The New York herald., 1922-09-03

Il II
the seasons chief bone of con-
tention, the most hotly chal-
lenged and debated, quarreled over.
wrangled over. praised and exalted
for Its farsighted wisdom and splen-
did courage; denounced and flayed
for its blindness, ITS bigotry, its de-
liberate justification of life. II you
cherish the fallacy that a married
woman can bestow a mans whole
career and yet remain an ideal wife
and mother. you naturally won't like
Mr.. Hutchinson's ruthless sequence
of cause and effect. But If you hap
pen to agree with him that the world
is just now headed the wrong way
and that any sort of liberty is too
dearly bought at the price of the
old fashioned standards of duty and
sacrifice. then you will hail this vol
ume with an avid joy because 1t
sums up this particular problem with
the poignant thoroughness of Greek
tragedy. Incidentally-and to the
literary critic this should be of
greater concern than the authors
personal views on ethics and sociol-
ogy-the sheer craftsmanship of this
book, the rich and varied artistry OF
Its development, lift the author forth
with from the class of interesting
contemporary novelists into the fore
most rank of English fiction. 1t con-
tains scores of incidents and episodes
that are little miracles of narration,
haunting and inimitable.
The specific human story that Mr..
Hutchinson has to tell centers in
Rosalie Aubyn. finished type of the
modern emancipated woman, with
abundant feminine charm and clear.
level. virile brain. One feels from the
first the authors secret fondness
for Rosalie. She is a favorite child
OF his brain. He has parents
pride in her precocious promise, and
he actually suffers-and demands
that the reader suffer with him-as
she follows her destiny to its inevita-
BILE disaster We meet her first as
small child in the mid Victorian
home where she was born, "jolly
big rectory" in a remote corner of
Syrff hn.- 1tx go
embittered father broods on the
wrecked dreams of his youth.
Rosalie's father was a tragic
figure dwelling in house OF
bondage; but he was at least
tragic king. ruling his house and
venting his griefs upon his house.
But the life of Rosalie's
mother was an infinitely deeper
tragedy because she never knew
or suspected that it was a tragedy.
Still, that Is so often the difference
between the tragedy of woman
and the tragedy of a man.
The life In this old rectory is de-
picted with far greater detail than |
any subsequent part of the story; |
its daily routine is sketched in with |
all the meticulous care of an old |
Dutch master. 1t Is an indelible and |
perfect picture of its day and genera
ton. Through the eyes of the small |
Rosalie We see her mother. sisters
and servants "and the entire female
establishment of the universe" singly |
and collectively waiting upon father
or Brother Robert or Brother Harold.
Small wonder that Rosalie's earliest /
apprehension of the world was of |
a mysterious and extraordinary |
world" in which "all males had pro-
prietory rights, while no female
owned any part of the world or could
do anything with it. All the males
did mysterious and ordinary things:
and all the females did ordinary and
generally rather tiresome things. /
All the males were like story books
to Rosalie: you never knew what
they were going to do next; and all
the females were like lesson books:
they just went on and on and on"
Mr.. Hutchinson is fair in his pre-
sentiment of both sides. He does not
trv to pretend that life under the old
dispensation was an earthly para
disc: IL anything he goes rather to