The times., 1897-04-04

The took Of last week and of several
weeks past and several weeks to come is
doubtless Gertrude Atherton's ambitious
novel. Patience Sparhawk and Her
Times, from the press OF John Lane. The
volume is rather forhidding ut first. IthaS
the Cumherscme quanttative quality which
suggests u more convenient division into
two, OF even three volumes, and who today
reads the three-y ulume novels of our
great-aunts? However, once the plunge
ismade intot lirSt few pages, the reaction
sets in. quantity becomes a virtue and
an cuucement instead of an impediment
A glance at the dediCatory note deter
mines Tile serious purport of the book, the
eNperirucc of the first few pages is that
the author realizes Well This expert
euce ulultiplios with the pages and tile
irresistible Judgment at the end is that
a great novel has been written.
In acdicatnng her book to lauI Bourget
Miss Atherton notes that he alone, of
all foreigners, has detected, in its tul
Significance, that the motive power, the
coheriug force. the ultimate force of
that strange composite known as the
= American, is individual will
That this extraordinary Self-dcpendence
and Independence OF certain traditions that
govern older nations, make the qnintessen-
tiai part OF the women as of the men OF
tuls race I have endeavored TO illustrate
III the following pages.
The story uf Patience Sparhawk seems
to hc tie evolution of a character depicted
by a scutient analyst. In reality it is
tie synthetic invention ana composition
.,saI rINsaF "a .f
the one in the other, With the reality Of
the sub iect dominant, is oneOf thetriumphs
OF the work
Patience is introduced child OF fifteen
living ia California. She is distinguished
from other children about her bya nervous
energy. "a bit OF Yankee in her, ana hy her
mother. VINO is drunkaTd. The child car
ries hci-glr>uperiur t. her environmentsand
battle, down the adversitieS of early cir
ci.nt>y:rrr. FuU the fiction strengthens
the fIbcr> Of her character. She is not
preyuCuuS. she is not agrcSslvcly any
thing. sn. is passive; sire is forehCdingiy
subtle Miss AtneTton has made a master
piece OF TINS first part Of her novel, the
first awaEugs OF her heroine ; inherent
sui5tIeI .es and frallties under the sun Of
experience
Tneu >hcis tai away from her narrow
world Bguu,ica by the fUU>t-bankcd hills
ana 1.-The sea in lis relentless rebellion
against thsS conven uunal war with a pas
sIve foe" She Is deposited in a new world
on the banks of the Hudson. III a town su-
bUrhau to New York Anithc a sweeter,
q newer. "a stranger, ami, withai. "a sterner
life Unf0ldS itself L. her. This Is the real
novel &, which the years in the valley Of
N auteray was Jhe poem. The pleasures and
pains and questions Of social and moral
life coLfr nj Puu"ngg ana She meets Them
enjoys their -DrTJwS- Sometimes but battles
them ana rises from JIial and experience
with i new knowledge ana anew strength
ana a ncw independence, which she wots
not OF. but possesses. and whereby she is
sustained
Patience Sparhawk is great character
She is truthful to possible reality; in
fact. she is the composite of the SundryeX-
periences. which many of her readers will
bring in testimony; and she is sustained
throughout as the embodiment and the
idea. + not the ideal, OF that elemental
and fundamental trait, which Paul Bour-
get credited TO the American character,
individual will Ii SuS1ainS her in the
most tragic trials.
Whether the book is approached from
tie standpoint of reader or critic, and the
two should be convertible terms if, IN
happily. they are not. it stands a great
work II SeizeS upon the readers atten-
ton. AMI its fidelity to IN absorbing
character, moving in an absorbing story,
sustains attention to the very last In
the colder light Of specialized merits it
fulfilIs the veriest askings OF the de
1nands upon contribution TO literary
perm1neucv or the American novels of
tie past twelve months Miss Atherton's
Patience Sparhawk'' VIII hold place with
'Kiug Noanett.'' near pre-eminence, and
far from any contesting second.