The New York herald., 1922-04-02

1hts It's predecessors. th,S new
est offering by Mrs. Watts
is a largely planned. rocmy
affair. She believes II beginning at
the fcundaticn-and 1t must be a
bread. solid piece Of honest masonry
before she raises the superstruc-
ture: nor does she follow the analogy
Of the modern steel frame skyscraper,
which sometimes appears to COM
plete its upper floors before filling
in the skeleton. The walls Of her
house rise steadily. in due order,
without eccentricities. 1t Is a fash
ion nowadays q little uncommon,
hut il is a sound method. One sus-
poets. toe. that the resulting edifice
is very likely to far outlast some
Shower. hastier constructions. Nor
IS there anything at all stcdgy or
heavy about it-thc lines OF It are
beautiful. harmonious. satisfying.
There are. indeed. very few living
writer's Of fiction IN English whose
artistry is as fire as hers.
In this case she does not go as
deeply into her hero's ancestry as in
some OF her earlier studies. but we
get fairly fuli length portraits Of his
parents, especially the mother. OF his
brothers and sister. an important
Uncle John, and. In general. the sur
roundings Of his boyhood. Cleye-
more fully. Grover Cleveland Harrod
lis a sport from very ordinary.
nice. intelligent but stuffiiy "bour-
geois'' family, in q middle sized Ohio
city. The boy has aspirations and
more than q touch of genius. At the
very outset we meet one Of the
subtiest passages IN the book. ia the
fire insight of Mrs. watts's analysis
OF the boy. the budding genius"
Fand OF his mothers well meant but
pitifuiiy iaept tampering with his
psychic insides. Cieve naturally took
himself very seriously. youth" /"
says Mrs. Watts. lacks the two
main easements OF life--a sense of
huinor and the spirit Of compromise
fortunately. for otherwise how
could Youth. which does everything.
do anything" Poor Cieve-most of
the rest of the story deals with his
painful requirement OF the necessary
spirit or compromise" to his ulti-
mate dcstruction-his enforced bow
ing down in the House OF Rimmon.
10 is profoundly melancholy
look. yet not altogether depressing
The peSsimisFn Of its main lines Is
not uarelieved. There are correc-
tiyeS. and although the hue OF the
whole is soTnber it is not a despair
ing book. Clevc's career ends in 8
spiritual wreckase. but even 50. ons
need not despair CT him or feel thai
the evn conditions to which he falls
a victim are necessarily incurabls o.
permanent And there is George
Tarvey. the cock and soldier. whC
IS a useful companion picture. OF
contrast. to cleve. the unhappy poe
sho is driven aStray from his ideals
George holds fast 10 his ideal. al
though he would never have dreamed
II putting il thst way to himself
and he is. after ali. a more enduring
strand ia our body polite than tn,
poisonous pelmar. whose features
ere "cE that noble Babylcnish cas-
familiar on -Sroadwsy." So long a
America produces its Tarveys ",
need not quite Despair Of a whole
some future.
Geve's career. Ia brief. may b
summed up a. g very slow. painful
pfocess OF finding himself. not Yer.
well aimed attempt 10 follow tn
noblest ideals. crowned at last b,
what looks 10 bc an artistic success
but turns itself into failure. an,
finally lapse into sheer prostitution
Il his genius to make a living an
70 take care os mis- unfortunatel
chosen wife. lie begins by hitchin
MS Wagon 10 lofty star All end
by writing salacioas plays for
clever Jew manager who gives III
public what it wants" The stor
leaYes him afier lis aife.s death q