Evening star., 1924-09-09
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE GOLDEN LADDER. Run

1
| The story of Betty Bowen. No, you
do not know her. For 1t is a century
and half since Betty Bowen made
| that prodigious splash in the provin-
cial town of New York. Between then
and now, a thousand disturbances, fe-
male in origin and quality, have
served to obscure this gallant adven-
turer, or would have done so but for
her brief matrimonial alliance with
Aaron Burr. Nobody forgets Aaron
Burr. Even now, once in a while,
| some deliver into the gossip of old
chronicles turns wry smile Of ridi-
cule upon the adventurlng pair-78
and 60. But Aaron Burr, crowdins 80
years, had still devastating eye and
the ways Of many a tender gallantry.
| And Betty BoWen-Madam Jumel--at
60 had by no means forgotten the
arts of lure and seduction. Grotesque,
banal, the marriage proved to be. OF
course-"Just pair of old fools"
we, today, would say. Probably this
was said in that day also. The mar
riage did serve, however, to give to
Mistress Burr the stamp of historic
reality, whereas the identity of Betty
Bowen, or even Madam Jumel, would
years ago have been lost in the long
and obscuring legend of loose women
! 4
1.-THE Golden Ladder" is the story
Of Betty Bowen, Madam Jumel, Mis-
| tress Burr. The Burr marriage Is it's
| climax. This marks. also the last
rung of the ladder by way of which
the dauntless Betty climbed out of a
wretched childhood and set herself
high and dry in the ease and afflu-
ence craved by heart that was fam
Iishing for pleasure and beauty and
Indulgence. Single of instinct as the
beaver, as untiring too, Betty worked
ever on the up grade. Each lift an
other move toward the pleasant land
Of plenty-the land of beautiful raj
ment, bright jewels, flashing equip
ages, no end of other soft cuddling
seductions. And since in all the world
there is no such thing as free gift,
| Betty paid in the only coin she had.
Each rung of the ladder-one end in
the mud, the other against a cloud
was listed with a new name. The low
est, that of Pierre. the French lad
Then Capt. Delacroix. a sailor-man.
Then, NJ. Jumel a merchant of France.
Then Aaron Burr-and God knows
how many besides. Not so many
though, one judges, for good custom
ers in any trade are hard to find
affiuent and generous patrons scarce.
And Betty, to her marrow, was the
instructive shopkeeper.
A spectacular rise for those days. A
pageant of one.
Then the inevitable came to pass
Betty grew respectable. The years do
do one that way. Nothing short of a
genuine wifehood would serve. A legally
married woman of decorous ways and
a growing good repute became the goal
OF the SOLDERING Betty. So. with arts
and crafts diverted toward a new aim,
but in no wise diminished, Betty fell
sick unto death all because Of her sins
And the good NJ Jumel, demurring but
yielding, finally brought her back to
life by legally Tightening the loose bonds
in which he had hitherto held her.
But-respectability is a dull state, or
so Betty found it. since all the other
respectable women turned hard and
skeptical faces upon the belated spot
lessness of Nine. Jumel Not worth the
candle to Betty, all this dull virtue. She
had no gift whatever for it. So she
turned away toward the really sporting
business of making money. Her ability
in this direction already demonstrated.
And Betty became a successful finan-
cier, which accounts in large part. one
suspects, for the Autumn JumeI-Bur
romance.
"A remarkable woman, despite the
frafltieS which all perfect men and
women are bound to deplore and con-
denim.
This account of her is hardly worthy
of the high name Of Acknowledgment
Hughes talking. 1T is hardly better
than mere history. 1t almost stoops to
, things in it are recorded fact The rest
is mere background and sackcloth to
fill up the cfinks where the documents
are missing" A situation, this, to the
perfect liking of Mr.. Hughes, who has
, demonstrated, 16 or II times now, that
he must have something solid to stand
on when he reaches out for the genuine
human stuff in which he deals No, not
! a realiet He is not dull enough for a
prime realist- He is selective where the
other is diffusive. His points do no;
scatter the light They focus it. And
while within a definite plan he may
roam about a bit. he is mindful to adopt
no plan inadequate in any respect for
the content of the matter in hand. Up
to a certain point, a literalist of skill
andG1iscrmination. who reproduces place
and event first of all in exactitude of
outline and feature. This secured. Mr..
Hughes, to meet his own ideals of
further fulf1llment, becomes many
things-the good psychologist, a bit of
a moralist- something of the philosopher
and certainly the smilingly ironic critic
of host of old commonly accepted re-
spects and generations bred of many
|
ished untruths.
Betty Bowen, Madam Jume1, Mis-.
tress Burr-a real person set dowr
in a picturesque and momentous pas
!. of time and place-provides an ex-
ceptional theme for such individual
, equipment. A story deeply human ir
content and highly dramatic in effect
, steps out to meet you here and tc
greet you with a promise of some.
thing more than mere entertainment
And the promise makes good. To be
sure, it is quite likely that some man.
DARN Of modern criticism may point
, in reprobation to the Rupert Hughes
habit of holding up the straight anG
cumulative line of action while the
into one or another of his variou:
roles-psychologist, moralist, preach.
er, cynic. But we, plain readers
sharing no part of the burden of ex.
pert judgment on unities and bal.
ances and sequences and things, de.
light in the thrill of these illuminat-
ing excursions all around the place
"Betty's mother was one Of the bill
lions who become mothers becaus,
J they cannot help themselves. Sh,
bore children for the same reasor
, that weeds bear flowers, and weasel!
multiply, and jungles are populou.
with little savages. She was the
helpless victim of the self she drew
.. in the one lottery that human law.
have never touched" And right alons
: here-'It is not usual or respectabl,
, to write the truth about mother.
i hood; therefore, the women who
. triumph in this most difficult of ca
reers are robbed of their rightfu
praise by An idiotic habit of pretend.
ing that all mothers are divine an6
} all homes temples of virtue, and tina,