Evening star., 1937-10-02

SUSAN ERTZ.
Author OF mo Hearts to
Break. - ID. Appleton-Cen-
turu.j
wife's recent death to assert himself
and that his associates dominated him.
Even so. Jackson made far fewer DO
litcal appointments than were asked
of him. says Mr.. James In the Peggy
Eaton affair, Jackson was ruled by
his concept of loyalty to a friend: he
himself had urged Mai Eaton to
marry Peggy and. having done so, he
would not desert his follower. In his
Indifference to the sacredness of the
Nations treaties with the Indians he
was. says Mr. James. animated by
consideration for the welfare of the
country. And so on.
4 ND somehow. this picture is cred
ibe. No man is a saint. and yet
1t is quite possible for one to live
without base motives. and that is
the Interpretation which the reader
will place on MIR. James estimate of
Andrew Jackson. In his hands the
old fighter is immensely human and
the passionate loyalty of his friends
and the populace is perfectly under
standable They knew that Jackson
had code and that he was true
to that code. The simplest intellect
could understand that. In addition,
Jackson's code was one which caught
the imagination and so enlisted the
emotions. A plain man with an un-
compromising standard of honor and
the personal force and courage to
defend that honor-what better
formula could be found to satisfy
the old longing of humanity for
leader? Since Jackson's popularity
was invincible and lasting, it may we'll
be answered-none.
Both books are eminentlv worth
having. If the reviewer rates Mr..
James accomplishment shade higher
than Mr.. Mayo's, it is because the
personal form of narrative is. in her
mind, better reading. Yet to have
written as full and picturesque
story Of time As Mr.. Mayo has in
his Henry Clay" is beyond question
a fine accomplishment.
REMEMBERING LAUGHTER. BY
Wallace Stegner. Boston: Little
Brown & Co.
HIS is the winner in Little Browns
recently held novelette, contest. in
which competition, We are told, ! $40
manuscripts were submitted. 1t is
a smoothly written tale of a minor
instance Of human folly and futility.
The persuaSiveness of the writing
and the uubroken movement Of the
narrative held the reviewer TO the
end without tagging interest, and she
prophesieS that the attention of most
OF Mr. Stegner's readers will be cap
tured with ike ease. When the last
line has been read. however. and
the mind, free of the hypnotism of
the well-measured sentences. begins
to function analyticallv on the story,
then, if readers react as the re-
viewer did. there will be a number
Of questions raised as to the neces-
Sary nature Of this small tragedy
Viewed detachedly. it would seem
that the story has been framed with
A certain youthful arbitrarness, and
that the behavior of the characters
goes a little outside the bounds of
natural consequences.
The story is that of Elspeth. a
hieh-spirIted young Scotswoman,
who comes to America to live with
her sister Margaret. Margaret is
married to Alec. prosperous Iowa
farmer Margaret and Alec have
been happy and in love; nevertheless
with the advent of Elspeth. Alec
turns seducer. Margaret discovers the
affair. whereupon Elspeth, who until
then has been deeply in love with
Alec. Is overcome with shame. She
refuses 10 continue their relation and
Margaret for her part can no longer
regard herself as Alecs wife.
The life in the farm house goes on
on this basis-the three living as
polite strangers. speaking only of
trifies but reLgiously keeping up
appearances before the world. Elspeth's S
baby is born and its father is be-
heyed by every one to have been one
Of Aecs hired men The child is
trained to call the sisters Aunt Mar
garet' and Aunt Elspeth" and Alec
Uncle Alec. but is given the surname
Of his mother For I8 wears this
frigldly polite fiction is maintained
and then Alec dies The sisters. bv
then emotionally dead. though not old
IN wears. admit TO one another. con-
versationally, that they are grieved for
his death. The boy leaves home.
And the two women. with their ruined
lives. are left alone And that is all.
AS the reviewer has said. Mr. Steg-
ner contrives to make you accept his
word for it. But. actually. 1t is very
hsrd to imagine 1t happening 1t is
pretty arbitrary The three principal
characters, for example, are shown To
be proud and explosively high spirited
1t is unthinkable that such a trio,
caught IN such a situation. would
take the course of self-imposed misery
which Mr.. Stegner DEGREES for them
/ There is neither necessity nor good
sense advanced to explain 1t.
Why, the reviewer asked herself
did not Alec. who is represented as
rich. send Elspeth away and provide
for the child in some other place than
under his wifes nose? Why, If Elspeth
ana Alec were both sorry, as we are
told they were. did they not express
their repentance TO Margaret and sci
their minds TO establishing their