The New York herald., 1922-05-07
PLASTER SAINTS. BY Frederic
Arnold Hummer. The Macaulay
Company.

Company.
|"HE very latest thing in current
fiction is the attack upon what
Is usually called "Puritanism,"
for. short: the wave of repressive
legislation and propaganda as mani
Tested in prohibition. vice crusades
and certain retrogressive religious
reyivals. Not. of course, that the
theme itself is new. Shakespeare is
a good authority for the persistent
reerudescence of cakes and ale, In
one form or another, and the endur-
ing hotness Of ginger. But there is
a new pertinency. an aptness to the
times. in the treatment of it in such
stories as this. Mr.. Hummer does
pretty well with it, on the whole
though If one must judge the book
simply as a work of literary art il
cannot be rated above the ordinary
level. In fact. some of it is crude
laid on in raw colors-old time poster
drawing and chromo-hthographic
effects. But though his people are
drawn without subtlety there is life
in them. and he makes out a very
fair case for the moral he is preach
ing.
The book is no defense of immo-
rality, no apology for excess or
obscenity. 1t is rather a plea for
sanity. for liberation. for the defeat
Of hypocrisy and hard sanctimonious-
ness. Reform. and a better civiliza-
tion. he argues. may not be
achieved by fiat. When asked what
he would do to set the world right
the hero of this story replies:
Education. From the infant
all the way UP. Teach the child to
think right, and the man won't do
wrong. That's my idea. but ad-
nit it win take a long time-genera-
tions. You can't make the world
over in a day" That is sound doc
trine. with which few thoughtful
readers will disagree.
The story is concerned with a
very crusty old multi millionaire,
who is pious. narrow. a model of
orthodox philanthropy as embodied
in large gifts to the church, foreign
missions, &C.. bitterly hostile to the
theater. which he considers a work
OF the devil. and OF course a prohibi-
tionist. On the other side of him
he is a colossal financial CRATER. a
wholesale profiteer in food products
and manipulator> of movements on
the Stock Exchange. He Is, In short
a familiar conventional figure. So
too, is his pious wife. 1t will sur
prise no one. however, to find their
daughter yearning for emancipation.
and career of her own. The hero
Is also a convention but rather bet
ter done. He is no plaster saint"
and he really oughtn't to have al
1WN0 AAAAoCl " 6cl uTunk, even 10
start the story. but he does pretty
well throughout the rest of it. An
other older reprobate, Mr. Blair, is
the more interesting. He, too. is a
millionaire. but has a reputation for
naughtiness. not wholly undeserved
but out of proportion to his occa-
sional laxity. He and the hero
catch the old curmudgeon in the act
OF profiteering in sugar and success
fully hold him Up. And. as might be
guessed. the hero and the "eman-
cipated". daughter of the ogre get
together happily at the climax. Mr..
Hummer adds a touch of the old
time melodrama in making his
wicked magnate repent and indulge
in public confession of his sins. But
in spite of it's crudity the story is
interesting throughout.
THE EIGHT STROKES OF THE
CLOCK By Maurice lie Blanc.