New-York tribune., 1896-11-22
THE IMMORTAL BOY.
HIS MORTAL POINTS IN MODERN
FICTION.

SENTIMENTAL TOMMY. The story OF HIS Roy
hood I}y J. NJ Barrie Illustrated by William
llnthcreI. Octave. ~. VI. a. Charles Scrioncr's
sons.
\ CHILD OF TIE JAGo. Ry Arthur Morrison.
octave pp. 5e3 Chicago: Herbert = Stone IL
co.
We have been told that God mads tho country
and that made tho town. Recent philosophy
has supplemented this aphorlsm with another. de-
claring ,nat God made the Boy. but tha,
made-mnn. BY virtue Of his pride In his own
handiwork tho latter understands himself. more
less. and writes about himself copiously. eloquent
ly Then he takes heart OF grace and proceeds to
write about the BOY. 1t Is curious to look back
upon mans adycnturing In this field. TO mark his
transition from Sandford and Merton in the last
years OF the eighteenth century to Paul Domboy
In the first decades OF tho Victorian era. From
little Paul Domboy 10 lttle Lord Fauntlcroy
the ncxt jump-and a long one-a jump from Tell
them the picture the stairs H. not divine
enough TO Dearest. Dearest" Long MS that leap
WAS It was triIing compared to The next, matter
Of fewer months than there years between
Dickens and Mrs. Burnett. This next leap. fore
Swallowed hy Hugo's Gavroche. but only fore
shadowed. not made possible. was from Fauntle-
roy's mawkishncss to tho artfui vivacity OF Mr.
Crocketts "Clog Kelly" Mr. Townscnds "Chlmme
Fadden." Mr.. Barric's Sentimental Tommy"
There is galaxy. and evolution. From Mr.
Day to Mr.. Barrie 1t is a long road which the Boy
has travelled.
lie became n spirit in "Thc Little Schoolmaster
Mark" Perhaps that Is the reason why 1t IL i'm
possible TO place MIR. Shorthousc among tho po-
tentlal fathers OF the Boy He. the author OF THE
Little Schoolmnster Mark" was too much OF "A
dreamer to send any tangible offspring into tho
world. Let conlnc examination to speci-
mems OF the concrete Boy. The thing is easier
said than done. however There Is hint OF
spirit about "Sandford and Merton" but neither
IS there anything upon which tho mind can lay
hold as humanity veracoui. The book has the ami
nation of "A collapsed balloon. once IL was inflated
by a sublime prggishness and Fed tho magma
tions OF "A million Boys. The argument as to Paul
Dombey's naturalness Is not settled yet. Some
there be who regard him as a masterpiece of
pathos Others put "b" where the ''p" ought To
20. At any rate he was better than Fauntleroy
who repeated Paul's pucrility without any Of his
quaintness. and added 'swcctness' that was sick
enng. He, fortunately is now dethroned. There
reigns In his stead the Imp. reigns Gavroche
Chimmie. Cleg. Dcky (him of the Jago). Tommy
thIm Of Thrums) The Boy. an whore is he?
For the present we are not closely concerned
with Victor Iiugos reply which spells mclodrama
nor with Mr.. Tow nsends. which does not wear much
better. And Cleg Kelly is-Cieg Kelly. a Boy But
Mr. Barrie gets his readers sympathies I'm hand
early In the account of Sentimental Tommy's ex-
traordnary boyhood. and his answer IL n matter
OF moment. Does II tell us anything about the
Boy? Shovel and Tommy. London and Thrums
confront another for the honor of their respcc-
tive towns. Here some fragments OF their de-
bate:
1.-The Thames Is in London no said" e. e..
Shovel.
"''Cos they wouldn't not have II In Thrums' re-
piled Tommy Il. e. BarricO
"'St. Pauls amt In Thrums'"
"It would like to be-" ditto. query).
After rejecting. Shovel said. in desperation
Well. then. my father were once at a hanging
Tommy replied Instantly. 1T were my father
what was hanged"
There speaks. more less. In that last re-
tort. the real Boy. Yet 1t Is because he Is
so Intermittent and ambiguous that We hesl-
tate to accept him at Mr. Barries hands as
Enthusiastically the genuine article. Examna-
ton Of this book a long conflict be-
confidence and scepticism. On page
Sentimental Tommy Is delicously himself. the i'm
mortal Boy. On the next he Is Mr. Barrie. trying
TO talk as he. Mr. Barrie. would be amused to hear
Sentimental Tommy talk The reader being OF Mr..
Barries own years 1t is odds that he. too. will be
hugely amused. But IL is also odds that he will
disn1Bs the book as. on the whole. of the au-