The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-07
THE BIRMINGHAM AGE-HERAID, SUNDAY MARCH z 1920

that it amply rewards an impatient clien- tele for the waiting.
 In the very interes tins introduction with which ". J. Locke prefaces the of short stories. h, declares that Leonard Merrick writes of things as they really are, but his vision pierces to their significance" an admirable sum ming up of part of the difference be- tween MT. Merrick and the usual real ist.' In that world which he has made peculiarly his own," the world of strug- giing writers and actors and artists, of omnibuses and lodging houses and cheap restaurants, of magnificent hopes and in- significant incomes, he sees the poetry as clearly as he does the penury, and reproduces them both either in novel or short story, using both mediums with equal skill. For, as Mir. Locke points out,
 Leonard Merrick is 'em;nently one who. like Balzac and Stevenson, is gifted with
 the double facility" one whose novels are not laboriously expanded short stor- ies, nor his short stories condensed nov els To the truth of this statement every tale in the volume bears witness.
 1t is an amazingly rich collection: rich
 in haracterization, in drama, in an ex-
 quisite flexibility of style in perfection
 of form, in profound pity tenderness, and sympathetic knowledge of the hu- man heart to quote MT. Locke once more. In all the range of English litera-
 ture it would be diffictit to discover a tale more nearly perfect of it's kind than the surprising one of "The Bishops Coni- edy, with it's utter reversal ef all the streotyped traditions. And where could one find stronger contrast to that sparkling bit of social satire than here in the sheer poetic beauty of "The a1~ ,,,I fkn e.4o of
 denption through love which makes nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of the fnnumerable variations on that theme appear weak and mawkish and profoundly unsatisfying.
 All the hope and pathos of myriads
 of gray lives are concentrated into the
 few pages of "The Woman Who
 Wished To Dier The irony of tho
 thing. which. long wished for. comes
 at last and comes too late. gives added
 poignancy to the tales of Dead Vio-
 lets and of "The Man Who Under- stood Women.' yet each in it's revela-
 ton of character brings the reader tho
 same feeling of sympathetic accept ance which causes him to agree with
 those who heard Bagot tell the story
 that the way in which the romance ended was. indeed, "A Very Good Thing
 for the Girl' Many a woman will find
 her own history TeIdtcu III IHc ldAS That Wouldn't Do" and Time, the
 Humorist," not infreqnently gives to
 the lives of both men and women the
 sort of twist he gave 10 that of Her. bert Harding. MT. Locke speaks feel
 ingfy of the difficulty under which one
 lahors who endeavors to write of these
 tales without using "the language of hyperboie." From the charming gay
 ety of "The Prince in the Fairy Tale to the wistful, whimsical humor of
 'sThe Call from the Past" and the stern realism of "The Back of Bohemia" there is not tale which fails to take rank as a work of art" And if as Mr. Locke suggests, there exists among readers tendency to look down on the short story as merely means Of earning a little extra money, surely none can read this volume without per ceiving that here. at any rate, Is ab- solute sincerity combined with rare and very beautiful power of artistry.
 Sir Arthur Pinero, who writes an al- nirable ''introduction' to the novel which tells of "The Position of Peggy Harper calls attention to the strong resemblance between MT. Merrick's art and that of the etcher, declaring that, working. of course, in very different medium, MT. Merrick gives us the special qualities of the etched line us diiIldtlOfl, ilS SpOuldHSouSiltSSi ttS rare economy. The comparison is no
 less happy because 1t is one which must have occurred to every thoughtful reader of Mir Merricks work. Consider for in- stance, the opening paragraph of that fascination novel, 'rhe Position of Pereg Harper. " In some half dozen lines Mir Merricll gives us the life history Of Tatham's s father, and shows Us exactly the position which is Chris tfat. 1nt+Fc. r1rxr A.. story. It is, so far as plot goes a very. simple story, indeed; but to read it is to, gain real acquaintance with the stage and its varying types of people from the neffable Logan Ross to the weak and brilliant Galbraith and that
 pathetic mixture of enthusiasm and in- Naomi Knight while the scod natured, vulgar brainless little yockney Peggy Is well called by Sir Ar .nur Pinero another MArrfelx's The eminent dramatfst's
 Introduction is, in fact. one of ex- optional sympathy and understanding ic appreciates to the full that rare gift Nhich IS peculiarly Mir Merrick,s-the sitt Of revealing "in see1ninolv 'areless haif-sentenee what anothen writer will take page over or will heay- " unaerscore. rare gift, indeed, but ne Whicn IS appreciated only by the .'ri V t''eS'iSViit among readers, the un- h'nslng being it would seem, impressed " an author in direct ratio to the num- 'er or words he can contrive to use. TO 'e verbose and turgid is but too often esarded as being profound, while the impid simplicity and apparently per- ect ease of Leonard Merrick. .sthis host accomplished and unobtrusive of larrators, as Sir Arthur describes him. taken as indicating lack of depth.
 Yet there is no living writer who eln xcel Mir. Merrick in his understanding I human nature, feminine as well as masculine. It is, indeed. one of his es 'eciai distinctions that he possesses the 'oWer, rare even among the greatest. of 'ortraying men and women equally well. ] I Peggy and Mrs. Harper, Elsie Lane. 'nd Naomi Knight, and Theodosia aoore are flesh and blood human beings. Q. too, are Christopher Tatham and Gst- raith Logan Ross and. Forsythe and lat light-hearted, slangy, and obscure rofessional. young Nelson. We can do Q better than to echo Sir Arthur Pin rO'S Dniniop ba .f