Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-06
DOGS NEVER WRITE
PSYCHOLOGICAL NOVELS
But Such Stories Sometimes Make Men and
Women Mere Birthstone That Does
and Another That Doesn't

TNEpDN--ho So q hulf-brccJ collie
J. had his front paws on my knee,
with his nose reaching up for my
face, and VAS trying to tell me in his
inarticulatc fashion how much he
thought Of me.
There is no doubt Of what that dog
is trying to say" remarked Doctor
McFabrc
"Nonc whatever" ! agreed. His
vocabulary is limited. but VIC under
stand it pretty we'll"
You ought 10 hcar tho way my
dog talks to inc when 7 come home
at night" said owen. at Is II very
pleasant welcome
DO you know. gentlemen said I,
81 have often wondered whether dogs
/ If they had a written language, would
duy any satisfaction in writing PSI.
Geological novels
/ "Ot course not Doctor Alclabre In.
sisted. "They are too simple and they
! lack tho sclf-cousciousncsS thot lmpel5
men TO nnaly&c their emotions and
speculate about the reasons for self
evident thIng8.'
perhaps tins is why that mani
have forgotten his namc-said the
more he thought about men the bet
ter he liked dogs Owen put in.
"Ho was a cynic, no matter who he
vas" / remarked. "I have always
liked people better than dogs and so
have both Of you. But to get back
10 novels. 7 have just read two that
no dog would ever have written"
They must be pretty bad, then
cnuchlcd owen.
"Oh. no." said !. You mlsundcr-
stand me. 40 dos would huSc written
/ them because dogs arc not troubled
seriously by adjustment OF themselves
TO unaccustomed conditions. That s.
so far as we know. They accept new
surroundings with commendable phi-
Iosopl1y and they are not veXed by
tho complications OF an artificial civi.
! Iization. Tho two stories are psyche
logical. E. L. Grant Watson a new
English writer, is the author Of one
of them and Eleanor II, Porter pro-
duced the other
"NIrs. Porter a Psychologist ca
claimed Doctor McF'abre. THAT can't
be. The woman who wrote 'Po!lyanna'
may be anything else, but she is not
psychological
"You limit the term too narrowly.
doctor" 7 replied. Mrs Porter Is
not a Henry James and probably
would not be II she could, but her new
story deals with the effect Of a gift
of 100000 each on the lives and
characters at three families. She han
dies the subject very differently from
the way It would be handled by Edith
Wharton, but she perceives the prob
lem Of the adjustment of life TO the
unaccustomed, and she describes what
banuens with a keen understanding
of human nature. l would not cal
her story great literature, for the
reason that too much which is 80 de-
scribed IL so peculiarly great that
n falls to produce any impression or
you or rae. Mrs. Porter's story is
simple and straightforward, as easy
tn read as 'Polyanna,' and must say
| "A it's credit that It is much less sen
.imeutal. You may say that her plot
is impossible. I viii admit that the
events she describes are improbable
but she makes them seem plausible
She has a Chicago millionaire, bach
elor fifty years old, troubled about
the final disposition OF his fortune
give a large sum to each OF threC
distant cousins living In a small New
England city. Before the money Is
paid he goes 10 the city in Disguise
TO sec what tho cousins do with th'
money. What would you do, doctor
IL sou should get a check for SioO,OO'
in your mail tomorrow morning.
1T Is 80 unlikely that shan
waste any words talking about H.,
the clergyman replied, After sec
ond or two he hastened 20 add, "but
could use itP
well you may not be surprised,
/ I vent "a, "but the happiest charRcte
in NJ Porterp book IS a stepaiste