A Quaker Childhood

THIS is an unusually fine example of the type of autobiographical writing which by reason of its highly special character should be published privately. Mrs. Flexner’s workmanship is admirable, but good workmanship cannot transform a story’s substance or give a story any more substance than it has. One can see that Mrs. Flexner’s narrative would be vastly interesting to her family, largely interesting to her friends, and moderately interesting, no doubt, to some Quakers of the old school. To those outside this rather limited and special audience, however, the story is quite devoid of interest; the substance of general interest is simply not there. We hope Mrs. Flexner will bear with our plain speaking, for just this criticism is applicable to a good three-fourths of modern autobiographical narrative— narrative, moreover, which is wholly unredeemed by anything like the signal merits of style, tone, and temper which Mrs. Flexner’s work displays.