“It is a more objective and less theoretical study [than Mahan’s ‘Influence of sea power on history,’] with more interest for the general reader; in addition to which it is a convenient reference book.”
+ Springf’d Republican p8a D 5 ’20 620w
STEVENSON, GEORGE. Benjy. *$1.75 (*7s) (2c) Lane
20–5234
The book recounts the fortunes of the Ainsworth family from the time when young Dr Ainsworth drives his bride Priscilla home in the gig, to the coming of the children—up to the number of thirteen—with its resultant poverty; and the varied careers and fortunes of all these in turn. Benjy, the youngest, his mother’s favorite, follows his father into the medical profession. Outwardly his life is drab, all its important happenings being of the nature of disappointments. The more brilliantly endowed brother, Basil, wins and weds Benjy’s own beloved Clara who dies in childbirth through Basil’s light-hearted want of foresight. When Uncle Benjy adopts little Clara to save her from a bad step-mother, death robs him of her also. Then comes the war and offers him a welcome escape from himself.
“It is only when the children grow older and come into touch with the world that Mr Stevenson fails lamentably. The quaint, old-fashioned children are replaced by plain, strange young men and women, and the author in his effort to convince us of Benjy’s purity of heart pours over him such a great pale flood of sentimentality that he is drowned before our eyes.” K. M.
+ − Ath p1371 D 19 ’19 420w
Reviewed by R. M. Underhill
+ Bookm 51:443 Je ’20 130w