Of Mrs. Ward’s later books there is little to say, so far as scenes and “originals” are concerned. In “Fenwick’s Career” the little cottage where the artist and his wife lived was in reality the summer home of Mrs. Ward’s daughter Dorothy. It stands on the slope of a hill near the Langdale Pikes in Westmoreland, commanding a view of surpassing loveliness.
In the “Testing of Diana Mallory” the scenery is all taken from the country near Stocks, the summer home of the novelist.
In “Daphne,” or “Marriage à la Mode,” Mount Vernon, Washington, Niagara Falls, and an imaginary English estate supply the necessary scenery, and these are not described with real interest, for the author, contrary to her usual custom, is here writing with a fixed didactic purpose. But a chapter incidentally thrown in reflects the novelist’s impressions of a visit to the White House as the guest of President Roosevelt—an experience which interested her greatly. In “the tall, black-haired man with the meditative eye, the equal, social or intellectual, of any Foreign Minister that Europe might pit against him, or any diplomat that might be sent to handle him,” it is easy to recognize Mr. Root. Secretary Garfield is “this younger man, sparely built, with the sane handsome face—son of a famous father, modest, amiable, efficient.” Secretary Taft, with whom, apparently, the distinguished author did not really become acquainted, is lightly referred to as “this other of huge bulk and height, the hope of a party, smiling already a Presidential smile as he passed.”
It has been said of this book that it does an injustice to America. But such was assuredly far from the author’s intent. Mrs. Ward, who is one of the keenest observers of English and European public men, pays a high compliment in the remark that “America need make no excuses whatever for her best men.... She has evolved the leaders she wants, and Europe has nothing to teach them.” She is attacking the laxity of the divorce laws in certain American States, and in doing so is actuated by motives which every high-minded American must applaud. The English general who berates American institutions is held up to ridicule, and the most agreeable woman in the book—perhaps the only agreeable one—is an American. Daphne, through whom the author condemns the evil, is not a typical American girl, but, with evident intent to avoid offense, is made the daughter of a foreigner.
As a matter of fact, Mrs. Ward’s feelings toward America are of the kindliest nature, and, whatever may be said of the merits of “Marriage à la Mode” as a work of fiction, in condemning an abuse which nobody can defend she has performed a real service.
[5] 1908.
VI
A TOUR OF THE ITALIAN LAKES