Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-12-09
ANOTHER BRITISH
PROBLEM Is FACED
Question of Illegitimacy Frankly
Discussed by Philpotts in
"The Green Alleys"

-ur- GREEN ALLEYS. comedy. By Eder
Rtrstrs,tts Macmillan Company. New YORK.
al nrst glance II is not quite apparent
,-hv Eden Phllpotts calls The Green Az
80 comedy. The book teens with the
syat dramas and tragedies OF rural llfe
y Eneland But after all such things as
. hroken heart parents disobeyed and ever
49, themA OF the story--the refusal OF
esreat Britain to legitmize by subsequent
s,arrIare a child born out Of wedlock--are
mere passing episodes on the avenue oil
ne The author hortrayB the human com
az Of rustic England faithfully. and the
hit,srnesa and the sorrow are but incl
Ssn,ai 10 the happier community life.
,srhe Green Alleys shows n decided ad.
,.nce over ts immediate predecessor. "Old
pslaboie," IN many ways To begin with,
a. pbiipotts has eliminated the frequent
,o,stItiona which made the novel OF tho
slste country tlresome at times. In the
,.,r story of the hop fields OF Kent he has
Won't his excellent graphic descriptions to
THAR proper proportion. and has added an
active dramatic interest which was notice
shiy absent In the earlier book. These two
,,,nroyemonts In style have combined with
the more interesting characters presented to
rlys THE Green Alleys" n much wider APP
neal than "Od Delabole.'
-be Mot as is the case with most Of
Az philpottss stories, Is simple and In 80
t.r as the novel itself is concerned unim.
narly with the daily lives OF his people,
and has done a great deal TO dlspel tho
uiusion that rustlcs are duh folk with no
ideas beyond their own valleys, or apart
from their occupations. The story deals
with the love Of two brothers for each
other and for the same girl. The elder,
Nathan Pomfret. is a natural child. and Is
under this additional handicap In the pur-
suit OF his love.
As IL happens. this problem OF the IL
legitimate child although occupying many
chapters and being much In evidence
throughout the book, has nothing to do
with the development OF the story.
Na,hans fine character, and the intelli-
renee Of most OF his neighbors, spares him
from the misfortune against which the au-
thor complains so forcibly
However, the agitation against England's
refusal to permit a natural child TO be-
come legitimate by the marriage OF its
parents serves to introduce the most de-
lRhtful character in the book, Martin Fug
giles The aged keeper OF The Hydran-
geas." is always embarklng upon some
mission which he knows ia foredoomcd to
failure First It wac tho illegItimate clsild ;
then Il was to agitate for n ban on user
and n revival OF ale. after which he asked
3 young girl TO marry him, when he was
convinced she would refuse
As always, Phlpotts has drawn his char
acters exceedingly well. Nathan Pomfret
and his mother, Georgina Crowns. are prob
ably the best after FuEgles. AT the close
OF the novel the author expresses. through
the indomitable Fugges. his contempt for
government that worships tradition, and,
more remarkable considering the manner
IN which the British censOrs are muzzling
their literary men, he scores the "strafiing"
OF Germans and Germany because of the
mistakes OF a few Prussans