoor
recreation, in the Forez of Auvergne outside
the little walled city of Sant-Haon but there
was an auStere ideal of life in this Catholic
family equal to any Puritan standards Autumn
was spent at LIE Bachelard, farm two miles
from Saint -Haon where were grown the prod
ucts which largely fed the family and brought
in income from their sale. In the Winter the
family migrated to Lyons, where various tutors
instructed the children and where Christmas
brought no gifts tree and festivities, but only
religious observanceS. The father died when
Jules Jusserand was only II years old but the
education of his children carried he
had planned under the supervision of the
mother.
After completing his law studies Jusse. and
decided upon the consular and diplomatic serv-
ice for his career, but was delayed in his plans
by delicacy of health, which manifested itself
in trouble with his lungs However, by the
time he was 25 he had served for several years
in the ministry of foreign affairs in Paris and
had acted briefly consul general in London
After TunlSldn VI
reau in the Paris foreign office, was counselor
of the French embassy at ConStantinople.
Minister to Denmark and Ambassador to the
United States. He was successful diplomat
if success consists in preserving peace and
friendly relations wherever he was an inter-
mediary. If no exceptionally brilliant diplo-
matte achievement stands to his credit, it is
probably because the occasion for such an
achievement did not arise Satisfied as he was
in his chosen career, it is likely that he found
greater. happiness as writer His doctors
thesis attracted the attention of H. A. Taine
and lifelong friendship resulted, as well as
helpful advice to keep on writing. English life,
history and literature especially interested JUS
serand, and three of his outstanding literary
works "A Literary History of the English
People English Wayfaring Life in the Middle
Ages, Fourteenth Century and The English
Novel in the Time of Shakespeare" He also
planned and edited the series of biographical
Francas,' at first intended to include only 40
volumes. in honor of the French Academy; but
the success of the series so great that in
1882 the number of volumes had reached So.
One reads the last page of What Me Befell'
and lays down the volume with the feeling of
having associated for time with a serene,
poised, philosophic personality. that of a man
who lived always among people, active life,
not that of recluse, yet without effort kept
alOOf from all cheapneSS pettineSs, sordidness.
His life was happy one. rich in work which
he loved, in marriage of perfect companion
ship, in friends, in the reading and writing of
books, in enjoyment of the country and the
woods, whether in his native France or in the
United States; in his own sensitive kindliness
toward all humanity
AT 49, BY Eva LIE Galhenne. New York:
LongmanS Green g. Co.
THE time for the publication of these memoirs
u of Eva LIE Gallienne has been fortunate so
soon after her satisfying production of Alice in
Wonderland" Reading her title, and giving
first glance at the book, one wonders if a mis-
take in figures has not been made. So much
accomplished in so few years. At Is, Eva LIE
Gallienne gifted daughter of Richard LIE Gal
Genne, was on the London stage. in the part
of cockney slavey in THE Laughter of Fools"
at the Prince of Wales Theater. At the final
curtain she took two curtain calls, in one led
to the stage by the leading man. and then
made her first solo bow. When her mother
brought in the newspapers the next morning,
she found that she had made real hit. This
during the World War, Zeppelin raids were
starting in London, theater business was bad.
So she decided to go to New York, completely
unknown with practically no money. She made
her debut there as a maid in play from the
Hungarian, Mrs. Boltays Daughters" There
were other engagements in secondary parts:
there much bad luck small amount of
good luck "yf
Courage, good nature and a sense of humor,
all of which appear in these memoirs. helped
her through the hardest days of a combination