Evening star., 1934-12-02

SHEILA kAYE-SMITH, WHOSE n
PUBLISHED A
brothers have known a period Of not
unhappy exile in France during the
civil war and the commonwealth,
Charles, being adaptable, has easily
adjusted himself to both exile and
return, when Charles II was restored,
but Gervase has been restless in both
environments. Charles is childless,
so GervaSe is his heir. GervaSe has
always held grudge against his wife,
Mary Ann Pye. for presenting him
with daughters only. Charles is now
a. ~ lead the life of a country
squire and to watch the operations OF
his iron furnace. managed by John
Douce, who had been its temporary
owner under the commonwealth;
Gervase, with inflated ideas of him
self as a scholar. has hated his parish
duties and been happy only when
burrowing in the musty volumes he
has collected in France, where he
has dabbled in magic. Sheila Kaye
Smith draws all her characters
clearly and vigorously, but many of
those in "Gallybird" are slightly
sketched in order to heighten the
effect Of her portrait of the un-
accountable Gervase The story Is
told with all of her usual art and
the atmosphere of the historical pc
riod is striking in its verisimilitude.
Unexpectedly Gervase. who knows
nothing of either agriculture or IRON
smelling, succeeds to Constar Manor.
He easily falls under the influence of
William Douce, the 'gallybird, for
"a gallybird never goes to a sound
tree" who returns from France and
follows his father as furnace-master.
and finds Gervase a plant initiate in
his pretended practice of diabolism.
Moved by sentimentalism even more
than by his desire for an heir, Gervase
after Is years of widowerhood, mar
ries the clumsy. beautiful bastard
daughter of the Puritan, Exalted Har-
man, who has been named by her
father Condemnation, as continual
reminder of his sin. The plot OF
William Douce to get possession OF
the Alard acres and furnace and
troubles with the new peasant wife
make the life OF Gervase more and
more difficult, but an Alard heir Is
born, in the interest Of future Alard
stories.
THE PAGEANT OF CUBA. BY Hud-
son Strobe. New York: Harrison
Smith g. Robert Haas.
THE word pageant" is more cor
rectly used in Mr.. Strode's title
than it frequently is by seekers for
descriptive terms. The book is not a
conventional history of Cuba, nor
proadside of attack on the political
corruption and graft which have tar
nished the island called by Columbus
"the most beautiful land human eyes
have ever beheld,' such as Carleton
Beals' Crime of Cuba; it is success
sion Of pictures of Cuba and its peo-
Pile. from the landing of Columbus
among its awe-stricken natives
crowded on the shore to the state OF
complicated political and economic
upheaval Of the present time. Mr..
Strobe admits that he is infatuated
with the island and that he attempts
to impart to his readers something OF
the stimulation which it gives to him.
In his STORY of Bermuda" he wrote Of
a land of rest, where life has SEEM
ingly stood still for very long time;
in THE Pageant of Cuba" he writes
of land where life is SO keyed that,
strangely, even while you are relaxed.
you are vibrantly alive"
The days Of Spanish colonization In
Cuba make a romantic story to which
Mr.. Strobe does full justice, but he
does not fail to point out that the
entry in Columbus journal Of the
purpose to free the friendly, simple
people and convert them to the holy
faith" was ill-augured for those happy
Indians The search for treasure and
the exploitation Of the natives were Of
more Importance than missionary
the course of Spanish rule was
bloody one. Nor has the part played
by the United States in Cuba been
altogether altruistic. When motives
are mixed, as they usually are, it
seems to be a sad fact that the selfish
motive Is usually the stronger. So
the period previous to 1898. with its
death dance of the Cubenos," de
Soto's cavalcade." Drake and succeed
ing buccaneers, black slavery, and the
revolt and execution of Lopez, was
period Of Cuban martyrdom; the
period following the Spanish Amer
ican War, with the conquest of yellow
fever, the growth Of education, and
the improvement Of all physical con-
ditions in city and country, was not
period Of complete Cuban freedom in
spite of the name republic" and be-
came under the dominance Of the
sugar industry and its temptation to
American capitalists q dance of the
millions; and the immediate present,
since the abrogation of the Platt
amendment, has not yet shown signs
Of developing into Utopia. Mr..
Strobe believes, however, that with
the abrogation of the Platt amend
ment and with the awakening in the
Cubans Of their sense of responsibility
to govern themselves, the island, as a
whole, will be far happier and better
off in every way. Certainly relations
with the United States will be more
friendly and cordial than heretofore"
Mr.. Strode's descriptions of Cuban
everyday life in city and country, with
the scene continually shifting from
brigand- haunted mountain districts
to the gay capital, from guerilla war
fare to love-making in gardenlike
patios, and his estimates of types Of
Cuban character make his work
story of the Cuban people even more
than of the Cuban nation. "The
Cuban shakes of sorrow as CALAMITY
as his own battling gamecock shakes
blood out OF bis eyes. II the tst Of