Evening star., 1932-05-13

where did you come from?" she
cries, seizing her 4-year-old son in her
arms, and holding him aloft, almost "a
II she had never seen him before.
Strange womanl But strange with
that Queerness which somehow strikes
to the very roots OF every reader.
heart, for he knows instinctively that
this character somehow Is not Just q
character in q book, but real human
being.
1t is easy enough to understand how
this strong, serious-eyed woman wor
the hearts Of all she met, how she
became q sort of pet Of the rich mill
owners family, how she escaped from
their unwanted patronage.
The author, with true narrative skill
does not tell the reader why she would
not 60 to the seashore as the family's
guest, but makes him realize, even be-
fore the invitation Is issued, that she
by no means could 60, being Ishmalee
II ~
This Is. above all. what we like tC
call a natural novel; things happen
as they happen in life, one after
another, with no clever extries OF
exits.
1t becomes the most natural thing
in the world. therefore, for the reader
to follow Ishma from her mountain
home, where she took such strange
delight In watching the terrible forest
fires, to the mill town down below
where she becomes embroiled in labor
| troubles.
She would, Of course, to use pert
but appropriate bit of vernacular.
Everything she touched became trans
! formed by her touching 1t. Perhaps
better way to put 1t would be that
she made one see new side to 1t
When with Ishma the capitalist and
his family become what Ishmalee
found them, q very decent sort al
around.
She brought out the human side OF
every one; even her repulsions were
natural and essential.
We have refrained from telling the
plot of this story, because we want
every one who has not read it to enjoy
1t unhampered by such whispers. The
| narrative Is excellently done, finely
sustained and intriguing.
| But the lady-ah, the lady!-is the
great Joy of the book. 1t is she who
stands out in the later days. weeks
after reading, when one new book has
merged into another new book and
other new books are clamoring for at
tention.
This Is the sorrow Of great fiction
even the best. that time, which brings
all things, also tends to destroy all
things and that memories weaken,
even those Of real people whom we
| have known.
How much more likely, therefore, are
book characters to become pale and
| indistinct, unless they shall have had
| than uu0rHr yrriUhfU n thhv are
to sustain them?
This emergence OF q character from
| the pages of a book, to take a place,
not only in fiction's gorgeous gallery,
but even In the actual lists of real
| human beings, Is one of the most
| amazing achievements Of the human
mind.
| Genius Is genius, OF course: . man
who can knock a base ball farther
than any other man Is sort of genius,
no doubt of that; but perhaps not one
average man in q thousand average
men but would agree that there are
differences in types Of genius, too.
| Character creation, with words, Is a
genius apart and distinct from any
other in the world. The sculptor, the
painter. the architect, creates with
materials and the result is something
which the eye of man can see. The
writer who creates a true character
does it with many of the same words
used in legal briefs. but the result is
| far different; 1t is human being, not
a caricature of one; the character is
seen only with the minds eye, but Is
more real, in a way. than many a
] live human being. Such q character
Is Ishma.