The New York herald., 1922-10-08

u -
ring symbol. It was that Of some
perfectly constructed piece of mahogany,
table or chair. in which all parts. from the
selecting of the wood to the putting to-
gether of the pieces and their carefully
hand wrought finish (no cheap varnishD
have been treated with the utmost skill and
honesty. No veneer; nothing slighted;
solid value to the core. A thing made to-
day, but with the unmistakable stamp of
lastingness. Perhaps. too. a certain heavi-
ness, as of solid old mahogany. Whether
this comparison so occurred because much
literary furniture not OF that type has been
forced upon the attention, or whether In
spite of the really splendid achievement
of the author there clings to it something
reminiscent OF tools and a strong hand,
may be doubtful. Her touch. though she
often shows humor of a high quality, is
not light. One occasionally becomes rest
less under an earnestness somewhat over
keen. But one is never bored. Yet the
keynote OF the book. which is accurately
called. in its subtitle. study of interac-
| tons" is precisely boredom; the long drawn
| out boredom Of a group Of people with
each other, with their social position" to
which most of them cling with Impetlike
vigor-even with the world itself tragic,
| universal boredom. This is poignantly set
forth by the very youthful BERTHE. an eight
een-year-old philosopher. who. by the way,
is one of the most real and lovable char
acters in current fiction.
And BERTHE is only a lesser character.
The real actors are not the individuals,
clearly as these stand out. but composite
groups OF people To these groups is
added one uncompromisingly individual
person, that common little man" stephens,
the socialist inventor. whom Claudine. the
real leading lady. names the breath of
life" when he blows like a disturbing
breeze into the stagnant. correct gloom OF
her family life. and who. from there on
ward swings the story all his own way.
The action-or, rather, Development
covers twenty years or So beginning with
a dance at a Staten Island home in 1890
and closing when the grandchid of the
| girl who served heroine on that first
evening is about TO appear. The contrast
| in the first chapters between the happy, un-
| trammeled life of the Staten Island family
and the stern. cruel decorum of the fine
old Brooklyn family, whence the sulky.
pathetic hero of the first part energies, is
as startling as some daring juxtaposition
of colors. The author does not like these
fine old Brooklyn rectitudes, but she ex-
| ercses a Hogarthian attention TO detail
in drawing them. The poor brides intro
duction to her mother -in-law's home is a
shudderful performance.
Then follows the "interaction" OF con-.
/ fiicting temperaments. of misunderstand-
ings, and of the growth of the next gen..
Grafton into a world of nighmarish bore
dom. In the end poor Claudine comes to
rather sudden realization that some of
the fault for the state of things may be
her own. ''It was the handwriting on the
wall
The sin ! impute to each Illustrate
ghost
Is-the unlit lamp and the ungirt
lo.n. :"
Yet the conclusion leads to an unex-
pected resolution of the difficulties that
made Ciaudine unhappy; it lies. measur-
ably. in a final recognition Of the detach-
ment OF each personality from every other