New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-04-29


too late that she and her husband have profited.
IN so far The ToUchstone" breaches SER
mon against posthumOus betrayals Of great
authors it is a creditable book. and
swallow the bad taste that it leaves in the
mouth Otherwise it is Of dubious value. Mrs.
Wharton is still under the thrau of Henry
James, and, though little less obvious in
her emulation Of his mannerisms than she was
in her first book, she remains devoted 10 some
of his least admirable literary practices. one
felt" she says of Of her persOnages, that
if she had been prettier she would have had
emotions instead of IDEAS 1t the kind
of a book that makes elderly ladies lower their
voices and call each other my dear when they
fUrtiveIy discuss it." NO woman who does not
dress well intuitively viii ever do so by the
light of reason" Genius is OF small 10 i
woman who docs not know how to do her hair'
Shallow epigrams like these, easily manufac-
tured. are in the long run only irritating Mrs.
Wharton would do well to abandon them, 70
cultivate more original and robust style, and
/ to bestOw on worthier themes the native ability
which may be discerned beneath the rather dis
appointing work in The Touchstone'
The romance of the circus when it makes its
way into fiction commonly brings with it the
noise the crude emotions and the cruder c0lors
which lie on the surface of that form Of public
entertainment. Most authors dealing with the
theme make much of the smell of the sawdust
and the bray OF the band, trusting to these and
| kindred matters to revive the glamour which in
youth invests the circus for most of US. Mr.
Barry in "Mademoisene Blanche" changes all
this. and, without sacrificing the special atmos-
phere which every reader is bound TO recognize,
| he Identifies his romance with far subtle
and far more poignant issues. His heroine is i
! true type of her profession, born TO her work
and with character nodded by it to a certain
| extent. Yet if her particular achievement a
! backward plunge from a great height into a net,
gives her Importance in her world and in
/ her lovers eyes. the thing that detaches her
| from her surroundings and makes her expert
ence fit material for a novel is her share in the
! human passion which puts acrobats and all
other mCrtals much the same plane The
story of her love for Jules lie Baron and her
marriage leads up to a dramatic climax. The
/ book closes on scene appropriate TO circus life
! and felicitous in its rounding out OF the plot.
The important point, however is that the last
moments in the career of MademoseIe Blanche
really mark the elimination of a tragedy which
| from the beginning develops out of perfectly
! natural causes out of her nature a. well
out of her walk in life The book is a delicate
piece of writing, the first merit Of which IS
certain artistic restraint. The obvious traits Of
. the various types introduced touched upon
lightly if ALL and both the acrobat and her
unworthy husband are portrayed with insight
into their Obscurer qualities, she with wistfuI
refinement and tenderness belying the glare and
publicity OF her nightly task, he illustrating a
/ selfish materiasm overlaid by a curious en-
/ thusiasm not wholly devoid of finer elements.
The mans attitude toward his wife in her per
| sonaI character and in her capacity as acrobat
is studied with illuminating touches that throw
light on some aspects Of the artistic temperd-
ment in France. The pathos in "MademOisele
| Blanche" is manly and sincere, materially
STRENGTHENING an interesting novel
Mr.. Jacobs writes such droll short stories that
we looked for something laughable, at any rate,
in his first novel "A Master of Craft" The
vinces US that the author is i'll at ease with
this form of fiction. In his short stories he is
/ spontaneous and he is funny that are
willing to take an interest in his humble water
men "A Master of Craft seems forced. and
the characters in il become wearisome. II gives
in short too much of the authors favorlte ma
terial It is to be hoped that, having tried his
hand at a novel and witnessed its publication
he will revert 10 the brief, comic tales, in the
writing of which he has won deserved success.
Fec is an extraordinary yarn about
opera singer who is beloved by Austrian
prince and goes through divers alarming adven-
lures before the happily united II is
fabricated of exaggeration, melodrama and a