eir problems and peculiarities which
comes from close contact and genuine affection.

His first novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, was followed by a second
which won him popularity, Far from the Madding Crowd. This appeared
anonymously as a serial, and at the time was attributed to George Eliot,
because she was thought to be the only living author capable of writing
it. The Return of the Native is perhaps his most characteristic book,
although in Jude the Obscure he shows a merciless character analysis.
But in Tess of the D'Urbervilles he reaches the height of his power. It
is a story of tragedy, expressing the doctrine that man must reap what
he has sown. Read several chapters from Tess and discuss the story.

Hardy's short stories also are well known and a collection called Wessex
Tales will be found excellent for selections for club reading. The Three
Strangers is generally considered his best story. Notice the
descriptions of scenery, the characteristics of the country people and
their personalities. Does Hardy show a lack of humor? Is he a fatalist?

II--MAURICE HEWLETT

Maurice Hewlett was born in London in 1866, educated there, and admitted
to the bar. It was in the midst of city life that he wrote his first
novel, The Forest Lovers, which he has never excelled in beauty and
charm. It is an exquisite, simple picture of life in the Middle Ages,
with a lovely romance running through it. Critics tell us that of all
his contemporaries he has best interpreted medieval thought and
sentiment.

Later he wrote other novels of the same period, notably Richard
Yea-and-Nay, sometimes called an epic story, full of passion, war and
poetry. It was with this book that fame came to Hewlett.

In The Queen's Quair we have a study of Mary, Queen of Scots, her court
and the tragedy of her life. The Stooping Lady is laid in the Eighteenth
Century, but the author shows the same peculiarity, that of making any
time vividly real and preserving the atmosphere. This novel is full of
imagination, yet terse and clear. Hewlett has also written some short
stories of a delightful sort--Little Novels of Italy and The Madonna of
the Peach Tree, quite unlike his longer books.

It is interesting to note that into all his writings the one idea is
woven so skilfully as to be almost imperceptible--of the progress of the
soul, either upward or downward. This key unlocks many of the puzzling
passages, especially in Richard Yea-and-Nay. Clubs can