Life, 1911-11-16 · page 29 of 44
Life — November 16, 1911 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page reviews Harold Bell Wright's novel through humorous verse. The poem summarizes the plot: a Wall Street financier (Greenfield) exploits Western pioneers by building a dam for profit, while a reformed socialite (Holmes) and a banker (Worth) fight against his greed. A dam breaks, Holmes saves the day, and Worth discovers Barbara is his lost niece—conveniently resolving the romantic and class-conflict tensions. The satire targets both the novel's melodramatic plot and American literary conventions. Critic Arthur Guiterman mocks how Wright forces a love story onto his Western irrigation narrative, suggesting serious fiction often sacrifices coherence for romantic sentiment. The verse gently ridicules the contrived happy ending and the "earnest author's" predictable formula of combining noble work, romantic struggle, and sentimental resolution. The Thomas automobile advertisement represents period product placement, unrelated to the content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rhymed Reviews The Winning of Barbara Worth (By Harold Bell Wright. The Book Supply Company.) More hot and dry than any lands SAN a % “THOMAS DECLARATIONS. (No. rt that: by the judicious combination of three ‘secondary springs, A desert heaved its glaring sands Beside the rushing Colorado; A desert burne the destined scene Of scientific irrigation And strife of noble minds and mean In Useful Works or Speculation. ‘Twas Greenfield, Wall Street financier, That built the dam and dug the ditches. He bled the hardy pioncer; His only aim, to swell his riches. THOMAS. “SIX-FORTY.” LIMOUSINE “$5,000. Though Willard Holmes, his protéxé (A late-reformed cotillion-dancer), Declared the dam would break some a Old. Greenfield sneered, “1 guess "twill answer!” Another toiled to win from dearth The waste by means of quickening water— The local banker, Mr. Worth, Who owned a fair adopted daughter, Sweet Barbara, whose visage bright Converted Holmes and quite upset him; It made him yearn to do things right, But grasping Greenfield would not let him: And now ensues a bitter strife In which the worthy Western ba: Unaided, fights for very life Against the spreading Wall Street canker. He holds his own, though Greenfield aches To ruin him by means abhorrent.— “The dam! the dam!"—Oh, yes, it breaks, And who but Holmes shall stem 1 torrent? A Sn i i ache Snap That, Gives Appetite . Worth prevails and all is peac ; eee peculiar zest to Londonderry, A clear, sparkling quality that E’en Greenfield has no t for shed. stimulates appetite and aids digestion. Springing from the purest of sources, di ease torn’ thoroughly protected until it reaches you, For. Barbara's his I For Barbara's his Long Lost Niece And all the troupe attend the wed- Mineral Water is the water of trie luxury. Li escent Light, and with only those elements that the body needs, it i ially th spree of good health. Effervescent in three table sizes. Plain (stil) in fatf-gation bouien 2 Cwentially the If you have difteulty in obtaining Londonderry locally, write to ws, and we will see that yon are supplied at once. LONDONDERRY LITHIA SPRING WATER CO., Nashua, N. H. themes, When joined, they do not always dovetail And still the Earnest Author deems That every yarn must be a love tale! Arthur Guiterman, comicbooks.com