The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-01
By DOLLY DALRYMPLE

sister. Their foolish indulgence ot her every mood and whim has pre- pared her about as poorly 8 possible for the duties of wife and mother. They live in cheap, tawdry little ] flat; the elder sister, Constance, clerks ! in a shop and the mother does the homework and looks after the one boarder, while Marjorie enjoys her self When she marries Philip, they live for a time with her family, and after series of squabbles, in all of
 which Mrs. Jones takes her daugh- | ter's side, separate. But this first , separation is only temporary; pres- ently they are reconciled, and take up
 their married life again, this time in a home of their own. A son is born
 to them, and Marjorie, pleasure seek ing and without sense of responsi- bility, finds the care of her baby an | almost into1erable nuisance. She shifts him off on to Constance and gets into a gay set while her rela- tions with Philip go from bad to
 worse. Finally, after an especially ugly quarrel during which she lit orally bites him, there is another sep arationt followed this time by di- vorce Constance, married now, but without children of her own. under takes the care of the boy, to whom neither parent pays any attention. Some years later Philip, who has
 meanwhile become prosperous, mar ries again. But his second venture is as unsuccessful as his first. His busi- ness fails after his partner, who had all the brains of the concern, runs
 away with another mans wife, and under the stress of poverty both
 Philip and his second wife, Leila, de- teriorate rapidly. She develops into a shrew, and he into parasite on the bounty of his hard working
 brother, all of whose loans he uses
 fov<his own qualification, not sharing
 them even with the little daughter,
 Lucy whom he is supposed to adore,
 From being merely commonplace and
 not especially estimable, he becomes actually contemptible.
 We find the hero-Philip Baldwin
 asserting after his unhappy adven-
 lures;
 Marriage is slavery, nine times
 out of tenr How in the name of all
 that's fair and just are a man and
 woman to know whether or not they are congenial? How are they to know whether they are mates or mismates? What good is 1t to rope people together who bitterly resent it?"
 The one and only time that Phil lips relations are thoroughly satis- factory, is the one time when the ceremony of marriage has been omitted. He is faithful to his mis- tress just because she has no legal claim on him. And she adores him she has no thought for anything but his comfort, she slaves to make l-fn contented. She is fairly successful principally, 1t would seem, because she is an excellent cook.
 The story opens on a fruit ranch In Pleasant Valley, Cal, but soon shifts to San Francisco, where most of the action takes place
 The author of Brass" doesn't ap- parently make any claim to literary style of high degree nor yet ornate language nor flowery diction, but he can lay claim to the fact that he has made a conscientious study of one of the most appalling situations of the day-namely-the divorce question-a present day problem which is difficult to solve.
 The subject is well worth the con- sideration of the writer of novels as well as human beings-and If Brass" is a picture of real condi- tions surrounding the average Amer ican family, then there Is much to be done by parents in the rearing of their girls and boys in order to fit them for marriage.
 In other words 1t is ''the home" which is at fault and should be cor rected.