NEW BOOK.

White Ribbon, Volume 2, Issue 20, 1 February 1897, Page 9

NEW BOOK.

Two Women and Three Men. # A STORY. This is the title of a book received since last issue, and which we have read with interest and pleasure. Considering its size—seven chapters in all —it is remarkable how much has been told and discussed in its pages. Its themes are human, every-day themes, although by no means dealt with in a common-place way. Life and death, love and marriage, play their pavt, and the complexities attendant upon our present social relations are skilfully woven into the story with a touch at once delicate and firm. The hero-wor-ship of Will Maitland for his friend Jack Ryder begun at school and continued through their lives—is a beautiful thing to see, and the discussions of the two friends on the various phases of the “ woman question " are interesting in many ways. The heroine, Agnes, is almost an ideal character, combining sweetness of disposition with strength and earnest - nessof purpose. And yet, like many ordinary women, she has made a mistake in her marriage. When the story opens we find her living apart from her husband, Dr. Ryder (a brother of Jack Ryder’s) because they could not agree as to the basis of the relationship w hich should exist between husband and wife. Agnes was an apt pupil of her mother’s, whose views on the marriage question may be gathered from the following: “ I do not think that marriage ought to be the lottery that it is proverbially, and I believe that it would not be so, or at all events not to the extent it is, if we were only reasonable enough to minimise the uncertain element passion by developing the higher one of comradeship. Poets may

sing of love, and lovers swear devotion as much as they please, but the love they try in vain to spiritualise is nothing but the animal instinct of reproduction. In the lower world it is governed by times and seasons, and t lie re fore orderly —strange to say amongst mankind, this control is removed, and passion left to frolic as it will, and, to our pain and grief, we have not yet brought reason to bear upon it—nay, like fools, we make this thing which devours it self, which is no more stable than the wind, the foundation for a life-long indissoluble union - to the utter degradation of women, and the spoiling of many lives.” In the meantime, wliile Dr Ryder is pursuing his profession, Agnes is spending her life among those who are low down in the social scale —those whose environment is so prosaic as to crush out all life’s softening influences. And here she does a noble work. She has a class of working-men, which she holds in a hall at the poorer end of the town. One evening, when both men and women were gathered there, she gave an address which showed her belief in, and reverence for, that much-maligned commodity— 11 Human Nature.” She told them she believed that all that was true and noble in humanity would eventually come to the top, just as a little tender plant can burst its way through several inches of asphalt. She gave an instance of remarkable self-sacrifice on the part of a wretched drunkard, a man who beat his wife, starved his children, and smashed the furniture. He had rushed up a burning stair when no one else would venture to rescue a poor lame girl, and was then lying in the Hospital suffering from the effects. Her words, pointing to the possibility of a life of loving service, even amid much that was sordid and base, went home to the hearts of her rough audience, for “ sobs were heard from the women, and murmurs of approval from the men."

The other of the 41 two women ’ in this little drama is Isabel Bertram, a veiy beautiful woman, and an Anarchist of a pronounced type, between whom and Jack Ryder there exists a deep attachment. The latter has no sympathy with Anarchists, and this divergence of aim forms an insurmountable barrier to the union of the lovers. Both place principle beyond personal happiness, and so their love’s course runs anything but smoothly. Jack is a sttong character, ami of an ardent temperament, and having been in his boyhood s days filled with sympathy for the poor and oppressed through reading the life of Robert Owen, he is now' more than ever full of zeal for the uplifting of his fellow-men. At the same time he believes that the Gospel of Love is a greater force for the attainment of his ends than all the dynamite that was ever manufactured. His object and Isabel s are one and the same. Only theii methods are different. But what a difference ! Dr Ryder dies—and Will Maitland, the manly, large-hearted friend and confidante of all the others, finds his second sell in Agnes, and they marry. Some years afterwards, the happy husband w rites : 44 1 happened to hght on my other half, that is all. Life is just full of joy and love, and we try to the best of our ability to pass it on to those who need, so the divine streams never stagnates He adds: “ My wife never speaks in public now, I do not quite know why ” 4 Say it for me, Will/ is the usual formula, and the utterance is 4 ours ” This last is about the only conventional touch throughout the book, and we trust that if ever the author gives us a sequel to the story, he will cause Agnes to feel fired anew with b>ve for her poorer friends, so that she may speak to them both in 44 public " and private more effectually than ever, and that her devoted husband will not be satisfied until she does so. A woman who can move a

rough audience to tears by the relation of noble deeds as Agnes did, holds a divine gift in trust, and has no right to retire into a cosy shell and say in explanation she dosen’t 4 ‘ quite know why,” or allow some one else to say it for her No one, not even her husband, however gifred he may t>e, can take her place or do her work The two may be one in thought and aim, 44 Yoked in all exercise c>f noble end,” yet they are. and must lie, 4 distinct in individualities ” There is pathos in many of the situations in the storv, but there are also

touches of humour which relieve it from being sad over-much. \Ye like the spirit of the l>ook ; it is reverent where purity and truth are concerned, although (excepting in the instance already noticed) it is often impatient of conventionalities, whether ecclesiastical or social, and sees truth outside prescribed ruts.