The times., 1898-02-06

| more good than all the problem novels
| on earth. Possibly, to a certain type
| of mind, a heroine who finds an apart
! ment of six rooms oppressiyely small,
| and of whom the author pensively OBJ
| serves, She had neither dressing room
| nor lady's maid, and something in Al
| mas constitution made it difficult for
| her to dispense with such aids to the
complete life''-possibly this sort of he
| roine may be to some people delight
| full creature. But that sort of mind is
| very much the sort which, in different
| sphere in life, reads rapturously such
| literature as this: 1.-The Lady Imogen
sank upon her purple velvet couch and
| called her maid FRANCHISE, to remove
the peach-colored satin trimmed with
jabots Of priceless lace and embroideries
| of seed-pearls. Her marble brow was
| sad and her unfathomable hazel eyes
| had an air. and so on, and so on,
| through innumerable pages and a se-
| quel. In fact, the Lady Imogen and her
/ Velvets and her laces may be even less
! mischievous than the complicated Alma
! with her luxuries and her caprices,
! since imitation lace may be bought
more cheaply than imitation experience,
| and the admirer of the Lady Imogen is
| likely to escape with nothing worse
| than a thin poeketbook. There is no
characterization in this sort of novel,
no plot, no incident; it is a dreary mon
otone, founded on disbelief in the in
herent good of human nature. 1t is the
outgrowth of sick society, in which,
as one of the male characters peevish-
ly remarks, Living nowadays means
keeping up appearances, and you must
do it just as carefully before your own
servants as before your friends. The
alternatives are, one general servant,
with frank confession of poverty, or a
numerous household and everything
CONNIE il faut. I think your determina-
ton to take care of Hughie yourself
was admirable; but 1T won't work.
Those two women think you do it be-
cause you can't afford a nurse and at
once they despise us. It's the nature of
the beast-its the tone of the time.
Nothing will keep them and their like
in subordination but jingling of the
purse. One must say to them all day
long, / am your superior; / can buy
you by the dozen, if need be; / never
need soil my fingers with any sort of
work. and you know it
The heroine in question ''dislikes the
touch of a menial; even submitting
with reluctance TO having her maid
dress her hair" Charming breadth OF
sympathy! Charming characteristic of
a lady, 1t is true, she is not held UP as
a model, but nobody in the book is. 1t
is simply a study of people in an es-
sentially artificial and unnatural con-
dition OF life, in which one very small
percentage has great deal more than
ii wants, on the condition that the rest
of society has little, or a great deal,
less than il wants; q condition of So
ciety in which one hypocritical con-
science can worry over the unwisdom of
telling a child fairy tales, and a cal
loused and unsympathetic conscience
can allow its owner To grumble over
having to take charge of two mother
less children deserted by their father, |
not because there was no money for |
their support, but because children |
are such a bother" 1t Is. In short, |
society in which trivial things are dis |
proportionately large, and trifiing dis |
comfort TO ones self outweighs lasting |
harm TO others, or the joy of having |
something useful and good to do. This |
cynical melancholia is common to sew |
eral English authors and some Ameri- |
can ones, nowadays, and it is time |
led the way TO more natural |
and happy style of fiction. The way
need not be retrogression, either. The |
world is learning new things every day, |!
things which make life better worth |
living, and there are enough of these
things TO light up most effectually the
shadows of pessimism. The business |
OF Il novel is not surgery; it is mental
healing: and however useful the prob
lem novel may be in its place, it should
manage to arrive somewhere if it is to
do any good. Meanwhile, there is room
for the novel which has plot. intro
duces the reader to some people worth
knowing, and twhile the problem |
novel cruises about in the fog) may be
i'll taking tired people to the
Islands of the BleSt'' New York: Fred |
erick A. Stokes Company. Washing