The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-13

feminine characters in American literature.
1t is doubtful if he ever again does quite
1 as good work as he has done in this latest
novel
Selma is the American woman who has
a career and believes in 1t, also in herself,
| also in the God-given power of the aver
age woman to achieve things without any
| training, and sail on triumphantly to a
heaven designated destiny, with or with
out the assistance Of man. She begins her
variegated career as the wife of varnish
manufacturer in small Western city. She
appears on the last page as the bride Of a
Governor and Senator elect from the Mid
die West. and between these two points
! in her history she marries a struggling
young architect Of idealistic proc,ivit,es,
who dies of her, to put it plainly. The
brief and pathetic story of her life with
this second husband is perhaps as good an
Illustration of the vampire type of vir;u-
Gus womanhood as could be found in liter
ature or life. Wilbur Littletcn, on dis
covering the true character of the wife
whom he has believed united with him in
all his loftiest aspirations, is literally
killed by the experience Of seeing at last
she could never know why. and could not
understand" The story is not at all an
impossible one. Given visionary youth
with Chivalrous impulses and an almost
girlish purity of mind, and a woman, how
ever common and selfish her soul, posses
ing the face of "a worried archangel,' as
Mr.. Grant expresses it; put the two in
tempting juxtaposition, under the night
circumstances, and marriage is inevitable.
So is disillusion. In this case, so was the
death of the injured one.
There is not slipshod bit of work In
the book. but perhaps the best of the por-
to, oil iC hat
of her third and most successful and sat
isfactory husband, James o. Lyons, di-
vorce lawyer, politician. Representative.
Governor, and finally Senator from his
State-largely through the assistance of his
wife. The chapter in which the advent of
the guileless couple into Washington So
ciety-at a Presidents recepton-is de-
scribed is one Of the most delicious in all
Washington literature. 1t tempts one 10
venture the prediction that Mr.. Grant. il
he chose, could write an excellent Wash
ington novel. which is not by any means an
easy thing to do. But if he can handle
with such amazing skill material gathered
far from mis- native heath-that is, New
1ork-and reproduce accurately the atmos-
phere Of small, new, raw Western city,
perhaps he would be equal to dealing with
the multiplex and Kaleidoscope life of the
Capital.
Inc most remarkable tnlnS ABOUT tnIS
book. however. when all is said and done,
is the knowledge Of a certain type Of FEM
mine nature which the author shows. The
character which he has chosen TO portray
is one which is extremely difficult to ham
die. without going to an extreme which will
make II a burlesque. 1t is still more diff
cult to understand. The psychology OF
such 4 woman would be sealed book to
the average masculine writer. but some
how or other this particular man has read
II easily and correctly. He has avoided
any sort Of extreme. and yet he has not
been tame in the least. There is saving
quality Of humnr even in his severity. He
keeps the reader smiling With an in
stinct truly artistic he refrains from al
lowing the divine Justice of the novelist
to come down on the head of his self-seek-
ing. self-conscious. pompous absurd lit
tie leading lady. She plays her part to the
end without one suspicion OF her real char
acter. and when the curtain goes down. she
is proudly acknowledging the plaudits of
the multitude as tributes to her well-earn-
ed success. The book as whole is on an
entirely different plan from that of THE
Damnation Of Theron Ware" but really.
Selma Lyons is as distinct an individuality
as the luckless minister. The book ought
to have wide circulation as a missionary
tract. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. s1.50.)