But when Mrs. Burnham writes of Christian Science beliefs, ideas and mental attitudes she is not writing primarily to lay those things before the reader. She is writing to tell a story. These are the elements of her story. From them she weaves her web of fancy but they are the colors and not the pattern.
In the depiction of character, notably the strongly accentuated characters of New England, Mrs. Burnham is unfailingly and admirably successful. _The Opened Shutters_ lends itself from the start to the happy illustration of this faculty. Who more accurately observed and justly reported than Miss Lacey, Judge Trent and John Dunham? Miss Lacey meets the judge’s housekeeper, old Hannah, and exclaims:
“‘I just met Judge Trent, Hannah. Dear me, can’t you brush that hat of his a little? It looks for all the world like a black cat that has just caught sight of a mastiff.’”
Martha Lacey’s attitude toward Judge Trent is summed up in the refrain continually sounding at the back of her head:
“‘If I’d married him, he’”--would have done so and so or wouldn’t have done something else. No two ways about that! The consciousness of this stern and immutable fact is what makes Judge Trent’s life one long sensation of relief at having been refused.
“The judge softly closed the door behind her. ‘There, but for the grace of God,’ he murmured devoutly, ‘goes Mrs. Calvin Trent.’ Then he returned to his desk, put on his hat, and sat down at his work.”
Plots? There are hundreds of writers who can build twenty-story plots with express elevator service and private subway stations. There aren’t so many who can see people clearly and see them whole and set them down brightly on paper. Mrs. Burnham’s novels will be widely read and enjoyed for so long as she writes them and afterward for many a day.
_The Quest Flower._ _Flutterfly._ _The Golden Dog._ _No Gentlemen_, 1882. _A Sane Lunatic_, 1883. _Dearly Bought_, 1884. _Next Door_, 1885. _Young Maids and Old_, 1886. _The Mistress of Beech Knoll_, 1887. _Miss Bagg’s Secretary_, 1892. _Dr. Latimer_, 1893. _Miss Archer Archer_, 1894. _Sweet Clover, a Romance of the White City_, 1894 _The Wise Woman_, 1895. _A Great Love_, 1898. _A West Point Wooing and Other Stories_, 1899. _Miss Pritchard’s Wedding Trip_, 1901. _The Right Princess_, 1902. _Jewel: a Chapter in Her Life_, 1903. _Jewel’s Story Book_, 1904. _The Opened Shutters_, 1906. _The Leaven of Love_, 1908. _Clever Betsy_, 1910. _The Inner Flame_, 1912. _The Right Track_, 1914. _Instead of the Thorn_, 1916. _Heart’s Haven_, 1918.