Evening star., 1934-08-12

trary: To include no writer whose
qualities had been thoroughly estab-
lished before 1914 and who after that
contributed to the newer literature
little besides his memoirs" This reg
ulation admits Edith Wharton, though
she CANNOT feel at home with many
Of the others In the volume, but ex-
cludes Gertrude Atherton. who would
feel entirely at home. In addition to
the text an annotated biographical
index Of the authors included and
reprint Of the last two chapters of
the editors book, American Litera-
ture; an Introduction" covering lit
erature since the Civil War, give
great reference value to this anthol-
ogy.
CORPORAL TUNE. BY L. A. G.
Strong. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf.
MO ONE among the younger writ
ers of today more penetratingly
of human consciousness, suffering and
the efforts to summon courage to
meet 1t than L. A. c. Strong. On one
page of this novel of suffering ne ex-
plains his title, taken from q sentence
In Burton's Anatomy Of Melancholy:
Corporal tunes pacify our incor-
poreal SOUL" Corporal tunes" he
says, "true-true enough. What was
any experience, what was all life, but
a corporal tune, which the spirit heard
and interpreted as best it might?"
Reading this book, one guesses, and
correctly, that Mr.. Strong has known
discouraging illness. its moments of
hope, its moments Of despair and its
moments Of resignation. It Is the
story of sick mans reveries, philos-
ophy and tragedy, and was written
while Mr.. Strong was himself Ill in a
nursing home. The description Of the
routine of q nursing home, the COM
mgs and goings of nurses and doctors,
the hours for meals, for rest, for
reading. for seeing friends, makes it
all seem pleasant enough, on one big
condition-that is, if the patient is
normal. healthy life; If he is ia
vorably progressing convalescent. But
If, like Ignatius Farrelly, a writer, he
Is In the home to gain strength
enough to face serious operation,
the outcome of which is very doubt
ful, the outward peace of the routine
mocks the mental unrest of the pa
tient.
Before Ignatius comes to London to
enter the nursing home he has a
month at Ardglaslin, in the Scottish
Highlands, with his two sisters, Nelly
and MORA (both excellentIy charac-
terized), and his infant son. He loves
the place, because of many Summers
spent there and because of its associa-
ton with his wife Stella, in whom he
has found perfect companion during
their brief life together before her
death when the child was born. The
month Of his stay In the Highlands is
spent by Ignatius In feVerishly storing
impressions of the beloved place, which
has for him personality, it's weed
spotted beach and the smooth gray
rocks jutting into the quivering water,
the headland with its wide ledge of
grass and three or four waving pine
trees, the Island OF Skye across the
channel and the peaks of the COLLINS
and South Uist emerging from the
clouds. Meanwhile he steadily loses
weight and strength and, when his
doctor summons him to London for
further tests and treatment he knows
that he should have gone before. Then
follows his stay In the nursing home.
Brief, but entirely revealing sketches
are given of his two doctors; DR..
Forsyth with his vain, impressive bed
side manner, which cannot conceal
from his highly intelligent patient the
fact that he is very much at sea, and
Dr. Tilkens, expert honest, q philOS0-
pher, keenly interested in his patient
as a man, but ON his guard against
allowing himself to be too sympathetic.
Both satire and appreciation are pres
ent in Mr.. Strong's handling of these
two doctors.
The final chapter of Corporal
Tune" describing the sensations Of
Ignatius as he comes out of the ether,
sometimes semi-conscious, sometimes
altogether in the realm of dreams, is
piece OF fine psychology and very
subtle writing. Delicately suggested
also Is the process by which Ignatius
adjusts himself to the conviction that
the child who has cost Stella her life
is not his, until he realizes, almost
with surprise, that 1t makes no differ
ence IN his spiritual relation to Stella,
that nothing could have altered that.
So 1t is with complete joy that in his
final dream he sees Stella coming
toward him over the grassy headland
of Ardglaslfn, ''her eyes dancing,
absurd smiles Of delight chasing one
another across her face" Mr. Strong's
Highland setting In this book is as
delightful as his Irish setting was In
Sea Wall" He knows both localities
well. for he spends his Summers In
the Western Highlands and has been
much In Ireland, as his father is half
Connaught Irish and his mother alto
gether Irish, of Dublin and the North.
Mr.. Strong's prose has both power and
charm and in itself gives genuine
pleasure.
THE CROOKED LANE. BY Frances
Noyes Hart. Garden City: Double
day, Doran d Co.
COMPLICATED motives. o long COM
plicated trail back to the mur-
derer, and q tragically degenerate
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