New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-02-22
FICTION
New Stories by Robert Herrlck
and Others.
ONE MORE AMERICAN WOMAN.

ONE MORE AMERICAN WOMAN.
| ONE WOMAN'S LIFE. BY Robert Her
| rick. i2mo, PIP 4O5. The Macmillan
Company.
| In his new novel. as in its two i'm
mediate predecessors, Mr.. Herrick
strikes at the American woman. but
hits the American man without being
aware of it. He would place the re-
/ sponsibilty and the blame for the
many failures of the life in common
during the last thirty years or 50, the
| period covered by this book, upon the
woman's shoulders. whereas in reality
il should he traced beyond her 10 the
man, who has so often relinqushed the
direction of their destiny into her un-
trained hands Mr. Herrick's thesis.
now pronounced for the third time. is
that women should reform themselves.
and voluntarily give back To the men
the leadership in marriage which they
/ have surrendered. Is il not rather the
mems duty never To let it slip from
their hands. or, at least, to regain ii the
moment they have lost it? In other
words has not the man rather than the
woman proved his incompetence?
What proportion of failures such as
Mr.. Herrick deals with forms the total
of marriages in the United States dur
1 ing the last thirty years is Il question
which need only be suggested here
without further inquiry The novelist
with a purpose is APT to distort such
! proporto. s, as he is apt To create his
characters To serve his ends. Here,
I then. is the story OF a girl of mid
] Western birth, Of socially obscure
antcccdents. who ruins her father by
FORCING him, for the sake Of her am
billions. ont of the ranks # the clerks.
where he belongs, into those of me
men Of business. on the verge Of sue
ccssful marriage spois her chance by
premature pctulauCc. loses another 'p-
portuni,y 10 settle herself we'll IN life
/ by falling in love, and ultimately spells
the career Of the man she marr''s. an
artist, 10y forcing him to abandon paint
/ ing for pot boiling She Keeps him i'm
debt by her cXtravaCancc. yet. when he
dies. lays up against his memory MS q
rcproach the fact that he had been UNI
able. through her own fault, to make
proper prov. iion FOR her and their child.
y born parasitc-thc word IS mnoh IN
the air just nova parasite thereafter
/ through lack of training and lack Of
common sense and of consideration fo,
others. she is also a vampire in p"r-
fcctly unconscious way. Indeed she
goes through life with an mistaken
conviction of her own sanciitN ana
superiority for no other reason than
her Sos. -hc ruins = woman with
/ HON she goes into business. and
finally finds comfort and the begin
nings of social career under the shell
| ter of the name Of one o, her earlier
admirers. She tumblcs upon success rs
she understands II. as she had STUN
/ bled into her failures.
In all this there is 4 modicum of
/ truth. but. rs has already been said.
I the reader himself must decide It's pro-
portion 10 American marriage rs a
whole. Here. as in Together and
The Healer the men arc spincleSs
/ beings. the real failures and the weak
element in MIR. Hcrricks theory. The
story is far less comprehensive as a
picture Of contemporary American life
/ than are it's predecessors. The author
! IL at pains to impress upon ms the cut
ural backwardn.ss of Chicago twenty
years ago RI at his heroine carries
this lack with her all her days Is one ot
the best touches in the story.