Evening star., 1938-09-18
FINAL NOVEL MOCKS SOCIETY
Mrs. Wharton ncompleted Book Tells Story of Americans Who
Seek Social Trumphs in England-Seventh Volume of
Men of Good Will Has Historical Theme. ,

HnAliy Tor MS naple6S drtClng Into
political machine abo,.t which he
knows nothing. Just one Of the race
who existed. as countless millions
have done since. presumably for ex-
cellent reasons. We Swarmed out Of the
primordial swamp. The performance
could hardly be brought of better,
and, II you are given to philosophizing,
could hardly wrack you more. It made
this insensitive reviewer 60 straight
out and dismally bay the moon.
HORNS FOR OUR ADORNMENT. BY
Aksel Sandemose. Translated from
the Norwegian by Eugene Gay
Tint. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
THIS novel resolves itself into .
study of the subconscious minds OF
a group Of seamen on q little sailing
vessel while the vessel is making a
trip from Norway to Iceland. There
Is crew of three, q cook. captain
and a mate. One Of the crew and the
cook are shown to have the common
innocent depravity OF the ignorant
male OF any social group; another of
the crew is disgraced minister badly
troubled by dreams and inhibitions;
still another Is an intellectual capable
Of attaining a degree Of detachment
from which to look on life. The cap
tain and the mate are not Of much
moment in the story. The reader is
treated to the conversations and diver
Sions OF these men at great length.
Then q fight occurs and the captain
kills the intellectual. That Is all. It
is a pretty messy business done with
a certain smart-alecking virtuosity.
QUEEN vICTORIA's MR.. BROWN.
BY E. E. P. Tinsdale New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Co.
r EADERS who, like this reviewer,
have low, scandal-mongering
minds, will be grievously disappointed
in this volume. For it bears out MOTH
ing OF its titles inviting promise 1t
tells us no more about the mysterious
position in Queen Victoria's household
of the famous Highland gillie, John
Brown, than is already common knowl-
edge-which is, OF course. that, from
short time after Prince Albert's death
to Browns own demise, he was prac-
tically inseparable from the Queen:
that his attendance upon her caused
scandal in England and led to
her being nicknamed Mrs. Brown:
that the Prince of Wales hated Brown
SO much that when he came to the
throne he caused every relic reminis-
cent of the gillie to be torn down: that
Browns diaries were impounded and
burned by royal order; that Brown
used extreme familiarity in speaking
to Victoria. calling her "wumman" and
ordering her to 60 change her dress if
great dignitaries: that she never was
known to rebuke him: that he came
into her presence very drunk, and that
not infrequently: and that she had her
desk covered with photographs Of her
servant and frequently commented to
her courtiers on his strongly masculine
good looks. And similar details, all of
which have been pretty we'll advertised.
As to the actual relation In which
the Scotsman stood to the Queen,
which assuredly was one OF unusual
privilege. there is no statement what
soever beyond some wandering specula-
tions as to whether Brown might not
have been a spiritualist medium ca
pable Of convincing the Queen that he
brought her in touch with her dead
husband. In the main the author i'm
plies that Brown was just such a good
servant that Victoria found him indis-
pensable to her. as a servant. And
that is the way the matter is allowed
to stand.
The irritating thing about the work
is that the above facts could have
been assembled in 4 very short space,
but that Mr.. Tinsdale. in order to
make full-length book, apparently,
has padded them out at great length.
by treating US to dull dissertations
on Victorian society, Victorian fashion,
the history Of the period, and so on.
There are. indeed, long passages in
which there is no mention Of Brown
or the Queen whatsoever More than
this. the chapter heads are delib-
erately scandalous, in complete dis
harmony with the innocuous matter
the chapters contain. One, for ex-
ample. Is Where Are the Royal
Nightclothes?" This passage tells
nothing more blushful than that on
one Highland trip which she made
the Queen became separated from
her luggage and had to sleep in her
dress. Another Is Brown VS.. Berthe"
There is hardly any reference to the
prince in the entire chapter. and
nothing relating to his opposition to
Brown.
On the whole, the book is . mere
tricious and unnecessary performance,
cheap effort to capitalize on an
old scandal without Offering the scan
dalous- minded their honest moneys
worth. Better not thought of-but,
II thought Of, then better not done,
by all means.
MIDWAY IN MY SONG. The auto
biography OF Lotte Lehman. New
York: The Bobbs- Merrill Co.
THE name of Lotte Lehman,
synonymous for years now with
some of the greatest Of lieder interpre-
tations, takes on personal char