Efficiency Expert
by
[John Day, $2.50]
Miss CONVERSE’S poem, if I have rightly smelled out its purpose, is not merely a poem; it does not exist simply to give people the kind of satisfaction for which they turn to poetry. Neither is it a tract, nor is it quite a fusion of the two. But, whatever its character, there are abundant reasons why it should be read. It is addressed to the present moment. It is intelligent and clever and sprightly; but it is much more than these. I think the ultimate quality of the book, and that which makes it, so warmly to be respected, is a kind of passionateness carried along with something else which is not quite humor, but more nearly a happiness of spirit of the kind found sometimes in souls that are truly Christian.
The passionateness of the book is not robust; if is delicate and aerated. But it is also tenacious. It requires the service of both the mind and the sympathies. Intellectually it seeks by strenuous reflection and study to see the present problems of society clearly; emotionally it is inspired by a true compassion for men and women, especially in modern industry, and by a genuine Conviction of the efficacy of the cross as a way of life.
Nor should it he thought, because the purely poetical interest is not uppermost, that it is wuinting altogether. With a boldness and assurance which only unconventional delight, in her task could have supplied, Miss Converse picks up a surprising variety of the main verse forms which have appeared in English, and one after another makes them serve her turn, giving each an amusingly colloquial and original run. The character of the young efficiency expert, is likable and human; his adventures, both inner and outer, are spontaneously interesting and skillfully devised. As a piece of reading for the present moment, the book is a joy. One s final judgment of it, of course, will depend upon whether one is prepared to accept the cross — the way of sacrificial love — as the only salvation which the world can hope to find. If Miss Converse—as she seems to hint — believes that an economic or social plan is a necessary supplement to this way of salvation, then the two remedies may be thought a little inconsistent. She evidently believes that a plan by itself is without efficacy unless taken in conjunction with the cross; and the position is one which not merely the religious, but also the intelligent, whatever their faith or their skepticism, must respect.
THEODORE MORRISON