Evening star., 1939-01-18
New Books at
Random
By Margaret Germond.

ton: Little, Brown & co.
A country town in Southern Michigan
a little more than half a century ago
comes alive in this latest narrative Of
recollections by the author of "The
Country Kitchen" and Home Grown"
It is story about the people of Mill
brook, an intimate chronicle of the va
riety of happenings that engaged their
interests and faithful portrayal OF the
institutional characters that constitute
the population of all such communities.
When Lille Thompson, because of his
advancing years, retired from the strenu-
Gus job of running farm and moved to
Millbrook with his wife and their small
daughter, "Delly" had "just turned
eleven" A shepherd dog, a pet cat, the
choice of several cows, team of horses,
"one hog on the hoof and one in brine,
a small flock of hens and few hives of
bees" also went with their human keep
ers to serve as part of the foundation
for life in new surroundings.
Being an only. child, Delly enjoyed
more home companionship with the
grown-ups than do most youngsters in
with whom to develop fascinating world
that is quite apart from the life of their
elders. This closer companionship per-
haps accounts in large measure for the
lasting impressions and accurate men,
ory of details that have made possible
the utilization of material that is purely
homely for the writing of three delight
fully entertaining and heart warming
stories.
In appearance, in neighborliness and
in general activity, the Millbrook which
received Life Thompson and his family
was much the same as any other small
town. The "snub-fronted buildings" on
its business street, "unlovey, unpainted,
and Weather-stai standing flush with
the sidewalk, some with wooden avn
ing supported on posts, some BADLY fac
ing summer sun and winter Storm" are
familiar to every American who has had
the good fortune to live in small town.
Its characters and institutions also bring
to mind similar types and common GUS
toms. There is Asy Browns general
merchandise store where in winter men
gathered around the rusty stove and dis
cussed local and national affairs. Then
there Is the meat market, the barber
shop and the drug store where the wife
OF Ed Calkins dispensed perfume, cigars
and soap as we'll as medicine. From the
front room of her house Lyde Peters
postmistress, sold notions and distributed
the mail
And just as in these times all towns
villages and big cities have their dull days
and exciting days, their gossip and scam
dals, their tragedies and jubilations, their
recreations and entertainments, Millbrook
had its own share of the common and un-
common things of life. In these pages
Mrs. Lutes revives a period that has
passed. and accomplishes it with the
same olrectness and simplicity that has
made her two earlier books memorable.
Automobiles, radio, bathtubs, motion
pictures automatic refrigeration and
other inventions commonly in use TODAY
have quickened the tempo of life in
small as we'll as in large towns. Women
no longer pull their hair into hard twists
on the top OF the head, squeeze them
selves into tight-f fitting boned and
padded basques wear full skirts that
sweep the ground and high-topped shoes,
nor do men nowadays pridefully display
luxurlant moustaches. But life in the
thousands Of Millbrooks that constitute
the larger part OF the American scene
is fundamentally and characteristicallv
about as 1t was in $780, 1t is this fact
| that makes these stories by Mrs. Lutes
SO enjoyable. For after all, most Ameri-
cans live In small towns and whether
the present or the past is pictured in
such stories, people like to read about
| themselves.
| THE LAND IS LARGE. BY Emerson
Waldman. New York: Farrar &
Rhinehart, Inc.
In selecting Jewish refugee as the
hero of his first novel, Mr.. Waldman hit
| upon a subject to which current events,
growing out of a strangely contorted
concept of idealistc human progress,
| give particular timeliness His story
| about Duvid ben Gabriel, who fled to
the United States in the last decade OF
the nineteenth century following some
| difficulties with the authorities in the
Pultava district of Russia.
| Leaving his wife and children to make
the best of 1t until in his new surround
ings he could make enough money to
send for them, Duvid came to America
as thousands Of other immigrants have
done, seeking freedom from persecution
anc oppression and confident of quickly
accumulating fortune in the new land
Of opportunity. Also like thousands OF
| his brethren in distress, Duvid had quail
fications on both sides of the line that
divides right from wrong. He was will
ing to work hard, to endure the loneli-
ness of exile and to suffer the cruelties
dealt to aliens in great metropolis
through misunderstanding and prejudice
He believed himself to be honest, yet he
had no scruples about vending unfit
foodstuffs from push-cart and he had
no sense of guilt about having begun his
| business adventure in the new land by