The Green Mouse
Page 17
OTHER BOOKS BY
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
It was Mr. Chambers himself who wrote of the caprices of the MysticThree--Fate, Chance, and Destiny--and how it frequently happened that ayoung man "tripped over the maliciously extended foot of Fate and fellplump into the open arms of Destiny." Perhaps it was due to one of thepranks of the mystic sisters that Mr. Chambers himself should lay downhis brush and palette and take up the pen. Mr. Chambers studied art inParis for seven years. At twenty-four his paintings were accepted at theSalon; at twenty-eight he had returned to New York and was busy as anillustrator for _Life, Truth_, and other periodicals. But already thedesire to write was coursing through him. The Latin Quarter of Paris,where he had studied so long, seemed to haunt him; he wanted to tell itsstory. So he did write the story and, in 1893, published it under thetitle of "In the Quarter." The same year he published another book, "TheKing in Yellow," a grewsome tale, but remarkably successful. The easelwas pushed aside; the painter had become writer.
Writing of Mr. Chambers's novel of last fall
THE DANGER MARK
in _The Bookman_, Dr. Frederic Taber Cooper said, "In this last field(the society novel) it would seem as though Mr. Chambers had, at length,found himself; and the fact that the last of the four books is the bestand most sustained and most honest piece of work he has yet done affordssolid ground for the belief that he has still better and maturer volumesyet to come. There is no valid reason why Mr. Chambers should notultimately be remembered as the novelist who left behind him acomprehensive human comedy of New York."
This is another novel of society life like "The Fighting Chance" and "TheFiring Line." The chief characters in the story are a boy and a girl,inheritors of a vast fortune, whose parents are dead, and who have beenleft in the guardianship of a large Trust Company. They are brought upwith no companions of their own age and are a unique pair when turnedout, on coming of age, into New York society--two children educated by agreat machine, possessors of fabulous wealth, with every inheritedinstinct for good and evil set free for the first time. The fact that thegirl has acquired the habit of dropping a little cologne on a lump ofsugar and nibbling it when tired or depressed gives an indication of thestruggle that the children have before them, a struggle of their own, inthe midst of their luxurious surroundings, more vital, more real,perhaps, than any that Mr. Chambers has yet depicted. It is a tense,powerful, highly dramatic story, handling a delicate subject withoutoffense to the taste or the judgment of the most critical reader.
Mr. Chambers's third novel of society life is
THE FIRING LINE
Its scenes are laid principally at Palm Beach, and no more distinct yetdelicately tinted picture of an American fashionable resort, in the fullblossom of its brief, recurrent glory, has ever been drawn. In this book,Mr. Chambers's purpose is to show that the salvation of society lies inthe constant injection of new blood into its veins. His heroine, thecaptivating Shiela Cardross, of unknown parentage, yet reared in luxury,suddenly finds herself on life's firing line, battling with one of themost portentous problems a young girl ever had to face. Only a masterwriter could handle her story; Mr. Chambers does it most successfully.
THE YOUNGER SET
is the second of Mr. Chambers's society novels. It takes the reader intothe swirling society life of fashionable New York, there to wrestle withthat ever-increasing evil, the divorce question. As a student of life,Mr. Chambers is thorough; he knows society; his pictures are so accuratethat he enables the reader to imbibe the same atmosphere as if he hadbeen born and brought up in it. Moreover, no matter how intricate theplot may be or how great the lesson to be taught, the romance in thestory is always foremost. For "The Younger Set," Mr. Chambers hasprovided a hero with a rigid code of honor and the grit to stick to it,even though it be unfashionable and out of date. He is a man whomeveryone would seek to emulate.
The earliest of Mr. Chambers's society novels is
THE FIGHTING CHANCE
It is the story of a young man who has inherited with his wealth acraving for liquor, and a girl who has inherited a certain rebelliousnessand a tendency toward dangerous caprice. The two, meeting on the brink ofruin, fight out their battles--two weaknesses joined with love to make astrength.
It is sufficient to say of this novel that more than five million peoplehave read it. It has taken a permanent place among the best fiction ofthe period.
SPECIAL MESSENGER
is the title of Mr. Chambers's novel just preceding "The Danger Mark." Itis the romance of a young woman spy and scout in the Civil War. As aspecial messenger in the Union service, she is led into a maze ofcritical situations, but her coolness and bravery and winsome personalityalways carry her on to victory. The story is crowded with dramaticincident, the roar of battle, the grim realities of war; and, at times,in sharp contrast, comes the tenderest of romance. It is written with anunderstanding and sympathy for the viewpoint of the partisans on bothsides of the conflict.
THE RECKONING
is a novel of the Revolutionary War. It is the fourth, chronologically,of a series of which "Cardigan" and "The Maid-at-Arms" were the firsttwo. The third has not yet been written. These novels of New York in theRevolutionary days are another striking example of the enthusiasm whichMr. Chambers puts into his work. To write an accurate and successfulhistorical novel, one must be a historian as well as a romancer. Mr.Chambers is an authority on New York State history during the Colonialperiod. And, if the hours spent in poring over old maps and reading upold records and journals do not show, the result is always apparent. Thefacts are not obtrusive, but they are there, interwoven in the gauzy woofof the artist's imagination. That is why these romances carry convictionalways, why we breathe the very air of the period as we read them.
IOLE
Another splendid example of the author's versatility is this farcical,humorous satire on the _art nouveau_ of to-day, Mr. Chambers, with allhis knowledge of the artistic jargon, has in this little novel created apious fraud of a father, who brings up his eight lovely daughters in theAdirondacks, where they wear pink pajamas and eat nuts and fruit, andlisten to him while he lectures them and everybody else on art. It iseasy to imagine what happens when several rich and practical young NewYorkers stumble upon this group. Everybody is happy in the end.
One might run on for twenty books more, but there is not space enoughmore than to mention "The Tracer of Lost Persons," "The Tree of Heaven,""Some Ladies in Haste," and Mr. Chambers's delightful nature books forchildren, telling how _Geraldine_ and _Peter_ go wandering through"Outdoor-Land," "Mountain-Land," "Orchard-Land," "River-Land," "Forest-Land," and "Garden-Land." They, in turn, are as different from his novelsin fancy and conception as each of his novels from the other.
Mr. Chambers is a born optimist. The labor of writing is a naturalenjoyment to him. In reading anything he has written, one is at onceimpressed with the ease with which it moves along. There is no strainingafter effects, no affectations, no hysteria; but always there is apersonality, an individuality that appeals to the best side of thereader's nature and somehow builds up a personal relation between him andthe author. Perhaps it is this consummate skill, this remarkable abilityto win the reader that has enabled Mr. Chambers to increase his audienceyear after year, until it now numbers millions; and it is only just thatcritics should, as they frequently do, proclaim him "the most popularwriter in the country."