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Show - New Fiction in- Varied Forms mn BREAKING rOtNT. By Mary Roberts Rloebart. Own If. Doraa . Compear, TTT an knew that charming - - yy type of hojleae who la sb!a to introduce m It i ' (roup of strangers that wtthent ef-fort ef-fort wo boeono an Inttanata member af tho partr. ta touch with what ever la going on or being talked about happy end at ease. Interested and responsive. A word or two, a Ml of description, a hint as to past affiliations, a Unking tip of names and places, aad the strangers are strangers no mora, but part of our Ufa circle. There are authors who hare this same faculty, and among them la Mrs Roberts Rlnehart Ton need read BO more than a page or two In ono of her books to become perfectly per-fectly at home In It. friendly with Its people, personally concerned In Its problems. Even her mystery stories, whose strength lies chleAy a clever plot, as a mystery story must, eren these have thlj same welcoming snd friendly quality. Her characters are thoroughly visualised and clearly presented, and they are likable, dellrhtful persons, who regard re-gard you aa one of themselves and adopt you at once on her say so Into their secrets, their Intimacies. It Is this quality, thla charm, that la one of tho reasons for Mrs. Rlnehart'g Immense popularity, and perhape aa ' potent a reason as the fact that she writes extremely well, and that aba alwaya haa a story to tell. You enJoy, silt wererbelng lh-herbook. qulle aside from your Interest In what msy occur to these friends of yours with whom she haa brought you Into ao close a contact Thla special attribute la particularly particu-larly present In her new book, "The Breaking Point" Before you are through with the drat chapter you are committed. These people are the sort you mean to stick to. Whatever happens you are for them. Tou like Dr. David and Dr. Dick, yon like the Wheelers, you have alaed up Clare RosJlter and mean to see aa little of her as you can manage, and you are attracted by I he town. In fact Mrs. Rlnehart haa won you, and aha will ot let you go again. And thla Is before tho tense situation situa-tion haa even been hinted at before tho drama has shown Ks edge, while there is nothing doing beyond tho chat of a couple of girls, some com- merit aa the doctors, a glimpse or two of homo Ufa In a couple of bomes, a little scene In church. Just seme members of a pleasant American Ameri-can community at their dally occupations, occu-pations, But drama and tenseness are pro- ne line, and before lone- you are deeo : -WKllt. Wit km mm wyk it? going to Uke, game. Dick caroms, one might ssy. Into another group, and In thla group be arouses an amaxlng emotion. He la not himself aware of thla, and later, when ore of the newa people cornea to Interview htm ha senses nothing of the truth nor of the revelations reve-lations Impendlmr. For Dick Livingstone Is not Dick Livingstone, but another man, a maa who had led a disastrous existence, who had got deeply Involved In Ufa and who had come a fearful smash. David had happened upon him at the critical moment, at the breaking point, and by a set of clrcumstancea waa able to take him completely out of the world he had known and no longer remembered, and to afart him fresh and fair In a new one. He had made of a wreck a man. And now, at the end of hla own life, he had to see that man threatened, to sea the past, which waa not dead, rise up snd engulf the present. That la the theme of thla abanrb-Ing abanrb-Ing n -' ssea. self. In a sense far mora real than the usual one, and the gradual approach, ap-proach, from another angle, of several sev-eral of the actors In the earlier t'haae of hla exlatence to an understanding under-standing of what haa come about, all thla la beautifully worked out, not only as a plot but aa a study In character char-acter and character growth. Diva becomes gradually aware of hla past In Innocent fragments at first and then there cornea the moment of sudden sud-den revelation, a thunderclap In the heavens of his Ufa, followed by a second breakdown. Hut that Is enough aa to the plot of the book, which the reader la left to enjoy aa It develops In Mrs. Rlne-hart'a Rlne-hart'a nanda. The portion here Indicated Indi-cated la revealed early In the course of the story, and there la a great deal more to fellow, and soma decided surprises before the end Is reached. But aa we made clear in the beginning, begin-ning, there la much mors than mere plot to The Breaking Point" The etudy of Nina and her hueband la a capital piece of work, and not a man or woman cornea Into the pages but Is there .o stay. Aa In actual exlatence, exlat-ence, you mfght not remember th,e ' Issue eutlld ain't lak the ale timers ' of the race wui 'at they furgl'a favors an" bre'ks pledges in' sometimes some-times bites ths hand wlch bad fed an' fondled 'em. Mebbe they la right I ain't 'aputln' It In aonvs casea But I Is sarin' they la ono shiny black nigger Jsst rearin' to