New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-27
Nr. HoScelIs's Dream Of a Land
of Happiness.

sion svo PIP. xii Do Harper & Bros.
THE MASTER OF STAIR ,,l Ry Marjorie Bowen.
.,r-rTTO COMEDIES. BY Israel Zangwiu. l2uoo
pp 4S7. The Macmillan Company.
NEW CHRONICLES or REBECcA. BY Kate
Douglas WigEsiin3. Illustrated l2nlo, pp. 277
THE NOVELS AND STORIES OF IVAN TUR-
GENIEEZF ITsnslSted from tho Russian by
ST1arles ScTibner's Sons.
The novel with a purpose. the novel with TOO
ANXIOUS moral. is commonly supposed to have
worn out its welcome a long time ago. But
hook like Through the Eye of the Needle"
r,srns US against attaching too much impor-
sance 70 these easy congratulations. Mr. Howells
rrriies with a purpose on this occasion He has
an unmistakabe moral TO enforce But he does
she trick so well that we welcome his new book
rs one OF the pleasantest things in current ac-
ton II does not matter that il has only the
slightest claim To be recognized as n novel The
main point is that the author presents his sa-
tire and his philosophy with the artfulness q
an experienced teller OF stories and makes his
work from beginning TO end. amusing. The tale
Is divided into two parts. In the first of these
Mr. Aristdes Homos. a vsito- from the Al
trlrian Commonwealth, obsei YES the manner in
which modern New Workers live. and makes his
comments the subject. Before he gets
through his Investigations he has fallen I'm love
with rich woman. and in the second part We
watch her experience in adapting herself. as
his wife 20 the customs Of q land in which
money is unknown.
The simplicity OF Mr.. Howelrs satire upon our
latter-day civilization is one OF its brightest
virtues He does not labor a point He does
not try 10 be witty about it, He simply describes
facts, and somehow in the mere straightfor-
ward describing of them, he exposes their fun
have achieved by any deliberately humorous
method When Mrs Makely. one Of the New
Workers in the book, speaks to Homos about
having stored her furniture, the poor man balks
at the phrase. She explains as follows:
Oh. dare say you never store your furniture in
Altrura. But here have hundreds Of storage
nifure thar people put into them when they so TO
Europe. or get sick 10 death of servants and
the whole bother Of housekeeping: and that what
did: and then, my husband says. We browsed
about ior year or Two FIRST we tried hotelling
dined the hotel table. until I certainly thought
should 80 on, sol so trea oi H. i1en we
there are so many Of, and got enough Of our
rooms they let you do that for the price.
rotten they glad 70 have YOU. for the dining
room is so packed. But everything got TO tasting
Just the same as everything else. and my husband
had the dyspepsia 50 had he couldn't half attend 10
49, sIrsdst died. and fnaii We gave tlat M and
took a apartment. and got out things-the
storage cost as much as the rent Of a small house
and put them into il, and had send in the
meals as they do In Europe. But il isn't the same
here Il is in Europe. and we got so sick Of IL IN
a month that thought should scream when
saw the same old dishes coming on the table, day
after day. We had 10 keep one servant-excuse
Mr. Homos; domestic-anyway, 10 look after
the table and the parlor and chamber work and
my husband said might Well be hung for
sheep as lalnp, ana 50 We eol IN a coos anu
bad as II Is. it's twenty million times better than
anything else YOU do. Servants are plague
but you have got 10 have them, and SO have re-
signed myself the viii Of Providence If they
as broad as it's long have found tits is favor
lte phrase OF Mrs Makely's, and II seems TO give
her good deal Of comfort
There is a kind OF eloquence in this passage
There is a world OF meaning between the lines.
Is there a New Yorker who could read # with
out a certain rueful sympathy? Mr.. Howells
lightly touches many of the troubles that New
York flesh is heir TO. but he knows when 10
stop and Just as the reader begins TO feel that
he has heard enough Of our social WEAKNESS and
absurdties he is carried of to AltruTia, and is
there delighted with picture of what is not,
after all an impossible form Of existence. It is
true that AIr. Howells evades some difficulties.
The Altrurian method Of disciplining a muir
derer by turning him loose TO expiate his crime,
through philanthropy. is justified on the as
sumption that only jealous rage could produce
murder in the land. In Altruria there can be
no other rnurderers People cannot kill here
murder IN capitallstic countries, as well every
other kind OF crime" But, one does not need TO
argue about this. It is wiser 10 take Altruria
as one finds it. for the sake Of the broad ideal
that reigns there, an ideal OF wholesome in
duEtry. plain living and unmeasured loving
Kindness. Mr. Howes has dreamed dream,
and, like all dreams. il is likely TO meet with
Indifference among hard headed people who
pride themselves on their practically" But
no one imagines that the author Of this book
has any idea Of making mankind over and per-
suading it 10 live in a kind OF fairyland. His
purpose. we believe. is simply TO set men think
ing in the right direction; TO help them to see
where their lives are wrongly managed and may
be corrected by little ideality. Through the
Eye OF the Needle is a sort of romantic par
able Il should prove the more effective mas
much It is very amusing.
The Master Of Stair is clever bit OF fc-
ton fun of movement and color, and put to-
gether with surprising adroitness. In one re-
spect at least it is notably better than The
Viper Of Milan" Miss Bowen's first book Law
ishly furnished. as that story was, with pict-
uFesQue episodes IL is nevertheless AL OF
piece" with loose ends disturbing the reader
only az rare intervals. These defects in the
work occur where questions of character are TO
the fore. The women in the book especially fan
short Of quite persuading US to believe in them.
but the story, a story. is fairly coherent. and
Il Is undeniabIy absorbing. Built Up around the
massacre Of Glencoe, Il is deftly embellished
with incidents ana personalities drawn from
ne iurbid annals OF Scotland, and so ingenious
y does Miss Bowen handle her fabric that she
eKcites our sympathy. as with the appeal OF
pure romance. II we rebel at all il is against the
excessively lurid atmosphere of the book. This
s. indeed a perfect illustration Of the refined
ssns2uonalism which. on the surface. would
appear 10 have nothing IN common with the