The San Francisco call., 1909-04-11
ILLUS TRATICMS FROM 80
THE jMARNeLoUz- -ENgENTuRgJS
OF P1NNcccfHO
''The Bridge Builders"
BY Anna Chaplin Ray. author OF ''Quickened.
etc Published by Little, Brown d Co.

etc. Published by Little. Brown. & Co.,
Boston. Price Sl,5e -, 80,
Anna Chapin Ray is the construction
and collapse of tho great cantileVer
bridge over the st. Lawrence river near
Quebec. This was an engineering 1eat
never conceived before, and the eyes OF
engineers the world over were upon 1t.
The building of the bridge Is, of course,
secondary to the love interest or the
story, but the excitement and tenslonoI
the undertaking run through the Dook.
An American railwayman from Arl-
iona comes to Quebec with his wife and
daughter. Colonel West is the most
pleasing type of westerner seen in q
novel for some time He is breezy and
genial, but fine and honest, and has not
been soured by the struggles OF his
early life. His wife Is a pathetic f1gure,
unfortunately too true to life. A little
older than her husband, she has worn
herself out trying to keep all pinching
and discomfort from the husband and
daughter, whom she adores. Now. pre-
maturely aged, she is fretting her life
away by an unreasoning jealousy Of
these two beings who are first in her
affection. She resents their good fell
lowship and is slowly eating her heart
out with this unnecessary tormenting
passion.
Jessica West, the daughter. wins the
love Of every one. She is the ideal
American girl. Blooming with health,
radiantly beautiful. fairly we'll educated,
but with a fine understanding of men
and a mans grasp OF affairs of the
world and the problems of business,
she is almost irresistible to men. She
is shockingly unconventional, at least
to the old. conservative aristocratic set
of Quebec which receives much crtti-
cism from the women, especially from
the Honorable Mrs A. the mother Of
Willis Asquith Jr.
This young man has no need to prac-
tice the profession of engineer. but he
is wrapped up heart and soul in the
bridge, and after a while becomes al
most obsessed by the idea that his own
life and the reputation of his profession
depends upon the success of the enter
prise He is a suitor for Jessicas hand.
and his way is made difficult by his
mothers opposition.
Kay Dorrance is the other aspirant
for the love of Jessica. He is an Ameri-
can, a novelist, living at the hotel where
Jessica and her mother are staying. He
is crippled for life through an injury at
polo, but is strong and healthy and pos
sessed OF a fine mind and a strong char
acter
1t is difficult to see the ending of the
story until the great climax, when the
bridge collapses. In that chapter the
author rises to dramatic heights never
reached in her other novels. 1t is fine
piece of work. The chapters which fol-
low are simply necessary to shake the
characters down into the grooves which
have been waiting for them, but they
are full of interest, and the end of the
book is by no means an anti-climax.
Tho character study in this hook is
the most serious yet attempted by this
author Each one is a distinct type and
clear cut and we'll developed. The Hon
orable Mrs. Asquith is a pompous, self
satisfied snob to the last, and one can
not but regret that she was not taken
down a peg or two when the opportu-
nifty came. The novel is one of the best
OF the spring books and should add lus-
ter to the authors already popular