The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08

poor white folks of her own coun-
| try.
| This impression. however, was dis
PEELED when she wrote "Ethan Frome,
| a season or two ago, depicting the
| humble life of the gaunt poor of the
proved that she could write of the pow
erty stricken as well as the smart
est elements that go to make up So
ciety.
As in THE House of Mirth,' has
Wharton has chosen in THE Custom of
The Country people I'm high society
in New York and abroad.
Undine Spragg, Mrs. Wharton's new
heroine, is without doubt one of the
most senseless and utterly foolish of
creatures. yet her prototype may be
found haunting society every day, not
only in New York and Paris but right
in any circle in which you happen to
live.
Absolutely devoid of any intuitive
W hatever when it came to literature.
art or polish, Undne Sprayy offste all
this with wonderful air and a head
of marvellous hair and a swagger way
about her which bade her listen and
learn and even the way she wore her
clothes gave her prominence and as
sisted her in her ambitions to be in
society, even If she could never be
| of It, =
Coming from Apex City straight to
New York, domiciling at the "Sten-
| torian Hotel with it's gorgeous gilt
ter of gold and silver and sham and
folly, you can imagine the figure Un-
dine cut with illiterate Papa and
"Mama" Spragg to steer. her along
toward the zenith of her ambition.
Old Mrs. Henry, the dowdy mas
seuse. really coached" Undine in the
'impolite" usages of polite" society
the things that she picked up from
her swell clientele, as she went from
house to house, gossiping and learn
ing.
Nothing more amusing occurs in the
whole book than when MAMA" Spragg
finds herself called upon to entertain
Undine's fiance one afternoon while
the delectable young lady is out and
tells him when he refers to Undine's
name as being quite unusual its his
tory. q
"Why, w called her after a hair
waver father put on the market out
in Apex city the week she was born.
It's from-'on- n-doolay'-you know-the
French for crimping. Father always
thought the name made it take You
know he's quite scholar and he has
the greatest knack for finding Names"
Don't you recognize the type-Mr
and Mrs. Abner Srapp from Apex City,
with little money and less brains and
society for their only daughter?
Undine's first marriage-into the old
aristocratic set in washington Square
turned out to be fearful misalliance
She and Ralph Marvel never for a
moment spoke the same language
never for moment stood upon the
same footing. and yet they married
and endured and to them came pre-
cious little boy whom the father in his
sweet, refined way adored.
Peter Van Degen, the cocktail"
sport, appears on the scene and Ralph
Marvell's suicide on the verg of I'm
dines divorce opens the way for her
second marriage. but not to the elusive
Peter, but to the slight and brilliant
Raymond de Chelles, Frenchman who
prides himself on his family and his
pedigree.
OF course destruction follows in the
wake and without going through all
the details of the story (the reader
may not care to have it todd the first
man to whom Undine had been se-
cretly married out in> Apex City and
divor in less than two weeks. ap-
pears in Paris multimllionaire, and
Undine decides that he really is the
only man she had ever loved and
promptly divorces Raymond and mar