Evening star., 1938-03-02
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.

LOST RIVER. BY Alice Walworth.
New York: Dodd, Mead 4 Co.
Down near old Natchez during the
gay nineties life was just about as it had
been for the twenty or so preceding
years, except that all land owners were
perhaps considerably poorer than they
had believed they could be and women
were beginning to be conscious Of the
prolonged era Of misfortune and to give
rein to q spirit of restlessness and dis
content. The years Immediately fol-
lowing the Civil War had imposed hard
ships upon every one in the once happy
and colorful Southland, but by 1890 it
had become difficult to maintain the
sense of pride that had accompanied the
first pangs of poverty. While through
out the postwar South it was-and
still is-regarded as no disgrace to be
poor, the painful years of leanness had
taken their toll of endurance and it no
longer was regarded as disgrace to be
rich. A new generation, born after the
war, had grown to maturity. For them
it was not easy to foster pride in their
lack Of fortune.
AS setting for story about the young
people OF this more or less uneventful
era along the Lower Mississippi, the
neighborhood Of delightful old Natchez
is ideal. Lost River Plantation is typical
OF the old estates that f1ourished and
were the scenes of colorful gayety and
romancS In pre-War days. 1t is here
presented as the only plantation in the
nelghborhood that is not over-burdened
with debt and falling into decay. AS q
plantation, 1t figures only slightly in the
related events, yet its influence is pre-
dominant and is largely responsible for
the tangled matrimonial ventures OF
those who love and admire its owner.
There was not very much to interest
the Southern women of those days out,
side OF the management of their homes
except to angle for husbands. They
were unqualified for any gainful occupa-
ton, and those with whom this story
deals were not overly capable in the
management of their homes A peculiar
1ty OF the group is that there are no
nVlng parents, SO that there are no re-
straining influences or heads of FAM
lilies to interfere with individual &C
tons. The author merely presents a
set OF fine young people In their poverty
ridden surroundings and sets them at
liberty to angle with beauty and charm
as bait for suitable husbands.
Lost River is the home of Ralph
Landon. Briefly is the shabby, debt
ridden place that Sam and Thea Carton
have inherited. Long Grove. red-haired
Comics inheritance, and all the other
one-time plantations are equally shabby
and hopelessly involved in debt. Con-
ME has loved Ralph since they were
both small children. But his love for
her f1icks out when a schoolmate of
Thea's comes to visit Ralph's marriage
TO Amy starts the matrimonial mix-ups
that have an effect upon the whole
friendly and likable group
The affairs OF these young people pre-
sent an interesting study of the condi-
tions and the limitations of life in the
deep South before the turn of the
century. The novel is without plot or
moral and makes no pretense at being
anything more than a series of love
stories related to each other only through
the circumstance OF the friendship of a
small luxury-loving circle of lifelong
neighbors.
MY DISCOVERY OF THE WEST. Bv
Stephen Leacock. Boston: Hale,
Cushman & Flint.
A lecture tour through Western Cam
ada is responsible for Stephen Leacocks
latest "dlscovery" book. Like everything
else that has been published in his name,
1t is sparkling with the humor for which
ne is renowned, but let 1t not be thought
that this volume is pure nonsense It
happens to reflect DR.. Leacock in a
serious mood, facing four-square the
accumulation of problems that beset
Western Canada-along with the rest
OF the World-and expressing some per-
tinent and convincing sentiments there
on.
Going west, to Canadian" says DR..
Leacock in preface reprinted from a
1885 publication, 'is like going after
the Holy Grail to a knight of King
Arthur All Canadian families have
had. like mine, their Western Odyssey"
A brief account OF the Leacock odyssey
is here cited:
There Is something inspiring in this
building Of new country in which even
the least Of us has had some part. I
can remember how my father went
from our Lake Simcoe farm-to the first
Manitoba boom of over fifty years ago
before the railway He had an idea
that what the west needed was British
energy and pluck. He came back broke
in six months. Then Uncle Edward
went; he had gifted mind and used
to quote to us that the Star of the
Empire glitters in the West 1t didn't
He came back broke. Then my broth
ers Dick and Jim went. Dick was in
the Mounted Police and then worked in
saloon and came back broke. Jim
got on fine but he played poker too we'll
and had to leave terribly fast. Charlie
and George and Teddy went-they all
went but me. I was never free to 20
till now, but I may start at any time"
So he started and rediscovered for
himself good part Of the same route
by rail-that Mackenzie covered in
1893. His lecture tour included prac-
tically all of the major communities of
the Canadian west, but this is not a
reprint Of the things he said to the
audiences who gathered to be entertained
by their famous fellow countryman. It
Is a combination of travel lore and dis
cusslon of the economic and other prob
lens with which his own country is as
sorely beset as are many other bewild-
cred nations that are struggling to bring