The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-04-18
GERTRUDE ATHERTON'S BOOK.


~ The BodIey Head For sale in this City by VIII
; liam Do1ey Palace Hotel. Pr.ce 81 so.
-. If a text were required upon which to base q
review of Mrs. Gertrude Atherton's latest work.
Patience sparhawk and Her Times, )" it might
he found in the opening chapter of the Second
Book of Samuel: How are the mighty fallen"
Three times is this sentence repeated in the
Scriptures in as many verses, as If to give
cmpha siS to the sentiment, and In like m amer
. might il here be thrice repeated as Califor-
Man expression of disapproval at the turn
which its native daughters genius has most
UNEXPECTEDLY taken.
Let it be said. in beginning, that all resi-
\ dents of this State possess the highest sense
of admiration for the work done by Mrs Ath-
erton in her earlier efforts. A bit of fiction to
equal THE Pearls OF Loreto' has never been
written. It was an ideal of what short
story should be. It's dramatic quality made
IN aniiest in every line, its brilliant and accu-
rate local coloring, its admirably sustained IN
terest from the first page TO the last, its we'll
circumstanced situations, all com bined TO eX-
cite the enthusiasm of lovers of good Htera-
ture. Can more thrilling situation be
conceived than that described in 1.-The Pearls
OF Loreto' where De la Vega, for love OF
pretty face, enters the sanctuary to rob It's
shrine OF priceless string of pearls and is
discovered in the act by its priestly guardian?
We can almost hear the hoarse cry as uttered
by the yiolator OF his faith, can see the
cowlei head, with thin lips drawn over yellow
teeth, furious eyes burning deep 10 withered sock
cts projected on its long neck from the Virgins
right and confronted him.
Thief" Kissed the priest "Dogi Thou wouldst
rob the church? Accused! accursed?'
There was not moment for hesitation, one
alternative Before the priest could complete
his maledictiOns De Ia Vegas X ife had flashed
through the fire of the cross. The priest leaped
from his feet then rolled over and down, and re-
bounded from the railing of the sanctuary.
And Immediately following there is the
scene where Ysabel, the star OF Monterey,
having been informed OF her lovers sacrifice
Of tis soul TO crafty her within, re-
nounces her faith in like manner TIL at
night she entrances the Monterenos by her
dancing OF Fl Son, appareled gorgeously
and displaying her ill-gotten jewels. In the
whirl of the feast enters friar, who announces
the assassination of his superior De Ia Vega
and Ysabel stand accused. The assembled
caballeros have their hands upon their swords.
but are restrained by General Castro, who
Urges the laws OF hospitality.
Never mindr cried the friar. ''You cannot
protect him from that. Listen"
H ad the bay risen bout the custom-house?
\ "What is that?" demanded Castro sharply.
! The poor of Monterey. those who love their
cross better than the arstocrats love their caste
:shey know
-DS Ia vega caught 1SaOel IN his arms ana
dashed across the room and corrid or. his knife
cut long rift in the canvas, and in a mo ment
:they stood upon the rocks. The shreking crowd
We're on the other side OF the custom house.
Marcos" called to his boatman.
No answer came but the waves Juggling at the
. rocks two feet below them. He could see
mot hing The fog was thick night.
:: "He is not here. Ysabel. We must swim. Any
thing but 10 be torn to pieces by these wildcats.
Art thou afraid?"
: "No " she said.
He folded her closely with one arm and felt with
his foot for the edge Of thu rocks. A wild roar
came from behind. dozen pistol shots were
fired into the air. De la Vega reeled suddenly
az shot Ysabel,' he said, b s knees bending
"Not in this world, my lover
She wound her arms about him, and dragg
himto the brow of the rocks hurled herself out
ward, carrying him with her The waves tossed
them on high, flung them against the ROCKS and
ground them there playing with them like lion
with Its victim, then buried them.
Then in the Dooms woman we recognized
msster-hand in the art of descriptive writing,
good specimens of which are to be found in
many of its chapters. Oh, the pity of it that
so talented and versatile writer should lave
fallen victim TO the prevailing cry for sensa-
tionalism-a cry emanating from the gutter
and fostered in newspapers OF the new Jour
nalistic kind. To appreciate the depth of the
fall 1t is necessary TO consider Mrs Atherton's
talent as manifested in her first books in Its
relation to American literature.
In her short stories she has shown that she is
thoroughly posted regarding early Californian
traditions legends and supersutions She has
written of these in a manner most attractive
She has described TO us old Monterey, with its
missions, its wonderful expresses, its bay and
its adobe houses. Around these and upon this
stage she has assembled figures. puppets IN her
hands, yet full OF that breath OF lie so essen
tial to well-written narrative. She has had
lat her beck all the elements which go to make
California absolutely the most fertile field for
Y novelist. Till she broke the ground, and
even till to-day, there has no novelist arisen
capable of properly ire eating so vast a subject.
Many of the initiated even promised that it
would be Gertrude Anterior who would write
the Great American Novel which has not yet
seen the light of day.
And in reference TO this last proposition
viewing the ground upon which she had
to work and her adaptability for it's cult
walton, Californian might think so, too.
The land of the Dona and the Caballero
of the Vallejos, the Castros, the Alvarados
and the Arguellos would surely appear to
possess as many possibilities as Rufus
Choates New England to produce the Great
American Novel or series of novels. In
view of these facts, undoubted and undis-
puted, what has Mrs. Ather ton done of re-
mark BILE character since the publication of
her short stories? Nothing, except sell her
birthright-the field of California roman tic
fiction-for the mess of pottage offered by the
devotee of the erotic novel and of sensation al
journalism. As a result, given "Pc-
1ience Sparhawk and Her Times" clever in
its way, caustic, epigrammatic specifically
attractive, and treating of that type of New
York woman described as ga marble statue
with snub nose," who is 'Irisky'' and
'larky," and who. in default of more sub
stantial wager, "bets her hopes of a tiara"
How are the mighty fallen!
Mrs Atherton dedicates her book to Paul
Bourget 'who alone of all foreigners has de-
tected in its full sig nificance that the motive
power the cohering force, the ultimate reli-
gion of that strange composite known as The
American is Individual Will" II, however,
Mrs Anterior intends to translate "Individ-
ral Will" into "intense self-reliauce" she is
most empaatically wrong in thus singing
out Rourget as the only man who has
Itoted this characteristic OF the people Of
these United States Hence why should poor
tBourget be thus d distinguished? Neverth eless,
"Patience sparhawk" begins well. Once
again We are transported to the cypress groves
OF Monterey. We are made to inhale the odor
of the pines, to hear the roar OF the surf But
there the resem blance to Gertrude Atherton's
earlier stories stops.
No more do gayly attired caballeros wait
40 more are pictured the gorgeousiy attired