prove the contrarywiso ao fur aa "he pusaonally Is concern', wldi I'm, I says, hiss." Most of the eplssdea of the story are devoted to demonstrating that thla claim of Jeff's la thoroughly valid. Viewed merely es a novel upon a standardized form 'the story Is somewhat thin. It la rather a series of chapters, strung, soundly enough, upon a central thread that holda (hem together, but the real interest in-terest In the book entirely centers in Jeff, and in the display of hla character. char-acter. The other people ere uttle more than background. Not that tho spendthrift young man, .Mr. Dallaa, or the tinted advenjuress who -vamps" him. or tho slick Wall Street rascal whojs efter his moneys are any-of I hem mere lay figures, Mr. Cobb does not deal In wooden Indiana of Action of any kind. All theas people are real enough, but are alight, barely skstched In to glva Jeff a chance to ahow off his paces. And tho action of the plot Itself la purely conventional; tho rich young man of Vast Inexperience who cornea . to New York and falls among thieves of one kind or another and la Anally rescued before It la quite too lata. - Jeff cornea with Mr. Dallaa, a valet and handy man, having been loaned for the occasion by our old friend, Judge Priest Jeff haa never been far from Paducah before, and naturally he and New York And each other surprising In many respects. re-spects. It wont do to spoil tha fun of any of the chaplera dealing with Jeffs encounters with tha city, with tha - colored confidence man and otljerlroubte makers, and later with hla full Initiation Into urban society aa It exlata In tha One Hundred and Thirties of Harlem; the reader muat enjoy them for himself. It muat suffice suf-fice to say that though ho la very green Jeff la fully able to take care of himself, from thever first round. It makes an extremely Inter- ail; and by no charity can bo con-' sldered othsrwisa than aa having bean written with tho Idea of saak Ing money by pandering to tha aex curiosity and longing for excitement excite-ment of tha nnrlpa reader. That 1 a condition of affairs which, ft in . Impossible to evade; and since It cannot be evaded, there la no nan mincing words about It If a book be fonl at heart all the mouthing about the "liberty ot the artist to choose hie theme": ana) all the high sounding allusions to the "Madame Bovarya." and the "Oermlnle Lae-erteuxa," Lae-erteuxa," and the "Ton Joneses." and the "Mademoiselle do Maupins" ' that have gone before, cannot remove re-move the Ulnt that It there. Art for arte sake? Nonsense. 1$ la - simply a matter of decency and, , - common tense. , a t e ANEW edition of Louisa M. Al-cotte Al-cotte "Little Women." with Illustrations In color by Jessie Wilcox Wil-cox Bmlth, haa Just come from the press of Little, Brown A Co. In all how many editions of that story have been Issued since Its publication publica-tion In 186S? Yet, despite Its enormous enor-mous success, "Little Women" had to wait nearly half a century before " It was presented on the stage. The dramatist had to work eight years to obtain the necessary permission. The copyrights were In the posses-tIoa posses-tIoa oLMtsaAlcoU'g-two. nephews, , the famous twins. "Daisy" and "Teml" (John and Demijohn), sons of Mlsl Alcott's .last surviving Ister. In Boston the two Pratt boys when growing np were pointed out as the famous twins. Just as In later years Mrs. Frances Hodgson Hodg-son Burnett's son Vivian was pointed point-ed out at Little Lord Fauntleroy. There had boon a certain New England Eng-land prejudice against, making a play of "Little Women." although Miss Alrott herself was fond ot the theater and actually wrote a short rnmedy which was produced at the Boston Theater. e e e THE original' publisher of "Little "Lit-tle Women" were Roberts Brothers of Boston. In September, Septem-ber, 1867,lhey-JssuedHoplal Sketches," an account of Miss A!-"volt's A!-"volt's experiences at, a nurse In a hospital In Georgetown daring the war. The fallowing year. In response re-sponse to their request for a girl's book. Mist Alcott wrote ' "Little , Women," which was originally, Tailed "The Pathetic Family." Of the S20.OOO earned by Mist Alcott ' from literary work the greater part , represented the profits from the "Little Women Series" "Little Women." "An OM Fashioned Girl." "Little Men." "Eight Cousins," "Rose In Bloom," "Under the Lilacs." Li-lacs." "Jack and Jill" and "Jo't . Boys." Miss Alcott did not hesitate to say that parts of "Little Women" were taken from life. This was her own statement In the matter: "Little "Lit-tle Women" The early plays and experience; Beth't death; Jo't lit- erary and Amy's artistic- experiences; experi-ences; Meg's happy home; John Brooke and his death; Demi's character. char-acter. Mr. March did not go to the war, but Jo did. Mrs. March It all true, only not half good enough. Laurie Is not an American boy, though every lad I ever knew claims the character. He waa a" Polish boy Ladlslas Wlslnewskl met abroad