ies, wanted, according to Tarlé, to an- nihilate the French and capture Na- Rachel Field poleon, and for this purpose they didn't care how many Russians were 1894-1942 killed. The wise Kutuzov, however, wanted merely to get the French out of Russia, and wanted to do it at the LAURA BENET least expense of Russian lives. Hence the slowness of the Russian pursuit T news of Rachel Field's sud- old walnut bookcase with glass doors: of the fleeing French, aimed merely den and tragic passing from an and there were several music boxes, at letting cold and hunger decimate earth on which her feet seemed one of which, a combined music and their ranks. so firmly set and where she was so work-box had belonged to the English The Marxist interpretation-pre- peculiarly necessary, is an iron fact novelist and poet, Mary Webb. sumably the currently orthodox one- that cannot be grasped by those who When I met Rachel she had already comes out constantly. For Tarlé, it is knew her. Few, if any, of the women made a name for herself in the one- the French big businessmen, the up- of her generation, conveyed the im- act plays like "Three Pills in a Bot- per bourgeoisie, who provoked the war pression of such abundant and over- tle," that were constantly being per- in order to obtain a monopoly of the flowing vitality. There was a warmth formed. Her first volume of verse, European markets. That of course is about her personality, her quick walk, "The Pointed People," was brought out just what the English wanted for the tones of her voice, the wave of her by the Yale Press. The characteristic themselves, and that is why they hair, and those intense honest eyes of tiny books, "Eliza and the Elves" (in were the allies, not of the Russian hers. collaboration with the artist, Eliza- people, but only of the Russian ruling Rachel's keen interest was in life- beth Mackinstry), "Taxis and Toad- classes. Marx and Engels actually had in every little homely, everyday item stools," "Little Dog Toby," and others a direct word or two to say on the of it-her friends, their joys and sor- were swiftly followed by a bewitching subject, since they wrote a few bio- rows, the books she was writing for saga, "Hitty; Her First Hundred graphical articles in the New Ameri- children and illustrating with her own Years," which carried off the New- can Encyclopedia in the 1850's on such pictures, dolls of various kinds, mot- berry Medal, written around a little figures as Barclay and Bennigsen. toes, favorite poems, old furniture, wooden doll carved out of ash wood These Tarlé drags with obvious de- herbs, flowers, and special ways of do- and discovered in a shop in Greenwich light, unimportant though they are. ing cookery as well as the books and Village. "Hitty" was followed by two "Napoleon dominated an immense plays of the hour-especially "The other books, "Calico Bush" a story of empire, inhabited by the most diverse, Barretts of Wimpole Street." And was a bound girl, and "Hepatica Hawks," wealthy, civilized nations. His power any author ever more generous with a most natural tale of a girl giantess, over them was unbounded, his mili- herself and her means, whether rich one of her best studies in the juvenile tary genius was and still is regarded or straitened? Her apartment door field. as unsurpassed in the history of man- stood open to her friends-that cosy During the summer of 1930 I visited kind. The Russian people smashed this apartment on St. Mark's Place, East Rachel at her cottage, "The Play- giant." Thus concludes Tarlé, His is 10th Street. Here in her sitting room House" on Sutton Island, Maine, op- an interesting book, not only for its there hung on the walls two special posite Seal Harbor. Here she seemed innumerable sidelights and revealing great patchwork quilts made in cho- as individual as in the New York details of actual history, but even sen patterns for her. In a corner was apartment, embodying in herself the more for the way in which it illu- a tall desk, once used by a Maine freshness, zest, and buoyancy of that minates the way many important Rus- schoolmaster. A company of rare and coast and its sturdy folk. Out of Maine sians now think and feel. ancient doll ladies kept house in an and its mysterious islands came "God's Pocket," a book that seemed to carry sea and winds in its every word-ar Your Literary I.Q. that remarkable fantasy, "The Shell, the Comb and the Bird," a legend of a fairy wife brought home by a New By Howard Collins England sailor. But the book of her MORE LITERARY "ROLL CALLS" books that shook and excited me, yes, even more than "All This and Heaven Here are ten more groups of characters who are more easily recognized as a group than as individuals. (Others appeared in the issue of Sept. 27, 1941.) Too," was her first novel, "Time Out Allowing 5 points if you can recall the story in which each group appeared, and of Mind." Written and published in another 5 if you can remember the author, a score of 60 is par, 70 is good, 1935 at the time of her happy mar- and 80 or better is excellent. Answers are on page 18. riage to Arthur Pederson, this was a 1. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder, and Blitzen. poignant story of a Maine girl, a re- 2. Jimmy, Asia, Australia, Europena, and Billy. vealing history of a woman's heart- 3. John Snell, Mr. Macey, Ben Winthrop, Mr. Tookey, Bob Lundy, Dowlas, simple, vigorous, and salty. and Jem Rodney. A word must be said of her two 4. Dona Maria, Pepita, Uncle Pio, Jaime, and Esteban. 5. Rachel Winslow, Edward Norman, Alexander Powers, Virginia Page, small books of moving poems, "Branch- Rollin Page, Milton Wright, and Donald Marsh. es Green" and "Fear Is the Thorn." 6. John Wharton Billson, Thurlow G. Wilson, Banker Pinkerton, Gregory More of a story-teller than poet, she Yates, L. Ingoldsby Sargent, Nicholas Wentworth, Robert J. Titmarsh, Eliphalet had the mind of a poet. In 1939 her Weeks, Oscar B. Wilder, Archibald Wilcox, and Clay Harkness. career reached its peak in her splendid 7. Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax, Diomede, Ulysses, Nestor, Sinon, Machaon, novel, "All This and Heaven Too," Patroclus, and Menelaus. telling the dramatic life of a great- 8. Bellman, Boots, Barrister, Broker, Billiard-marker, Beaver, Baker, Butch- uncle's French wife. er, Banker, and Bonnet-maker. 9. Tom, Al, Noah, Ruthie, Winfield, Rosasharn, Ma, Pa, and Grampa. A tonic and a stay to those who loved 10. Ralph Rackstraw, Dick Deadeye, Bill Bobstay, Bob Becket, and Tom her, Rachel Field will live in the hearts Tucker. of her friends. 10 The Saturday Review