The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-11-30
~rAs eRIMMlNo cuP.o

the answer" to Main Street" which,
of course, does no harm to its cir
culation, bua IS naraly descriptive.
Ny own notion Is that It Is, first OF
all, cross-sectlon OF real life, done
so well, at least in places, that It
comes near being real art.
S.ngularly enough, too, the most
perfect little human drama in 1t Is
not the absorbing study OF Neale and
Marise Crittenden, married folks in
Ashley, Vermont, and Vincent Marsh,
the reather exasperating third party"
with his high-nown but hackneyed
nonsense ABOUT living ones own
life" cutting the bonds, etc. but the
I intensely dramatic triangle OF Gene
and Nelly Powers and the firmly
sketched in Frank Warner.
II would spoil your reading of Mrs.
Fishers book If tried to condense
( this vivid lite tragedy into couple
OF sticks OF loose-wrought journalese,
but you can hardly visualize 1t with,
/ out some outlines.
! Nelly Powers loved dancing and
high heels and hated the big pine in
front OF the house. Gene, her hus.
! band somber selfcontained, rather
inart.culate character, didn't fancy
Frank Warner very much, although
there wasn't any real harm in the
! chaps until
! But, anyway, there was bad acci.
/ dent out in the woods and Frank
7 M pa haA coll
the ledge and killed himself Marise
Crittenden, however, had seen Gene
( strlding toward the scene Of the ac-
cident with the face OF man in hell.
She knew IT was no accident.
4 Then the conscience ridden Gene
! chops down the pine his father loved
ana he loved hoping to appease his
conscience and win back Nelly.
He has lined the tree to fa'l on
brushpile and harshly orders Nelly
out OF the way when he sces her in
/ the danger zone She obeys, but
drops her hat. Rpna.ng gaily back,
her high heel is caught-and the tree
begins to fall.
/ Gene, horror-stricken, runs to save
her. Too late-the tree buries them
both.
The drama OF the Critteudens
doesn't come to tragedy. Neaie sees
Marise gradually falling under the
false spell OF Vincent Marsh, but re-
fuses to intervene She NUT take her
own way and make her own choice.
With her cup of domestic duty full
to the brim, with the thrall OF the
commonplace and unlovely Cypress
Ing her soul, with the lovely and de
taehed Eugenia, Mills, typifying the
leisure and liberty Marise has given
up and Eugenia doing her little bit tc
make trouble, with Marsh forever
poisoning her thoughts with his cyni
cal philosophy and pagan morality
one can hardly imagine strong
straightforward man like Neale Crit
tenden leaving his wife. the mother Of
his children, to fight that thing ou
alone--but so says the book.
And it is chance almost, that dis
closes TO Marise some unexpected
heights and depths in her husbands
chaiao which give her pause. She
meets Marsh, all ready to cain Ell
and carry her of to wider" life
but his tale of passion rings false
She wonders why she ever thought o
leaving 1t al Husband, children, hel
home and neighborhood work--ant
she does not even "spurn" the tempt
er. Just disengages herself from his
arms and he leaves her with a tire
inendous gesture OF remuneration.
: The scene doesn't get over" a.
: we say in the theatre; neither doe
the notion OF March coming back re
pentant tmofe or less) to stand OF
the porch and listen to Marise pla,
"highbrow" music, but suppose tn
answer" TO Main Street is that Nal
. Street and its duties are worth while
: that husband, children and friends
} drab and uninsp ring as they may b
count, and that there Is a create
happiness In service than In self eS
preston" and the larger life
There are some chapters In tn
book which are perfect gems. One /
= the afternoon In the life of ELY Crit
tenden, the queer, imaginative, loN
able daughter of Male and Maris,
Nothing that Mrs Fisher has eve
done has excelled in deep-knowledge
sympathy and understanding OF chilli
hood this delicately cut, yet sharpl
faceted jewel of child..ife.
There Is romance am somethin
deeper in the too vaguely outline
character and story of Toucle, the oil
Ind an servant, who practically an
without warning leaves the Crittel
dens flat" and goes out to commun
with Nature.
There is both comedy and TRACED
in the boldly charcoled lights an
shadows Of Cousin Hetty, and IL
" well done genre groups, the chapter
n describing the dance and the part
T. that waited up to see the nigh
y blooming cereus come into bloom al
y exceptionally brilliant and true
o LIE.
" THE trimming Cup has some Q
sent!al elements, not only of the "be
seller" which 1t has become, but
real humanity, and the eternal b.
resome conflict" of the sexe
which most modern authors owe
stsess.
There's a lot OF common sense
Mrs. Fishers book, despite son
scenes where the high-lights seem
triiie artful and where the dram
. shows signs OF fabrication. ---Howai
TT4. l..