The New York herald., 1922-01-22

mosphere of crime, first suspected,
then defined and at last recreated
piece by piece.
All this might be Illustrated by quo
tation, but the book should be read as
whole, for it is one fabric. The
reader will follow the plots unfolding
with passionate interest. And if he
be not Mortified as by Hamlet or Poe's
tales. it is because the author, French
always, leaves a door ajar beside the
mystery, with a .gleam of reason, OF
explana ton that tends to satisfy the
mind.
Undoubtedly a play could be made
from 1.-The Shadow that would SO
well at the Grand Guignol, that home
of the atrocious. And in the theatef
where one has less time to reflect
this work of Maurice Level might send
a shiver of fear over more than one
pretty pair of shoulders.
Hughes Lapaire, in his Gallant
PARISH satirizes the complacent
mediocrity of a provincial town with
touch of severity. They are bit
sensitive in the country, and although
the Academy has crowned two of his
other books, that conservative body
might hesitate to honor this one
Nevertheless M. Lapaire is in the
first rank of noveists who study
country manners.
There is irony in the very title.
Nothing could be imagined less gal
liant than these bourgeois rakes, ma
licious under their grand air of dig
nifty: or these bourgeois hypocrites,
envious, backbiting even to cruelty
under their narrow and passionate
devotion.
The only truly gallant man is the
young vicar of the parish who took
orders to fulfill the vow of pious
mother. He cannot find harmony be-
tween the modern church and the
teachings of Jesus. His views are
shocking to his associates. At last he
gives up his priesthood and marries.
In the words of Lapaire, the young
man is simply obeying the law of
that universal love (which rules the
worlds perpetuates generations and
races, informs every impulse, every
aspiration; love which achieves the
ideal, complete and sublime denial of
self, the grain lost in seed, the blcs-
som falling to fertilize another flower,
the wave breaking as the tide moves
on-love which is the firesids, the
future. the supreme law of harmony,
Of force and of fertility. Love which
is God.''
The subject is often treated with
force even with a touch of harshuess.
There is a certain aggressive tone that
recalls the period of anti-clerical strife
Lapaire is fond of dramatic effects.
Yet there is no malice in his portrait
of the Able Chevrin:
His youth burned in his dark eyes
as il some ray of the south had left
it's reflection there. In the
seminary he had not been TOUCHED by
the extreme mysticism which attacks
the neophytes. and he never gave up
his own reason Having no
ambition, he hoped 70 be exiled to
some modest village where he could
follow the pure doctrine of Jesus. He
turned his eyes from the Invisible to
let them fall on humanity. and, like
!. new st. Vincent de Paul. concen-
trated all his sacrificial power upon
relieving human suffering by a re-
ligion based on tenderness, goodness
and love. But instead of the humble
post he had sought they sent him to
the chief place of the canton"
There are scenes of great animation.
such as the pursuit of Valentine by
unclaimed furies. And the Passion
played by wandering comedians is
picture drawn on large lines. The idyl
of the lovers flowers in grace and
purity out of the hateful soil of town
jealousies.
In this work Hugues Lapaire proves
possession of a many sided talent. well
tempered and sharp-as one would ex-
pect who knows the region of Berry.
PANAME.