The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-05-02
BY. BEATRICE HARRADEN.

VIII am D0Xey, Palace Hotel Price $l 20.
. Jtis a.dreatv picture OF lie in the southern
portion OF this Sra1e that Miss Beatrice Harra-
. den has presented in her latest book, "HiIda
Strsfferd" whose su b.title is "a California
Story )" Though probably her most ambitious
. effort Miss HarrAden's story occupies but q
couple OF hundred small pages. In these she has
..ela boraled theme in the selection of viii n
" she has not been happy. Her story is abso-
iutely void of cheerful suggestion, and seen
through the eyes of her heroine, the life OF q
Iancher in California is miserable one in
deed.
The reader will naturally like to learn how
= GHilda Stafford" compares in point of liter
AIRY merit with its authors first successful
work, "Ships That Pass in the Night" For
answer il can be said that in the later book
there is ample evidence to indicate that Miss
20 Harraden has acquired quite degree OF finish
since the. publication OF her first work. The
novel belore~us is free from the faults OF the
beginner in. the art of writing fiction. Its
situations are less strained and there is greater
unity to the whole. Its ending, too is more
satisfactory, though, it must be confessed,
quite as gloomy as in "Ships That Pass in
the Night"
1t is well known that Miss Harraden came
TO California several years ago IN search OF
health She has resided Tor the main part in
San Diego ana vi cinity, and for that reason
as it is'lived in that part of California. Being
an Enghshwoman and an enthusiastic lover of
her native country, she has also noted The con-
dition- of the So called English colonies, whose
inhabitants are popularity supposed to have
little else TO do than 10 smoke particularly
long. pipes, play tennis and golf ana to be-
: stride the earth tastefuIiy attired in straw
hats and turned-up trousers. Here, one would
q think, would have been d good oppor tunity
for character drawing of q jolly order. But
. our author has taken another and less cheer
full pa rh. In "Hiida Stafford" she relates the
history of an English rancher One Robert
Stafford, whose experiences OF farming had
= been acquired at the expense of much dis
aster, at the opening of the story is awaiting
TIE arrival of his girl from the old country,
to when he is to be married. Robert is
doubtful OF the manner in which she will
lake to the new life, and his doubts are amply
justified by the course OF events.
The girl arrives and they are married.
Scarcely three weeks elapse before heavy rain
= comes on, and the carefully built reservoir on
the ranch, to the erection of which its owner
has given all his thought and most OF his
streng tn, bursts, and Robert STAFFORD is a
- ruined man. Then the true character OF the
girl he has married asserts itself. She evinces
notthe slightest sympathy for her husband in
h is trouble, merely occupying herself with
q thoughts OF her English home and the COM
forts~of the more civilized portion of the globe
whence, she came. Then she quite breaks
down. Turning to Overeigh, her husbands
closest friend and chum, she says:
.s'But why, why do people come here? What do
they find here to Ike? What do they get in ex-
cha ge for all they've lost? Why, in the of
heaven, did Robert settle in such place? Why
did you choose 10 come here? Are you gong to
70 :stay here ali your lives? ell what it all
means Tell me frankly and honestly whether
you care for your life here and whether you wou d
not throw IL up to- morrow, If you could"
II will tell you what it all MEANS" said Ben,
slowly; lit means that it's land and a life for
men and not for women. We men gain in every
PARTICULAR more small cerxships for US: no
More Imprisonment in arless offices: but out-of-
door freedom ana our own lives ourselves and
our own land. This is what 1t ali to u.s."
Here we have two views of life on Califor-
mia ranch by two persons of English birth,
and it is plain that the mans view is The more
philosophealy satisfactory of the two. Hilda
cannot see it in the same light. She answers
bitterly that. There are no compensations,"
and is told that there are none ''unless you
know how 10 love desperately" This she GER
tainiy does not know, and in a fit of despond-
ency states the TACT 10 her husband. He is
inexpressibly shocked al finding that all his toll
10 save enough to bring the girl out to him,
his labors on the ranch and upon the house
have gone for naught, and that, as she ex-
pressed 1t: I'll l were man | would rather
starve athome in my old career than cut N.Y.
self off from the throb and pulsation of fuller
life, and tomorrow will turn my face home
ward aud thank God that had freed myself
ct last"
Roberts face was ashen. Twice he tried to
speak and his voice failed him.
hen he said quietly:
Never fear, Hllda you shall have your free
dom"
He opened the door and passed noiseles sly out
Of the house.
That night Robert STAFFORD was stricken
with faint1ng fit, and Hilda's prayer for
freedom" is answered by the death of her
hus band. The book closes with the return of
the widow to England.
From the brief outline here furnished,
it viii be seen that Miss Harraden, speaking
through Hilda STAFFORD, has not much of a
" favorable nature to say about the advantages
that the portion of the State with which her
novel deals holds out to the prospective
rancher who halls from old and densely popu-
lated cen ters, and who may be accompanied
by q wife who has neither familiarity nor
sympathy with the conditions OF the more iso-
lated life of a new land. The great fault she
finds appears to be its loneliness and the
accompanying longing for q return home or
settlement in a more densely populated por-
ton of the country.
It seemS-a pity That Miss Harraden should
have been afflicted with a physical ana men,
tai unhealth which induced her 20 depict SO
gloomy a situation as that in which Robert
and Hilda STAFFORD found themselves. We
must assert our belief that Southern
California is not, especially in winter,
quite SO desolate a place as she would
have us imagine. The life on ranch
may not possess the attractiveness of resi-
dence in the city, but it cannot be doubted
that it has: its compeusations. In fine.
all Californians will find. in this book
of Beatrice Ha7Teden's matter for re-
greet that any section of our country
should have been exhibited from the strabis-
matte view of an invalid, who was evidently
not sufficiently familiar with conditions
In general, either in Southern California or in
other parts of the State, to properly depict its
life or TO select from its features such material
for novel as would rightly represent its
pleasures and its advan tages, even though they
might be mingled with the discomforts which
- are always incident to settlement in a new
land EMANUEL ELIAS
: ARTISTIC.