Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-27

than that about Naaman the Syrian. A
reference to the text, after reading
Of DR.. Van Dykes blouse of Rimmon,
shows how completely the half page
of narrative furnishes him this ma
terial for his poetic drama. There is
but little in the structure of the play
that is not provided by the chronicles,
save the almost obvious-now that DR..
Van Dyke has supplied it!-loVe motive
which makes a romantic story thor
oughly human in itself as we'll as serV-
ing the ends of edification. But even
in his pulpit days it is doubtful if the
author ever preached so eloquent a SER
mon from a sacred text as he has done
in this admirable piece. At least, mind
full of his professional evolution, the
sympathetic reader can hardly fail to
discover in this his latest work the
continuity of his controlling inspiration
The riches of the Bible are palpable to
him. Scriptural characters are real
and VITAL and the scriptural narrative
events significant and quite essential.
To him as not to another the Bible is
literature as well as dogma, a mine of
plenteous material-in brief, its value
actively realized instead of perfume
torily accepted ''as given and, In con-
sequence missed altogether. That is
the first impression 1.-THE House of
Rimmon" leaves-the richness and vi
tality as literature of the Book of
Books.
DIR. Van Dykes loyalty to his inspir
alton, moreover, not only testitieS to
it's value, but may be said in familiar
phrase to have brought him good luck
Not only has he found in the Scriptures
the framework for his drama, but his
happy treatment of it is almost in
exact terms the outward and visible
sign of the inward and spiritual grace
drawn from his traditions. Taking the
large lines of his plays conception and
execution, 1t is impossible not to see
them sketched, as it were, on the back
ground of distinctly spiritual and not
a merely intellectual habit of mind and
quality of thought. One feels in the
general drift and movement of the
action a certain note of that high
seriousness so cogently celebrated by
Mathew Arnold, directly ascriptible, one
imagines, to the practice of intelligent
searching of the Scriptures This
wonted mental condition and circum-
stance has stood him in good stead and
endued his work with a substance and
dignity easily lacking even to works OF
great charm and real power so far as
purely intellectual achievement is con-
oerned. 1.-THE House of Rimmon,' in a
word, is a poetic drama with a thor
oughly romantic core and a thoroughly
poetic envelope, but in addition to this
it Is EMBODIED in an atmosphere and
colored with the hues of an elevated
and noble instead of merely an attrac-
tive and sensuous imagination.
The House of Rimmon. By Henry
Van Dyke. New York: Charles Serb
ner's Sons.
Signora Sibilla Aleramo's novel, "A
Woman at Bay" (Una Donna), which
the Putnams have just published, is
written with the object of showing
one is almost tempted to say exposing
the position of an Italian married wom-
an of today both in the eyes of the law
and of society. A translation of this
story has just been brought out by
the Putnams. The author of it lays
bare with Photographic fidelity the life
of lone woman" a high-minded, intel
ligent and handsome woman, from
childhood to the moment when she
breaks away from the man who is her
master and by so doing surrenders her
child wholly to his vicious influence
This eliminating point of the story is
the rm-center around which whirls
most of the fury of discussion which
the book has aroused in Europe. Is
woman justified in sacrificing the
moral training and education of her
child for any motive however lofty?
Can any good, for the child, result
from such an act? The heroine be-
lieves that it can. The boy represents
for her the whole joy of living, to
abandon him in that manner is far
worse for her than death; yet she is
convinced that it is her duty to go,
that nothing could be SO harmful to
his moral nature as to grow up in the
midst of quarrels and domestic misery,
the ignoble counterfeit of what family
life should be.
Whether one agrees with this view
or no there can be no question of the
heroine's entire righteousness, her abb
solute conviction, and Signora Aleramo
presents her side of the case with ex-
traordinary power and vividness. AS
she happens to be a freethinker, the
question of religion, of duty as it is
taught by the church, does not enter
in further to complicate the situation
or, perhaps, to simplify it entirely.
Incidentally indeed, one is given the
impression that, in the provincial town
in which most of the scene is laid, re-
ligion enters very little into any situ-
alton. 1t would seem as though the
church had completely lost its hold up
on the conduct of the people, and the
glimpse that is afforded Of the standard