The New York herald., 1922-04-30

"Cashel Byron's Profession" a book
which is so well known that descrips
ton seems superfiuous. Yet in
Meredith's book the fight is secons
dary. What is meant TO be impors
tant is its reaction upon the various
characters present at the ringside.
Primarily it is not glove contest
within roped square that is being
waged: it is the more vital age old
war of the sexes. So also in Sha w's
novel, the profession of the hero has
really very little to do with the mats
ter. The match is simply an episode
and spectacle. What counts, and
what the authors meant to count,
are the varying emotions that the
spectacle stirs in persons who mere.
~ look on. Much the same is the
fight in Hugh Walpole's "Fortitude.s
Peter is the protagonist. Peters
hero, stephen Brant. fights bloodily
with the man with the shining chest.
But in spirit Peter, his small body
quiyering in an ecstacy of agony,
following, by means Of occasional
glimpses between the legs of taller
spectators. the sway of conflict until
the moment when Stephen. emere-
! ing from the shadow of impending
defeat. crashes through the blow
that reduces his opponent to fnsens
sibility, fights with him. 1t is the
soul of Peter in action. that counts
And here is the point: 1t is not what
the boy sees but what is happening
when he cannot see that causes the
reader 10 vince and shudder.
vi.
There are two books of American
authorship dealing with the prize
ring that in this respect must be
considered with An Amazing Marri-
age. "Cashel Byron's Profession
and "fortitude." They are Samuel
Merwin's "The Honey Bee" ana
Jack London's The Game" There
is an excellent fight in Mr.. Merwin's
novel, that between Carpenter AMI
Blink Moran in Paris. But here
again the battle is secondary: il IL
what the American heroine. sitting
at the ringside, thinks of ii that Is
important As the struggle which
ends IN draw, proceeds. the heroine.
whose sympathies are all with Mo-
ran, Is maddened almost to the poins
OF screaming out protest against
biinks habit of pec<ing at his op
ponent's eyes. seeking to blind him
IL is the same with THE Came
Ihough the story is Greek tragedy.
ending as 1t does with the unneces-
sary death of the hero from chance
oiow in the ring. the whole ohiee;
Of the conflict described is TO show
the reactions from it on the young
girl who is watching from behind a
curtain. 1t is too bad that Jack Lon
don did not see fit to give that tale
a happy ending"
The late Charles Van Loan wrote
yividly of the prize. ring, as he wrote
vividly OF golf and of baseball. There
Is plenty OF good hand to hand fight
ing to be found in the pages of Rex
Beach; particularly fine fight is in
George Barr McCutcheon's The
Sherrods;" and an unusually effec.
tive and shudder inspiring battle in
VIII Lexington Comforts Back OF
the Yards, which Frederick Stuart
Greene, who recently wrote for TIE
HERALD book section on What Are
the Great Ghost Stories and Why"
included in his volume, THE Grim
Thirteen" A dozen other American
writers might be mentioned But the
best Of them all was Jack London.
and the best fight story that London
ever wrote. not excluding "Ths
Came or The Shadow and the
Flash" was THE Mexican which
is to be found in the volume with the
title The Night Born"
As in the case of Doyle's Rodney
Stone" and The Croxley Master"
il is the motive tehind the fight that
makes it epic. In the soul OF Rivi-
era. an i'll fed Mexican boy whose
physique inadequately indicates his
marvc,ous fitness for the ring, blaze
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