New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-04-17
IN Uncom monty Good STORY OF
American Life.

THE cF5IPPENDALEs. By Robert Grant 1-'no'
pp. 6a2- Charles Scri2aeIs sons
The ChippendaIes" Is novel written rom
,;+hf, This observation refers not simply 10
the authors knowledge Of tAe city "hosS ci-0-i
a,+sr he has been at 50, ,ial pains TO analyze
hut 70 his instinct for the very spirit aic ext
,re Of American life. indeed, while his picture
Of BOSTON T. by Itself thing TO amuse ana
szff,- the reader ard ernbodies Nj Grants most
s,-io,5s appeal We count il Of less importance
than his Interpretation Of certain types VINO aie'
after al. men and women as well as Bosto-
-ians II is IN the vein - this book tht me true
American novel must more and more come 10
he written q vein Of dispassionate understand
ing Much contemporary fiction suggests
curiouslv artificial attitude in the writer's OF II
They make YOU feel that they have. themselves
no part in American life They seem rather
self-conscious literary" persons. observing
their fellow men with an eye t. the production
of ~conv." and only selecting the material Whlch
will serve a very narrowly defined purpose
Tiev get up" a political novel romance OF
southern clivalry. tale Of tho war o.
--neighborhood" story. they might ger up
q work Of statistical nature the aulloi Va
THE Chippendales" leaves the impression q "
man who has taken the time really TO oecoihe
acquainted with his countryr'en ana mas loui'u
them all interesting in one way OF another me
,,ic+,re Of Boston that he has painted touches
-be imagination more vfvidy because it is clear
+bst Mr. Grant has so much in reserve, lying
outside the frame. He knows a good deal about
American human nature Ee stuules Il II d
wide perspective
He is nowhere more artistic than in his nan
ding of the dramatic elements in his story me
interior which he asks is to enter al the outset
is & scene on which almost anything lnlsh' DC
possible in the play OF love and hate II Is the
INTO
gentle though not at all ineffective man. VINO
las married a buxom widow Each partner /"
the household has brought grown up daughter
"a its enIivenrnent Mr.. Avery's Priscilla IS
clever self-centred girl bound TO exercise Ger
tain critical faculty as she goes through her ca
reer Her stepmother's daughter. Lor1. Is q Ne'E
different girl destined 10 he much more easilS
SHIFTED as TO q husband. When the story opens
two Young men are brought into the hNes Oh
these girls One is a BosDoulan. IN the suIlS'es'
serza =, The very core OF him Henry Sumner
could no more shed the prejudices and mental
habits OF the best people Of his native town than
he could change his skin. The other, hugh NC
Doweu Blaisdell, has come from Maine TO seek
his fortune and from the very moment that he
5s taken into the Aver1-s home as a boarder he
is nrepared TO adapt himself TO his surroundings
one can imagine how the situation III winch
these figures are involved might have been de-
.1,-,s g,,, = novelist interested only in telling q
eood iore story He would begin by putting
them ali at cross purposes and he would con-
slider that he had done his duty when ne mac leo
them grievous dance and had finally sorted out
the right couples Mr.. Grant manages his two
. oourtships with the skill Of a practised hand
4 The reader who cares for the love motive VII
moi he disappointed in The Chippendales- Yet
in 2 sense il is hardly the love motive that
counts. What absorbs us is the development Of
character and. be it said, the development o.
admirably representative character
Sumner and BIaisdeiI are sharply contrasting
tvpes Between them we get conflict OF IDEAS
which is indispensable 10 the movement OF the
narrative But # is important to note that
either Of these men would alone have furnished |
forth Z good book II is hard 10 say which is
the more interesting. Sumner. no doubt has
the nobler role. But not for a moment does he
nush Blaisdell into the background We may
not like the latter So we'll but his vitality is
irresistible and II is 4 testimony to NJ Grants
Immortality that his ruthless American is not
b. any means unsyrnpathetic- That is where
the ,ortrait is so veracious and SO good a work
Of art The reader may begin by suspecting |
that Blaisden was drawn from q certain man Of
affairs whose personality and methods have never
been hid under bushei, but he will end by
recognizing the traits Of many an American
Blaisdeu is energetic and clever bent on -la-ing
his wav but careful TO be good natured about it,
the soul Of generosity in most Of the relations
Of life but quick seize an advantage in bust 4
ness and to follow il up with the utmost rigor
Of the game Is he INSCRIPTIONS? The ques-
lion would leave him honestly indignant and
little hevildered You cannot carve yourself a
fortune. he would say with butter knife The
tricks OF q rival are legitimately to be fought
with similar expedients Business is a form
Of war To carry il on with success one must
not be too particular about the weapons en-
Tsloyed and success Of course. IS what we all
want There are moments in which you despise
sIaisdell. There are others in which his pIausi-
bility exercises an almost hypnotic influence.
~ all times he is wonderfully alive.
To Sumner i is soon apparent that Blaisdell !
is an instrument Of Generalization He cannot
pin the man down he cannot produce at any
STAG OF the novel absolutely satisfactory proof
that this maker Of riches is doer Of positively
evil deeds He only knows that Boston ideals
are imperilled by the intruder, that Baisdells 1
methods are rot quite the right methods The
key TO Summers point Of view is perhaps most !
quickly TO be found in the saying that the |
student CT human nature mus, perforce admit
that not the doughty deeds OF a Bostonian but
rather the things he viii not do are his highest
title 70 distinction" The things which Sumner |
will not DO are precisely those things which |
BlaisdeiI delights in doing. What the re |
suits for these two We will spoil the read
ers pleasure in the dramatic side of the book !
BIZ describing the goal at which each man ar
r1ves But-yve must speak Of the fate melted out |
70 each siiie the way BlaisdeIls unfaiter- |
ing step seems to be assisted by every littr7 /
incident not because Mr.. Grant deliberately c Is
the machinery for noveiist's purposes but |
because life SO naturally plays into the hands OF