"MARK RUTHERFORD."

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15234, 22 February 1913, Page 4 (Supplement)

"MARK RUTHERFORD."

Probably : less is . known ( of "Mark Rutherford" than of any other modern writer of equal repute. When William Hale White, to give Mark Rutherford his real name, was expelled from trie orthodox ministry of the middle nineteenth century, "he exchanged the old Calvinism for a new determinism; the; power of social and spiritual forces to mould human life, the influence of environment on the soul, and tho , election of all to serve for the common good." ' v . ; Beyond t the bare facts that he was for a short time' in the Unitarian - ministry, that he < turned to journalism, and eventually gained a position in the; Admiralty Office, little more is known of v "Mark Rutherford," "save what may be conjectured . from } the : internal evidence of his books. He retired into private life some years ago, and now, •in • his eighty-third year, is living very quietly in his country home in Kent. /"His/novels,'!/: says;, Mr. Swan," "have been quietly given to ■;• the world, but fj many ■ have discovered their value. And as he nears the sunset of life he comes into a realm" radiant with warrh and glowing appreciation. / His wholesome and vital .message is a thorough-going be- . lief in the creative spirit in the universe and in the soul of man. It is the working of this/power which to-day is manifest-in tho movement for social and economic freedom. One gets : the ! impression ■ that so many sociological novels 1 are written from the outside and because poverty, vice, and the"" sordid side of life, and,: tragic suffering are good copy to work up. The truth and touch of Mark Rutherford's records are a'revelation of his intimate knowledge of the competitive struggle, and of those who get beaten in the fight, without hope of anything better, thankful if they can exist at all. - " What a region of unbearable monotony is suggested by the case of a clerk whose years were spent in copying ad-, dresses, and who found himself ' actually looking forward with a kind of joy, merely because of the variation, to the day< on which he had fixed to go back to the quill after using a steel pen.' Then there wasMcKay, who was ■ nearly/ driven mad by seeing the hideous misery of London. He got into, his, head the idea that a sudden inspiration would come into the people to lift them up, and he began to work in a room; near Drury Lane:- And he failed. Mafk Rutherford candid! admits, what so - many in the churches will not admit; that ■:' no stimulus, nothing ever held up before men to.stir- the"/-soul to activity, can Co anything in the- back streets of great cities so long as they are >; the /cesspools which they are now.' ; That was the state bit things fifty: years ago,; and the ." words ominously apply to the underworld of modern civilisation." -, ■ -'■ ;