New-York tribune., 1901-10-13

understanding and compassion. Just so does
Che spirit of man in its mundane harness devil
ate in and out of the straight and narrow path,
now conscious of the still small voice, now deaf
TO it. and now in a curious state of ambiguity
TO whether. in Mr.. Hardy's memorable phrase,
the atmosphere is blowing from Cyprus or from
Gaee
Sister Teresa" opens with the heroine's
choice betwiXt good and evil practically made;
the is laid almost throughout in the con-
vent; but the souls conclusive ratification of
its own aspirations is long in coming, and even
at the last Mr. Moore wisely refrains from put
ung too obvious period to the story. Evelyn
remains herself, though she different
Name. There is no finer touch in the whole his
tory of her development than that which shows
her to at the end, with her voice broken and
the religious life accepted voluntarily, happily
yet with that aid from forces outside the scope
of her will which in her case ever was and
ever would be Indispensable, as it is for SO
many of the dweers in this begung world.
With the instinct of the true artist, Mr.. Moore
ftands apart and interprets Evelyn; he exhibits
her as in the hands of fate, not a puppet
whose destiny he himself has moulded. His in
telect acts like solvent upon the material he
has found in human life, clarifying it, making
it Ineligible and fascinating to the reader but
never forcing it to meet any theories preju-
diccs of his own. The calling of the novelist is
full of opportunities for sef-sacrifce. All along
the line he is tempted to adopt situations that
would diversity his plot and make it the more
popular; but if he is worth his salt he puts in
yention from him and goes for the situations
that logically belong to the soul whose ad-
ventures he has attempted to commemorate. |
Mr. Moore is worth his salt There is not false
note anywhere in the story of Evelyn Innes.
he owes this to the fact that he is resolute in
his search for the essential. He tells us much |
that at first seems trivial but presently one per-
ceives that he has mentioned nothing irrelevant !
that the subtle drama OF Evelyn's conflict with |
herself is being enacted in these pages as |
though without the Intervention OF any narrator |
at ala notable testimony to the reality of the |
woman, ii is to the authenticity OF her |
spiritual experience. There some more than |
painful passages in that experience some from |
which 1t seems almost pitiless to draw the veil. |
and in drawing it, may add the author has
only the edfcation OF mature readers In his
mind. "Sister Teresa" is not any more than
Evelyn Innes," book for children, who could
not understand its profoundly psychological i'm
port. But if Mr.. Moore is candid, it is with the
candor of absolute sincerity He deals with a
great theme and he treats 1t with high serious
noble feeling. We might touch at some length
upon the lighter elements in Sister Teresa"
upon the exquisite portraiture OF the nuns. upon
the dryly humorous handling of the private pol
ltics OF the convent, and upon the fine critical
insight with which, in Evelyn Innes" the
SUBJECT OF music is always approached But we
are always coming back to Evelyn herself. Her
personality fills the book, and ii is the kind of
personality that it is impossible to resist She
in bar
what a lesser novelist would have made her
merely morbid and hysterical. She has char
acter and ideas she has touch of genius
Her suHerings are those of living being and
IN suffering with her recognize the power of
a writer of sterling gifts. Mr. Moore has made
in Evelyn Innes' and Sister Teresa a con-
tribution to literature which can ONLY win
greater and greater honor as time goes on
FIGHTING PENNY DREADFULS