The times., 1898-11-20
The Letter and the sptr,t.

| most striking development in the
| fiction of the last ten or fifteen years is
the marriage novel. OF course. all novels
from time immemorial have either begun
| or ended at the altar. English novels
are said to do the latter, French novels
the former. But the particular type of
novel designated above discusses mar
! riage in the abstract and the concrete
| 1t is always written by woman. and
almost always abused by critics as i'm
moral. Then it is read by the great pub
! lie. and the timid promptly follow the
| critics while the independent discuss the
| book solely on its artistic and ethical
merits
| Examples of this novel are neither very
numerous nor very few. Among them
| are. first and foremost, The Heavenly
Twins then Philip and His Wife"
1.-The Beth Book" Through One Admin
istration." Barbara Dering" East An
gels and small but significant harbin-
ger of early days, Louisa Alcotts first
book, Moods" The problem is in nut
shell:
rs it right for married couples to con-
tinue living together when love on one
| or both sides has ceased TO exist?''
OF course the theory in the old-fash-
| ioned novel was that love always did con-
| tinue in the case of well-meaning people.
| especially on the woman's side. The un-
| fortunate fact in everyday life is, as ev-
| eryone knows, that II sometimes does
| nothing of the kind. The plot in the ma
jority of the latter-day books is the same:
| young girl marries, while still mex
| perienced, man for whom she has a
| girlish fancy. She has always expected to
marry some day. and her ideal is vague
and adaptable enough to fit almost any
| decent young fellow. Later in life she
| awakens to the fact that she has married
the wrong man, and she begins to con-
slider the question whether 1t is right for
her to continue to live with him in SEM
blance of true marriage. This plot has
been worked out in many differen;
ways as there are novelists who have
handled it. The latest example of the
| type-and one of the best-is THE Letter
and the Spirit" by Cora Maynard. 1t
comes very near being great. and is GER
| tainly good work from an artistic point
of view.
The phase of this problem most fire.
| quently treated is that in which the wife
| unconsciously outgrows her husband,
keeping her high and pure ideals while
he loses whatever he may have had This
does happen occasionally in real life,
though not as often as foolish folk may
| think. The struggle of a sensitive, high
natured, generous woman to adjust her
| self to this situation is one of the most
pathetic things in the world. and it is
no wonder that to a woman novelist 1t
| proves fascinating theme, for only she
| can treat it with adequate comprehen-
sion. The man novelist seldom attempts
it. or, if he does. he either condemns the
woman for her disloyalty in presuming to
outgrow her husband, or lodges the main
| issue. One of the worst instances of the
| latter treatment was THE Prisoner of
| Zenda," which inculcated the outrageous
| doctrine that it was more honorable for
| q woman to marry a man she did hot love
than to break a pledge given in igno-
| rance.
The author of 1.-The Letter and the
Spirit faces the question fairly, without
exaggeration. Her heroine. Betty Worth
| ington is a high-spirited, talented, gen
| erous lovely and lovable woman, and i'm
| presses the reader as vividly as a real
| person. She marries a man who is SIM
| ply human animal with touch of soul.
| He is rowdy, and, when put to the test
cad. About half through the book she
| meets Walter Durant, who has married
| Pharisaical shrew under the impression
| that he is getting a Madonna. The at
| traction between the two mismated crea-
| lures Is instantaneous ana strong, ana
| from that time on every chapter is tense
| with strong sentiment To many people
| the book will seem too emotional and its
| idealism too severe or too much mixed
| with sentimentality. 1t may be safely
| said that five out of ten of its readers,
| and eight out of ten of the general pub
| lie, would dislike it. The rest will like II
| immensely. 1t is not a book on which
any neutral opinion is possible; it is eth
| er admirable or detestable. As literature
| it has the faults common to writer's thor
| oughly and intensely in earnest, a semi
| occasional lack of perspective, and a
sledge-hammer blow here and there when
| lighter stroke would do as well. The
triumph of the heroine as a singer has
| its good points, but is not strong enough
as climax. The interest of the book is
psychological, and the last chapter is a
| trihe STACEY for perfect art. The very
last pages. describing the day spent by
| the lovers in 1.-The red cottage" are
| charming and might be elaborated to ad-
| vantage. New York: Frederick A.
Stokes & Co. Washington: Ballan-
| tyne's)
| "In the Cage.o
Henry James has always possessed in
a marvellous degree the faculty of paint
| ing elaborate pict,res nm a s11rface about