The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-03
TWO BRITISH RE.ALISTS.

1t takes a modern young writer to
pick out cheerful, Inspiring plot as
A. NJ *. Hutchinson mas done in THE
Clean Heart" (Little. Brown and COM
pany). His hero Is an English Journal
ist and writer OF fiction, who has been
remarkably successful for man of
Ills years and whose eccentric behavior
is pulling till we discover that he has
been burning tho candle at both ends
and IS about TO 20 crazy. His breakdown
is described brilliantly and the horse
play that accompanies 1t rather adds
to the horror. After attempting suicide
he escapes into the country and meets
an amiable and drunken tramp with
whom lac wanders about. The tramp is
philosopher who informs tho hero
that he is too much ensrosscd in him
self, that his disease is self-pity. The
madness takes a new form. that of reCk-
less schoolboy pranks in which the
hero's lack OF all moral sense forces the
klndhearted tramp to abstain from
drink so as TO bc able to watch him
Next comes period when the lunutic
must Keep going on, and during this his
friend gives up hi nfc for him very
bravery Tho description Of the tcrrors
~ drowning Is elaborate and horrible
\ period of Comatose quiet follows, in
tho course of which be does mrchaui-
cally II kind act, over which he broods
Then he transports himself to country
town where he meets an innocent, I'M
selfish girl Of tho lower classes, who
induces him to try TO do things for other
people. Tho parrotllke phrases put In
her mouth arc very annoying. After
while tho hero finds no cannot do with
out her and endeavOr- to make her live
with him without marriage. AZ she Is
about to decline they slip on the edge
OF Cliff and she lets herself drop So
as to save him. That opens his eyes to
the need Of being unselfish and APP
parently restores his sanity. for he had
been decent, self-saCrihcing fellow be-
fore his breakdown. He resumes his
place IN society and devotes himself 10
the girl whom the fall has made "A help
less cripple. The study of insanity Is
brilliant; tho moral is faultless. The
story may seem humorous and sarcastic
to those whose taste ~ properly de-
veloped 1t will weigh like a nightmare
on most readers
Though Frank Swtnnerton, author Of
ION the Staircase" George IT. Doran
Company, Is announced AZ promising
! realist, In this tale the realism f. re-
strictcd 20 the accurate topography Of
London, for the people are ideal. Those
who have most to do in n are English
lawyers clerks and type writer's, yet
they are we'll read IN tho literature and
philosophy Of the day and have correct
taste in art and in music; they even
have parties that are very much Ike
French salons. one sagaCious young
man is so uniformly brilliant In his re-
,g,vIF.t
may bo parduned FOR calling him a
bore, Tho disturbing element in the
story is a shy, high strung and incom-
petcnt lawyers clerk. whose imaglna-
tion leads him 30 marry his laudady's
daughter. a pretty, aHectionRte, but ig-
moran. and plcbeian girl. After dis
covering that they have nothing in
common intellectually he proceeds to
imagine himself in love with another
girl; his friends try TO help him, hut nc
prefers 20 commit suicide, thereby pro-
vlding u subject FOR discussion for the
bore and tho girl he loves. The author
wastes more tiInc than is necessary
over -he morbid youth. His other
people are pleasant and amusing. after
tho reader has forgotten tho station I'm
! life 20 which they have been assigned
| by the author. They argue good
naturcdiy about woman suffrage. about
woman'S dependence and other subjects:
! they do nice things and they marry as
| hey should, II IL difficult 10 see how
! Mr. S~innertOn's realism differs from
plain fiction. There IL nothing OF lola
/ in his staircase; Il does not impress
! Itself on tho characters or tho reader
! IN any way. II merely serves the pur-
poses for which ordinary staircases aro
constructed.