28 MAY 1954, Page 58

- mans. 21s.) MRS. G. M. TREVELYAN'S Two Stories -- which

are really fragments from her life—all both concerned with children. As narratives they are contrasted: the first all sunn,Y domestic intimacy, the second booming Witll the reverberations of a fight for social welfare involving a large-scale charity appeal' Mrs. Trevelyan does not, in so many words, state the connection that is their evident link: after the death of her five-year-old son Theodore in 1911 she transferred her allegiance from one child to the multitude, and carried on a successful struggle froth 1929 to 1936 to save the Central London Foundling Site for the use of children. As a base then, for a herd of posterity's youngsters' the detailing of little Theo's home and ha.' day activities, • his developing tastes, 1119 simple or precocious sayings, falls illt° place for the importance these acquired. A singularly lovable child, this thwartc4 Trevelyan belonged also, on his mother's side, to that notable family of Arnolds, Wards and Huxleys, some of whom make brief appearances in the nursery scene. Ws' Trevelyan's famous mother, Mrs. HumplaY Ward, was Gunny' to Theo. He Os shaping firmly into the tradition; for what, everyday infant would recall the death 01 John Hampden with a burst of tears, 0,1' tease his grandmother by rhymes on Taria Reform? The Edwardian family photo' graphs strengthen the flavour of those interim years when intellect held the countrY houses, and when the loss of such a boY could seem the more poignant in view of htS awaiting heritage. The Foundling SI enterprise came when a war had smashed akP that security. Mrs. Trevelyan gives Oa' twist and turn of her tremendous fight, As secretary of the Appeal Council to say° Coram's Fields from the builder; with Press and Government tergiversating, patrons, hedging, donors dodging, with the reversa1 of hopes, the breaking of promises, ttl° anxious deferment of success. It is 111L/i object lesson in selfless perseverance, deserved recording.