The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-24
CRITICAL REVIEWS
OF THE AUTUMN'S
LATEST BOOKS
Mrs. Watts's Story and the Double Standard Some
Short Stories of French Life
Mr. Gaines Amusing Young Heroine More Max
Ader-Other and Diverse Fiction.
Books Treating Of Foreign Places Fiction Celebrities.
Mechanics and Other Subjects.

The heroine of Mary : Watts's THE
Rise Of Jennie Gushing CMacmillansl
certainly did have hard time and tho
moral elevation she attJns does not
offset fairly the solitude to which she
10 condemned. We should feel moro
sorry for her If she were real -ltl ana
not 10 evidently lay figure on which
various aspects uf the woman question
are displayed. She is wo!f brought
up in the slums with no knoWI,dGc OF
mother or father training which
sharpens her wits. provides her w''h
an expressive vocabulary and with
habits of rcticcnce she IS also endowed
with the instinct to help the weak, an
intuition Of what is right 2ru-ura!ly
and morally. and craving for thorough
work. She also looks on things In an
amazingly impcrsonal manner such as
few men attain TO- by interfering with
the torture Of an animal she brings on
Q street row. falls into the hands OF
the police and Is arraigned In court
The author takes the occasion 20 ex-
plain the hostility Of the respectable
poor TO the vicious and 10 show how
barbarous and Inadequate Judicial
methods OF dealing with children are.
The girl is sent to n reform school
There she is impervious 20 evil and
learns all she can. on her release she
IS taken into service by a sh.ftloss old
g. I'd.
10. caves her wages and secures more
capital by blutiing swiudier, and sets
up as a manicure and hair dresser. SAo
is very good looking and through q
series OF accidents comes to be used
as a model by the young man in tina
tale. who can hardly be called the hero
He Is a rich youth who paints, he IS
amiable and a gentleman. belongs 10 n
family prominent in society and thinks
he IL unconventional They fail in love
and he asks her TO marry him, but she
refuses. She sees his weakness and
knows she can put backbone into his
art and make him happy for Il while,
che will not drag him down. 80 they go
10 Europe and live together. The author
gathers tho chorus that shall express
the judgment of society, women VINO
hic dlluS4llb ullA tANlFlilNAg NbihAlp anu
II few men, who make their comments.
for both sexes must speak.
So long as the two are alono or mee.
only Europeans they are happy and
the man paints good pictures. After a
time Americans come along and the
man shuns them. Then comes "A ma
levolent aunt, who SANDERS the glrY and
makes him see how his people look on
the connection. The girl leaves him
because she knows he is ashamed Of
his love while she is not.
She goes back to America and IS taken
UP by a suffragist, solely 10 allow the
author TO say what she thinks OF the
movement. Her opinion Is by no means
favorable and she manages 10 say many
unkind things. The heroine takes no
interest In II because she only hears
talk and sees no sign that the women
are capable Of doing the things that
should he done. She Is cast out by
them, In spite OF their Views, when they
discover what she has done. When she
reaches home a girl whom she once
saved from the streets and who sub
sequently married refuses TO let her
enter her house, she finds that she
cannot obtain employment, She ac-
cepts the worlds sentence and goes
back to the farm where she once
worked, there she nurses the Old
farmers wife and brings up waits that
she has picked up from the streets. IT"r
lover finds her and uegs her to marry
him and she again refuses, because she
will not drag him down and because
she knows she owes a debt to society
IN spite of the way II has used her, The
matters Of love without marriage GnC
the penalty the woman must pay and
the man does not are presented plainly
and frankly.
with questions like these as the g.st
Of her story the authors favorte de-
vice of describing the furniture. the
fashions and the manners of Ohio, and
particularly Of Cincinnati. rather jar on
the reader. The chatter Of the women
and the many things they talk about
may represent truly the successive
periods the author has picked out; but
Il all seems heartless and inhuman, foI
none of them acts kindly. Evcn IN,
heroine's emotions must he taken TO;
granted, though her reasoning is per
feet She probably would say that she
did not MT right in the picture.