New-York tribune., 1912-04-19
FICTION
Mrs. Atherton's Study of the
Militant Suffragette.
VOTES FOR WOMEN.

w Eo run WOmCN'
JULIA FRANCE AND HER TIMES. BY
Gertrude Atherton. limo, PIP. bS3. Inc
Macmillan Company
Mrs. Atherton is always interesting
She has her own theories of life, It's
meaning and it's values, and II she
changes them from time to time VINO
will say that this makes her books less
readable? Some years ago she >prophe-
sled the coming Of race Of American
supermen who were TO be Rulers OF
Kings; in Julia France she foresees
the coming OF a time when England al
least, shall be ruled by its women. Ihe
book Is a history Of militant Engllsh
suffragism from the time of it's begin
nings early in the last decade; fictionally
il is the extraordinary story OF the HE
Of one woman who became leader o.
the movement Here, certainly, is d
timely topic, whose timeliness is accent
uated by the fact that this woman
career was foretold by the stars on the
day of her birth, the modern woman
having in the day of her emancipation
turned from religion to the revival OF
many strange beliefs, with a modern
more or less scientific veneerng.
II Is quite in keeping, therefore, that
Julia France visits the East, not the
awakened awakening East that has
seen the light cf Europe and is using It
AS a lamp before its feet, but mysteri-
Ious. stagnant india. where she has
"glimpscs of the mysteries learns that
the Western Interpretation of her horo o'
score was wrong. that not "A ducal coro-
net. hut leadership os woman's cause
rcrhaps the Premiership Of England-is
its meaning. ard whence she brings back
the "soul that socialism lacked which
lis the religion Of Bahai. Also, she
learns in India what may he briefly de
scribed as mental treatment. Here, for
instance. are her diagnosis and cure OF
tunwelcome love:
Love is a disoase-cf the sutconscious or
instructive mind. 1t is a profound auto
surrcstion. Induced. IN the region where
tho primal instincts dwell. 10y the superior
suggestive power OF some one else' alI1
can be treated mentally Ike any disease ol
the body
If IN the end Julia did not treat her
self for the disease she at least curet
her Young niece OF n decidedly embar-
RAISING acute attack Of infatuaton.
As will he seen. there is a vast amount
of interesting reading in the story.
When II comes. however, to the ques-
tion Of woman suffrage the book has the
limitations of all fiction when ii under
takes TO discuss the SOCIAL and economic
issues of the time. For the sake OF her
thesis Mrs. AthertoN must prove that
the EnElishman Of to-day Is inferior TO
the English woman. Nothing easier
than that in fiction. She simply draws
her characters accordingly: y Welsh
parvenu with a kept wife woman
who has married him for the sake of
what his money can do for her family;
the insignificant kept husband Of a
rich young woman, and. finally, Julia
Frances husband a depraved brute
and incip!ent paranoiac, 10 whom she Is
sold, when mere child. by her amhi-
tious mother, on a specuation-the pros
pect Of ducal coronet-under the in
fiuence Of that horoscope. These three
men fully justify the careers Of their
revolving wives, but they are hardly
representative OF English manhood.
Here, however is the argument;
The time has come, men having made a
mess OF most things, for wCmcn 20 apply
their higher faculties TO he domestic al
fagrs ~ the nation Moreover. men
have had their day, just as monarchles ana
aristocracies have had their day. Inc Gay
OF women and the WORKING class is coming
a a
NOT Improve much until 4 few women
achieve a state OF moral ard mental per
fection far ahead OF anything the world mas
yet known.
There is glimpse, Of course, into the
beehive and the ant colony. the now fa-
miliar speculation upon the coming
yorker-the neuter-who will leave TO
others the propagation Of the race. In
short. Mrs. Atherton weaves into her
story all the cnthusiasms, the prophecies
and high purposes Of tho movement
They are new only so far as woman Is
concerned. for in the last analysis they
resemble closely the confidence of democ-
racy a hundred years ago that II mad
found the solution and would he az effi-
cient and honest as aristocracy had been
inefficient and corrupt In these Unite
States the case is different according
to the Californian who so often turns
up in Mrs. Athertons pages:
Our women only think they do the tyIsn-
nizing Give a woman her head In trines'
! ali tho money she can whine or nag for'
and she thinks she's tho whole snow
ITLat's the. way we manage ours. =
That shows how much clevcrcr the Aneri-
can man is than the Exglshman. we ne
low ike Bre'er RabbitN and say nufiin..
American women are dlscontonted, want
the earth. but can find nothing to sharpen
tbeir ayes on and that is good for us. Ihey
nav help us I'm the United states, ana we II
he glad 10 have them, but theyh never
rule.
In "The Conqueror'' Mrs. Athertoh
gave us what she called flexible biog-
rapby." In Julia France she gives us
flexible history" OF woman suffrage
IN England up TO date. And good seri-
ms vet vivid, reading it Is. Indeed the
fiction and the facts so fexibly mingled
together lead us TO repeat In the emu
what we began by saying that Mrs
Atherton IS always interesting.