Lovers' Saint Ruth's and Three Other Tales

Perhaps the strongest of the four stories in this volume is “An Event on the River,” showing in a forceful way the fulfilling of destiny, in which a father is condemned for a murder committed by his own son, but whose existence is unknown to the father. “The Provider” is based on an incident found in a newspaper wherein a little child commits suicide in order that there might be one less mouth to feed, one less body to clothe. The two other stories are “Our Lady of the Union,” and the opening story with its irritatingly possessive title “Lovers’ Saint Ruth’s.” There is a gentle strength and simple pathos in these stories written in the same pure and refined style shown in her verse. But there is so much human sin, sorrow, and tragedy unavoidably forced on the individual in his daily life that one longs for happier themes, for the sunlight of life or the dawn of new hope and courage, instead of the twilight and night of sadness and gloom.

â€"Current Literature: 1896, Volume 19