The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-14
Reviewed by
ELEANOR HAYDEN.

DRoBABLY no one who hadn't grand
- mother whose warnings consisted OF
look out you don't get hist and
whose vocabulary included such words as
"faxing" around and my stars" and
"harkl" and such phrases as up attic" and
camping down on the couch" and other
delightful New England provincialisms could
possibly appreciate the full flavor of Alice
Browns "Homespun and Gold" In this coll
lection OF short stories Miss Brown goes
back of the correct New Englanders who
adorn her longer stories the most recent
ones being "The Black Drop" and THE
Wind Between the Worlds" to the simple
homely folk who go to NO 3" schools in
their youth and to Grange meeting" as they
grow older. These people have simple psy-
chology. To flick Jess, the horse, harshly IN
dicates male mental perturbation while going
to the swamp for thoroughwort gives a
pretty good indication that something is
wrong with the female equilibrium.
Those stories are human and appealing. but
il is not for the story particularly, that one
reads Alice Brown much as it Is for at
mosphere-to be stepped again in the quaint
curious New England turns of phrase that
she knows so well how to catch. Many times
the spelling of these words, that you are
familiar with when spoken, hist" for ex-
ample eludes you until you see and recognize
It as an old friend In the pages Of Miss
Browns stories. Translated hist means
but how translate colloqualisms? Fan
doesn't cover IL exactly. 1t is a queer word,
and even Miss Brown doesn't give you any
idea what the missing letter is.
There u.s. of necessity, a limited appeal
about these stories Provincialisms, received
by those familiar with their phases
with the feeling, these are true-she has
caught Them" often mean little or nothing
to the outsider who has lived beyond the
pale OF influence of the State of Maine OF
the last century Do they still talk OF
"entrys" and dress skirts and "pindlin'
children and "gettin' your death" as they do
I'm these pages or do these dioms belong
solely to the generation that has passed and
from whose lips no amount of superimposed
education beyond the No. stage OF culture
or travel beyond the grange was ever able
to efface the sometimes stern. sometimes
supple Technology?
Though some Of these stories may be 100
strictly localized to mean anything to non
New Englanders (as Southern darby stories
bore the reviewer to tears). surely the
picturesqueness OF such words describing
movement in a room as "stirrin' around"
"thrashnr around" "traipsin' up and down
stairs" staying "cooped up In the house"
cannot be wholly lost And II you've ever
heard them. "the frogs peepin' so loud" or
seen TIE moon "as big as cart wheel" rise
over a crusted snowy New England meadow
Alice Brown makes the sounds and pictures
live again.
Her people are simple hearted folk, for
the most part-big, clean. narticulate young
men-girls in the FIRST flush Of youthful JOY,
with shy eyes and quick darling move
ments-older men with queernesses and can
tankerousness OF years settling upon them
and adorable old ladies with cameo pins, for
nice" who have learned through the years
how to manage men folks and 70 see through
the sometimes harsh New England exterior
the warm and faithful hearts beating be-
meath the breasts of Abner or William or
Cyrus.
"The Return Of Father" Is the most simply
eloquent tale in the book It's the sort Of
story that leaves you with tight throat and
a smile Few short story writers can do; more
than that.