In 1865. Mr. Lawrence Is my grandfather. Colonel Joseph Mayo.. Aunt March Is no one.' Lytton's The Last Days of Pom-pell" Pom-pell" would be outrageously Impossible Impos-sible with Its sensuous dance scene and Its pictures ot what might be tanned the coaatry club life ot the Romans. ' a e TO tars to American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet, Letter" would naturally have to be wiped off the elate for all time. Hester Prynne aad Arthur Ar-thur Dlmmesdale are no flt characters charac-ters for contemplation. When we come to think of It, Harriet Beecher Clowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" night be regarded as a highly "Immoral" "Im-moral" book. Certain newspapers of the South professed to And It so In the early Arties of the nineteenth century. There are points ot that book, the pictured relations between be-tween whlte men and women of mixed blood In New Orleans, and the designs of Simon Legree against - the slave girl In hit power; thtr could be condemned aa "reeking - with sensuality." Bret Harte't "The Luck of Roaring Camp." with Its. Cherokee Sal, should bar burned at the public stake, and reasons might be found for consigning most of the author other stories to the ssme fate. In Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad"there are phrases and words that are perhape highly shocking to those who carry prudery pru-dery to the point ot draping the legs of their pianos. This method of Illustration, at once nonsensical and serious, might be carried on IndeAnltely. e e e BUT to drop entirely the nonsensical nonsen-sical tone. There It one book that la the mind stands out above all others at the test It might be. -made the subject of the first question ques-tion In an examination for candidates candi-dates for the office of censor. Despite De-spite the championing of It by Thackeray and Coleridge, It It an open question whether Fielding's "Tom Jones," for example. Is a , wholesome book for general reading. read-ing. There are a good many persons, per-sons, not prudes, who agree with honest Col. Tom Newcome's opinion opin-ion of It But any one who regards re-gards as an "Immoral" novel Al-phonse Al-phonse Dandet's "Sapho"; any one who falls tq recognize In It one of the great moral pointing books of all literature. It a sufferer from mental and moral astigmatism. Yet that It the book that on teveral occasions oc-casions has been selected by tho "reformers" In thla country for particular par-ticular attack. When flrat translated trans-lated It was challenged. There Is a , story to the effect that a cablegram was tent to Daudet Informing him that there wat a question about the novel. Daudet, mystified tor a moment, mo-ment, decided that (the only possible question that could arise would be as to the spelling of the heroine's name. Bo he cabled back: "Spell It with one p." e e e DAUDET, come to ripe yeart and to a deep knowledge fit the human heart and of human frailty, wrote "Saph'o" and dedicated tl to "my tons when they are 20 yeart - Mary Roberts Rinehart. " ' also seen him In the North and In transition. It is not too 'much to. say that no one ainoe Mark Twain haa demonstrated to auch convincing convinc-ing reeulta a real knowledge of the negro character aa Mr. Cobb doea In Mbit oook.AsIde from that, few . American readera need to be told that the atory, being by Irvln Cobo, Is Joyously Interesting from start to finish merely aa a atorjr. It ,1s not quote a novel. In a formal sense, but It's a mighty well done book. Jl a GKORGE WOOD. name, but you will not forget the peraoa. Old man Wheeler is not essential es-sential to the telling ot the tale, but there he is, with his affections, hla trouble, hla bewilderments, his clear seeing, a man tour square. 3 asset, the newspaper man, la leaa convincing. convinc-ing. There seems to be a sort of blight In Journalism that makes it ' Impassive for any one practicing that profession to survive transplanting trans-planting Into fiction. Bassstt la ik Important person in the unraveling of.the mystery, but he cannot come real, and he la not at all Uke any newspaper man known to us In methods or attitude toward hla work or the world at large. And what slews of money he appears to have, and what Incredible leisure! But Bassstt Is the only one who falls down aa an Individual whom you know and feel to be a real human being. Even Gregory, who la merely sketched In, la satisfactory, though he Is one of the very few you are not Mrs. Rlnehart la interested In people peo-ple aa well aa Jn plots; she la even more Interested In the people, and that la why aha Is growing aa an author, 8he baa humor and Insight and a vivid dramatic sense. Life,' even at Ita quietest (a never dull to her. and It la alwaya capable ot becoming be-coming extraordinary, Thla gives a freshness to her work that la com-slantly com-slantly delightful. In thla, her latest book, ahe la at her very beat It you like her at all you will Hke it very much Indeed. It