6 JULY 1912, Page 25

"MOTHER! MOTHER ! " [To TEE EDITOR OF TER "

SPECTATOR."] have followed with much interest the correspondence: on " Mother ! Mother !" which is appearing in your paper.. The following passage—a marvellous piece of descriptive

writing from Romain Rolland's " Jean Christophe "—illus- trates the point in a most striking way. The scene is that of the death of Jean Michael, the old grandfather, at the age_ of 84 :—

"Le vienx ne parlait plus, il gemissait comme un petit enfant mais sa respiration devenait encore plus penible ; il se plaignait, it remuait lea mains, il semblait lutter centre to sommeil mortel. Dans ea demi-conscience une foie it appela: • Maman !' O ! -rimpression poignante de co balbutiement du vie= hommci' appelant sa mere avec angoisse . . . sa mere dont jamais it no parlait clans la vie ordinaire, at very qui maintenant it se tournait- d'instinct, supreme at inutile recours dans la terreur supreme."

44 Lancaster Gate, W.