Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-06-06
geN Rev Books
~ In Review uiew'
Complex Feminine Nature Painted
in Frank Dqnbp's Latest NoOel
Character Of Agatha Wanstead
in Full Swing" One That
Will Live.

Gar les femmes ont IN instinct
celeste pour le malheur." Perhaps it
was this trait of the feminine nature
that made Agatha Wanstead proceed
through life in every way actually
courting all complications that could
result in unhapplness; yet with inten-
tons inspired by intense love and
benencenee toward all humankind.
IN the character of Agatha, as a
profound critic says, Frank Dandy has
given lifelike portrait OF d complex
Individuality and that a study so pro-
found, story evolving the life of a
woman SO intense, SO contradictory,
that only a woman can thoroughly
appreciate her, should have so mean
ingiess a title as Full Swing" seems
to us q pity.
Only Praise for Her Work.
But for the novel there can De
said nothing but what is commenda-
tory. In Agatha, conscience is de-
veloped at the expense of her judg-
ment and from the time Of her child
hood. when she kills her father g
rarcst orchid. ncwly-obtained. by Civ
ing It air which she believed It
needed. she interVenes in tho affairs
o. others in the same way. always
with the hes; intention in the world.
but Invariably with the consequence
that what she attempts from a sense
Of duty is the very thing that makes
a mess for her friends as we'll as
for herself
And, when love besets her, Agatha
again proves the completely, the in
nxpiicable tone or pitch of her ma
ture. Intensely proud, shy and self
conscious, she shrinks when Eros
bows before her in the person of =
lawyer. the agent of her estate a
man whom she trusts, whose an
cestors her forbears had trusted and
one who understood every mood and
Hhim and vagary Of her subtle be-
ing; but she will have none Of him.
His courtshp fills her with the
strange nausea of the woman who
does not love the man who woo5 her.
Yet there was nothing repulsive
about the Wooer.
Marries an Animal.
Still. Agatha. late in liie. nsrries a
rough animal-like irish lord, one who
really loves her for herself, but whose
nature Is so coarse that she leaves
him soon, unable to bear his sensual
humor and his multiplied infidelties.
The choice of mate by woman
Is one Of the unsolved mysteries of
existence. One sees a pretty woman,
often a widow. not inexperienced in
the characteristics Of men. bestoW
her favor upon one whom his fellows
would at once reject as false in heart
and mediocre in mental power; even
the sinister glance of his eye, the dull
coarseness OF his hair might betray
tho deceitful nature within or the
brutal passion which in him is the
only sentiment he can feel.
Agatha has a splendid son and
upon him she lavishes a wealth of
hidden affection. Indeed, while she
would throw her arms about him
and strain him to her breast. her
mysterious shamefacedness inter-
feres. and instead Of embracing him
she drives him forth into danger.
Yearns to Help Others.
Yet all the while the heart OF
Agatha yearns to do good, 70 relieve
the suffering. to heal the hearts that
are wounded. and the one she fees
TO as a counselor, her only adviser,
Is the lawyer she had rejected with