NOVELISTS OF TO-DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4407, 13 July 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOVELISTS OF TO-DAY.

MADAME SABAH GRAND,

Grand hierejy Mrs M Fall, wife of a brigaae-Biirgeon stationed at tjio of the Soxith Lah. cashire tpwn of \Varringtop, a naughty curate incensed aaihst his rector wrote a savage satire upon, the spciety of which the pivot. He called jt •fjattleton Rectory," and Mrs Mfrall ap peared m the squib as “Mrs Tumbledown.” one was not charitably portrayed, if in?5 ed > Wftsmot actually libelled; hut Mrs MTall was quite a mispuderstood personege in Warrington, ' She was an idealist on exotic in’ a strictly mercantile atmosphere—a pioneer of "the feminist movement when it was thought ‘ppwopiaply to make’any claipis on behalf pf wqmap. But M r s M’Pall went her dwij way. She was brimful of ideas; and ideas, like mprder. will put. She was unconventional in dress and “in habits, and ■ the narrowminded little coteries around her covered their faces with their hands—metaphorically speaking—and—also metaphorically speaking—kept a strict look-qpt tiirdpgh their Wingers. Mrs M’Fall waq a gepipß amopg atplid mediocrities, ap'd jipr wiiys were net their ways. Tpal was the ppiy criticism they fashipp. 1 Years later, whop "idcpla” imfi-dP * Mfc and "The Heavenly Twins" was the faoomneyel qf a season, ’Wpri'ington folk priced themselves pn the fact tiiathladapie Sarah Grand lied dwelt in their' midst—a prophet unhppoured, it is true, but a prophet nevertheless. Eecpgnitiop ofßarah Grand's literary power did pot come with a rushShe crept into fame, and pte out hep sppl in weary expectation dong year? before she woke to find herself famous- Wpf fiW? hooks were, if we are not mistaken, published pt her own expense, 'apd made po profits, till Heayeply Twins” popularity worked retrospectively apd brought “Ideals.'’ ojlt of ifs hbfcifrify. ‘ If streppr oneness desepyes recognition, Madame Sarah Grand merits canonisation. Her style Vibrates with fervour- It is impossible tp read her stories without puffing asf«i^, ! ss?3Siai»ss. sincere notes- The wail of womanhood rises but from her pages—it may he a scream, but it springs frpm paid- But Sarah Grand is'a somewhat biassed champion of woman's rights- Sb p »e immoderate and hysterical, We dp not blame h er - She has excuse and even “justificationFor five ‘years after her she w tt s married whep a girl of Pl*" teen, fresh from school and still, pnipl; ling of bread and .“butter—she travelled in the Orient, vigitfffg Chipa, India, and Japan. Young ns she was, the agony of woman’s lot in the Bast, 'as she saw it with her own eyes, burnt into her soul, and this experience' of the Orient has always coloured—it may be involuntarily anr uncQijßciously- bor views on the woman c movement in the Occident. Then, toe, the "merciless monotony!’ apd • romantic misdemeanour" wpich make up We in Anglo-Eastern teommunitips warped-he* outlook upon men pud their .ways. Bast of Suez, as Kipling tells us, * there »»t no ten commandments/' but the repeal of tpe Decalogue applies’mainly to the masculine gepdep. There is apiopg 'Europeans ip tty East one law for men and another fpr women. ' This unequal'dispensation hpd, po doubt, its effect On the acute, alert mind of the : Brigade-Surgeon's young -wife, “and home she came with a distinct, but no! unnatural bias against ff mepe man." The asperity is toning down taow, and Madame Sarah Grand is building up a sphere of influence which ehe could never have occupied if the 'bitter gex-prejudice of “The Heavenly Twins" had not been “modified. Sarah Grand comes of a soldier and sailor stock, and is to her “finger tipg a lady of quality- She ig clever, accomplished, and charming. She talks brilliantly, is an excellent musician, and is unspoilt by liei success. She write B con amore, ‘and ia often drawn into contributing to symposiums, which make excellent "copy" for editors, but which yield no cash return to tiip contributors. She lectures with easy grace and finish.' People who rush to hear her in the hope of being mildly shocked are disappointed, H er sense “of humour if the gait of her speaking apd writing. Hos the London audience she addressed lately •screamed with laughter when she spoke of the ory from Australia—“send us two thou. gand wives/' and on behalf of two thousand English benedicts replied “Take ours 1 Take ours!" She can be a trenchant cntu and “an aggressive advocate, but she bolds herself well in hand and seldom lashes put with, her old fury. Down at Langtop, near Tunbridge Wells, where she “has taken “up her abode, Madame Sarah Grand has won esteem from her neighbours, for her heart is large with charity and Her soul overflowing with the “milk of numar kindness. The fascination of country Uf< holds her as in a spell, and her visits to London are not frequent, though she i£ still a member of the'Pioneer Club and a Vice-President of the Woman's. Suffrage Society. "Cycling is one of her delights, and she takes a keen interest in the Mowbray House Cycling Association, of which she h a vice-president. But the mainspring and dynamic of her energy is “her deep-rooted faith in the Woman’s Movement as a means of emancipating her sex from the perils of the “marriage market, ‘and the Inequalities of the law ß affecting divorce. And unless we except Olivo Schnener Madame Sarah Grand Is the most powerin' voice crying in the wilderness on behalf of the women of her time.—in the Lit erary World.”