gives scope to her various gifts. It la a thrilling tale aad It la extremely well handled. HII.DEOARDK HAWTHt5hNB. "J. POINDEXTKR. COLORED." By Irvln 8. Cobb. Oeorse H. Porta Company. FOR the moat part In thla story Mr. Cobb la simply having the usual hsppy time with himself and hla friends that one expects ex-pects bf him aa a akilled teller ot tales, but behind tha authentic, cheerful Cobblneaa ot It all be haa a very seriously conceived thesis, which may be labelled aa a carefully thought out contribution to the discussion dis-cussion of that portentous affair, tha Problem of the American Negro. Mr. Cobb doesn't like to put t that way, and, Indeed, the point he wtahea to make la made much more efficiently effi-ciently by indirection and auggeatloa than It could be by bald argument And that point Is the sterling worth of the unspoiled negro: not merely' hla loyalty and steadfastness in friendship, but his native shrewdness shrewd-ness also. Hia hero. Jefferson Exodua Poindexter, colored, or Juat Jefr, for abort, or. In hla Harlem phase. "Col J. Exeter P.lndexter, Esq." ' (the . "Cot" standing for "colored"), himself etstea the thesis, somewhat oratoflcally: "They'a some wits folkses Wlctt 41stms the run of black folka now-adaya now-adaya alnt got no proper sense of gratitudes nor faithfulness, neither. They claims "at the new estlng picture of the reactions of an unmitigated negro to the rather artificial and unstable- envlionment ot the clty'a colored colony. , Even before they reach town Jeff meets an animal that la strange to him In the yellow porter on the train, who la of the type that la fond of boas. Ing that It is s "British subject" sub-ject" Jeff does not think much af thla Harold and hla Ideas of "equality." "equal-ity." "Harold." I says, "you shore wus right w'en you norrated "at they wus a dnTlence betwixt Klntucky an' up-North. Well, Uve an" learn," I aays, "Uvs an learn. Only, et t alma to learn from you I baa doubts whether I'U Uve ao ver much longer." k The whole thing brings out, subtly and clearly the really, "upertor self-leepect self-leepect and dignity of JefTe own attitude toward both, hla own and the white race over that of the bumptloua, mottled mulatto of the Kerth. It la really tha gut of the whole book; the possibility ot mutual respect snd affection between the tacea, provided neither attempts to intrude upon the other, Aa Jeft puts It: ' "Mr. Dallaa." I aaya. "dont mek no mlstek 'bout It l's glttln' freah already, w'lch It la the cuatomary . custom yens, an' the chances la I'U git still fresher ylt But It'll be for NooYswk pu'pposes 'scluslvely. Wen I meets up wld one of my own kind of w'He folks In these parts or w'en I goes back as' In amongst my own folka down below the Line. I'M know my place an' atatlon aa I'U res pec 'em both.",, A good many aermona might be preached to both black and white folka from the taxta, such as that, which Jeft provMea liberally. They . are of more value than his spectacular spectacu-lar services la rescuing Mr. Dallaa from the lady by a "sable atratagem' or In providing for the Intimidation of the wily but cowardly New York broker who almcet ata away with Mr. DHliaa's money. The book tempts to quotation, aa It denes summary and muat lose In any paraphrase or condensation. It touches Incidentally upon many of the negro problema of tha day, such, for example, aa the proposed exodua to Africa. At a meeting of tha Pastime Pas-time Club surprise Is expressed when Llasss, who haa opposed the emigration emi-gration Idea, says ha alma to enlist He Is naked to explain why be Is willing to go and retorts: "Who, me?" says Llasss. "You got "me wrong!- I stnt aunih to remove mysef nowhere. ' 1 la mos eotnfor'ble whar I la at. No auh, what I alma to do la to tach myse f ' to the collect or a office yere at borne, an' handle the money duee ea they curaea a-rollln' la frurn the rest ot you niggers." Mr. Cobb, ot course, speaks aa n Southerner, or. al least a border line man who has knows the colored brother from hla Infancy. He has' ' i la the eeanpUcationa of the atory, and watching the forces ot life aa they twist and toss the men and woman, the beys and glrla, ot that ' quiet little community. The point of the book, the breaking point, la no leas than that boundary beyond '. which the mind, the strength, will net, cannot go. Two persons reach thla point one of thera Dr. Dick Livingstons, the other Elisabeth, the girt be loves. They each uke refuge, but they do It unconsciously. And what the oo resequences are and bow these consequences must Anally be met make a a Lory that la, to our mind, the best thing Mrs. Rlnehart has done, and that mesne a very good thing Indeed. There Is a mystery In the book, though It le by no means a mere mystery tale. The mystery la Dick, Who la bs, where did he come from and what dose hla uncle. Dr. David Livingstons, hnpw about it allT At Arst It la all aimple enough. Dick le the son of David's dead brother Henry and came to the