New-York tribune., 1922-01-22

THREE CRCssES: By Tedcrigo Tozzi
Published by Moffat. Yard & Co
THE sCHOOLMAs sTsR AND OTHER
STORIES: BY Anton ChoIshov. Publish ed
BY The Macmillan CO. 90
~ N HIS gravcstone at Sienna,
Italy, are the words, "Thou
~ shalt believe in God. There
is no other safety" And so
thought Tozzi, az his books plainly
show. Dead at the age Of thirtyseven,
he left heritage of writings that
surely will give him fame in the years
Three Crosses" cxcellently translated
Ly r. Capcllero, il enough in itself to
vim laurcls for any novelist. 1t takes
I. place as one Of the family Of un-
Usual fiction that deals with the trag-
cdy or comedy Of single house. one
on d shelf with "1he House Of Seven
Cables" "Bleall House." "Jhe House
With the Green Shutters "Thc House
in Demetrius Road" and other novels
that confine action and sentiment to d
large degree to four walls
The stride o. tragedy RI "Threc
Crosses" is around the room Of an an
tnque shop in Siena. Three brothers
are conducting business in this shop,
and we learn at once that Giulio,
spurred on by Nccolo and Enrico. has
forged note on 4 local bank, in the
name Of friend. For time they
are able to renew the note when dates
Of maturity arrive, Dut each renewal
brings with it hours Of fear and trem
bling. There begins to come into the
story, which grows intense in the Aov
OF its chapters, an elimination Of un-
essential elements. Little matters Of
household economy and amenities Of
daily life act as prods to conscience.
Inc three men fear one another. VIII
Giullo weaken VIII Enrico divulge
their secret? What is Niccolo'g atti
tude? 1t is all perfectly natural, when
YOU have triangle Of guilt attempting
to restrain a crime from breakirq
through in its evidence or through
spontaneous confession. And this
Italian novelist handles the difficult
complex of the moral situation in The
little shop with extraordinary skill.
Nemesis, Fate or what You will
comes one day and knocks at the door
Of the little shop with bony knuckjc
lie note has come under susoicion
Inc game is played out GiuIio. alone
m the quiet Of the four walls. seems
TO near tine sham antiques on the
wooden chest saying to him You arc
On our level. You are one of us. It's
Useless for you to try to avoid usl,"
AND Giulio hangs himself by rope
suspended from an iron hook in p
'eam across the ceiling. Nemesis. or
What you will, shualcs away chuckljnr |
Tith promise to return for Niccolo
md Enrico.
You may find it hard to believe that
here is beauty in "Three Crosses On
he contrary the story is constructed
Eholly on the basis of beauty, the
lear, purposeful elaboration of a sim
gle, simple theme, that Of the old bnt
eternal lesson as to what man sows
md later resps.
1herc is peculiar trick Of the mind
involved in our reading Of Chekhov.
" nile running through the short tales
n The Schoolmaster and Other Stor-
cs, we more than once found that
vncn we reached the post at the end
II story, we about faced and rctraced
'ur way through it. Now that's q de-
''uedly unusual experience, and it is
worth bit of reflection. Either the
!ulck, unexpected finale has comnel,ed
strolling back to pick up a clew hid
len snugly in sentence or a page and
Undiscovered at the first readjnr or
he RUSSIANS power over the intimate
relationship of little and big thiugs in
ne lures US into Tipping over of
cad paragraphs, to catch and imm,re
n memory small webs of words that
'nmesh much meaning.
There are twenty-nine stories in this
collection. While they are misted over
With the atmosphere of Russia. thew
glow through the veil with the intense
light of the world of humanity. Each
story moves around an axis of mot;v.+