The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-08-17
ENGLISH OPINIONS.
or Mary wilkins "Pembroke'" iier
Wonderful Character Photography
IIhn ..pnn,hlnrr In AumIlst RnnkhuXer.l


The English critics strive with each other II,
"PembrOkc." a.,
George Eliot never did anything better, they !,
say anu the story Is pronounced W onuGdi im,,
An American Just returned from England suy .
he finds the reason for their special enthusiasm,
j. the fact that Engshmen think the WPes ,b ,n
"Pembroke" correspond exactly ,,W WY, a ',i
that Miss wilkins comes fortunately 10 u pun
lie at present devoting itself to admiration Oh
Mr. Iiardys peasants, ,.,o,dors
1t may be- perhaps that New Englanahcrs'
male and female, las Miss wilkins draws them'
with painstaking painful, finishln IN , at
! tail are almost as completely mover 70 Ensma;n
readers as were Mr. Bret Harte's 'Westehers
when he first began to write about them MISS .ll's
wilkins great powers in character ,hotqgrapn a
are at work in u most fertile helu. 1no s oon
below the surface of the New hn ngentessv viii
find very strange things. 1t has been charged
that some of the types in Pembroke are oveI
drawn It is not likely II i not G,sW W 'I had
of anything, however good or noWeN,tl, p"',
which New Highlander Is not quite hhciS W
do
The recent trial of a young woman in Massa
chusetts for the murder of her parents, DrQu i
out oceans of talk for and again, I the poSslpl.A
of her having committed such an immature ' .ia
crime The singular habits, alternatalys pr thn
ncious and wlsteful, of the women OF tnc
household together with strong Individual ~
centrcities, were advanced as contributing o.a
dence to the existence of unusual anu nain.
headed woman who lived IN the town ana XIV i,,s
the New England people, said to M. oW Wnaii
Ralph, who reported the case for the New lork
"Sun," and who had remarked on the Cappu,r-
entity unusual. and cranky habits of the famiy
us shown by the testimony "Nonesense! Iake
off the roofs of any house in this town anu
you'll find Just as strange things as anything
that ever happened in the Borden family.
1t seems to be true that the passionate re-
preston of emotion, like tightly c9ili -,
spring, and the equal extravaganza or VIII II,
the New ENGLAND character create u lnOTdl
stormcentre from which almost any outDurst
may proceed. Diametric self-contradictlon IN IN
daily living is one OF the simpler t nords eN
preston; living in grim silence and dying Will
out sign or Observation-Disclosures Miss WI aa
kins work stirs the water, but no writer ol ho-
ton has yet sounded the depths-
Kate Field i'm her Washington says: eve all
know what Miss wilkins can do with New
England characters. Other people have philos-
ophized about it, or vaguely portrayed It's stern
Wilkins knows the anatomy of the Puritan soul
Michael Angelo knew the structure of the hu-
man skeleton. Indeed her knowledge of the in
nermost mysteries seems sometimes almost ill.,
delicate. Her pages are filled with those secrets
IF thought and life which men successfully hide
from one another, and which they. would con
zeal even from the Recording Angel, could this
'e accomplishedby any effort, however siren
nous.
Pembroke" is made up of four such love
tories as only Miss wilkins can write. 1t has
'cCh iCpC"tCuly pOiHlcu Out tHdt tHcy Couiu ~
eparated into four short tales, and that the
lovel is merely group of short stories skill
ully braided together. As an adverse criticism
his lacks force, as the effectiveness of each of
he tales is obviously EXCHANGED by its rela ton
D all the others. Charlotte and Barney are
ept apart by one of those delightful manifes-
ltiOns of Obstancy which Miss wilkins makes {
he theme of tragedy or a comedy with equal {
eadiness. Rebecca and her lover come to l
rief through the unduly exercised authority of 6
lie girls mother. Rose loves Barney, but takes l
lstead the husband provided by Providence, G
lille the elderly Sylva's romance comes to a
Apply end only when she is actually on the road
the poorhouse. There is little enough con 4
,ntional happiness among the jewellers of Penn !
'okc, but their troubles are met with the pa
ent courage which is characteristic irtue of .
cir race. or the gentler traits they know little il
I'd perhaps esteem them less, but through all q
cir comings and goings is certain heroic l,
rain which saves their dignity in many ride i,
Gus situation"