Evening star., 1935-06-19
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Morgares Cermond.
SECOND HoEING. BY Hope williams
Sykes. New York. G. p. Putnam's


Sykes. New York. @. p. Putnam's
Sons.
A well-deserved reception Is Just now
being given to this splendid story, which
is grounded In the beet-growing soil of
Colorado and that presents as its heroine
q valiant woman Of the fields. The
family of Adam Schreismiller Is large
one, and Hannah, the daughter in whom
interest Immediately centers, ranges in
age about the fifth from the top of the
two-year-runged ladder of offspring. It
is q typical German family, intimately
familiar with cruelty and hardship and
totally unacquainted with individual
freedom or the customs of free land.
When Adam brought his wife and their
perpetually increasing brood to America
from Russia he also brought with him
his belief in the system of slavery which
gives to the head of the house the privi-
lege of compelling his wife to work as a
laborer in the fields until she dies in her
tracks and of demanding labor as poems
from his sons and daughters until they
reach the age of twenty-one.
AS the story opens the Schreismillers
are executing an important change in
their social status They are moving
from the taxpayer shack that has
been their home in Shagtown to
the tumble-down, filth-laden house
On O farm where they will be renters"
and not Just beetworkers. Nine Of his
eleven children and his wife are being
driven by Adam to complete the moving
in the teeth of a raging blizzard. The
twelfth child is soon to be born.
It is with an intimate knowledge Of
the minds and the habits Of these
German Russian aliens who have sought
refuge in the farm lands of America
from the tyranny and oppression Of their
own lands that Miss Sykes has produced
| a vivid picture of the struggle of the
| Schreismillers to wrest living from the
soil against the forces of nature and of
| their individual efforts to escape from
the brutal realities of the form of slavery
to which they are compelled to submit.
Through the seasons of planting, thin
ming, second hoeing and harvest is to be
found the parallel representing the life
| of Hannah. There is a sturdineSs OF
courage in this girl-woman of the soil
that wins and warns the heart as lifes
expectations fade into disappointment
and then renewed hope leads on to the
| inevitable destiny that is the reward of
sacrifice. In the home, in the field, in
| righting the wrongs of others and in
| love she is true to herself and to the
| high principles of truth and honesty in
which she believes.
The novel is one of richness and
beauty, teeming with life and activity,
and genuinely satisfying.
THE KING OF THE GREAT CLOCK
TOWER. BY william Butler Yeats.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
In a brief predatory note to the de-
| lightful collection Of commentaries and
poems comprising his booklet, Mr.. Yeats
says that when he discovered that in
two years he had produced no verse he
was possessed of the fear that he had
grown too old to write poetry. He de-
cided to force himself to write and then
seek counsel from a fellow-poet who,
though not of the same school, could be
depended upon to express a candid
opinion. He wrote In prose dialogue the
dramatic fantasy from which the present
volume takes its title, and then con-
verted 1t into lyrics for its five imaginary
characters.
Mr.. Yeats does not mention the name
Of the poet to whom he submitted his
work for an opinion, but the verdict
savors strongly of Ezra Pound. It con-
sisted Of one word. "Putrid." One year
ago this month the fantasy was given
its first production at the Abbey Theatre,
proving the esteemed counselor to be
wrong and that at sixty-nine Mr.. Yeats
had lost none Of the charm peculiar to
his gift Of poetical expression.
The play is q short one, in which the
King Of the Great Clock Tower, his
Queen. q stroller and two attendants
appear. 1t bears resemblance in theme
to Oscar Wilde's "Salome," though the
order of procedure is entirely reversed.
There Is no shameless bargaining for
favor, and the only promise given is In
the nature of prediction by the stroller
that on the last stroke Of the midnight
bell the Queen will dance for him, will
kiss him and that he will sing. Because
he loves the Queen the unknown stroller
is beheaded. The head is brought before
the Queen. She dances, kisses the lips
Of the bodiless stroller as the bell sounds
the final midnight note, and, because
he is happy, the Queens lover sings.
Various commentaries and q number
Of new poems add to the charm of the
booklet, which will be welcomed by all
admirers Of the renowned Irish poet
and author.