6 THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE SUNDAY, APRIL 2,1922
too low for, among the people he has Gorky's treatment of the story is,
looked up to, there is neither truth on the whole, good. It is true that
T N *"nor cleanliness, .he sometimes puts philosophical and
Life among the poor is frankly evil I idealistic speeches into the mouths
and vile, and Ilia finds the lower
"MARIA CHAPDELAINE" conditions under which the poor live, middle class far worse. The wife of of characters entirely incapable of
(A Review byt I.1. S,) but throughout this work he shows the Commissary of Police is infinitely uttering them, but in the main his
Louis Henmon's "1aria Chapdel- touches of a restraint that was want- more degraded than a courtesan he people act and speak naturally, Curs-
aine" (Macmillan) is one of those ing in "Foma Gordyeeff," "Creatures formerly loved, while the businessing, praying, drinking, and rawling,
rare novels which are so well writ- That Once Were Men," and other of and social sham disgust him until they are real examples of the half-
ten that the reader finds himself vis- his earlier novels and sketches. he cries, "I feel as if nothing were savages Gorky grew up among and
ustising the entire story, incident hy "Three of Them' is the story of the of any damned good whatever"; and knew thoroughly. The book abounds
incident and character hy character, lives of three boys, Ilia, Jacob, and again, "Pillage, robbery, theft, drink, in good descriptions. They are al-
inidntanscarcekbychrateI ways grey, yet te r oofl o
as he reads, the printed page scarce- Pashka, whogrow up together in the all sorts of vileness and disorder y th aare colorful, for
h e d h squalor and vice relieved only by the our lives consist of nothing but that." the whole life portrayed is leak and
ness. This effect imon achievesy fleeting moments of pleasure which As the year pass Ilia is finally no drab. Only occasionally will Gorky
ass r igi ecii ieon heseeion of stheyderive from the religious stories longer able to stand the hypocrisy flash on a bright light, and then but
details, y an unaffected satralnessf of the devout Grandfather Jerimiah about him. He finds truth nowhere, for the hrief instant that some char-
that is not ntratitd, aheall, and the songs of the drunken revel- sees dishonesty in everything. Even acter is lifted temporarily out of the
by a clear, concise, and unadorned ers of the house. in the courts of justice he dis- ire o is e.
diction.-'The result of this skill in The paths of the three lead in dif- covers thieves condemning hoest For the middle class with its thin
presentation of material is truly a fine ferent directions. Pashka escapes men. "Generally speaking, justice is veneer of pretense Gorky has no
piece of literature. and begs his way about the country a light comedy, a tiny little comedy," pity, but toward the people of the
Hemon was a Breton who uent to in ian effort to free himself from the says an acquaintance. Love is lowest depths of society he exhibits
the bake St. John country, north of dreary life of the house. Jacob, a honorless ind business fraudulent. a feeling of'sympathy and fraternity,
Quebec, in 1912, and stayed for a physical weakling, remains with his when Ilia had once been discharged for experience has shown him the
year and a half among the simple father, dreaming, between blows, for honesty his employer's parting utter hopelessness of their lives. The
folk of this bleak region. The cruel over the Greek philosophers and the' advice had been, "If one man is hot- three boys he depicts cannot rise
harshness of their lives, the tiny cir- mysteries of life. Ilia, the leading est and nine are rascals, no one wins, above the station of their birth in
le of their pleasures, the constant chracter and the "smug citizen" of and the man is lost. The majority spite of their half-conscious yearn-
working of the soil through the short the story, takes the middle road. He are always in the right-that is how ings and desires for something bet-
sumner that they may live through wants truth, commercial success, and you must treat honesty." At a din- ter. Heredity and environment hold
the long winter-all this he has rec- physical cleanliness; and the story ner party, in a fit of protest, Ilia de- them down, letting them think at
orded admirably. Here are a people, is the tale of his struggle for these. trounces society, tells the company times that they have broken away,
illiterate for the most part, superstiti- Finally, by means of work and crime, that the hostess is his mistress, and and then, after giving them a taste
ously religious, drudging uncom- he becomes successful in a way and confesses that he is a murderer. He of what they might have been, pounc-
plainitingly day after day. For themi is able to set up a shop with the is taken by the police but escapes to ing upon them and drawing them
the coming of a visitor is an event, money of a man he has murdered. dash out his brains; and thus dies back much like a cat playing with a
a holiday, a time to be looked for- Biut he finds he has put his ideals I the victim of a false social order. mouse.
ward to for a year, a trip to town, an
occasion of momentous import. And
yet, modifying the essential rough-
ness of their life, is a primitive beau-
ty, a sort of gentle wistfulness.
Tis wistful quality is especially A S carf of C olor
noticeable in the noble figure of
Maria, the daughter of Samuel Chap-
delaine, a Canadian frontiersman. to Com plete Your Costum e
She has grown up in this simple en-
vironment, used to the heavy snows,
the long distances, the heavy physical S AM E Fashion has expressed a
labors. She has come to accept this
as the only possible life for her. Then favor for color this Spring and
comes the time when lovers begin to
seek her hand. Her range of possi in keeping with this decree are the
bilities is necessarily small. Shes
finds, however, a man whom she real- many gay colored scarfs of silk. A
ly loves. This is Francois Paradis a
manly character with a touch of thei delicious blue with Roman stripes
romantic and the adventurous to him.
But Francois is lost itt a storn, and on the edge will wear nicely with a
the priest tells Maria that it is wrongea
for her to mourn his death since she grey, tan, or blue wrap while the
was not betrothed to hit. Later Lor-
enzo offers to take her to see the cine- brighter reds, hennas, and orange
matograph and the other wonders of
the great cities in the States. For a color tones- are beco m i n g with
brief time she entertains thought of
leaving her isolated home and marry-, tweeds and chinchilla wraps. There
ing Lorenzo. But Madame Chapedel-
aine falls ill and finally dies. The are many scarfs to choose from and
household duties naturally fall on
Maria, the eldest, and she realizes the prices range from $3.50 to $5.50.
that escape is impossible. Thus her
dreams come to an end in the more
practical matter of accepting the only
remaining suitor, Eutrope, the one The Vogue Neckwear
neighbor of the Chapdelaine's.
Thus the story ends with Maria for Ney Jelelry Expresses a Spring Theme
quietly acepting the man. Her toof
short youth is over. She wil settle
down now and attend to the drudging HE black and white vogue finds delightful NCHANTING new neckwear has been
chores of her household until, like expression in the new jewelry. There are fashioned from checked gingham and fin-
undter, the.A ad tle butone toneished with a bit of hand-work. Silk ratine has
up under them. A sad tale, but one strings of beads to adorn frocks, new lighten- been used for vests to wear with a suit. In
beautifully told with charm and re- ing ornaments for hats, and favorite Chineses s t n
iteaa aa.the Springtime there is nothing more smart in
The present translation is put into friendship or good-luck rings without which appearance than a fresh organdie collar on
smooth and clear English by W. B. Milady feels but indifferently dressed this sea- your frock or suit, There are many new ideas
Blake.yorfoko u Teeaemnne id s
"THREE OF THEW" son. worked out in Spring neckwear.
By Maxim Gorky
(A Review by C. S. P.)
In his novel "Three of Them," a
new edition of which has recently
been published by Knopf, Maxim
Gorky presents one of his greatest
pictures of the life of the Russian
lower classes. He. is, as always, re-
lentiess and cruelly honest in his
realistic portrayal of the revolting I