The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-02

IL taneOusly. While ]
l. - do not take back
Ia s;e,,tsSr what I said regard
Ts<S .J<h@~ ne the low average
II brains in the vast
r,aiori,y OF American women Of slight
sAueation and no literary traditions what
.vsr. 1 feel disposed to analyae the state
-, that the women writer's Of America
AZ a A whole sentimental. II seems to
ma taking them one by one, that they
nave defied Cor escapcd) the temptation
10 cater to this particular form OF raw
- in their own sex oftener than our
nan have done. II We have q Gene
STATION Porter we also nave a Harold
Rll Wright--to mention the two best
s.lers In the country. Irrespective OF
u,rary equipment. Robert Chambers
NAV write with his tongue In his cheek
and his ear to the ground. but certainly
n can achieve deeper sugar coating
Ner depths either commonplace or nox-
Gus than any other author In the country.
!. As all three Of these writers are frankly
' commercial and probably outsell all other
american writer's put together, with the
oosslble exception OF Winston Churchill.
heir successes certainly bear out my
ontention that tho reading public,
shich consists mainly OF women. Ii to
blame
And what. in passing. Of the drama
lstS. w lIn the tACtpttou VI ntueNCd VI
sunnybrook Farm" which was legiu-
nateiy sentimental, being written for the
Young Person (who had much better be
sentimental than some other things) I
cannot recall a play written by woman
which touches. in wearisome sentiment
tality, the yearly productions of men,.
That merely means that the men are
more canny than the women. for these
productions fill the houses. Nor are
women. with possibly one exception,
apparently equal to the prolonged and
'mushy' love scenes that one can find
IN the work OF almost any man on the
best selling list.
But let us take. our women fiction
writer's one by one. Mary wilkins will
DO to begin with. The best of her stories
are permeated by a delicate sentiment
which is as far removed from sentiment
,ality as Victorian literature, or even Ed
wardian. is from Georgeandmaryian in
England. In other words her work has
precisely the right proportion OF senti'
ment that ingredient being In every nor
nal makeup Mrs. Deland Is inclined to
pity her erring heroines and even her
good heroes a little too audibly. but this
kindly tendency Is counteracted by "a
real creative faculty and a large outlook
on life remarkable in a provincial writer.
Ellen Glasgow. although . Southerner.
keeps any inclination to sentimentalize
!, we'll In hand: ] at least cannot recall
any work Of hers weakened or cloyed by
IL an oversupply OF the sweets that are
served with every we'll ordered repast.
Certainly no one ever accused Edith
Wharton Of sentimentality, or even senti-
ment. any more than she has been &C.
cused OF romance, passion or humor.
She writes with highly specialized In
tellect and a trained observation faculty
rowing over restricted field. 1t Is only
the careless critic that classes her with
novelists at all. She is a short story
writer OF the first rank. one Of the bes
i his country has produced: but Ions
stories. or stories OF any sort writer
on . formula, are not novels. Corrs
Harris, who writes with astonishing bril-
lance at times, has a wicked habit o.
going 10 pieces in the last chapter Of
her longer stories-she limps out or
wabbly sentimental crutches. As she ha,
not yet achieved the Independence OF thu
acknowledged novelist 0s not yet IL
the crack regiment. so to speak,, l hav'
often wondered IL the editors tina
publish her stories do not insist upor
/ that eleventh hour compromise to satsf,
the thousands OF women living small drat
Ivss and demanding romance and senti
nent VIGOROUSLY as better than nothing
After all, who shall say that these womei
| are not within their rights? They ma!
make dabs at being Intellectual. but
takes the exceptional mind to be intel
iectual all by itself, whereas sentimen
Grows with what 1t feeds on. and It i
fed BY all the magazines In the country
some OF them published twice
month.
Elizabeth Jordan, although she write
for the young person, doles out no NOR
sentiment than the law demands, not evel
10 the delightful May Iverson: : and Jose
/ 2hine Dascom Bacon Is only one OF a larg
and increasing body Of women writer's tina
| tArly ring, they are SO hard. Mary Austin
s almost pure intellect, but that may b
forgiven her, for with II she has STYLE
ana her books are neither cynical nor to
long. II inez Haines Gilmore had give
the men OF her striking story "Angt
Island sentiment as well as lust the
/ would have been better bred and far be,
n. Ter equipped to educate the aging ladie
they captured and took to wife. Sh
90 like many another of the oncomin
notion women, Is uncompromisingly "cle'
er'-and hard.
And what Of Amelie Rives. who has Jus
come back? Here, indeed. is the sent
mentality Of the Victorian era, and / wi
venture to predict that her first long nov'
WIZ nave as large "a sale as THE Rosary.
for here is point, one. so far as / kno'
entirely overlooked: While 1t Ii true this
vast number OF American women al
sentimental and practically uneducatc
)'hefe Is also growing number that ri
sentimental and fairly well educate
These demand a novel far in advance
anything Gene Stratton Porter or Haro
BEL Wright can give them. They wa
me World' In quotation marks, men ar
women that behave as II they were pa
Of II, variety of scene. glimpses of 70
elen lands. accompanied by description
not only Of their scenery but their 81
cl.tes, and evidences. never oppresslv
OF Intellectual pursuits on the part of Il
author All this Is 10 he found In @
almost quaint combination in World
hnd.' II may he the vintage of 'sS in |
excessive sentiment and point Of view. b
Is lively and accurate picture OF Il
MODERN South; it's characters live. its d
scrplions are full of feeling without r
uunddncc, it's darkies are always hume
a. Gus, the scene shifts constantly. and TX
nero and heroine are incredibly old-fas
loN"d, In this sophisticated era. ut lea
they are likable. and all the other cha
scters are up to date. Owing to 4
TACT that the writer was an invalid Z
sUhOsl twenty years. and, happily
stored 10 health, deliberately studied pre-
ent conditions and superimposed tho
upon the mental habits of her youth, I
book Is a psychological curiosity : but II
none the less interesting for that. a
" contains much admirable work, II
very mixture of the past and the prese
may he WclCome relief to many a reade
ma no one win wish aught but go
" fortune 10 writer OF 50 much natl
'haIm and loyalty TO her talents.
d. Now that have made out good ca