town with bis uncle shortly after the father's death out In Wyoming. But it ap--peers there were circumstances that , y occurred at that time which so shocked Dick, thea a man ot tl. that hla mind dropped a stitch. He suffered suf-fered a total loss of memory, which had remained complete except for a few dim remrm bra sees of childhood, a face here and there, a scattered Incident or two. This shock. David explained, waa partly from the aud-dea aud-dea nature of Henry'e death, and pertly because Drck had become lost ' In a Mlsaard In the Wyoming mountains mount-ains that same night, his horse bad died, he had wandered on foot to a small hut, and lata there In the grip ot pneumonia for two days before be waa discovered and slowly nursed bark US) health. Enough to bring , about forgetfulness. since forgetful-aeea forgetful-aeea was nature safety valve. Dick had touched the breaking point la fact and memory bad let go. But there were those In the village who hinted, bad hinted since the arrival ar-rival of a visitor from the West who claimed to .have known the deed Henry, that the layer was never married, and that If Dick were hla sob there was something queer about U, that's all, 4 ;easlp starta and apreada. And, of course. In time Dick bears some ot It And aa be ta at the moment realising real-ising Just what hla Interest In Elisabeth Elisa-beth means It sis riles him. He bss never bothered very much about his misfortune. Always be haa been toe busy, learning medicine first, practicing prac-ticing It afterward, living hla normal nor-mal days and nights with David snd David's sister, Lucy, a frsll, lovable little widow who adores bar two dixlois. But now he must know. He must be able to offer Elisabeth! certitudes, ot doubts end Imaginings. And be goes to David. But at the same time thsr factors have entered Into, the WHAT practical. y amounts to a new edition of the works 'df '"" Ambrose lilerce Is being Issued by Thorns and Eron, from the plates made by the Koala Publishing Company In 1911. The venture deserves attention, for despite the fact that Blerce made the mistake ot believing that everything he had ever written, no matter how fagl tire or Inconsequential, should be preserved In permanent book form, his waa an original Ulent that has never had, in a broad sense. Its full mead of recognition. As a mat-tor mat-tor of fact, Blerce's chance ot enduring en-during fame would be far greater If about two-thirds of his writings were consigned to happy oblivion. Then his work of real quality and there was much of it would be likely to stand out e e e T10R the chastening ot oar souls T it It worth while to recall every now and then that bitter but undeniably clever parody to which Ambrose Blerce gave the title "A Rational Anthem." It runs: My county, lis ofhee. Sweet land of felony. Of thee I sing-Lands sing-Lands where my fathers fried Young witches and applied Whips to tbs Quaker aids-And aids-And made bun aprras, e My knavish country, thee. Land where the thief is free. Thy laws I love: . I lore thy thieving bills That Up the people's tills; I love thy mob whose will's All laws shove. Let Federsl employees And lings mb All they please. The whole yedr long. Let officeholders mske Their piles and judges rake Our coin. For Jesus' sake. Let's all go wrong I of age." And In writing for bis sons hs preacliedT a great sermon, as onlyjui artist of the first order could have preached It, that was to serve as a terrible warning to the eons of thousands of other men There It strong meat In "Sapho" that Is not to be denied bat It It there with no thought of pruriency, but ss the red "stop, look and listen" sign ot Impending danger. The reader Is taken to the edge ot the precipice and Shown the yawning yawn-ing pit that lies below. No tract ever written extolled more vividly the beauty of the homely virtues, the wisdom ot honorable marriage, and the aimple Joys of the home. Then, the vigor and Are of the book aa a work ot art! The writer of these paragraphs haa read "Sapho," In French aad In English, at a conservative con-servative estimate, thirty time, and with every rereading finds soma fresh beauty,' some hitherto undiscovered undis-covered observation of life, some new bit of wise' philosophy. To say that "Sapho" la very near tha apex of fiction la merely to express aa Individual opinion. To say that the mind that reads filth into It and does not grasp Its moral lesson la a mind both Immature and ancleaa Is a simple statement of fact, e e a BUT to consider the reverse of tha shield. There It going aboat a great deal of whining hum- hug about tha sanctity of "art" "Sapho" la a clean book because It was written by a man ot genuine Ulent who portrayed life as he saw It and who wat inspired to his task b a lofty moral purpose. But there come to mind a doxea books of the last tew years, half a doxea of them of the past six months, that b.- no letting down of literary standards stand-ards can be regarded aa works of e ,. ' - |
