The New York herald., 1921-10-23

n IoT many writers of stories can
evoke emotion and retain
their integrity as artists. Not
many ican be charmingly discursive
and leisurely in narration, yet swiftly
wear the reader beyond the friendly
breakwater of ''finis.'' Jeps Peter
Jacobson does not speak but sings
his tales. He Is a "lyricker,' as
Germans have it. In an earlier
day he would have strummed and sung
his inventions for the delight of gilded
royal and smoky baronial courts.
Trammelled by the yoke OF this stiff
age of formal theatres and even more
formal books. the song of Jacobsen
nevertheless sounds clear and silvery.
He transports us to a balcony. His
soaked fields. In the realm of prose
he stands on the coveted middle sta
tion between prose and poetry, with
out the saccharine of prose-poetry.
After more than year of waiting
the publishers have granted the Amer
lean public the thrill of two additional
volumes of Jacobsen, the first having
been "Marie Grubbe." "Mogens," the
title story of the second volume. is the
narrative with which Jacobsen made
his debut before the Danish public
and which won the hearty appreciation
of Georg Brandes. the noted critic.
Besides "Mogens" there are three
other stories. two of which are lyrical
tidbits, and a third, long story which
must stand forever as one of the
greatest portraits of motherhood, the
story entitled "Mrs. Fonss."
AS in Marie Grubbe," the charac-
ters of Jacobsens little dramas are
like figures on a faded tapestry, fig
ures whose dim contours blend with
the, shrubbery and the landscape. The
individuals of the stories emerge from
the nature descriptions slowly and dis
tinctly, as a sparrow on a tree be-
comes slowly visible to the fixed re-
gard.
AhV otOiy Vi Ahics II OiihS pIcntHlS
problem, but II is. not by any means
problem story. Mrs. Fonss, who had
been everything that a mother can be
to her two children. meets at the age
of 40 the man she loved as girl and
finds that their mutual love has sur
vived the years.
Notwithstanding Mrs. Fonss's life
long devotion to their interests, the
egotism of her children-both mature
-overfiows when they are apprised of
her intention to marry again.
Horrible - unnaturaI" exclaims
Tage, her son. 1T is enough to drive
one insane merely to think of 1t. Have
you any idea of the things you make
me think of? My mother loved by
strange man; my mother desired, held
In the arms of another and holding
him In hers Nice thoughts for son;
worse than the worst insult. But Ii
Is impossible; must be impossible;
must be! Are the prayers of son to
be as powerless as that? Elinor, don't
sit there and cry: come and help me
beg mother to have pity on us,''
The other and broader viewpoint,
that of Mrs Fonss, is expressed in
the night when she ponders the situa-
ton. How quick they were to desert
her as soon as they saw not every
motion of her heart was theirs" she
thinks. But she was not only Tages
and Elinor's mother alone, she was
also a human being on her own ac-
count, with a life of her own and
hopes of her own.
Just as Mrs Fonss" is one of the
most perfect interpretations of mother
hood ever penned, so "Niels Lynne"
stands out as one of the most under
standing and penetrating portraits Of
youth. So much has been written on
this subject. Conrad's symbolic nle
and James Joyces harsh staccato1 Ar-
rative have been but high flung pen
nants in a veritable procession of
stories and novels of youth. No one,
however, has remembered the spiritual
experiences of early manhood as well
as the Danish novelist>
The story is a simple narrative and
OF little moment in itself, an unorna-
mented account of lives and living.
Men dream and aspire, toll struggle,
meet with discouragement, disillusion,
succeed or fail, grow old or fall sick
and die, For Niels IL is a story of all
these, an account of his development.
Niels's life, the life of a poet, was ac-
companied throughout by dreams.
Hanna Astrup Larsen, the competent
translator, calls attention to the fact
that there is hardly page in the book
which does not contain the word dream
or some reference to IL.
Roaming about with the parsons son
during his childhood. weaving almost
without pause for the sake OF this at
tentive listener tales of his own
imagining or inventing for their com
mon entertainment games and per-
formances which were echoes from
history, Niels's early life was delight
full fairy tale existence. He was helped
by his mother, who guarded In secret
bitterness dreams unrealized. His later
life was a slow progress but progress
withal. He was left alone by the death
of his parents. He outgrew his friends,