Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-21
TALE OF A MAN
WITH HUNGRY EYES
He Succumbs to Temptation,
but the Author Makes the
Reader Pity Him

Those who have admired the novels
of Leonard Merrick previously pub
lished in the complete edition Of his
works because of the great skill with
which they we're written, but would
have liked them better if they had not
dealt with the life Of, actors and un-
successful men of letters will find 1.-THE
Worldlings," the latest in the series,
more to their taste. The characters
are just people and not members OF q
highly specialized and technical group
distinguished by that indefnable thing
known for lack of better word as tenn
perament. >1s,
The task Mr.. Merrick set before him
self. in "The Worldlings',' was to pre-
sent man of honor who as he ap-
preached his fortieth year had to con-
fess that he was failure, and to rep
resent this man as succumbing to tenn
tation to do a grievous wrong while
still retaining the fine instincts that
moved him before he fell. The author
succeeds so well that instead of being
repelled by his hero the reader is moved
to great pity for him. No man who
did not have a thorough understanding
of the complicated motives which con-
troll human beings could have handled
the theme in such way as to win
tut ltuucl ey Iuputuy LUZ thc hCio'
Maurice Blake, the map who falls,
is presented at the opening as q watcher
of the negro workers in the diamond
fields of Kimberley. He had been born
we'll to do parents, but when he was
eighteen his father had lost his for
tune and the youth had to make his own
way. He had dreamed of wealth and
ease. but had never been able to secure
either. The negro workers in the dia-
mond fields called him "the man with
the hungry eyes, In these four words.
which are characteristic Of Merrick,
more is told of the inner, mind. of Blake
than less skillful novelist could have
put in two or three pages. Blake. is
rich English baronet and to go to Eng
land and enjoy the baronet's fortune.
The son, whom he resembled. had just
died. and the woman with whom the
heir was living had suggested the, I'M
personation. The opportunity to have
wealth which he had not been able to
accumulate for himself thus presented
to "the man with the hungry eyes
was too great to be resisted. Blake
goes to England and is accepted as the
son. The father wants him, to marry,
but his sense of honor. Is too tine to
allow him to involve an innocent woman
Ill utSCptiohS anu hS
he is not a marrying man. But he
meets a young woman who, when he
first sees her, reminds him of the women
suggested in poems about goddesses. He
| falls in love with her and for long
time resists the temptation to WOO her
But the temptation becomes too strong
and they are married. Then the woman
discovers he is not what he pretends
to be, and Blake, after telling the father
of the man he has inpersonated'who he
is, plans to drown himself in such "a
way that bis death will appear acci-
dental Before he, puts his plan into
execution his wife returns to him and
confesses that she has grown to love
him SO much that she is willing to
share his poverty. And the story ends
with the reunited husband and wife IN
each others arms.
It is a mastery handling of a diff
cult theme. There is not n superfluous
word in 1t. Each character stands out
ss separate individuality different
from all the others, and it takes only
few words for the author to individ-
ualize each. Men of letters like some
of the other Merrick novels better than
this. but the nonprofessional reader
will doubtless prefer this to many of
the others. -
THE WoRLDINGS. By Leonard Merrick
With an introduction by Neil Munroe. New
York: e. p. Dutton Co. o..