Evening star., 1935-03-17


as It was not then considered quite
ladylike for a woman to write under
her own name; Frances Hodgson Bur-
nett, Edward M. Gallaudet, Mrs.
Mary Clemmer, journalist; George
Kennan, Maj Powell. Carl Schurz.
Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. Aims
worth r. Spofford, Alexander H.
Stephens and Max Weyl. Among
later members were Rev. Samuel j..
Barrows, Alexander Graham Bell
Frank G. Carpenter, Worthington C..
Ford, John w. Foster, Daniel Colt
Gilman, Gen. Greely, Rev. Edward
Everett Hale. Mrs. Burton Harrison,
John Hay, David Jayne Hill, Richard
Hovey, Ambassador Jusserand, Grace
DEMO Litchfield, Thomas Nelson
Page, Theodore Roosevelt, an homo
rary associate: Andrew D. White,
Henry White and DR.. Harvey W..
Wiley.
The Literary Society has two fixed
traditions: No titles are used IN
speaking Of members. and a social
hour with refreshments follows each
meeting. Many distinguished for
eigners have been guests Of the So
ciety, and Tolstoi once sent it mes
sage and a present by Miss Alice
Fletcher, ethnologist, who spent an
afternoon with him at Yasnaya Poll
ana. She told him Of the Literary
Society and asked for message. He
inquired for some earnest purpose Of
the society, was perhaps disappointed
at her reply. but as she left gave her
copy Of his pamphlet denouncing
Shakespeare and his immoral view
of life" and told her to read it to the
Literary Society from him and then
to write and tell him what was said
about it. A meeting was devoted to
discussion of the pamphlet and Miss
Fletcher faithfully wrote Of the Wig
orous disagreement with his views to
Tolstoi.
HIGHLAND NIGHT. BY Neil M.
Gum. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & Co.
TN THE early nineteenth century,
when Napoleon was worrying Eng
land as well as the rest of Europe,
the Highlands Of Scotland. the object
of suspicion and hostility on the part
of English politicians and landlords
since the days of the Stuarts, were
harried with particularly brutal evic-
tions. The landlords decided that
Highland soil would be more profit
able II used for sheep grazing than
rented to poverty-stricken farmers
who could barely wrest living from
the rocky soil. The greater part Of
Mr.. Gums story Is descriptive Of the
life Of the Highlanders Of the Riasgan
before the "clearances," barren and
dreary enough even in those relatively
prosperous days, when many High
land family considered itself fortunate
to have in its thatched cottage enough
meal and salted fish for few days
ahead. Yet there were reasons for
content. if not happiness. The clan
wars were over; the young men Of
the Riasgan who had gone at the call
Of their country to fight Napoleon oc-
casionally sent remittances home;
there were fish to be caught in the
sea: occasionally a social gathering,
with music. dancing. Jest and drink.
made every one momentarily forget
the hard daily grind. Then came the
land agents and, with brutality un-
necessary even in that brutal project.
evicted the Highland tenants from
their holdings, to find camping places
wherever they could along the shore.
Only a brief time was given the peo-
pie to remove their household belong
ings; then the cottages were fired
with torches. Old men and women
died while being carried from blazing
huts and women gave birth to chill
dren on the moors within sight Of
their burning homes.
The personal story Of Highland
Night" is that of Dark Mairi of the
Shore, like SCOTS Norma of the Fitful
Head in THE Pirate" woman wiser
than her kind and SO credited with
being a witch. the members of her
family and her neighbors. Mairi
tramped the moors and the rocks and
gathered the pink dulse, linarich,
slake, sea-tangle, spirewort and other
weeds which she used as specifics in
the healing which she practiced. Her
grandson Davie was often away
from the cottage half the night,
prowling somewhere, but more fire.
quently than not he brought home
food, so she had not the heart to
question him too closely. Ellie, her
other companion in the cottage, was
no relative. but Dark Mairi, though
she never told her so, loved her like
daughter. Flies lover, Colin, went
away to the wars and her son was
born on the road, like a gipsy's child,
after she had fed from the Riasgan,
and 1t was many years before she re-
turned with the boy to Dark Mairi's
cottage. All the neighbors of the
little community come into the story:
kindly old Angus Sutherland. bad
tempered Murdoch and his masterful
wife Seonaid, the lascivious miller,
Rob, who loved Ellie; Johnny Slau-
mach, Mechanism and all the others.
Mr.. Gum has in Highland Night, T"
published in England as Butchers
Broom" done passionately realistic
piece Of work.
OLLIE MISS. BY George wylie Hen
derson. Blocks by Lowell Leroy
Balcolm. New York: Frederick A.
Stokes Co.
THIS strong and beautiful idyl Of
Negroes Of the Southern cotton
fields, by a Negro writer. is no more
sympathetic than Scarlet Sister
Mary" by Julia Peterkin, or Candy" "
by L. M. Alexander, but 1t is simpler
than either in its smooth narrative
and use of the most elemental words,
few of them over two syllables. The
dialect. freely used. is so lucid that
it never impedes the narrative. "Ollie
Miss" is the story of a Negro woman,
hardly past girlhood, independent,
reserved, acquainted with passion but
not its slave. in the end philosopher.
The story Is so perfect as . whole
that we reluctantly confess that the
only part which does not ring quite