Evening star., 1937-03-17
NEW BOOKS
AT.RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.

spirit OF rebellion against injustice and
intolerance, which had driven q hardy,
courageous group OF men and women
to these shores in search of freedom
from Old World oppression, was exert
Ing an unprecedented influence upon
the individuals Interpretation of the
right to exercise his newly acquired
liberty. Independence of action essen
tial to the survival of a race destined
to hew its way through the unbroken
wilderness Of new land, necessarily de-
Veloped dislike for constructing ties.
The family as an institution was, and
still Is, the foundation upon which the
whole structure of New World civiliza-
ton rests. But the family as con-
stantly increasing, thriving, happy sue
cession of generations, living as unit
under one roof, soon passed into the
ranks OF things remembered. The old
custom lacked the elasticity required to
meet the new life of unhampered free
dom. Three, or even two, adult genera
tions OF Americans are temperamentally
untitled to live harmoniously in the
same house. The pace of life is too
swift, the revolution of ideas too rapid
for ripened age to accept without ques-
ton. and for those midway along the
road OF experience to condone without
misgivings. Newly unfolded maturity has
no time to stop and read the sign posts.
In the vehemence of their disapproval,
those who Judge and condemn the head
long plunge Of youth into the maelstrom
OF current fashions in thought and con-
duct forget that rebellion against
hindrances is fundamental element in
the spirit Of the race. Each generation
has Wagged its head in disapprovaI Of
the audacity of its offspring, not re-
membering that the wholesale departure
from custom and convention is merely
the spirit of America moving onward.
Thus, the American homestead, shelter
ing two, three, perhaps even four genera
tlOnS is a house of woe instead of hap
piness, scene Of turmoil more often
than of peace. Only in rare instances
does such an abode harbor such neces-
sary commodities as sympathy, UNDER
standing and respect. Fiction OCCASION
ally presents a likable, plausible family
group that wins approval and fosters
slim belief that after all parents,
grandparents, sons, daughters and in
laws can, if they choose, live in harmoni-
.ous contentment. But the fundamental
truth is that beneath the roof of the
grand old house and behind the veneer
of sweet amiability state of conflict,
such as that which besets the quar- tet
of Marys in this interesting novel, pre-
walls.
To be exact, there are only three
Marys in actuality, the fourth having
long ago shed her mortal coil after
long, beneficent and splendid life. A
dominant character was the elder Mary,
whose spirit still lives in the three direct
descendants who bear her name. Molly,
daughter of Mary, is growing old and
forgetting that tolerance and sympathy
win more battles with youth than sharp
words and criticism. Meg, daughter of
Molly, is forty and bearing the stigma of
divorce in that memorable era when it
was deemed more respectable to live
with a man whose miSdeedS included
every sin known to man than to divorce
him. She conducts column in a New
York newspaper and provides the money
upon which the family depends for its
bread and butter. Mimi, daughter of
Meg, is twenty and overf1owing with So
phistication and belief in unfettered
freedom Colossal selhshness, hardness
and intolerance constitute the sum total
of her character.
These three Marys, living together in
charming old house in the Connecticut
hills, are put through their PAGES by
Fanny Heaslip Lea in story which re-
veals in bold, sharp relief the character
istic peculiarities of three consecutive
generations. Some stress is laid on the
fact that the absence of man from
the home of the three Marys has some
thing to do with their conflicting dis
positions. Just what influence man
might have exerted is a debatable ques-
ton. The three women, separated by
years, by experience and by changing
times, are constitutionally untitled to
live in harmony and fate has been un-
kind enough to compel them to do so.
AS the story opens, the lawn of the
lovely white house in the Connecticut
hills is the scene of a wedding. Eliza
beth, friend of Minis, has elected to
marry while her parents are away a
man of whom she is confident they
would not approve. Despite the laughter,
gayety and chatter of the wedding guests
an underlying strain of emotions is
evident. Molly's interest in the wedding
is confined to the perfunctory per-
formance of her duty as mistress of the
house and the larder. Meg's interest
is tinged slightly by the knowledge that
romance may bud for her again despite
her forty years. Minis interest is bound
up in coil of contempt and jealousy,
biding its time to spring in revenge.
She is in love with Alan Wythe, now
being married to Elizabeth, and she de-
termines to marry him herself at what
ever cost.
For Mollys code of conventions and
conduct Mimi has neither respect nor
understanding. For the parental concern
of her mother she entertains an out
spoken contempt. The brewing romance
between her mother and Brook Avery
affords another vent for scorn and
ridicule. An apartment in New York,
furnished by her father, gives her
the opportunity to live as she pleases,
without interference and to win on
her own terms the husband of her
friend
1t is pretty situation all around, yet
one which confronts many duets, trios
or quartets of convention tied genera
tions, forced by circumstances to live
under the same roof, yet separated by
the conflicting forces of wisdom and
ineXperience, of tender emotions and
violent passions and the unyielding
antagonism between age and youth.
Pathetic, indeed, is the woman who, like
the third Mary in this story, is caught
between the two extremes.
In outline the story may seem un-
lovely and unkind. In reality it is an
intensely interesting and human por-