Evening star., 1923-02-20
! NEW BOOKS
. AT RANDOM
BLACK OXEN. BY Gertrude Ather.
ton. Bont 4 LAiysrieht,

BLACK OXEN. BY Gertrude Ather-
ton. Bont 4 Livsright.
Thirty-odd years ago Mary Ogden
was the belle OF New York. Then,
Ike many another before and after
her. Mary became expatriate under
tho persuasiveness Of q European
title. For many years after that. In
dimtnishing frequency. rumors Of the
oriIiancs and beauty Of the Counters
zattiany drifted back to the old,
friendly, half-envious New York set.
Among the latest Of these, however.
were vague reports from this one or
that who had caught giimpses OF the
great lady. A hopslessly faded
woman--these would have it--dispir-
ited, gone dead-an old woman, II
they wanted 1t Just as It was. And
so' save as q legend Of lovsiiness and
charm. Mary Ogden faded quite out
OF the New York social mind.
+AH
Then one day the old Ogden house
was, obviously, in the process Of wax
ing up. of setting itself smartly to
rights. Of taking on the air Of ex-
pectancy and welcome. What was It?
Who was coming? Mary? Mary was
dead--or something. Didn't they re-
member? No. they didn't, but prob
ably she was dead. A daughter?
Mary had no children. But what was
that story OF trouble-the counts sus-
picion and Jealousy. Mary's mystsrt-
Gus hight and retirement? No, 80 far
rs folks knew, there was no daughter.
nevertheless, one other day. the old
mouse had q mistress. This was a
young woman, twenty-eight or there
aoout-a beautiful, finely competent
creature Of complete poise and self
suniciency. There must have been a
daughter, for this was tho very image
OF Mary, only ripper and richer, and
the "old guard Of Mary's day rushed
to the acceptance and welcome OF
Marys daughter. Mime. Zattiany she
called herself in queer and unaccount-
able foreign fashion.
y II y
In no time at all 1t was plain that
Lee Clavering had gone under before
the full-armored lovelinsss of Nine.
lattiany-Lee Clavertng, literary po-
tentate Of New York and its OUT
lying neighborhood of the United
States as well, and, what 10 more to
the point right here. q dyed-in the
wool, bachelor of contemptuous and
cynical unbelief toward the state OF
love and marriage.
All this to set the. situation. Now
for the story itself-the romance OF
Lee Clavering and the somewhat mys.
|terious Nine. Zattiany making it's way
in the critical and Sophisticated at
mosphere OF New York society. Now.
a story whose objective is Illustration
and defeat is bound to make no end
Of trouble for its writer. A novelist,
say what she may to the contrary, is
compelled to keep ono eye. at least, on
the readers. And readers, deny IT
though they may. still have q warm
love for the fairy tale, the happy
ever-after sort. And this is a story
OF defeat. That Is why from the very
way Mrs. Atherton has to watch out
lest this fact appear too soon, to the
discomfort OF all concerned. More
over, the misadventure to the ro-
nance Is OF SO peculiar a nature that
only only the the most gssilant Of writer's
ton 10 all of that. Besides, she has
an unassailable knowledge of the hu-
man mind. particularly as this mani
tests itself in the mental processes of
urge OF social autocracy. And, again,
she has a wit that bites its way
through the universal human game of
social make-believe. A little fling
OF disillusion is a part of this wit.
Why not? Any grown person in his
senses is pretty well disillusioned.
+ y
Do you want to know what that
particular misadventure was which
stood in between the body of this
romance and its conclusion-the con-
clusion that sent Nine. zattiany back
Ito Europe and set Lee Clavering to
renewed conQuests in his literary
work? Nothing but q distinct dis
parity In years and on the wrong side
OF the ledger. Whether in a story or
out OF 1t, young man cannot marry
an old woman. Everything on earth.
and in heaven, Is against 1t. What
are we talking about? Talking about
the fact that this was, in reality,
Mary Ogden, who thirty-odd years
ago was the belle Of New York.
X y
And here, at last, we come to the
point of the whole matter. For Mrs.
Atherton has put over the first ro-
nance Of the glands. Absurd? Per-
fectly. Impossible? Not quite-for
she has done it. Yep! Under a "ju-
dicious use of endocrine extracts" (Dr.
Berman) Mary shed her youth. So
many are trying 1t now, you see, that
Mary's story appears to be but the
artistic literary projection Of daily
records OF fact. And for a time Mary
played havoc with the heart Of youth.
An audacious bit Of literary vaEa-
bondage. this, that nothing but sheer
gallantry could have achieved. To be
sure. Mrs. Atherton started it with a
great advantage. She was able to
support the adventure with an art
that many earlier novels had brought
to an excellent pitch of power
Therefore she projected the curiou.
comedy and sustained II throN rhout