The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-11

semblance lived the Durgins, family
broken by consumption and poverty
as hopeless as their New England
farm was sterile When the story
opens all that remain of this family.
after death and emigration have done
their part, are the consumptive father
of sixty and the ccnsumptive son of
twenty-seVen, whose ages seem equal
lied by the same ravaging disease;
Jeff, the youngest boy, whose superb
vitality and almost brutal health ne
inherits, with other more undesirable
characteristics, from his mothers peo-
pie. and that mother herself, whose
handsome and rigid presence domi-
mates the book. Westover, an artist
from Boston, comes to paint the noun
tain and stays for few weeks at the
farm house. His presence suggests to
Mrs. DUrgin the possibility of sum-
mer bOarders and from this grows
eventually the Lions Head Hotel
and a worldly success that makes it
possible to send Jeff to Harvard. His
career there is extremely interesting,
throwing as it does an entirely new
light on college possibilities. At Har-
ward, Jeff maintains with really adj
mirable dignity the unenviable POSI-
ton of a Jay" subtle and elusive.
distinction which nevertheless is dis
agreeably real and concrete. His col
1ege career is of more Importance and
instruction to the reader, we believe,
than to Jeff himself.
1t cannot be said that at any time
Durgin develoPs-What he is he IS
from the beginning, from first to last
his potentialities are the same-nat-
ural and inherited; his maternal grand
pay
He is ambitious for the things Of
this world, therefore he acts circum-
specify in all that counts for material
profit and cares not at all for any
other standard, nor fears the result
Honor he simply does not know. He
is the incarnation of soulless success.
He reasons: prosperity and adver-
6ity, they've got nothing to do with
conduct. If you're a strong man you
get there, and if you're a weak man,
all the Righteousness in. the universe
went help you 1 shall be blessed #
look out for myself, and if l don't l
shall suffer for my want Of foresight
But I sha'n't suffer fer anything else"
Nor does he, the suffering, as is usual
with such people, is left to Others
while he attains his ends. Mr.. How
ellis hero is a BLACKBOARD, without
romance or glamour, without even a
1dHllty ItSeIlDldHce " the N1lIdllS VI
fiction. He is not meant to excite NOR
bid fancy, and yet there are times
when the reader regards him almost
with affection. Such is the power Of
Mr.. Howells that one is influenced by
this man exactly as are the people
around him; with old Whitwell one
says: 81 don't mean | don't like him.
I do; the fellows got a way with him
that makes me kind Of like him when
see him." and again: He may have
a knife In your ribs the whole while,
but so longs he don't turn it, you don't
seem to know it, and you can't help
Hiking him"
This liking, entertained by friends
and stran gers even under the most
adverse circumstances, which the read
er finds natural because he shares it,
is one of the main factors in Jeff's
final success, and this injustice is one
of the strongest elements Of realism in
o. realistic book.
The problem Of the Jeff Durgins is
rot new, though the material tenden-
cies of the present century and it's
blind pride in its apparent success
make it Of particular meaning to u.s.
@he Psalmist saw the wicked flourish
1ng like a green bay tree and was
hopeless; Mr.. EoWells can find no
poetic justice wherewith to condemn
his successful materialist. to justify
this just man, to confound the simple,
because none exists. But with this
one is content. 1t is justice enough
that the just man still lives and is
liable to recognize the wicked in the
midst of his flourishing and is not de-
ceived because Of it; while this re-
snains: Gods in his heaven-all's right
kTith the worlds" Nevertheless there is
8omething hopeless about "The Land
saord at Lions Head" which with all
ttts brilliancy and vitality leaves it's
tgeader overcast. It Is pervaded by a