New-York tribune., 1922-11-12

/ 4 .A. prospect Of quick gain to de-
base their talents by too
faclle and copious output, but the hon
orabie exceptions, against whom the
charge obviously will not lie. are sell
dom given any credit for their unmer-
! cenary labors. Mary johnson is one of
these exceptions.
She began with best seller and fol-
lowed 1t with several more. But they
were not written as such. l do not
mean that she despises popular ap-
proval; that is absurd. But she wrote
what she had it in her to write, and
her interest and fresh enthusiasm. her
narrative gift and feeling for colorful
incident, naturally commended her to a
large public. Hers were among the
iirst, and probably the best, of Ameri-
can historical novels. They were ro-
mantle because she has the romantic
hlnd; but they were purely American.
without any flavor of Wardour Street
or the second hand. When he, mind
turned to the past her heart clung to
her native state. If the picture of
early days in Virginia presented in "To
Have and to Hold" and "Prisoners of
Hope" were trifle overdrawn and
superficial, those are the faults of
youth.
She might have gone on turning out
stories of the same pattern indefinitely
at an immense pecuniary profit Ro-
nance, will always sell and is always
in fashion. But she was not content.
She followed the clue of history on
to the second and inevitable time Of
I stress in America, the Civil War. Her
two novels of that period, "The Long
Roll" and Cease Firing" are infinitely
richer than her earlier books, if less
easily readable. They are almost over
loaded with the fruits of research, with
realistic detail. She had gone in that
direction as far as she could.
| A third period of development is
marked by her latest novel, "1492"
BY it she proves, if proof be needed,
that self-denial, the hard way in writ,
ing, is worth while. 1t is by odds the
( best novel she has ever written; and
/ what Is more, 1T gives promise Of bet
ter yet to come. Heretofore she has
dlspayed in turn great fertility of in
vention and an infinite capacity for
taking pains; but this is q work Of
| imagination, which is to say, it is
touched with genius.
Not that it is by any means iawless.
On the contrary, it is full of faults,
both of form and of style. 1t is some
times heavy, sometimes ragged: gen
\ orally shapeless. 1t moves to a staccato
measure which at times becomes mo-
notonous. But it is right in essence,
in intention, in feeling; it has vital
ity of it's own. 1t shows you living
man.
And the man had been dead so long,
had SO faded away into vaporous
! legend, that to make him live again
was little short of a miracle.
The man. of course is Christopher
| Columbus; 1892 can mean only one
thing to Americans, being one of three
dates, or maybe now four, that are
4 all most of us know of that branch
! of statistics. In 1492 Columbus sailed
| the ocean blue, etc. Further we are
/ dimly acquainted with the fact that
Columbus sailed in search Of the
Indies, not Of any new continents
dimly guessed. But the dry fact does
not prevent us having hazy mental
picture of the doughty Christopher
leaping ashore, after the tedium of
the long voyage, with smile and the
remark: $50 this is America
We have never given him any
measure of sympathy or comprehen-
sion as fallible human creature,
doggedly following his star from court
/ to court of Europe for seventeen
weary years before ever he got his
1 ship headed West across the Atlantic.
and at the end as much perplexed by