THE CRABTREE SAGA.* A NOVEL of five hundred pages may
alarm the faint-hearted ; and if they see, as frontispiece, a genealogical table giving
six generations and forty-three individuals, they will perhaps turn sadly away and immerse themselves in a magazine. They would be mistaken with Miss Kathleen Norris for author. Certain People of Importance, though careful and minute, is always interesting : her five hundred pages are a measure of her generosity, and her genealogical table goes to prove that she has her characters well considered and well ordered. The tale is of a family, the Crabtrees of Crabtree's Crossing, who become pioneers in San Francisco, make a moderate fortune in the spice business, and, as the descendants grow more numerous, gradually disperse. In theme it is comparable to Mr. Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, and Miss Norris
-writes with a comparable sobriety, sympathy, and balance. There is no such strong proprietorial feeling among the
Crabtrees as among the Forsytes ; but this, too, is a story of the loosening of family loyalties and the weakening of the tyrannic authority of the elder members. At one time it had been inconceivable that any opposition should be made to the patria potestas ; but the last adult generation, although brought up in thoroughly submissive ways, shows a spirit of independence and self-reliance that would have seemed undutiful and irreligious to their parents. It is, perhaps, in suggesting this demand among the elders for unquestioning obedience that Miss Norris is most acute and enjoyable.
She is never unsympathetic or unfair.; there is neither hero nor villain in the book ; but in exposing the shams of her quite amiable characters Miss Norris is neat and ruthless. Take, for example, this passage :- " Listen, Vicky love,' said her mother. • You trust Mama and Papa, don't you ? '
• Of course I do ! ' Victoria was crying now.
' And you know that ever since you were a little, wee baby, Mama and Papa have tried to do everything to make their little girl's life bright, and to make her a good and useful and lovely woman, don't you '
Victoria sniffed ; even Stephen was moved and silent. * Now, dearest, don't you think you can trust Mama and Papa now ? Don't you think they deserve it, after all their planning and care ? Of course she does, Papa ! Now, Vicky, Mama tells you, and Papa, who is a good deal wiser and older than you are, Papa agrees with Mama in this, that in letting yourself think of this poor boy—my gracious ! ' May interrupted herself agitatedly,
• Certain People of Important* By Kathleen Norris. London Heinethann. [7g. dd. net.] ' I had no idea of it !—you only bring sorrow to yourself and perhaps pain to him.'"
This is addressed to a girl of twenty-three in the year 1888 ; and it is a mark of Miss Norrists fairness that in this instance " Mama " is right. :
Despite its genuine doeunientary value, the book is eminently readable. Miss Norris never loses sight of, her characters : even when the dispersal of the family has begun she contrives to show a connexion between their fortunes, and, in turning from one branch to another, makes the transition significant, and unifies her account either by an integral similarity of event or by an equally conjunctive antithesis.
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