New-York tribune., 1912-02-24
A coNeREssMAN's WIFE.


THE WOMAN FROM woLvERTON. A
Story of Washington Life. BY Isabel
Gordon Curtis l2mo, PIP. 3i2. The Cen
tury Company.
They hair from the West. from be-
yond the Mississippi. Her husband Is
country lawyer, who has never been
connected with corporation work, be-
cause. as he frankly admits, the oppor-
tunity has never been offered to him.
She taught school I'm the village before
her marriage, and has always done her
own housework. In brief, the author
makes the contrast between her old lie
and surroundings and the new as radi-
cal as is consistent with the truth. A
Congressman's salary looks like riches 20
her, wherefore she has a whole trunkful
Of clothes made for herself and her six
teen-y year-old daughter by Miss Picker
ing Of Pipestem." But once they are In
Washington. the importance OF her hus-
band and the amount of his salary
dwindle rapidly TO their true proportions.
This is not a study of national politics,
but Of the experiences, domestic and
social, Of woman torn suddenly out OF
n familiar environment OF genuine equal
ity, true neighborliness and simplicity,
and put down into one that bewilders
her by its complex social stratification,
it's inslncerity, its pretences and preten-
tions, its snobbery, sponging, pushing
and uncharitabeness though In The
midst of It all she does not fail to find
here and there in others the simpler
traditions of life and character she has
brought with her. The woman from
Wolyerton sounds true from beginning
to end; the author fortunately has the
sense of humor without which a record
Of experiences such as her heroine's
would lose so much, and, as has already
been said, her use of contrasts is dex-
ferrous. An unpretentious story, which Is
interesting because II deals with facts.
THE RISE OF AN ACTRESS.
THE POSITION F.PEGGY. BY Leonard
Merrick. lemo, PIP. 3O9 Mitchell Ken
nerley.
"If she had been dressmaker's as
sistant, or a waitress, her interest would
have been slight, but the theatre gllded
her" says Mr.. Merrick of Peggy, who
earned a precarious living as soubrette
in No road companies until a great
dramatist-Mr. Pinero, 1t would appear
from the context, for this Is, of course,
an English story-saw that she looked"
to perfection a part which he had just
written. He trained her for II with the
angelic patience Of a master Of the
stage, as one trains a parrot, or. far
apter comparison, donkey. Miss Peggy
became the vogue, snubbed her obscure
friends OF earlier days, and even signed
an article for womans paper on How
Study Ny Parts" written for her by
the man to whom she had been be-
trothed, and whom she was about to
jllt, along with the rest of the old crew.
And when she spoke Of Nellie" she
meant Miss Ellen Terry. The hero Of
the story is Peggy's discarded lover, a
young man who had been forced TO leave
Cambridge by his fathers death, and
who had tried to become an actor. Af-
terward he became West End drama
tist, but his success was retarded by q
lurd melodrama which he wrote for a
manager-actor OF the third rank, who
rewrote ii TO suit himself and his third
rate public. I'VE don't want human
beings, my boy" explained this artist
patiently: I'VE want parts. Why. you've
given your villain lines thatd queer the
whole show; the sudience'd begin to be
rather sorry for him. They don't want
10 be sorry for the villain. They want
to hoot him" Mr.. Merrick has light
touch. he inclines toward the humorous
view Of men and things. but there Is a