The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-28

Paul Bourgeois "A Divorce" is not a
cheerful novel. but surely the calmly
careless good spirits of a day are well
sacrificed for the sake of a period OF
deep thinking, says an eastern review
er. And to read "A Divorce" without
thinking deeply would be q feat diff
cult beyond the reasonable bounds of
imagination Especially in America
perhaps especially in ChicagO-shOuld
Its message be needed.
There Is much suffering in the book,
all Of it the natural. inevitable result
or Wrongdofng and mistakes-feW OF
the latter wiIlfully performed. 1t
teaches anew the stern lessons that re-
pentance and remOrSe are alike fmpOt-
ent to compass a later resurrection of
slain possibilities. hat the true wo-
manly nature must have faith upon
which to feed and the life
or the spirit, that the now ana then
forgotten or superseded law of lone
man for one Woman is of divine no
less than human origin, that the limo
cent must often suffer for as well as
with the guilty. And all this it does in
q so artistically simple. so
dramatically quiet, that only the dreary
ache left in the heart of the stirred
reader bears witness to the writer's
1orceful, unseeming skill.
Briefly. this is the story: Nine. AL
bert Darras, divorced wife of a living
scoundrel, for twelve years estranged
from the church, though bringing UP
the child of her second marriage in &C
cordance with church principles, finds
her own faith re-awaken at the time
OF the girls preparation for her first
communion. The awakening, however,
brings only misery, since for women in
her position the church has no place.
And the devoted second husband, high
prtncfplcd and exemplary, in all posi-
bic ways a second father to the son of
her first marriage. rigidly faithful to
his ante-nuptial promise to allow their
children to be reared as Catholics, Will
not, for reasons of conscience, consent
Tn an L1Rn1DGin Er1o 1F1a rr7a ga oven 0f-i
ter the death of the first husband. His
wife, therefore, cannot re-enter the
church.
Lucien. the son Of the first marriage,
has meanwhile learned to love a medi-
cal student of fine character, but with
an unhappy past, and the mother and
stepfather are anxious to prevent the
marriage. The heart is final
" all but broken by the ultimate sep
aration from her son, and the manner
in which he not altogether unjustly
compares her own position with that OF
the unfortunate Bertha de Pianat-
Whichever way she turns. and in spite
of the good intentions and passionate
devotion prevailing etwee nearly all
parties, lie sorrow and distress.
To do more than recount the main
points of the book would be impossible
here, but its wide reading could scarce
" fail of deepest benefit to many be-
cause of the convincing If repugnant
presented of the misery and
suffering almost inevitably attendant
the second marriage of divorced
and not childless individuals with liv-
ing first partners and of religious dts-4
union between husband and wife. The
close of the story begs the entire ques-
tion-for what way is there out of the
But it's serious consideration
save from similar sorrows some
otherwise might be engulfed-
Near h beginning Of 1.-The Law OF
the and" Emerson Hough's new
novel, occurs an amusing interview
between John Eddring, a claim agent.
and Colonel Blount, a southern planter
Of the old style. Before they proceed
to business they ak of juleps, and
Mr.. Eddring presents his credentials
in the form of a recipe for the south
ern drink
I'm our family" he says. 1--WE used
to have an old silver mug-sort of
plain mug, you know, few flowers
around the edge of it-been in the
family for years Now o take a
mug like that. and let it lie in the ice
box all the time, and when you take
it out, it's sort of got white frost all
over it. Now, my old daddy, he would
take this mug and put some fine ice
it. not too fine. Then he'd take a
little cut-loaf sugar. in another glass,
he'd mash 1t up in a little water
not too much Water-then he'd pour
that in over the ice. Then he would
some good corn whisky in till all
the interstices of that ice were filled
up; then he'd put some
The colonel, who has listened with
interest. asks, almost with a
gasp. whether the old man smashed
the mint.
"Smash it? I should say not. sir.
Sometimes, at certain seasons of thel
mint he might just sort of take a
twist at the leaf. to sort of release a
little of the flavor, you know. You
want to be rough with mint, you
Just twist it gently between
the thumb and finger. Then you set
it in nicely around the edge of the
Sometimes just a little powder
of fine sugar around the top of min
leaves. and them
But the visitor is suffered to say moi
the colonel rises. takes off his
hat and gravely welcomes him to his
house.