The boat was almost out of sight of land. He had stood at the end of the deck, gazing back at Ireland until only the clouded head of a mountain could be seen, and then that too had been hidden. He turned and looked forward, and as he did so, he saw in the distance, low in the sea, the hulls of three ships of war. The mail-boat slowed down, as they approached, to let them pass. Naked and lithe, they looked, as they thrust their bodies through the sea, sending the water up from their bows in shining arches. He could see the men standing about the decks, looking steadily ahead ... and then the war-ships passed on to their work, and the mail-boat gathered up speed and plunged on towards Wales. Over there, he thought, somewhere in that haze, is England, and beyond England, France and Flanders and the fields of blood and pain....
[1] Dog-fish.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The following pages contain advertisements of Macmillan books by the same author.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
John Ferguson: A Play in Four Acts
Cloth, 12mo., $1.00
In Europe Mr. Ervine is perhaps better known for his contributions to the theatre than for his fiction, a number having been presented by the Irish Players at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. "John Ferguson" is as serious and important a piece of work as he has ever done. In the development of his plot Mr. Ervine not only evidences a skill in characterization, but he shows also a knowledge of technique and a marked ability in the creating of suspense.
"Never have the tragedies of everyday life been presented in dramatic form more truthfully or more poignantly."—The Dial.
"The conspicuous merits of the play consist in its perfect naturalness, its progressive interest, the consistency, variety, and vitality of its personalities, the deep emotional interest, of situations arising out of contrasted character, and the easy action of its hidden machinery. This work puts Mr. Ervine in the first rank of living dramatists. It may be commended confidently to all discerning readers on its literary merits. In the theatre it would be irresistible, if a competent cast could be found for it"—The Nation.
Four Irish Plays
Cloth, 12mo., $1.00
The plays are "Mixed Marriage," "The Magnanimous Lover," "The Critics," and "The Orangeman," first produced in 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914, respectively, the first three at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, and "The Orangeman" at the Palace Theatre, Maidstone.
"Establishes the author in the front rank of the realistic dramatists of the Irish Theatre.... As a veracious study of life and character among Irish working classes ... it is superior to anything written by Synge, Yeats, or Shaw.... The piece, in its realism, earnest purpose, and dramatic force, is worthy of John Galsworthy, and has the additional merit of being almost entirely free from anything like special pleading. Never prolix or oratorical, the compact and homely dialogue is full of shrewd observation and sage comments, pertinent to the contributory causes of a conel private and public tragedy.... The play is as able as it is significant, one well worthy of the boards of a National Theatre."—The Nation (Commenting on "Mixed Marriage," the first of these plays.)
Alice and a Family
Cloth, 12 mo., $1.25
"Alice is a sharp witted, sensible child of the London streets. ... She looks after a family that has lost its director, the mother, while the father has been thrown out of the work he knows by an accident.... It is a lower level of life than Dickens explored, that of the London laboring man; it is handled as sympathetically and as vividly as Dickens might have and with no trace of the false sentimentality that afflicted him at times.... Alice is a child to be loved and admired and not to be forgotten soon. It is a capital story and a fine piece of work ... as enjoyable a blend of fun and hard sense as we have met in a long while."—New York Sun.
"Just wholesome human nature working in one of the short and simple annals of the poor. The best of Dickens without his too profuse pathos."—Reedy's Mirror.
"A juvenile Mrs. Wiggs, not of the cabbage patch, but of the London pavements ... a wholesome bit of lite illumined with an optimism that even poverty cannot dim."—Duluth News-Tribune.
"St John G. Ervine has firmly established his claim to a place in the ranks of those younger writers to whom we look for the worth-while novels of the future."—New York Times.
"A delightfully entertaining story, full of humor and common sense philosophy.... St John G. Ervine has already won a place as one of the foremost of the present day novelists."—Independent.
"One of the most brilliant novels I have read in recent years."—William Lyon Phelps.
MRS. MARTIN'S MAN
By ST. JOHN G. ERVINE
Cloth, 12mo, $1.35
The central figure in this truthful picture of Irish home life is Mrs. Martin—an exceedingly interesting character—-a, steadfast, self-reliant woman who through the exercise of common sense averts a domestic tragedy and brings harmony into a troubled household. No less an unusual creation, however, is James—"Mrs. Martin's Man." Intolerant, overbearing but yet possessed of a certain romantic attractiveness, he is one of the most commanding characterizations of recent fiction.
Mr. Ervine's style is agreeable; it is simple and full of the tang and flavor of Irish speech, though there is little of the conventional dialect usually connected with Irish stories. The theme is marked by an absence of cant and conventionalism and by a love and wisdom for mankind that are most pleasing.
Though this is Mr. Ervine's first novel, his plays depicting Irish characters have been produced with considerable success at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In "Mrs. Martin's Man" as in his dramas, he gives a faithful portraiture of the simple folk of Erin.
"A story of remarkable power and workmanship."—N. Y. Sun.
"An intimate picture of Irish life. Brings with it the force of an overwhelming truth. It is not merely plausible, it is convincing from its first word to its last"—Boston Transcript.
"An almost perfect literary performance, and a most interesting and unhackneyed story."—N. Y. Globe.
"Far out of the usual groove of fiction.... One of the finest, most sincere stories which have come this way for many a year."—Brooklyn Eagle.
"I have seldom read so spontaneously appealing a story of Irish life. It breathes the frank open nature, the naive humor of Ulster in every line. One could not imagine a more pathetic, yet withal noble figure than Martha Martin."—London Globe.
Eight O'clock and Other Studies
Cloth, 12mo., $1.00
Mr. Ervine presents in this book a remarkable collection of intimate human studies. These short sketches, seventeen in number, are rare bits of realism, truthful pictures of the life of the common people.
"If evidence were needed, these short stories are sufficient to prove that the best in fiction may sometimes be put into the briefest form."—Boston Transcript.
"The author is an artist in life and an economist in expression."—New York Globe.
"This little book of 'Studies' presents a very considerable variety both of treatment and of theme.... Contains in miniature the substance of many large and imposing books; it is at once artistic, thoughtful, and significant."—New York Times.
"Practically all the sketches are written in a humorous vein, but the opening one, 'Eight O'Clock,' is a little tragedy in dialogue that is very touching. The book should afford a great deal of amusement for the discriminating reader who knows good work when he perceives it."—Springfield Republican.
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