Evening star., 1935-05-15
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE MAN WHO HAD EVERYTHING.
BY Louis Bromfield. New York:
Harper & Bros.
Margaret Cermond.

THE MAN WHO HAD EVERYTHING.
BY Louis Bromfield. New York:
Harper 81 Bros.
When a man or a woman has every
thing the answer is certain to be
unhappiness. The reason for un-
happiness may be obscure to the in
dividual and to the mass mind it is
entirely beyond understanding. But
to a thoughtful few the explanation
is simple. Meditation and repose are
unknown arts. That Is, they are un-
known in modern Western civilization.
There seems to be no room in the
crowded hours Of living to devote to
the acquiring Of mental and spiritual
strength through these everlasting
sources Of wisdom. Yet 1t Is the very
lack Of these essential elements in the
education and preparation Of youth
for the responsibilities of life that
has produced a generation to which
the definition of happiness Is thrills.
Tom Ashford is symbolic Of the age,
the product and the victim Of its
temperament and its speed.
Tom had been badly damaged by
an exploding shell on one of the back
roads Of France q few weeks before
the end of the Great War. His crum-
pied body and his wrecked motor
cycle had been found in the ditch
near an ancient country dwelling, and
he had been carried in and nursed
back to health by the lovely. whole
some daughter of an old Frenchman.
He was too young then to realize that
the sense Of stability and peace which
he experienced during those weeks
would have an influence upon the re-
mainder of his life. and though he
often remembered, after his return to
America, the happiness Of the days
with Elaine and her father, he soon
became too deeply engrossed in the
passion for a successful career to
regret the loss of that bit OF heaven.
Success crowns his every effort. His
genius as a playwright brings him for
tune and renown. His home is pa
latial in size and furnished with the
best of everything that money can
buy. He likes people with brains and
ability, and he keeps his house filled
with guests whose names represent
distinguished achievement. He at
tracts the affection and admiration of
men. and wopen adore him. He has
a capable and reasonable wife, two
splendid sons, and his parties are the
most brilliant that New York has ever
witnessed. Life is teeming with the
thrills Of possession and achievement.
And in the midst of joint celebra-
tion Of his thirty y-seventh birthday and
the last night Of his latest popular play
Tom suffers a sudden attack OF nostag
liza. For what, he does not know. He has
everything that man could wish for.
But somehow the knowledge that he
has missed the true meaning Of life
dawns upon him while the celebra
ton is in full swing. and memory re-
turns to the old house and garden IN
France.
Aware at last Of the emptiness Of
mere success built upon ambition and
pride of achievement. Tom burns his
bridges, takes his family to France,
buys the old house and endeavors to
reShape his life He discovers the
cause of his failure and finds that
success in the pursuit of happiness
does not come on wings so swift as
those bearing material gifts. How he
recaptures some of the idyllic dream
of his first DAYS in the old house.
through the influence of Elaine and
meditation upon the true values of
life. makes a story that is distinctive
in its human interest and in its i'm
port 1t should find as many friends
as did THE Green Bay Tree" and
The Farm"