23 SEPTEMBER 1922, Page 23

THE BENT TWIG.*

THIS earlier work of the author of The Brimming Cup has just been published in this country. Miss Canfield has made the reaction to the circumstances of life by two sisters, different in temperament but the product of the same environment, a subject for keen psychological observation and study in moral values. The besetting sin of the book is moral earnest- ness and unremitting seriousness. Yet the picture of intelligent co-operation presented by the Marshall household, and the Idyllic affection of the parents of the two girls, remains fixed in the mind as a thing of great beauty. Artistically the book is not equal to Miss Canfield's later work.