New-York tribune., 1909-06-12

t5-lSS-lN- -%44l'r ls- -
Company
THE Glass HOUSE BY Florence Morse Kings
ley illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens
I2rno. pD sl2- Doad. Iead & Co
1ovc AMONG THE CHICKENS a Story q Of the the
Bv P @ Wodehouse. Illustrated pg AT9and -n1,;,3
Both. lzrau. Pr Il. $40 The Iir''e F""'''''''@
Company
T; s21TAET q Z 6arha ARM R5 6Sm3an5 Es6G@s hume -
,,,-. c.,osgo,,.s new novel has nothing what
ever sensational about It yet it very soon gives
.,,a ro.5o- something like shock Il Is
shool, Of surprise II there IS one conN e''''ol,
MORA than another cultivated by the writers u
e.+-,a-r s+or3,s it IS that which identlheS li'e
hero with, southern chivalry" and aii me Ia
r,fiar nronerties Of romance which go WIN ~
Miss Glasgow has had the courage 10 seeN
hero in the stratum Of that pore "i'l'e
which is supposed in fiction. II any"heI = -
-,,s,. ;,,nossihle The experiment Is obviously
dangerous but It has proved successlui III ''i''
case and perhaps the more successiui Oeoa
,,,e su,bor is vigorously true TO her idea wher"
she must have been sorely tempted 70 uo i VIZ
,eroe Indeed. her motive threatens 10 get out
Of hand almost at the outset. the earllr oe'elop-
,,en+s OF E3en STAIRS character rather stralnlhg
,,aa,,l,t,,- rut Miss Glasgows good sense re-
Gains o,trol before IL IS too late, and the closing
c,,an-ers Of her story are the most convincing
Of su They are very nfelike where the hIs'
mart of the book suggests things invented IN
stead Of things seen.
Re, Starr sc the son Of shiftless II not quite
cf7ag-scterless parents and his boyhood IN IiIe
roore~ quarter of Richmond is pretty nearly
s1ralsG one Into it there flashes most lhcon-
,,o,,s ,sita-7r 4 hichborn little girl who stings
-he lad by indicating that she REGARDS MIN aS
~conr,on." Even 10 his young uniformed m nd
III or,-lai
f7vea. He does not know just what life has IN
s-o,.o for him All he knows is that he VIII
eecsre from -conmonness" no matter what e1-
forts may be required cf him II Is in MS Worh
ING ont Of his own emancipation that Miss Gas
gov finds a great part Of the stuff OF her sloIS'
though not il may be added, the best part ben ;
rise from a level not far above the gutter 10
the position Of an educated and prosperous man
is rendered fairly interesting, but not as we
have hinted altogether plausible. HIS progress
is a shade too smooth. little too rapid. HIS
courtship too though not entirely unobstructeo'
,s made on the whole. so easy for him that the
reader raSps Could the scion Of a eontemned
carver ,Sf 1or1hs1ones so soon win for his bride
= Southern cfrl surrounded by llinsfolk jealous
of their ancestry Decidedly we are somewhat
dubious about the swift waxing Of Nj Starr
fortunes But once he is safely married we for
ger all inlprohabilities and become genuinely
concerned over his family life for in il his char
acter takes on q new vitality
The man who neglects his wife in the pursuit
of worldly gain IS no new figure The noVelsts
have long wreaked their viii upon him But IN
this instance il is not mere sordidness that
causes trouble. on the contrary. Starr is pro
foundIy loyal to his sally. and II his strugg!-
for wealth is partly one o. ambition t IS still
more inspired by 4 desire 10 surround her with
Injuries His fault lies deeper It is to be traced
to the pore white trash from which he sprang-
It spells -rant Of quick perception, Of sensitive
ness such=as you get not from heart alone but
fror.7 breeding. When this heros eyes are
opened AT last he touches The key to his problem
in these words: 4 am yours such as am Plain
I shall always be-plain and rough sometimes.
and 5orgeffm 10 fhe end o. the little things
but the big things are there. you know,
Sally as you know" The italics are ours. II
IS IN Starr's delay in apprehending the i'm
portance Of The little things that the pore white
trash" comes out. and il is IN that that he IS
very human and interesting. Miss Glasgow has
contrived. in other words. 20 do the thing which
your novelist must always find difficult: 10
make thoroughly sympathetic a man who is not
only imperfect but deficient Just where one does
nor Ike TO have the hero Of novel faH short.
The title Of this book is we'll chosen II is
indeed the romance Of plain man that Miss
homely truth
I is for a similar merit that The Glass
House" IS cordially 10 be praised. Mrs. Kingsley
has c alt in this book with American life and
character On the simplest terms, and gives US
very intimate impression OF just such types and
problems as we might encounter from day to day
anywhere in this country. She has not precise
" either a hero or a heroine. She paints.
rather two families and in the process interests
us in some curiously representative figures. In
one house We find clever young architect max
ing but poor headway in the task Of supporting
his Wife and children. In the other an unscrup-
ulous man OF business and his rather foolish
wife have no children or any other exacting re-
sponsibilities The rich Mrs Poynter attempts.
in patroniziag fashion stimulate the hard
working Mrs Loo,nis TO better her condition.
She nuts her friend in the way Of reviving
literary faculty which has been allowed 10 sleep
since college days and the upshot Of this is
something like chaos in the Loomis family The
~fe and mother :urns into 4 writing woman.
and negiects her household duties. Again
note a motive that is so far from being
thar It might even be called stereotyped. The
woman with the bee Of authorship in her bonnet
has done service in unnumbered novels But
there s nothing conventional about Mrs Kings
les eager and short-sighted heroine. Mrs
Jrosnls IS portrayed with admirable insight and
sincerity. and her experience is singularly nat
ural and touching. She and her husband. and
the cfil6rea, too, have positively poignant
reality. ard while Poynter. the villain OF the
piece IS possibly a trine overIone. the book as
a whole is uncommonly genuine. Cleverer novels
are published all the time. Novels of such
wholesome substance are not SO often produced