New-York tribune., 1920-02-22
Margins and Misses
Story of Soul Found in the Edges of Second.
Hand Book
Inc, against the work Of women IN ~.
man-made WoSLA

Inc, against the work Of women N ~.
man-made woslA
We sew. prick our fingers dull onr
Producing what? A pair of slinn.,e esne,
To put on when you're weary-or nr:
10 stui.Dis .hs oyer ana vex you curss
Or. at best. q cushion where you ,...
And sleep and dream OF something ~
not, w are
But would be for your sake"
Such passages as these are y,e.+.,
with marginal cheers by Thea. ss;.
nificant!" she saws. "How true," pu.
we doubt whether she ever did s,u
thing more than underline empba,,..,
ly. In the days of 1882 young wom.,
did not hold many meetings Of prots,.
against the slavery of women. A,s
Thea was moro inclined to beeou.
melancholy than irate at the sed.,
tary life Of women. That she wa. IN
clined to be sad is shown on pay. %
Aurora has just been transplantsa
from Italian soil and is pinins .w.v
from loneliness; but gradually n.
beauty OF her aunt's country home dis.
pels her brooding, and she describe,
her upliftcd feelings thus:
Then Life calls to u.s.
In some apocryphal, new voice:
Above US. or below U.s. or around
Ferhaps we name III Natures voce A.,
Loves" VI
"Can this ever come to met" note,
Thea, sadly, and dates her silent re-
mark January, 1882. We wonder II at
some later day she did not fnd cha.
she, too, was "called by life."
But she was happy once, We are el.d
to find out. On page "a Aurora says:
I was not therefore sad;
Ny soul was singing at q work apart
Behind wall Of sense. as safe from harm
AS sings the lark when suck'd up out n
sight
In vorttces of glory and blue air."
Thea once had such a feeling. bu.
"have l lost that?" is her present
query.
Had Been There, Too
By the time we reach page 7s W.
find that this young woman of 1882
wrote poetry. Aurora tells how .rri-
tated 1t makes her to be interrupted bv
her old servant when she had been
writing past midnight. 81 have felt So
| was not cross-oh, MOI" writes our
marginal heroine. She was not satisfied
with the poetry that she turned out.
either. For when Aurora tells how "sh.
ripped her verses up and found no
blood upon the rapier's point" Then
sympathetically states, 81 have been
there, too" And she doubts whether
she ever will write real poetry, for at
the passage,
This hand may never. happy, open large,
Before the spark Is ouenched, or the palm
charred
To prove the power not else than By the
pain.
the marginal note runs, "Alas, 1t may
be-"
Occasionally Thea Clark wonders
whether she is not too intellectual to
be truly feminine. When Romney tells
Aurora that her heart is being starved
to make her head, Thea stops to won.
DER, SIS this true in my case?"
We are inclined to wonder, too, when
we find out that she has been reading
Herbert Spencer. However, it didn't
hurt her much, for when Romney ques-
tions the authenticity of Christ, she
compares him with Spencer or soma
other rank materialist."
Cynicism crops out again on tho
margin of page 100. Aurora cries In.
dignantly, jealous of Romney's work,
Who tells you that he wants a wifi. to
love?
Has it not always been so?" is tho
hopeless comment.
Shocked by Brutal Poverty
From Thea's marginal horror at poor
Marian's mother in the poem; from
her heartfelt exclamation, Are there
such mothers %; from the note. 81 have
not seen much of such sights" at the
description of London's slums, we can
assume that Thea's melancholy was
due to introspection rather than con-
tact with an ugly world. She had no
first hand knowledge of poverty ard
disease. We see that she is moved
"The coarseness, heartlessness Of bru-
tai poverty" What life!" THE ugly
suspicion Of foul ignorance"-but the
yearning passages of lovesick heart,
to use a phrase Thea might have
coined, affect her far more.
We hate to say it, but Aurora Leigh
occasionally reminds us of strong
minded Augusta Evans's heroines. This
is especially so in the fifth book.
After spurning Romney's love be-
cause he does not recognize her as
poet and equal, Aurora has left the
countryside and in the city has at
tanned fame and sufficient fortune
But she is not satisfied. She is tor
nented by vague, hopeless yesrninE
for what she knows not.
But Thea knows. In fact, Thea IS
often prone to be irritated in her mar
ginal notes, irritated because this
otherwise brainy young woman does
not know her own heart better; or irri1
tated because Aurora is trying to de-
ceive the reader into thinking sne
doesn't love Romney. But she couldn't
deceive Thea, who reads with delignF
full seriousness.