Books: Cultivated Garden

THE WORLD OVER—Edith Wharton—Appleton-Century ($2).

Like so many neat flowerbeds, the 43 books of Edith Wharton stand in polite rows that many a ruder gardener of words might envy. Few society women have gone in for such a messy job as professional writing, but even in working dress Edith Wharton is patently grande-dame. To the eyes of the younger generation, her polite and cultivated formality might well seem quaintly behind the times, but for survivors of the pre-War garden age she still has a nostalgic charm. If the stories in her latest book are...