The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-06-05
Among the Books
"The Milier of Old Chnrch.n =

" ES CiieH IldbSoW.if doubleday, Page
& Co.. of Garden City, New York Az
That three OF the most, Succession
books of the year have been the work
in fiction of Virginia women, adds to
the feelings OF pride and pleasure M :
turaliy awakened by the appearance
of q now novel from SO distinguished
a writer, as the author OF THE Des-
cendant" and THE Deliverance."
| The iden tification OF characters ana
Man has hardly yot been finished.
That dealt with Richmond people at
! most interesting. period of the city,s
deyelopment.j The setting for THE
Miller is rural hamlet, with Jor-
dams Journey and Old Church as CEN
tres of interest: with the little town of
,Applegate and a cross-ro roads public
house, known az Bottoms Ordinary
convenient to both.
Miss Glasgow's genius for realization
Is never more apparent than In her
vivid description of a Virginia wav-
side tavern and It's frequenters, After
| here picturIng the former, she saws
| OF It's bar room. where Betsey Bottom.
"a soft and capable soul" ruled. that:
/ Good and bad prospects were weigh
| ed here. weddings discussed, births and
deaths recorded in ever green mem
cries, and here. also, We're regulations
demolished and the owners of them
hustled with scant ceremony away to
! perdition."
| The bar-room group Included az lis
chief spokesman Adam DoolIttle. an
antiQuated but chirpy survival of
ninety years. on a sunny October day.
when stranger. approaching by the
Applegate Road, dismounted at the
ordinary to make inquiries and ex-
ehange greetings with those who were
| TO be his future neighbors.
All the notables OF the Old Church
community were present; William
| Ming. whose identity had been eStin-
guished when Betsey Bottom married
him some years before. and con-
tlnued the rule of woman over Bot
toms Ordinary; young Adam Doolittle,
solomon Hatch, a wiry. knock -kneed
FARMER with fancy for religious con-
troversy. Abel Rcvercomb. the hand
some miller, and Molly Merrywea ther,
the heroine of the book, not a visitor
to the bar-room. but a passerby on
inc fodder-laden wagon of her grand
tether Reuben Merryw Gather
desultory conversation between
the dismounted stranger and the loaf
ers at the Ordinary disclosed his per
sohaiity. and name as Jonathan GAY.
newly returned from England and
ABOUT TO join his mother and aunt III
| n
them through inheritance from iona.
than Gays uncle He bought 1t from
the Jordans. the original owners Of
the soil. His tragic death at a Mace
called Poplar Spring was one OF the
topics touched upon by iona than Cav.
VINO tried to find out the opinions OF
the neighborhood, as to the cause and
manner of his uncies ending. Recog-
nizlng the weaknesses of the GAYS. a
fragment of a sentence here and there
furnished Jonathan a clue in regard
TO the unacknowledged Relationship
between Molly Merryweather and the
elder Jonathan Gay. and look INFO
Moily's blue eyes. SO like his own.
caused the younger Jonathan to name
her to himself az his cousin.
quite different from nut brown.
slvia Molly Merryweather. was beauti
tnl Blossom Reyercomb, beside whom
he fingered on his way between the
ordinary and Jordants Journey, In
railing swiftly under the spell Of
Blossom's beauty. Jonathan. second.
following out the Gay heredity. mad
ms hrst movement toward following
IN the fatal path OF dalliance. which
MS uncle had trodden before him.
Life. 1t would seem must flow on
ward with great tranouillItv IN q s.n.
uon SO removed from the great out
side world as Old Church. Miss Glas-
| gov overturns all such theories Nv
probing beneath the surface and Law
Ing bare as powerful a drama OF love
nate and revenge. as could be enacted
anywhere else. And a chief factor in
all this drama was frail woman
Jonathan Gays widowed mother In
The "hne silken mesh OF whose influ-
ence the elder Jonathan persisted. be-
cause he was powerless to break It.
Against the mercy OF that gentle heart
Janet Merryweather. tina girl .betray.
ed by the elder Jonathan. had flung
herself and found it iron. The younger
Jonathan had drifted into deceit and
sunterfuge because he was not strong
enough to make war on a thing so
helpless. He died because no dared
not throw off that remorseless tyrannv
OF weakness. Without that soft vet
ind9hlitable influence. he would nayer
nave lied In the beginning, would
never have covered his faithlessn ess
with the hypocrisy OF duty"
so,much for the woman who ruled
by helplessness. Another type in Miss
Glasgow's book is Sarah Revercomb
OF whom it is said that she would
nave liked TO melt up human nature
and pour It all into the same pattern. .,
Sarah's ways OF administering affairs
In her own household and OF caring
Tor her lead husbands ninety-year old
parents, are among the human phases
mat ina VIII be sure to arrest the read
er's attention. The old people. sitting
IN their respective chairs waited on
by their little colored servitor, Mary
Jane, the old man chuckling over,
undivulged recollections,, and the old
woman whimpering over the lack OF
carrots In her soup, are both helpless
rebels against Sarah's energetic des-
pOtlSm OF kindly W.,
ness. T.'' #
The hero and heroine of the novel
are each highly individual, and. as
such. Whatever concerns them and
makes for their happiness OF unhap-
plness' is a matter OF concern and inn
portance. Molly Merrywea Their has ID
grow to the knowledge of what Abel
Revercomo,s love means to Her, and
before she has attained to knowledge
by a long and rounda bout way both
she, and Abel have suffered many
heartacheG q 1,,1o