Evening star., 1937-10-09
NOVEL DEALS WITH DIVORCE
Sgrid Undset Latest Book Is Called "The Faithful Wife,
Member of Maritime Commission, Harvey Kemmer
Writes Memoirs of Sailor.

happened to read WAS embarrassinely
apt to creep into her own. &. . And yet,
the reviewer did not know, until she
read the present biography OF her
erstwhile hero. that It was eir Richard
Grcnville who brought Raleigh's first
colony to Virginia.
Neither did she know that It was
Francis Drake, orenville's greatest
rival, who took that colony on again,
six weeks after Sir Richard had sailed
away.l Somehow In all her reading,
the names Of those great captains had
never been become associated with
colonization, but only with explorA tion,
discovery and tremendous battle. Con-
sequently. IN spite Of her early passion
for the Devonshire knight, she was
able to read the present work with
considerable profit. 1t Is in no sense
4 romance or / romanticized biog-
raphy. 1t Is pedestrian In style to the
point Of heaviness and It IS painstak-
insly devoted to presenting pure facts
The reviewer found 1t interesting to
test the magnificent figure OF the
legend against the man who emerges
from the meager record. Curiously,
even in this authors determinedly
factual presentation, there Is little
discrepancy.
The book simply fills the legend out
and gives it flesh. 1t takes the years
OF Sir Richards life about which
romance is silent and tells us what he
did in those periods. He sat in
Parliament. he served on parliament
tary committees, he bought good lands
for his estate, driving hard bargains
when he could, he engaged in the
shipping business as 4 formal cover
for taking mercantile prizes on the
high seas, he was sheriff OF his county
in which capacity he vigorously en-
forced Elizabeth's anti Catholic laws,
he raised levies OF troops for service
in Ireland and for defense OF the
coasts. he built fine house and. like
Kit Marlowe. engaged in a brawl in
which man was killed, but his luck
was better than poor Marlowe's, for It
was not he who was the victim. On
the contrary, Queen Elizabeth found
1t necessary to pardon her future
captain for homicide None of these
things were extraordinary in an Eng
lish country gentleman OF that period,
as Mr.. Rowse points out. AS Sir
Richard carried them out they reveal
hard-thinking practical mind with A
capacity for business and accurate
detail, violent energy and a furious
personal pride.
And then-against this. the legend.
1t is epitomized in Raleighs account of
that last apocalyptic fight in the
Azores when, caught between two
Spanish squadrons, assailed BY the
boarding parties Of Is armados, all but
100 OF his company Ill, his ship without
ballast. Sir Richard might have fled
but out OF the greatness Of his mind,
he could not be persuaded" And 30
he was not persuaded but would have
blown up his ship when he had men
to fight no longer If only his wounded
condition would have allowed it. This
account from Sir Walters hand Mr..
RoWse examines thoroughly, and
comes to the conclusion that there is
little reason to consider it exaggerated.
From which 1t may be concluded
that a schoolgirl may keep her hero,
even when grown older in debunking
day. Mr.. Rowse decides as much
himself. 1t Is too bad that he writes so
iaboriOusly. He has truly great
story here to tell.
TARE HARVEST. BY Eleanor Peters.
New York: Reynal d. Hitchcock.
THE locale OF this novel is the
Andes country OF Chile. The
theme is the conquest Of the country
by the English settlers, and portrays
a period analogous to the conquest of
our own West by the cattle kings. 1t
is a theme and period worthy of
romantic recording, and enhanced by
the novelty and beauty OF its setting
might have been a great novel, or. at
any rate, an absorbing one. Instead
it Is a dullish chronicle Of stupid.
grasping unworthy people, held to the
soil by the greed Of an unjust and
tyranical father, clan which reverts
to the middle-claSs narrowness OF
small-time farming on the outskirts
OF small town at his death.
Miss Peters has seeing eye and a
facile pen with which she produces
vivid bits OF description Of both the
purple poetry and the sternly realistic
type. The way her characters live
and the surroundings in which they
live are far more clearly realized by
the reader than are the characters
themselves. r. r. T..
LOOK ELEVEN YEARS YOUNGER.
BY Gelett Burgess. New York:
Simon e. Shuster.
HERE is textbook for keeping
young that is, to say the least,
different. Mr.. Burgess, in his own in
imitable way, points out to his readers
the warning signals on the road to
middle and old agee. Illustrated by
candid camera shots showing most
horribly the contortions, nervous
grimaces and generally unattractive
little habits which grow on one with
the years, the book brings home very
forcibly the fact that such doings con-
tribute years to our actual age. Older
people are not told to mimic foolishly
the younger generation in their at
tempt to retrieve youth--but they are
told how to keep the essential youth
fulness that is rightfully theirs, and
how to avoid appearing even as old as
they really are. "Old Age Is Habit
is the title Of the first chapter, and
the rest of the volume is devoted to
detailed instructions for overcoming
that bugaboo. Sensible. amusingly
written, and chock full Of good, hard.
common sense, Mr.. Burgess book
should prove a refreshing note in the
general welter of how to keep youth
full" contributions. B. G.
THESE LOW GROUNDS. BY Waters
Edward Turpin. New York: Har-
per & Bros.
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