The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-06-01

BY Upton Sinclair. The John c
Winston Company. $40 net.
In Sylvia" as in his best-knowr
book. THE Jungle" Upton Sinclair
seeks not only to tell story. but te
expose conditions that cry for reform
But. while in "The jungle" he at
tackled with blows OF a maui. in
sylvia" he levels a polished lance
with barbed point. none the less
effective because OF tho romance that
futters upon Its shaft.
The story itself, written with much
charm, follows the life of Sylvia Cas-
lovable. though often inconsistent girl
of the South. In spite of the conflict
Ing characteristics with which the au-
thor has endowed her, Sylvia is vivid
flaming personality. and the average
reader will find 1t impossible to avoid
feeling a deep sense of sympathy with
ner in her struggles.
For her sheltered girlhood develops
into a tragic womanhood. Spoiled and
courted as were the reigning beauties
OF the old Southland, by the way,
much OF the atmosphere of the book
is of that older South rather than of
The South that the younger generation
knows to-day-she surrenders her
heart at first sight TO a man almost
hcpelessly Ineligible, not from lack OF
birth or breeding, but because of his
fathers conviction as felor.
Overcoming. however, all the OBJ
jections OF her family and friends, she
becomes engaged TO the undesirable,
and discards him only when she is
convinced of his connection with a most
unsavory and discreditable affair.
Later she learns that the man was In
nocent of any wrong, but her kncwl-
edge comes too late, and she marrtes
"A man OF immense inherited wealth
in order to save her father from dis
aster.
1t is in that part of the book that
deals especially with this very rich
man and his associates that Mr. Sim
clair first couches his lance.
He lays tha scone at Harvard, and
there he sets up a state Of snobbery
maintained by a self constituted aris-
tocracy founded upon nothing real
and nourished by the fawning of climb
ing sycophants that is incredible to
one familiar with the democracy of
the Southern college.
This condition at which the author
rides must be to a large extent a
windmill of his own creation, but the
other question that he raises Is one of
the live, raw realities or the day and
of the ages.
Indeed, ii is not question; 1t is a
fact. a situation, which must be faced.
sooner OF later, and, to that extent at
least, Sylvia" is most timely book
Br!eux has written play upon the
theme. but Damaged Goods speaks
often in the language of the consult
ing room, while Sinclair writes with
as much reserve as Is consonant with
an approximately clear and definite
suggestion of the subject So far as
the repulslve thought applies to Sylvia
and her husband, one must have read
the first chapter closely and must re-
member 1t in order to appreciate the
grim, almost memorable result that
follows their union, although it ia
predicted. a, the very end OF the book
-paradoXical as this may seem-by
n woman who knows.
And this is as II should be- Save in
a treatise on eugenics. these vital
matters are rarely discussed freely.
and only the constantly growing public
recognition of the absolute necessity
for their discussion and understands
ing. and of the regulation that must
inevitably follows in train. indeed,
as witness the recent action of the
Episcopal Council of the Diocese of
Observation-Disclosures, even necessitatcs,
this reference 10 a serious handling of
long forbidden, long hidden and
wholly hideous subject
"rhe Abysmal Brute"
BY Jack London. The Century Com
pany. Slo0 net.