New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-11-14
IN EAST PRUSSIA

THE PASTORS WIFE. by the Author Of
Elizabeth and Her German Garden IL
Illustrated by Arthur Little. limo, Up. 80.
Doubleday. Page CO.
The lady who persists in maintaining
on her title pages an anonymity which
was pierced long ago gives us IN The
Pastors Wife" far and away the best,
and the most significant, book she has
ever written. What is more, she sue
ceeds in striking the deeper note with
out sacrificing one bit of the clevernesS
that has contributed so much TO her
success in fiction. Her humor perme-
ates the story; she cleverly contrlVes
10 make il. ia an only half-realized
wav. her delightful heroine's own. Her
unmistakable deeper purpose, that OF
comparing the subsection of woman IN
England with that Of the sex IN Ger
many, NAV be alluded 10 at the outset.
The reader will see it and appreciate
II. only to forget 1t gradually as the
charm Of the story seiZes upon him.
Kinder, Kirchc, kuche," in this device
there is recognition of woman,s ser
vice to the state; the English olshop
of the early pages of this book consld-
ers his womankind as his own private
property, existing only TO serve nm;
his comfort and his ecclesiastical anc
social advancement
Now. this selfish, self-seeking, orna-
mental and successful bishops elder
daughter marries, as a result OF re-
volt against paternal authority. an East
Prussian pastor, a son Of the people, as
Prussian pastors usually are. He Is
unaware Of the social grandeur that
hedges an English bishop ana the
daughters that are his; unaware, IN
deed, Of everything in the world except
scientific farming in East Prussia. lie
* an expert ~ fertilization. HIS par
ish's crops are of more Importance 10
him than its souls. His parishloners
are devoted 20 him in consequence, 10Y
he leaves them 10 their own pet trans
eressions; only the local squire, Baron
C;lambeck Won Glambeck, and his wlie
disapproye Of this spiritual shepherd
laxness. The Baroness Is, moreover
outraged BY the "Englishwoman's' -she
Is a mere girl-innocent assumption OF
social equality.
So far as the Kirche is concerned
then, the pastors wife's duties oeglh
and end with attendance at church on
Sunday. As for the kuche, her nus
bard is as Indifferent to tnat as 10
everything else outside farming pu.
when il comes 20 Kinder, there they
their psrishioners. They do until the
little English wife, warned by her
physician. revolts. The bishops WE
had not dared TO do that; instead she
mad passed the later years of her mar
ried life. meek invalid, on sofa.
This is the mere framework OF
novel whose delights cannot be reflected
in review. One can only advise those
who love good work and good story
to read this book, with its charm OF Of, a
far and primitive country and prim-
tive people, Its enchanting surprises
of the unfolding Of character that IS
as captivating as it is Understandable;
above all. with its delicious humor OF
tho wife's fond. bewildering discoveries
Of her husbands personality as It un-
folds under her eyes in i their M ire w; tn
fTor, the outer world, which she has
foreotten. But in the end she remains
way. which accepts her not as his prop
ertv but as a fact in his daily me-
remains hers.