New-York tribune., 1922-04-23

Mcbride 50.
I"Hls novel is divided into two
parts, and the division would
| have been clearly recognizable
apart from any auctorial ar
'rangement The passage from Part
One to Part Two carries the reader
from one kind of story TO another
kind, from one style OF writing to an
other style, from excellence to some
thing less than excellence But. it
must be quickly stated. this transition
will not disturb the reader who is
primarily interested N the unfodment
of plot.
The man who reads only Tor enter
taInment will find "Hepplestal's," from
beginning to end, vastly superior to his
average fiction fare The more critical
reader Will perceive that Mr.. Brig
house-best known in this country as
the playwright Of "Hobson's Choice"--
has accomplished, in his first 14O pages,
something, well above the average Of
romantic fiction, and that in his last
1870 pages he has told story which
numberless other writers, less gifted
than he, could have told as we'll.
MI Br!Ghouse's partial failure
which is worth criticism only because
OF his partial success-~was almost i'm
plicit in the nature Of his attempt
Briefly. ne has tried TO ride not one
pair OF horses merely, but two pairs
simultaneously. He has attempted to
span gap of several generations in
time, and he has cssayed to synthesizc
romance and industrial history. Few
men could accomplish this dual feat
without some obvious straining.
THERE is nothing more difficult, for
novelist, than bridging 4 broad
temporal gulf. II is bold, or foolish,
author who breaks his story in the mid
die, carries his reader forward several
generations and sets him down in a
new environment among unfamiliar
characters. Having become intimately
acquainted with one group or fictitious
people, the reader resents being thrust
into company Of total strangers.
1t ls true that III this instance the
author has Hepplestall's to serve as a
link between his two epochs. Hepple-
stalls is the great factory, later col
lection of factories, established by
Reuben Hepplestall when steam was
still an untried power; it is the service
| into which all the legitimate descend
ents Of Reuben enter as inevitably as
the progeny of other ancestors enter
stalls are born, enter the service and
die in it; Hepplestall's endures. But
even with this uniting force to aid him
the author does not quite succeed.
After alls Hcpplestalls, despite the
life blood that went into it, remains
an inanimate thing, and the affections
Of men and women are usually won in
| fiction only by men and women.
In his attempt to ride the second pair
Of horses-romance and industry--Mr.
Brtghouse is eminently successful
throughout his first part. He presents
the early history Of steam indirectly
through the action and conversation Of
his characters. It is an cngrossing
! history.
! We see the early factory Of Reuben
the factory which gentleman had
deigned to create-rising above the
town of workman's cottages like the
masterful symbol of new feudal sys-
tenn. We witness the social clash which
bold Hepplestall--a landed gentleman
-braved by going into trade. We
trace the early development Of an eco
nomic and social force which was des-
tined to overturn the old regime more
irrefutably than could the guns and
handspikes Of any proletariat; the be-
ginning of revolution, not quite
bloodess, which wrought more endur-
Ing changes than we're effected by the
bloodics: revolution in France.
But, when he reaches Part II, the
author grows careless. He no longer
presents his industrial history indi-
rsxtly, artistically. through the medium
Of his characters. He INDUCES in pages
Of outright exposition: and the weight
Of these solid Jumps Of history is more
than the thread Of his narrative can
bear. Breakages could have been
avoided by the careful distribution
which Nr. Brighouse practices at the
outset.
7 DWELL upon these faults in con-
struction only because the author
can write exceedingly we'll; he has,
definitely, q manner. His style never
wholly forSakes him; there are bright