FICTION.
ALICE AND A FAMILY.* lies ERTINN is better known as a dramatist than a novelist, but MVO. Martin's Man, recently noticed in these columns, proved that he is in istrunaque perdue, and his new venture greatly strengthens hie claim to consideration as a writer with two strings to his bow. In this be is not singular, for at the present time we are confronted with quite a number of instances
• Nroiariro cod Mang,. B,y John Widdicombo. With Mastratians sod Portraits. London: George Ante and Palen. rrl2a. 6d. net.j
t Alice and a Family a Story of ,South London. By Bt. John G. Erring. Leeson one Dahlia Hansel sod Co. pa]
of this form of literary dualism. But in the majority of eases those who began as novelists—ay., Mr. Shaw, Mr. Somerset Msugbam, and Sir James Barrie—have forsworn fiction for
the drama. Mr. Ervine has inverted this order, whether for a continuance or not remains to be seen ; hot that he can write a
powerful story has already been shown, and' that he can
minister to our diversion is abundantly proved by-the excellent story of South London which is now before us. Alice and a Family is interesting in a variety of ways, and first of alias an evidence of versatility rare in modern Irish playwrights. One does not expect the author of four characteristic Irish plays to give us a study of London alum life which is not merely close, but on the whole extremely sympathetic. The types chosen are essentially Cockney, alert, and unromantic, and there is not a single Irish character in the book. It is a tale of mean streets, but the element of meanness is not emphasized. Rather is Mr. Ervine concerned to illustrate a quality which we recently noted in reviewing Mr. Pett Ridge's The Happy Recruit—the extraordinary charity of which families on thes border-line of the submerged classes are capable towards one another. There is another point of resemblance between the two authors in that the role of good genius in both books is shared by a
mother and daughter, though in Mr. Pett Ridge's story it is the mother who is the heroine, while in Mr. Ervine's book it is the daughter. But at moat this is a case of convergence. Mr.
Ervine boil dons son verve. The type of little mother, wise and resourceful beyond her years, is old in fiction. When Clara Novelle was asked by Dickens which of his female characters she preferred, she answered : " 0 the highest in rank ranks first. The Marchioness, of course"; and many will share her choice. Mr. Ervine has given us a set of new and delight- ful variation. on an old theme.
The "family" of the story is that of the Nudds. Mr. William Nudds, a slack worker, is disabled by an accident, at the moment when his wife, a patient, overworked drudge, dies shortly after the birth of her fourth child. Mr. Nudda is a poor creature, devoured by self-pity, and helpless in an emergency ; and when Alice Corken, the sixteen-year-old daughter of an industrious neighbour and a school. friend of the eldest Nudds boy, offers her assistance, he jumps at it, as he would jump at anything to save himself trouble. Alice grasps the reins with a firm hand and restores order in a chaotic household. She arranges the funeral, defying con- vention and incurring unpopularity by her rigorous economies —the interview with the undertaker's assistant and his reluctant testimony to her strength of will is admirably done. She draws up Mr. Nudds's claim for compensation and secures him such efficient advocacy that he obtains the wherewithal to set up a- shop. She regulates his undisciplined children and decides on a career for the eldest son. In a word, she fills the role of benevolent domestic despot to perfection. But despots are seldom popular, and Mr. Nod& chafes beneath the yoke. Besides, Alice is not absolutely disinterested : she is anxious to secure a home for her mother, from. whom she inherits her industry, her thriftiness, and her defiance of senseless tradition: and she plays the game with great tenacity and skill, including resort on occasion to strategic retreat. Tho character of Mrs. Corken is well set out in a passage describing her conduct on the death of her volatile, feckless, humorous husband and her relations with her daughter "Mrs. Corken, in spite of the utmost peaceful persuasion, flatly declined to make her poverty, already acute, more severe than at was. Sho buried Mr. Corken with the grief ha deserved ; and then she set about the task of earning a livelihood for herself and her daughter without any further fume. East Street swore that she had not got a feelin"eart, and then East Street promptly forgot about her miserable conduce in the excitement mused by the discovery in their midst of a poen& gentleman who had come all the way from Oxford to toll them of the beauties of poverty, Mrs. Corkers earned her :living in the most diverse fashion. She acted as a ' knocker-up '; she charred for ladies at Denmark Hill and even in Dulwich; she acted_ as caretaker of empty houses; she peeled potatoes in a fried-fish shop, which was very bard work, 'very inadequately remunerated ; she minded babies, and took care of old gentlemen who had become a nuisance to their children; she did anything and everything ; and did it all very excellently. 'Her energies wore as widespread as her husband's had been ; but they were spread to greater purpose. Between Alice and her there existed that intimate love which is often described in story books but is rarely found in real life. They were oddly unlike mother and daughter, and wero oddly like two self-possessed, calm women who know each other and are not ashamed. They were of that order of chums whose comradeship dope not depend upon constant association. They could have separated quite easily for a long time without any diminution of their intimacy. At the end of a spell of years, so closely akin to one another were they, they could return to each other and take up their lives together just as if the separation had been of momentary duration."
This is a novel without a hero, but there is a very engaging sketch of the millionaire's son who renounced the name of Erie, rechristened himself Bill, and after a brilliant University career devoted himself to social reform and street lectures against the rich. He had been in the Board of Trade, but quitted it because be could not endure routine. "There was in him a strain of wildness which made it impossible for him to sit under authority," and his sense of humour was so keen and his laughter so hearty that he continually embarrassed his companions and "comrades" "whose powers of mirth were less hearty than his" :—
"He hated parsons and monarchs and lords and all rich men. It was said of him that he ran one morning from Walworth, in running shorts, to Buckingham Palace, and shook his fist as he thought of the slumbering monarch within. `And then,' he added, `a damned dog bit me in the leg "
When Mr. Nudds set up his shop Bill Shoreham gave him an order for half-a-crown's-worth of newspapers every week. This extravagance paralysed Mr. Nuclide, but his customer
" explained that it was essential to the welfare of his mind that he should possess ample information concerning the events of the day. It was impossible to obtain adequate information on any topic from one paper, because each paper cracked up its own side, and so it was necessary to take journals representing all sorts of views, in order that he might be able to get something like a correct view of any given subject, read the Times and the Spectator in order to sea what the stupid people are thinking, and I read the Daily Herald and the Nen Age to see what the people with brains are thinking. Now, if I were to spend my timo reading only the Times and the Spectator I should get a mind like mud; and if I were to read only the Daily Herald and the New Age I should get a mind so full of brains that I should explode. By taking all four I balance my mind. A certain amount of mud is necessary for every man's mind, and the Times and the Spectator serve the useful purpose of supplying mud for the imagination... 'I dunno wot you're talking about,' said Mr. Nudds. ' That's all right,' Bill Shoreham replied. 'It doesn't really matter.'"
Another excellent sketch is that of the schoolmaster whose generous offer to assist 'Erbie Nudds up the ladder of learning was frustrated by the irresistible common-sense of Alice. He saw in 'Erbie a potential Wrangler; for the verdict of Walworth on the money value of " Wanglers," as it called them, as well as for much other instructive and entertaining information, we must refer our readers to Mr. Ervine's animated pages.
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