A PINE NOVEL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 293, 6 September 1919, Page 11

A PINE NOVEL

"The Three Black Pennys." An American novelist whoso work is possessed of a rare and special literary exccllcnce is introduced to English and New Zealand readers in "Tlio Three Black Pennys," by Joseph Ilergeshoimor (London-. Wm. Heinemann; per Whitcombe and Tombs), llergesheiiner, who is a comparatively young man, comes of an old Dutch Pennsylvanian family. His novels, moro especially the one under notice, and two others, "Mountain Blood" and ".Tarn Ilead," have attained great popularity with tlio belter-class American reading public. "The Three Black Pennys" proves 'him to bo a literary artist far and away above tlio ordinary ruck of those much-boomed "best sellers," whoso liberal mipply of crude "cowboy" sensationalism, cheap sacchniiuo sentimont, or highly-coloured, kinema-like pictures of the hectic dissipations of Now York "society" have won them such widespread popularity, llergcshcimer's novels may not. please those who rcjoice in the productions of Hex Beacli, Robert Chambers, or Rupert Iluglies and other American novelists wlio might be named. To these, such a story as "Tlio Three Black Pennys" will bo as caviare to the million, but by those who appreciato the best in fiction it will bs welcomed as tho puro literary gold. Tlio story deals with tho fortunes, in commerce and in love—more particularly in love—of three generations (though not continuous) of the Pennys, family originally of Welsh origin, wlhieh in the eighteenth century finds a home in tho New "World. The "Pennys carry on, at first on d very modest scalc, (lie business of iron-smelters at Mountain Forgo. Thero is, in tho Pennys, breaking out ns a rule, and very fortunately, in only one member of the family at , a time, a streak of wayward passionate blood. As one of the first of the "Pcnnyslvaiiiau tennys" puts it, it is responsible "for a solitary living, dark lot. unamenable to influence; tlicy reflect their country, I suppose, but lovers of music ... it sinks entirely out of sight for two or three, iind sometimes four, generations, and then appears solid, in one individual, as nnslacml as the original thing.'" Mr. Mergcsheimet' shows us how tho "Black Penny" streak comes up all dominant, irrepressible, productive of deep and violent emotions and passions, first in How.itt Penny, a young Pennsylvanian—a mail of the eighteenth century; next, in Uowatt's ■ gramlsoti Jasper, which brings'tile story into the earlier period of the last century.; and filially in the last of not only the "Black" Pennys, but all the 'Pennys, Hownlt, a lonely, wealthy celibate of artistic tastes, all of the present day. In each instance a woman plays a prominent part in inllnencing the life of the particular "Black" Penny who occupies, for the lime being, the. centra of the stage. First it is a lovely woman, of Polish origin, fresh from the English Court, who, tiring of tho artificialities of the Old World, and weary of a cold, cynical, elderly husband, welcomes the passionate adoration of ft back-blocks Hamlei. In Jasper's, tho sccond cusp, tlio feminine figure is at first a sordid and unlovely character, but later on a second woman 'acts the part of a rescuer. In

i:lio final period, tho "Black" Penny is n middle-aged bachelor, who lights hnrd to save iv wilful, wayward cousin from marriage with a most uudcsirablo person, who himself is a Penny—but wearing a bar sinister, for ho is an illegitimate grandson of tlio second of the Black Pennys. It is to speak too highly of the consummate artistry with which this remarkable study in 'heredity is unfolded. There are passages, in the first section, of quito striking beauty, moro particularly in tlio descriptions of the wild mountain environment of tlio Forgo. In tlio socond section, tlio reader will be most struck by tlio fascinating power for good exercised by the maidenly, Austerely virtuous lady whom Jasper, after his sordid intrigue with an unspeakably vile typo of woman, comes to revere and to love. Finally, in the third and concluding narrative, tlio author must be credited willi marked success in his study of the brilliant young workman who inherits—though on tlio distaff fiido —the ancient natural mechanical genius of his male ancestors, plus, alas, his great-grand mother's unfortunate penohiuit for strong drink. All these people i in "The Three Black Pcnnys" seem lo ■be really alive. There is imthinsr of the, puppet, (lie marionette, about them.'As for the literary stylo of this remarkable story, it: comes ns V.n unadulterated joy after the slipshod etnfl* one finds in so much latter-day American and Hnc'ish fiction. "The Three Black Pennys" is not only excejlent fiction, but it is very good liierature.