New-York tribune., 1910-06-29
A Story with a Moral and An
other Without One.


r-rE WIFE OF ALTAMONT. BY Violet
Hunt. limo, PIP ~ bfeA'aAio
The title of Mr. Miller's book. Inc
Man Higher Up" promises one more
Glory Of the undertaking type. ana the
author deals, in fact, with the coff
rolitical conditions in an American Guy
ryis hero is a boss who bullies ms way
nm 70 power Nevertheless, The Man
Higher Up is not SO much the faInlilar
,aelodrama. framed TO exhibit this or
that thrilling situation, as 1t Is STUDY
Of character. Character, OF course Is
sunnosed to play a part in every one OF
o,rr modern novels Of politics. but, as
rp,le. il is put before us in order TO Illus
--a+s an ideal. The strong man who
o,-ercomes the evil forces in municipal
or state administration is portrayed Tor
The sake OF good politics. 1t is for the
sake of Bob McAdoo that this tale mas
heen written. for the sake Of a man who
may or may not be typical, but whose
appeal is altogether personal IL other
words. Mr. Miller has a sense OF proper
ton. and is thereby enabled 10 invest
his work with uncommon interest No
doubt his hero is trifie overdone, and
no doubt the sentimental touches in the
hook are occasionally a shade too
pathetic But not in a long time have
we read a piece Of fiction Of this kind
with quite the sympathy that 5 extorted
by Mir. Miller's simple pages
Their simplicity is for one thing, quite
unstudied. There is nothing grand
gloomy or peculiar here; there Is no
careful seeking after effect. Once Mr.
Miller has emerged from the brief mar
ratiye Of Bob's boyhood as waif, news
boy and embryo politcian-with Its
temptations TO theatr1cality not alto
setFer resisted-he settles down to d
very sincere. straightforward exposition
of the manner in which an egotistical
man Of muscle and brain may little by
little achieve tremendous power Nc
Adoo establishes his leadership in q,
pugilistic encounter, and as he goes on
he uses the same brutal authority.
Though brought up in an affectionate
family of strangers, he lives an essen
tiallv lonely life, and. with his nature, it
seems as though he were destined for
certain unhappiness. How can this
driver Of men, whose days are spent in
political bargaining on a sordid plane,
ever hope to reach noble goal? In the
average novel of the sort he would be
swept toward il by an thrush Of ideas,
irgeniously promoted by some romantic
enhancement Bob McAdoo develops
ideas Of good government, and he finds
love, but his growth in both directions
Is somehow managed without the inter
vention Of sny OF that artifciality to
which we have grown accustomed in
contemporary fiction There is no god
from The machine and there are in
deed. scarcely any dramatic expedients
Quite naturally quite in man fashion,
NcAdoo wins 10 the light He learns.
and learns in q large and fine way, the
eternal lesson that love is not an affair
II. moonlight and pretty phrases, but one
T the forces that veritably move the
world. The Man Higher Up is a
wholesome narrative. and it is. into the
bargain. q COED story.
There is a naive deadliness about The
Wife Of Altamont' which makes that
book inexhaus1ibly amusing. Every one
knows the ardor with which SO many OF
t7e female novelists Of our time have
striven 20 demonstrate their strength
by dealing in unpleasantness TO an ex-
tent positively staggering to mere man.
The sisterhood has unQuestionably pro-
duced some uff1sh novels. but TO Miss
Violet Hunt has been left the proud dis
tinction Of making its best efforts seem
hopelessly amateurish. With a calm
resolution commanding the heartiest ad-
rairation she piles horror upon horror.
until one scarcely knows whether to
weep OF TO laugh. Some idea Of the
powerful banquet spread IN this novel
may be conveyed by a skeletonizing of
the menu Two men of whom we see
very little are the chief contributors
One is a vicar who has married his cook
Their child, Elizabeth, is the heroine.
The other man is a shipbuilder. Sir
Joris Veere. who had q son presented TO
him by an actress. Miss Altamont.
Elizabeth loses no time in marrying this
young man, but she soon repents Of her
bargain. Miss Altamont. il is true.
though now an old woman and an in
valid makes very good company; but
her son is a scapegrace Elizabeth and
the shipbuilder's ex-mistress deplore his
drinking habits, when they are not
thinking about the mistress he has ac-
cUired for himself and set up in another
house. They are lucky SO long as they
have nothing worse than Ada" and her
two children TO talk about. The time
comes when Altamont is moved to call
upon his father, Sir Joris, with de-
mand for money, and, being repulSed, is
further moved TO blow his parent S
brains out as z preliminary to COM
mitting suicide. Here we trust that We
may be permitted 10 pause for little
breath.
Resuming. We regret to observe that
poor Altarlont is one of those men who
never have any luck. He fails in his at
tempt upon his own life and is carefully
Aurbed back into fit condition for hang
ing. Meanwhile, the news Of his exploit
has swiftly shocked his abandoned old
mother into the grave. Her cynicism
might. perhaps. have enabled her to bear
the spectacle Of a murdered Sir Joris,
but with z weak heart there was moth
ing for her to do but to die. The reader.
wondering what on earth Miss Hunt viii
do next TO provide a sensation, is not
kept long in suspense. Sir Joris's