VILLAGE DIARY

One of the surprise successes of 1956 was Village School, a sort of feminine Mr. Chips. This continues the daily round of an English country school and chronicles the goldfish bowl life of its headmistress. Miss Read is the target for romance when presumably unattached Mr. Mawne appears, and she is pursued by hints and undesired good wishes. Then there are school problems; there is the nearby pageant in which the local Women's Institute portrays ancient Britons and conquering Romans; there are outings and festivals. Miss Read's compassionate understanding of her neighbors widens; and she is ultimately freed from Mr. Mawne when a wife materializes. Her warming goal- to be part of a small living community, closely linked by ties of kinship, work and the parish boundaries is a restful restorative, not without some sharp, sly humor and a lovely calendar of the countryside.