New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-27
THESE TWAIN.

THESE TWAIN By Arnold Bsrne.. i'"0' 10
III us Georre n Dofan Company.
Marriage, Stevenson says somewhere
with that air Of his OF saying something
bright. is a field Of battle, ana not a
bed of roses. his idea is the text, as
YOU might say, Of These Twain. Inc
moral Of the book, il it were the s~ee.
old fashion now TO hook on morals a.
the end. would be found in lire IN !.
which concludes, "the disastrous and YET
beautiful infeliclty Of things. In De,
tween fickers again the grim smile OF
The Five Towns.
The extensive fctional history Of the
most celebrated group of small INDUS
trial towns in England has now been
brought down TO the year 1898. when
this sort of thing is done over here, In
Indiana, in the South, in New England
we call it sectional fiction" 1t is also
sometimes referred to. with a larger
gesture, as the painting of an epoch
At any rate, Mr.. Bennett is one OF the
most Industrious and successful writers
of this sort Of fiction to-day. And ne
was one Of the pioneers Of the trilogy,
far In advance of the present wave.
And this. the last volume OF the Clay
hanger trilogy, leaves the picture OF
life in Bursley, Of the Five Towns, with
everything visible there in the '9Vs.
from musical evenings" and the rec
ognized distinctions of class in horse
owning" to funeral customs and grave
stones. preserved in microscopic detail
exactly zone cannot doubt as they
were then. At least. anything that may
by accident have been left out the tut
ure student will hardly miss.
And a great deal that was not visible
TO any naked eye in Bursley, only to
the all-seeing eye of the novelist. Is
here. How is 1t that James Stephens
has it in a recent poem about these
little twains? Something about kiss
ing and quarreling in the dark. Ed
win Clayhanger and Hilda Lessways (as
she was) endures in these pages the
slow menace Of six years. One OF the
features Of the highly-strung, self
willed, maynard Hilda, one Of her most
commanding weapons with the enemy,
and one Of the tools Of her trade as the
complement" to her husband, is the
kiss. And one Of the features OF the
snug, vacillating, yet sound FIVE
Townsman Edwin Is TO engage his mind
upon the enigma of his existence, TO
consider at some length the lost free
dom of the bachelor, and to SAVIOR deep
ly the functioning Of his middle-class
Victorian home.
Mrs. Edwin Clayhanger is discovered,
a personable woman in the middle thlr-
ties, in the house Of her husband of a
few months, in Bleakridge, residential
suburb" of Bursley, where a third
member Of the family is her son
George, by her former and tragic mar
rage, a good sort Of boy, now about
ten years of age, who calls his com
rade stepfather Uncle" She is
dressing for an At Home, in the joint
bedroom Of the couple. II seems that
in the beginning there had been some
difference of ideas between husband
and wife as 10 which room of the
house was to be their bedroom. Though
Hilda had had her way. and Edwin had
needed shaking up" he had perceived
that her attitude in the matter, i'm
perious specifically, was in truth an
impassioned surrender to him. Edwin
is waiting below in the hall, somewhat
impatiently, and regarding with equal
interest and pride his photogravure OF
Bellini's agony in the Garden from
the National Gallery, and the radiator
which he has just had installed. Out
side OF his home his towering concern
Is "the works." the fourishing printing