The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-12-08

suggests Wuthering Heights hut the
parallel way may not in kindness be
WnoIly rustic and the picture. Of the
hentish grange, with its simple mo-
notony OF life, authentic. Mr.. Vests
name is unfamiliar to me, unless he be
the British ambassador who made him
self disliked during Clevelands admin
lstration, but this is a matter of no
consequence. He handles his difficult
materials with mastery precision; the
outlines are large and rough, and the
final effect more of a rudely-hewn
statue than of finished picture. His
style is somewhat heavy, and he is
almost Jamesian in his complete de-
tachment and preoccupation with sub
tie analysis; and he writes like an old
man. world weary, who seeks to ease
his heart before he dies.
,, The wide success of Stuart Walkers
enterprises lends a special interest to
the new collection of his plays. More
Portmanteau Plays (Stewart & Kidd
which is<edited with an introduction
by Edward Hale Bierstadt.
The more one comes to know of Mr..
Walker the more is he struck by
the varied genius of the man. AS
producer he accomplished the impossi-
bic. and I venture to say that many of
HIS pays VIII tlIld pfdceS among our
permanent contributions to dramatic
literature. OF the three in the volume
with which we are Immediately con-
cerned; The Lady of the Weeping Will
low Tree is the most ambitious and
in many ways, one of the finest bits OF
romantic writing in the language. 1t is
a masterpiece. The Very Naked Boy
is whimsical trifle, quite delightful
and quite without consequences; and
Jonathan Makes a Wish is a powerful
arrangement Of elders who would deny
the child the chance to develop his owr
personality and force him into persuits
for whicsl temperamentally he is un.
suited.
It appears to me that The Passion.
ate Pilgrim (Bobbs- MerrilD is by
much the best story Samuel Merwir
has written. The protagonist, Henri,
Calverly is a familiar figure. will
his genius, his innate honestly and hi'
exasperating lack of decision and self
confidence. But he Is human-aii tot
human perhaps-and Mr.. Merwil
merits praise for his courage II
departing from the conventional 70
mantle type and unsparingIy analyz
ing a man who is man, with all hi
faults and virtues.
Mr.. Merwin has always been supe
rior to the average of popular novel
lists and, in the present volume, h
approaches a degree of greatness. II
has a promising theme and for thirty
eight chapters, develops it splendidly
. then mars the effect by forcing al
happy ending. Perhaps I lack MI
, Merwin's optimistic faith in tn
eventual triumph of right, but to m
he seems above the crude expedien
of straining a conclusion to satisf
, romanticism. I feel that he could b
, an artist if he chose.
The Harvest Home is the singular
Iy appropriate title given the collecte
poems of James B. Kenyon Dame
T. White e. Coz
DR. Kenyonss work is well know
( by his numerous contributions to va
; rious magazines and by the severe
: slender volumes of his verse former
" published; and it is with pleasur
that we see the waits from his pen thu
: gathered into permanent form.
, For DR.. Kenyon is no mere verse
maker, but a genuine poet. BY M tur
, he is Wordsworthian, loving the bird
and trees and flowers and the breat
!, of sweet winds blowing across ripen
/, ed fields. His verse-forms are tn
simplest. he finds inspiration in tt
same things that Herbert, Crashay
! and an hundred others sang; but he
a thoro craftsman and the old-fasf
toned serenity and chaste simplicit
: of his verse is most charming.
q Altho there are 400 poems in tn
volume, DR.. Kenyon's inspiratio
O seems never to have failed, and h
n work is marked by rare ease ar
q spontaneitv, especially when he sinI
: of the beauties of nature. He is a
L early Victorian. born out of seaso
I, and the unspoiled purity of his yer.
: comes as a welcome relief from IL
. dangerous discords of the moderI
lists. Miss Doris Kenyon also is rel
h resented by nine poems, all of whie