Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-08
BOOK REVIEWS.
SOMEHOW GOOD. BY William DE NJ

BOOK REVIEWS.
SOMEHOW GOOD. BY William De Nor
gan. author of Joseph Vance," etc.
New York: Henry Holt & Co.
To the constantly increasing class with
whom a new book by William De Morgan
is pleasant event the fact that this is
the third volume that has appeared
within a year and half of his first may
arouse anxiety lest he be overwriting.
But the announcement is made that be-
fore he published his first novel he had
several others completely written and sew
eral others carefully sketched out. Even
were this not SO, one who reads
Somehow Good" could fail to discover
that it is, In some respects, the strongest
and most interesting thing that he has
done. 1t is his first novel dealing with a
question of moral complexity or with dra
matte or tragic events. The way in
which he has treated the difficult sit
uation involved in Somehow Good
proves that he has lost nothing of his
marked individuality in approaching one
of the most searching problems that can
occur in the relations Of men and women
The hero of the novel has been sep
arated from his wife under the most cruel
circumstances of betrayed trust. Years
afterward they meet again when the hus-
band has by a curious pathological con-
diton suffered a complete suspension of
memory or loss of identity. Under these
conditions the two are relinited, the man
stiu entirely ignorant of his past. The
plot deals with the gradual awakening OF
memory of the past, the part 1t plays in
the fears of the wife, and the final en-
lightenment which makes it possible for
the man to understand what. twenty
years before, the hot anger of his young
manhood made it impossible for him to
appreciate. The slow untangling of the
plot is managed with the skill of which
Mr.. De Morgan is master. when incident
is added to incident in the apparently
rambling and fortuitous manner of daily
life. The atmosphere of the book is light
cned by the personality of the daughter
whom the man grows to love. as. under
other circumstances, he could not have
loved her. 1t is through her deliciously
glowing personality as we'll as by the
signal service she is able to render him
at the end that the somewhat enigmatfc
title is made clear. ''Somehow Good has
been made to come out of the needless
waste of the years.
MIR. De Morgan has brought to his sub
ject a warmth of human sympathy and
comprehension of the higher issues of life
that bring the novel to a close with an in
effacable impression. He has been able 10
make, with marvellous delicacy, the SUBJ
tie moral analyses involved He has Sc
cured the sympathy of the reader for his
heroine even before the mystery of her
conduct is revealed. The book is an earn
est plea against the cruelty of conven-
tional standards and for the breadth OF
view that recognizes that evil may be
outgrown.
In spite of the grave questions involved
the general atmosphere of the story is one
Of sunny charm. The diction is marked
by the same pleasant RESPONSIVENESS, the
that has been so marked a feature of his
earlier novels The book is full of inter-
esting and vital personalities. The nero
is of a fine type. and there are Two lndl-
vidual and manly young lovers AS Tor
the feminine element. the mother and
daughter are merely the most appealing
of many. The matured and sincere
charm of the older Rosalind has its own
claim, and the winsome girlishness OF the
younger makes an appeal that is certainly
not less. but which the reader hesitates
to call greater. The mother and daugh-
ter stand out as companion figures of In
effable tenderness and beauty.
THE ANCIENT LAW. By Ellen Glas-
gov, author of 1.-The Deliverance,
etc. New York: Doubleday. Page &
Co.
There can be no doubt that this latest
novel marks an advance on anything that
Miss Glasgow has yet done. She has
struck the delicate balance between moral
purpose and art. the lack of which created
a certain crudity in some of her earlier
work. The theme is a compelling one.
The hero, Daniel Ordway, is marked with
that most ineradicable of all stigmas, the
prison stain. Acknowledging the justice
of his punishment. he is yet a man of too
great force to be crushed. and of too
great inherent righteousness to consent
to further dishonor. His imprisonment
has served to reveal to him the tendencies
of his former life; with extraordinary
clearness of vision he sees what his fu
ture course will be. With his determine
ton to find a new field for himself, he
comes into a small Virginia town. The
story of his privations and struggles. the
sition in the community. is an inspiring
one. His rise is conducted solely on the
lines of public service and selfessness.
Life still holds in reserve for him return
to the surroundings of his earlier life,
and there. in position of peculiar COM
plexity. he again finds the dignified, the
heroic way.
The novel is saved from undue didact
cism by the rich personality of the hero.
Thoroughly, intensely, humanity alive he