New-York tribune., 1919-09-13
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A Woman S Woman
A New Novel Focusing
On Woman and the Home

WVMANS WOMAN. By Nalhro BARLEY.
fubiished by Small, Maynard & Co
For this, at least. Nalbro BARLEY,
mas earned salute-that she has
founded her novel, "A Woman's
Woman" on real theme She has
looked around her at the shifting social
panorama and recognized that some
thing important is happening. II spite
OF severe limitations and cruditics of
inference, it is this critical viewpoint
this lifting of the wavering candle of
her story to illumine con on.cmporaneous
social history-that gives her book
degree of distinction
Her heroine is a middle aged woman
faced at the dawn of the twentieth
century with the necessity for 3 min.
ful readjustment of all the standards
by which she has been bred. All the
orthodox virtues in wnich women have
paid their way have ry the modern
shiftings Of thought suddenly depreci-
atcd in value so that if sne would not
admit herself bankrupt and outwcrn
she must set herself to take account Of
her resources. In the reckoning she
hnds that the whole series OF hearth
stone virtues-her gift for patient
drudgery, her willing self .effacoment.
her respect for tradition all hi, is
small and insignificant. if rot down.
right questionable coin 1t is made
Quate to buy her the respect of ,er
family or the world she lives IN. Her
husband has set his life to the briyht
modern pace that leaves her ploddinc
far behind. Her daughters bewlder
her with their passionate individual
ism. The older is an intellectual who
regards family ties contemptuously
Inc younger plunges into social life
with all its modern disquieting free
dom from inhibitions. The mother is
lett alone in her massive and intricate
scheme OF homemaking.
The story deals with her emergence
into an individuality of her own. Her
first tlmld assertions. her venture into
economlc independence, turning to
shrewd business account her despised
domestic gifts. her growth in assur-
ance and sophistlcation are seen with
bright satiric cleverness In finding
her own interests she grows cynicallv
indifferent to her childrens vagaries
Narrlet's weird studio existence,
Sally's equally weird social life, her
husbands detachment, all cease to
trouble her. BY force of an individu-
ality that will not admit defeat she be-
comes economic head of the family and
a personality. This is, by Miss Bart
ley's reckoning, the final catastrophe
And side by side with the disintegra-
tion Of the family into its separate
units there goes the attenuation Of The
home. 1t dwindles from house, with
It's incredibly complicated ritual Of
housekeeping. 10 the cursory house
keeping of fiat. recedes further into
light housekeeping and vanlshes ut
terly in hotel existence.
There is an absorbing theme here
L.
slibly as Miss BARLEY does is only the
for handling it. 1t is in wringing an
Interpretation out of all this really
vital stuff that she achieves bright
and dazzling failure. Because her i'm
agination does not extend to the reali-
zation that all this social change is
merely symptomatic Of changed mod
ern world, she builds left-handedly on
the assumption that if you retrieve the
scattered fragments of the old social
order YOU will automatically restore
the old integrities.
Miss Bartley's tenderness for the old
regime is. to say the least, excessive.
l, as hard to share her rapture for that
scheme Of life which was so solidly
built on orthodox theology, personal
philanthropy, oldtime hired girls and
Saturday night baths. And she would
perish sooner than admit that under
meath the rosy sentimentalities of
those Victorian unions there ran as
realistic and sinister current Of hu-
man nature as what she is so shocked
to discover to-day. Shoddy and waste
full as modern life is, there was no lack
Of shoddy and waste in the old order
she so extravagantly admires.
Miss BARLEY does not scruple to
stress point TO gain an effect. She
colors character crudely and motivates
mechanically to point her warning
against the relaxing of old restraints
And yet now and then her own char
acters rise to Judge her She is severe
with Harriet's absurd intellectual pas
sion for the human race. which She
regards as neurotic perversion Of the
proper emotional ideal Of family ser
vice.
You do not understand" the girl
argues with her mother "but after
you see the work III do, tracing child
labor to its source and stopping it.
you're bound to approve. Some Of
the canneries in the grape belt have
children of eight and nine helping to
pick, and some foreigners let their
four or tive-year- old babies she'll peas
and string beans and hold down reg
ular job.'
"Well, the poor souls know where
their children are-better than letting
them be run over by an automobile"g
murmured her mother. Il remember
when such things existed and nobody
seemed to think them terrible"
And Miss BARLEY is not satirical Of
the mother This is about the quality
OF her social perceptions 1t is against
this depressing stodginess. this rnpen-
etrable dulness of outlook that her