“It was in this manner that their child was born. There he was, sentient. A rift in experience, the crossing of the street by Barbara at one moment rather than the next; the opening of a gate by Pitt in the afternoon instead of the morning. Then joy, ill, the depths, madness, flowing about the two. These passed but there remained the child--living, exquisite, sturdy, sensitive, a new microcosm, experiencing within himself the act of God.”
Prose? Poetry! Deep and vibrant music. It has the austere beauty and the imaginative content of Johann Sebastian Bach--say the _Chaconne_ in D minor.
“Love is a creative force,” says Mrs. Greene in the article we have already quoted, “and though Marshall Pitt had been unable through the inarticulate material in which his soul was embodied to fashion himself in any accordance with his blurred hopes, he could by virtue of his great love for Barbara and their child offer to Jeffrey [his son] the inspiration lacking which his life, even to his last heroic act, had seemed a futile thing. In dying because he lacked cleverness to see the means of escape, to save the only living thing that had loved him in return, he made his last awkward gesture that of rescuing a dog!” We may quote the passage, condensed slightly:
“They carried Pitt, and in his arms was a white Marseilles spread in which he had swathed the little dog. The spread was burning, Pitt’s hair was burning and the thin cotton of his shirt was all burned away about his throat and breast and blazed upon his shoulders.
“They laid him on the ground and the people beat out the flames. As the fire was quenched there was a terrific commotion in the white Marseilles spread. Out leaped Jep, not a silken hair on him singed, and he snapped indignantly at having been caused intolerable inconvenience....
“‘Well, but of all the fool things. For a _dog_.’...”
_Romance Island_, 1906. _The Loves of Pelleas and Ettarre_, 1907. _Friendship Village_, 1908. _Friendship Village Love Stories_, 1909. _Mothers to Men_, 1911. _Christmas_, 1912. _When I Was a Little Girl_, 1913. _Neighborhood Stories_, 1914. _Heart’s Kindred_, 1915. _A Daughter of Tomorrow_, 1917. _Birth_, 1918. _Peace in Friendship Village_, 1919. _Miss Lulu Bett_, 1920. _Neighbors_ (play), 1920. _Miss Lulu Bett_ (play), 1921.