Evening star., 1935-01-27
BY SARAH BOWERMAN

cCElptlOllS VI lue Ia uu1 clhS AO4lCo L
may therefore be presumed to be &C
curate. She warns in an authors
note, as well she may, "iest should /
stir up q hornets nest on my own |
account" that the persons and cir
cumstances In the book have all been
invented. The circumstances of Mrs. |
Morland's stay in the nursing home |
Of the Laurels, in Stoneminster, are,
briefly, that she goes there for SIM
pie appendix operation by Sir Rob-
ert Barnardine, local great man in |
surgery, with the assurance that she |
will be able to return home in 10 |
days or two weeks, and her stay is |
prolonged to more than six weeks and |
almost ends in the cemetery because |
one OF the nurses, not very good in |
arithmetic, miScounts the swabs and !
leaves one In the abdominal cavity. !
Such things do happen In surgery
| and are very embarrassing to sur |
geons.
Hornets Nest" has a double plot. |
One is concerned with the blow to !
old Sir Robert Barnardine's prestige |
at the end Of his career, which is also |
almost a physical death blow, when !
the cause for the necessity of Mrs |
Morlands second operation Is unpro-
fesSionally revealed by a nurse, and |
clustering, common Ned Morland, en-
ragged BY his wifes Sufferings and |
danger. has a writ served for a dam |
age suit. The other centers on the |
two love affairs of surly, tactless |
young DR.. Spens, assistant to the To-
cal practitioner, DR.. Cotsall. and on
the part he plays in Mrs. Morlands |
case. The hospital Irritation Of DR..
Spens with the night nurse, Julia |
Henry, and his engagement, for the |
purpose Of his professional advance
ment, the town is convinced, to Diana |
Barnardine. granddaughter OF Sir |
Robert, share his time with anxious |
visits to No. 6, Mrs. Morland'S room
at the nursing home, where he has |
been placed in charge of the case dur
ing Sir Roberts Norway holiday. The |
double love affair holds interest nearly |
as well as the medico-legal case,
though neither Of the girls convinces
us of her extreme attractiVeneSs. |
Diana is very immature, a spoiled !,
child, but has the hauteur Of the |
Barnardines. Julia is pale, suppressed,
remote, and her WEAKNESS and dis
colored eyelids" are always empha-
sized. Helen Ashton knows how to |
tell a story and to draw characters |
and she has created for herself fine |
opportunity in this hornets nest"
of gossips, male and female.
GRINGA. An American Woman in |
Mexico. BY Emma Lindsay-Squire. |
Illustrated with Photographs by |
John Bransby. Boston: Hough- |
ton Mifflin Co.
ITO THE Mexican any foreigner is
= a gringo. or gringa If the female |
of the species. Miss Lindsay Squire |
willingly accepts the nickname, for |
1t was first applied to her IN diminu-
tive form. with enthusiasm and ap-
plause, when as child elocutionist, I
"one of those terrible infant prodi- |
gies," she dramatically recited the |
chariot race from Ben Hur" in q |
little Mexican town just over the
Texas border Her audience shouted. |
whistled, stamped and cried with |
booming melody viva Ia Gringital"
She fell in love with Mexico then
and has loved it ever since. Her
book gives much information about |
Mexico. but it is not encyclopedia or |
statistical information or even infor- !
nation based on economic observa- |
tions and supplemented by interesting |
theories which go to show that the |
Mexican peon, with his handicrafts !
and primitive method Of living, is
far better off than the industrial
worker in the United States. Her
own experiences of life and travel
in Mexico. with journalism as a rea-
son or excuse. make story filed
with people of all classes, places
small and large from coast to interior.
and encounters with Yaqui generals.
wild drivers OF small and rickety
automobiles. young school principal
who took five guests home to lunch
unannounced and was not scolded
by his wife. some of Villas eX-soldiers,
nurses and doctors, bandits, even an
ex-President.
Guadalajara became very familiar
to the 'gringa," because there a
chance boat acquaintance, Mary, with
whom she had been travelling was
seized with serious illness necessitat-
ing operation and, sacrificing her
own plans, Miss Lindsay-Squier re-
manned with her and was probably
responsible for saving her life AS
compensation she learned much about
convent kept by nursing nuns, the
town market where she went to buy
food suitable for sick person, the
small hospital run by the street car
company for its employees, and wit
messed a real gubernatorial election
and the closing of the churches by
the government. One of the most
stirring adventures was her rescue,
when she was undergoing the incon-
venience Of fiat tire some distance
outside the town, by knight errant
elegantly dressed In tight black trou-
sers decorated with silver ornaments
from thigh to ankle, embroidered silk
blouse and white Sombrero embroid-
cred in silver, who later was revealed
to her through his picture posted on
the hotel wall as the notorious bandit,
Ell Catorce. Her Mexican wanderines
were so thoroughly delightful to her
that Miss LindSay-Squier regrets that
there are any people like those de-
scribed to her by the Mexican vice
consul In New York, who ask If thev
will have to ride burros in Mexico
City, If they can find any one there
speaking English, anything to eat
except tamales and chile con carne,
any stores. and other questions which
drove the despairing vice consul to
exclaim: Don't people read news
papers and magazines?"
y
MODERN THOUGHT AND IITERA-
TURE IN FRANCE. By Regis
Michaud. New York: Funk a.
Wagnalls Co.
French literature of the twentieth
century is popularity surveyed in this
volume. by DR.. Michaud, professor of
French literature in the University of
Illinois, who knows French and Amer
lean literatures almost equally well.
He has translated into French such
widely differing authors as Emerson
and Sinclair Lewis. He has written