The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1902-08-23
+" A spEcKLHD BIRD. "

lished announcements main
subject Of Mrs. Wilson's latest
novel is not the South's cxpc-
Irience in reconstruction times.
The scene opens jnst after the
war and the reader is impressed
from time to time that the char
acters OF the story are living III re-
construction times or immediate.
ly succeeding those times, yet
these reference are but the dress
ing of the scene; The plot con-.
Germs not the suffe"ings of an ops
pressed people, but the. actions Of
a small coterie, the object of the
writer being to illustrate the
wol king Of a social problem.
A leading, character is Judge
Kerts q 'earpet-baager, who mar
EIdcs d Southern heircss. The i'll
repute of the judge with the hest
Southern people is well described
also the effect of his renutation
upon the social life of his lovely
daughter, Eglah, the heroine of
the story. There is also n conser-
yatiye and forci5ls passage des-
cribing the devastation of recons-
truction. The story, however,
does not concern itself long or in
timately with. these things. There
is something that the author
thinks more important and more
timely. The marriage of Judge
Kent and Maurice was necessarily
clandestinc. The judge could not
expect a PARENTAL blessing, aud
he never received it. The union
was short and unhappy, the moth
er dying at the birth Of the tiaugh.
er. The conflict between the fine,
Southern instincts of the daugh-
ter that came of this union and
the unrefincd, selfish and almost
brutal character of the Father, he
self-sacf7fice of the girl and the
man make up the bod, Of the book
We need not go into details, save
to say that the pictures of these
two stand out in q a,strong and, un-
pleasant as is their. relationship,
attractive light.
A side plot, associated with the
first, IS that Of Rev. Vernon Tenn
pie and Mona Dane his wife. Here
again wG, IRE shown The possible
distressing evil of n clandestinc
union. In his youth the young
son of a soldier met, .luyea and
married the daughter Of a camp
tcamster, but he was afraid to nc
Knowledge her, being under age,
aud the two were separated by un-
toward happenings. Abandoned,
the girl had to seek her own living
with tears and hardening of heart
but always with honest reputation
The boy, grown to be a man, ex-
hausts every effort in search for
his wife and when he finds her at
liiSt, she is 20 himaInusC repellant
intellectual pervcrt, while physi-
cally most lovely and attractive.
She has become an anarchist and
agltator. His child, he finds. has
not had sufficient nourishment or
healthful surroundings and is dy-
ing OF consumption. The child's
death Is the cross that is laid
upon the father as punishment
for his carly indiscretion; his
wifc's refusal to have anything to
do with him is yet another cross,
only lifted at the last moment at
the woman's death bed.
Plainly, therefore, the social
problem attacked by the novel is
the evil of secret marriage. There
y no preaching about it, however.
Hardly a word is said to point the
moral. The stofyis. .permitted to
tell itself and in its own wa,, and
he who cares to derive the lessen
can do so if so minded. If other
wise disposed he can read of THE
Spcckled Bird " as creature of
pure romance, struggling with
dual nature, in the midst of situa-
tions of unusual difficulty. He
will find a rich color in all that Mrs
Wilson writes. Her pen is dipped
in find dyes aud her word pic4
ture simmer as in the warm rays
of the summer evenings sun.
She is the true artist in rejecting
the perfect atmosphere Of the
SoHf. The giimpscs of the old,
aristocratic home, the associa-
tion of master or mistress and
the faithful colored servants;
the loyal dependents; the plenty:
the carelessnss as to details; the
general air of scontcntmpnt that
peryadcs time, place and charac-
ter, saturating the life of the
South and at the same time, Or
namenting it,-thcsc are the Jewels
that adorn the hook and will give
1t gracious welcome.
We do not say more. Some
thing of consideration must tc had
for those who love to mako their
own voyages of discovery into
fiction. Il ~