Evening star., 1937-07-03
MARY LOSES HER HEAD AGAIN
The Lovely Queen of Scotland Attained Historical Immortality
When She Met Her Tragic End-Life History of Senator
George Norris Independent, Is Exciting Reading

little Texas town; it is typical, both
Is to man and to town, yet, as to
man at least, exoellently individual
1t is. to be more explicit, the story
OF jim Riley, who was born OF the
marriage OF an Irish barkeeper with
IN aristocratic Southern lady, whose
education stopped At high school. who
never went outside his native country
except to fight in the World War,
who seldom thereafter went outside
his native town, who rose to no higher
position in the world than that Of
owner Of lunch counter, and yet who
contr1ved to live with both romance
and dignity. Many American small
towns hold such q character-you do
not often find more than one to
town, however-and there is merit in
= book which prints this kind of in
dividuality faithfully and well, al
though, when the painting Is done,
its main achievment is to show little
significantly.
Mr.. Fergusson's Riley is the perfect
ly contented man, the one who finds
in his limited environment satisfaction
Tor his few desires, but whose de-
slres are not themselves mean or con-
temptibly petty. He wants space
and he finds 1t In the Texas country.
He wants primitive physical activity,
and ne finds it in duck hunting. He
wants an income without giving his
time to business plotting and he
nnds that IN the lunch counter which
ne has inherited from his father. He
wants women lone could hardly call
II loVe) and he finds that easily
enough; women like him-there is, one
gamers, an attractive restfulness
about any one so devoid of complica-
lions. He does not want theories or
abstract ideas; he can think of too
many practical answers to them all
And so Riley lives, through a prowl-
ing ooyhood. 4 handsome youth to 4
stoutish middle age. and there we
leave him. 1t Is simple little book,
but done with 4 good deal of per-
ception and worth reading.
VICTORIA 4:30. BY Cecil Roberts
New York: The Macmillan Co.
THIS is one Of those novels in which
group OF people is accidentally
thrown together at time when each
OF them is facing some particular
problem and then allowed to find So
lutions for their separate problems
through the Intervening Of their
chance companionship. The instru-
mentality Of this compa nionship in the
present case is = train-the various
characters are all leaving London
from Victoria Station at 4:3O on An
August afternoon.
The work Is well enough OF its type
which is = type OF course that is
more profound in appearance than in
actually. 1t depends on skillful tech
nlque rather than truthful character
portrayal; 1t depends on neat Juggling
rather than inevitabilities. Mr.. Rob-
erts brings it of pretty we'll. He AS
sembles famous orchestra director.
couple Of newlyweds, q novelist (of
course, waiter, boy king OF a
Balkan state an English woman mar
rled to one Of the murderers of DOLL
fuss; nun-and so on. BY death or
by happier means, the problem facing
each OF these people is solved and
then, OF course, the novel is long
enough, and so is finished. That Is all
there Is to 1t. It is, no doubt, what
they call Summer reading"
NIGHT BETWEEN THE RIVERS BY
r. L. Duffus. New York: The
Macmillan Co.
HIS Is vague maundering sort of
novel about what might happen II
New York City were to be tied up by
general strike with complications
OF Bolshevist plots thrown In. But as
lar as the reviewer can see, nothing
happens Of the authors motivation
during the strike period which might
not happen any time and it i, all very
confusing if not to say downright bor-
ing. We have, for example, a cocktail
party-and surely cocktail parties are
not peculiar in New York to times OF
economic stress and struggle We have
also shooting, but do you read the
papers? We have a girl Communist
welcoming the revolution and attempt
Ing to seduce young professor-but
somewhere or other the reviewer seems
to have read Of that before. We have
rich department store owner prom
Slng to finance the stage career of a
young girl from Mississippi and the
young girl encouraging him in 4 man.
ner not quite maidenly-but does this
occur only in general strikes? Lastly,
as the saying goes, we have a couple
OF 1dealists Cine and superfine), grav-
1tatlng toward a single bed to the
accompaniment Of very literary con-
versation. And it is all, in some vague
manner. symbolically tied up with the
enorts OF young woman in q hos
pital to have baby and the love az
fairs OF a tomcat named Mulvaney.
Maybe you can make something out OF
It, The reviewer confesses freely that
she couldn't.
NEVER SAY GOODBYE. By Julia
1rulLC 4ennl. New York: Reynal
& Hitchcock.
"NEVER SAY GOODBYE" is about
just folks. ordinary, small South
ern town folks in moderate circum-
stances. 1t IS the record of a large
family, most of them girls, as seen
through the eyes of sensitive younger
daughter between the ages Of 5 and IL.
Although 1t Is 4 record OF ordinary
people, it Is not q story OF mediocrity
or mediocre story. These people
are all alive and real; their problems,
although the kind that almost any
Of us may have to face at one time
or another, are vital problems and
must be solved by them for life to
60 on. The sisters in the book are
just as dissimilar as sisters in real
life. The father Is the pompous four
fusher that one often encounters as
the so-called head Of a large family.
The grandmother is Just the kind Of
disturbing martinez that grandmoth-
ers often are, particularly when they