Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-06

roundings when he has come into his
fortune and his inability to adjust HIM
self to the change when the fortune
goes. are all Dickensian, in other words
typically English.
The man ,oho can get TO the heart
OF the commonplace Englishmdn OF
the present as Dickens got to tho
heart Of tho commonplace English
man Of his time certainly justices IN
part, at least. Sir Arthur's conten.
tion that he is the greatest English
novelist Of his time.
A Nd a novelist Who can write so
"A knowingly as to cause a tender
hearted reader to drop sympathetic
tear over the misfortunes Of his char.
acters has a gift that is not bestowed
upon every aspirant for fame. Mr'
Maxwell has done this in "A Little
More" II Is q moving story. lts
happy ending may offend the rigid
realists. but it can be argued in ex.
tenuation and defense of Mr.. Maxwell
that happy endings have been known
as life is not all tragic failure.
There is happy ending. also in
Mrs. Thompson" the new edition oil
the older novel which has also come
from Dodd, Mead & Co. 1t was written
In 1911 and was one Of the first to at
tract attention to Mr.. Maxwell. This
was about the time when the militant
suffragists we're active in England and
the novelist may have intended to ex-
al ,pk kry =.
pable Englishwoman In action. He may
or may not have been suffragist.
do not know. He certainly had ca
pable mother who could do something
more than cook meals atd take care Of
babies, and he knew at first hand wha,
woman who set her hand ut 1t could
do outside of the home.
He has Mrs. Thompson, his heroine.
take charge of the dwindling business
left her by her husband and restore ii
to prosperity. And then to give in
terest to his tale he has her marry one
Of the salesmen In her store, a young
man of dominating personality, who
deliberately sets out to win her In order
to get possession Of as much of hei
property as possible. He is a rake and
a renegade with no managerial ability
and ruins the business and finally agrees
to go to America in consideration of the
payment Of generous sum of money
The abandoned wife then restores tht
business to even greater prosperity than
before and when the news of the hus.
bands death comes she thinks without
bitter regret of the man whom she hat
loved for a little while and then en-
durcd until he sought his escape. 1r
addition to an exhibition Of the bushes:
ability Of a woman the book is the
tragedy Of the love of mature woman
| for n young man. a woman whose firsl
marriage had been loveless and who
harbored for a moment the fond hope
that the love of which she had dreamed
had come to her at the last.
Although Sir Arthur includes 1t among
the three or four Of Maxwell's grea'
novels it falls long way short of thu
standard set by "a Little More" Their
is less humor in it and the emotions ar
not played upon so skillfully and tn
scene is not so varied. But the nev
novel had not been published when 81
Arthur made his appraisal, else b
would probably have included it. Thos
who prefer the psychological novel t
the novel of incident will prefer Johl
Galsworthy, Of the older novelists. t
Maxwell, and those who like genia
humanity will take to Hugh Walpol
among the younger writers, and other
will insist that H. G. Wells or Arnol
Bennett stands at the top. But thos
. who are fond of novels Of tho Dicken
, school will be likely to treasure Maxwc
for some time to come.
GEORGE W. DOUGLAS.