The Washington herald., 1915-02-12

little City-is unfOrEcttabIc. He is sufi-
ciently amusing in his blindness and his
cruditics: his behavior at times ap-
proaches the grOtesque-but he is truly
a man. 1t is only because Mr. TarkinG-
ton knows his man so well that he can
on occasions make him ridiculous with
out destroying ;he fundamental qualities
Of manhood and dignity. And "Bibbs.
the dreamy. pOeticaIly minded. son Of a
practical father-hOw is it that from the
first We not only sympathize with him.
but like him with that liking We only
accord to an essentially strong nature?
To portray the idle dreamer. or the
Young man Of force. would seem rela-
lively easy. But Bibhs. gentle and un-
couth. shrcwd and dreamy. strong and
Iistlcss. is another matter. \ sure and
intimate knowledge enables Mr.. TarEJnG
ton to portray the boy as real and as
thoroughly alive. and not merely as
bundle Of more or less contradictory
traits: while all the time he seems to he
writing about him in an easy vein of
sympathetic pleasantly.
4 SubtIy Drawn Character.
As for Mary VCrtrers. she is perhaps
th,, most subtly drawn. tn" least analy
Fable character in the story. Her sit
uation is not an uncommon onc-a sit
uation Of which story writer's are rather
fond. The daughter of parents of aC-
knowledged social position and fastid-
ious tastes. once wealthy but now re-
duCed TO Ecnte"l poverty. Mary IS under
disagreeabI necessity Of marrying for
money. 1t is remarkable. however. that
although Mary certainly does throw her
self at Bibbs elder brother Jim. one
never has the least doubt Of her right
mindedness-and this in spite Of the fact,
or perhaps because OF the fact, that no
apologies or appeals for sympathy are
made on her behalf. Reserve there is.
indeed. in her portrayal. and delicate
avoidance of sentimental and PsychOlOg-
icaI obviousness but these qualities, like
the quantity of humorous appreciation
that finds its application elsewhere,
would be of no avail were it not for the
knowledge that enables Mr.. Harrington
to put into her that irreducible some
thing that We know as personality in
our friends
And the whole story has its meaning. |
its philosophy Of life. expressed as un- |
assumingly and as effectively as its
truths about character. There could he
no truer or sturdier optimism than that |
which. recognizing with humorous clear |
ness the ugliness of grinding and sordid |
struggle for mere success and bigness. |
yet sees in this struggle an unconscious
striving for better and finer things. It Is |
a genuine escape from that sense OF
waste and folly with which life some |
times oppresses the more tender-minded, |
such as Bibbs. to realize that men OF
enormous driving and doing power. like |
Sheridan. are pushed on by force
greater than they are aware Of and build |
better than they know. That Blbbs
should miss the happiness of Mary's love
would have been, we feel. intolerable; but !
that he should give up his beautiful II
boyish dreams OF an ideal existence to
become a business man like his father
this simply supplies that sense Of un-
ayoidable pathos that gives the halo Of
beauty to development and achievement
And so, besides all else that he does in
his gracious and winning manner. Mr..
rarkinEton succeeds. too. in deepening
,or US the significance OF that blind wor-
hip of "bigness" which Is so typieaIly
kmarissa. l