The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-13

In the points of style construction,
power and interest David Graham Phil
Ups new novel The DeIuge is far ahead
of his earlier efforts in the line Of ne
ton 1t is a story of the New York
stock market and by far the best thing
Of the sort that has been done OF re
cent years, when that sort OF thing mas
been rather oVerdone. From the hrsl
chapter to the last the book is one Of
absorbing interest. And yet there =
nothing particularly original in IT'S
theme but it is cIeVeriy handled and the
author has shown an uncommon facility
in expressing the character and view
point of his puppets by few ingenious
strokes.
The story is in the first person which,
frankly, rather prejudiced the WflteI
against it on the start The trst per
son narrative usually errs on the SIDE
of bOastfulness. lily concealed by
mask of humility This is an objection
which does not hold If the ] Of the story
Is ether than its hero or heroine Whel
the narrative may gain in intimacy aad
LONELINESS. A notable example Us tilal
excellent story of Robert Louis steven
SON the Master of Ballantrae. But m
The Duluge the boastfulness and self
laudation of the hero who tells the story
is not particularly offensive because ].
is so frank and open. Matt BlackIuck- =
who tells the story and about whom its
incidents TeVolve is an interesting ana
1keable example of the self-reliant self
sufficient capable and resOurcefuf Amer
lean fully aware of his own powers ana
possibilities and of his superiority to
the average run of mankind I'm the Hrst
chapter he says:
"Sorne one has written, 1t was a great
day for fools when modesty was mace d
virtue I heartily subscribe to thal-
Life means action; action means self
assertion; self-assertion rOuses all the
small cOlOrless people to the only sort
of action of which they are ble-to
sneer at the door as egotlstlcat YAM
cQnceited. bumptiOus and the like. 50
be it. I have an individuality. agrees
siVe. restless and like all such indiVldu-
aItities necessarily in the lime light; I
have from the beginning lost no oppor-
tunity to impress that individuality up-
on my time. Let those who have moth
ing to advertise and those less courage
Gus and less successful than L at adVeT-
fisement jeer and spit ignore theIn
7 make no apologies for egOtism- i think
when my readers have finished they
viii demand none. They will see had
q work to do and that I did it in the
only way an intelligent man ever tries
to do his work-his own way, the way
natural to him.
This paragraph furnishes the keynote
to the character of the hero which there
is no difficulty in discovering is modelled
q fter that of Thomas La WsOn. The story
is a story of Frenzied Finance with
love affair not without compelling in
Blackjack" is easily recognized as
younger. and i'm some respects more sue
cessful Lawson, and most of the
other characters in the story are the
mighty men of finance in New York
While the story deals principally with
the affairs of the street and the Stock
E,xchaCge II gives an occasional Hum
irabng glimpse at snObbiSh plutOcracy
and some of the comments on this phase
Of modern social conditions are worth
quoting
When a man has money and is Will
ing to spend it he can readily fool HIM
self into imagining he gets ON grandly
with women.
Despite all my years i'm New
York I was ignorant Of the elaborate So
cial distinctions that had grown UP i'm
its Fifth avenue quarter i knew, OF
course. that there was a fashiOna bic So
Ciety and that some of the most con-
spicuous of those in it seemed unable
to get used to the idea of being rich
and were i'm state of great agitation
over their own importance.
81 knew nothing of their care
fui gradatiOns of snobbism-the people
to know socially the people to know i'm
q busfress way, the people to know in
ways religious and phiianthropic, the
people to know for the fun to be got
out of them. the people to pride one
self on not knowing at all. the nervous
pess. the hysteria bout preserving these
disgusting gradations.
"I ne streak OF Sn0D is natural
to an human beings and most animals
The wholesale merchant looks down on
the retailer. the big retailer on the lit
tie: the burglar despises the pickpOcket;
the fnaneier. the small promoter; the
man who works with his brain. the man
who works with his hands. a silly lot
we are-silly to look down, sillier 10 feel
badly when we're looked down upon. ."
Naturally enough people who have
always been used to everything become,
idnconsciously, monsters of egotism and
selishness; it is natural too. that they
should imagine themselves liberal and
generous if they give away occasionally
something that costs them. at most,
nothing more serious than the foregoing
Of some extravagept luxury
You're the sort of man who.
IF woman cared for him, or even
showed friendship for him by being
frank and human and natural with him,
he'd punish her for it by-by despising
-Mulholland' said L what do
you think of this business of living?'
"T'H tell you, said he. I used to fuss
and fret good deal about it. But I