The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-14
Inelegant Vibrations.


WE printed last week an article about j. C.
w SNAITH's new book with q sentence in the
opening paragraph which ran:
''You naturally expect to find Mr. SNAITH going
WELLS one better than Kipps, and having read The
Sailor you back him to do it,
reader, woman in Atlantic Highlands,
clipped this and underlined it in violet ink, and
sent it to us with the marginal comment in violet
ink:
This is not very elegant in its vibrations!''
We are not Highlanders and wear neither intel.
lectual kits thoughts in the latest plaid effects,
and so we do not know what the lady means. In
our youth we read BARRETT WENDELL and we know
the denotations of words and the connotations of
words; but he said nothing about vibrations that
we can recall. Our oculist says that violet ink is
bad for our eyes.
The Great Return Match.
Another reader says that he holds no brief for
Mr.. HERBERT BATES, Brooklyn's leading pessimist
on American literature, but he would like to
name American equals of GAswoRTHY, WELLS, DE
MORGAN and CONRAD, cited by BATES.
Cheerfully. Mr. HARRINGTON in The Flirt and
his forthcoming novel, The Magnificent Ambersons,
matches Mr.. GAIswoRTHY s best studies of English
social life and Mr.. GAIswoRTHY s best portraits.
Mr.. POOLE in The Harbor equalled Mr.. GALS
woRTHY's Strife, in fact exceed it. Mr.. HEROES
HEMER matched Mr. GAswoRTHY in The Three
Black PennyS, although cannot countenance
matching pennies.
Against Mr.. WELLS in his frivolous moments We
are quite ready to put HARRY LEON Wilson in his
almost serious moments. Ruggles of Red Cop is
funner than Kipps or Mr.. Polly. Mr. WELLS, the
social philosopher, never wrote Sister Carrie, but
Ntruo Il L
ing, by MARY S. WATTS, is worth two or three Of
Mr.. Wells Marriage together. England has no
equivalent for MARY JOHNSTON Has our reader
ever looked inside the covers of The Long Roll, we
wonder? Who is the English Ellen Glasgow Who
is their Edith Whartonf
DE MORGAN is delightful, but how about Nathan
Burkef How about Van Cleve: How about The
Rudders All by American woman.
CONRAD we can't parallel, but CONRAD is piece
of English luck. You III remember that he hest
tated whether to write in English or French, and
decided for English because the sea stuff that he
purposed to use could be most expressively put in
that tongue and would most readily reach an
understanding audience. All England is familiar
with the sea.
This is mighty incomplete answer We have
named only American writers now actually writ
ing, though of the English four De MORGAN is
dead. The other three are veterans 1t happens
that our best men are mostly younger Twenty
years hence it may be the other way about We can
readily imagine some asking an English editor,
in 1898:
but whom have we to compare with GERTRUDE
GRANITE, ALoYsIUs SosINsKI, JosEPHUs DANIELS
BINGHAMToN and PORTLAND OREGON anyway"
And he will be stumped-we mean he will be
bowed out at the wicket Off that S right and if the
national pastime remains the same).
Villa Sibert Gather.
GONE novelists are at their best in their first
~ novels; others do their best work after long
apprenticeship in the public eye; few show steady
growth and a very few show steady and rapid
growth. Of these last is VILLA SIBERT GATHER.
She has written three novels. You pick up
Alerander's Bridge and read with discriminating
pleasure. 1t is fine piece of work. 1t is-exce-
lent is the word yes, excellent and artstically fine
all through. The story is sound and gives sort Of
aesthetic delight if you susceptible to purely
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