Joseph Medill Patterson REBELLION 1912 Review

National Magazine
April 1912/Vol. 36, No. 1

1912 Review of Rebellion 
by Joseph Patterson

This informative blog post presented by
Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

The following is not my review of a book but the beginning of a series of blog posts that I will present, transcribed from a recently acquired copy of an April 1912 issue of National Magazine (Volume XXXVI, Number One).  The cover shows the editor of the magazine to be Mitchell Chapple.  Publishing information on the Contents page list the company information as follows.

Chapple Publishing Company, Ltd.
952-956 Dorchster Avenue, Boston
William H. Chapple, President
John C. Chapple, Treasurer
Joe Mitchell Chapple, Treasurer
Bennett B. Chapple, Secretary



Rebellion
Joseph Medill Patterson, author (wikipedia link)
Chicago: Reilly and Britton
Price: 1.25

Plain people and city life furnish dramatic material for "Rebellion," by Joseph Medill Patterson. The husband in the story becomes interested in politics, like most young men, and eventually develops as the lieutenant of the leader.

Joseph Medill Patterson (1879-1946)

By easy stages he becomes a typical ward heeler*, loses his standing with the leader and at the same time develops an inordinate craving for strong drink.  His wife again becomes a wage-earner.  The intemperance of the husband drives the wife, through neglect and desperation, to receive, reluctantly at first, attentions from another suitor.

A church's unalterable position toward divorce furnishes a theme that is hardly required to make "Rebellion" of itself a story impressive in its human appeal.  No reader can fail to appreciate the author's careful, painstaking analysis of a situation that finds many counterparts in all our great cities.

* ward heeler: a politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than for public ends. (FreeDictionary.com)

Further Information
The October 4, 1911 edition of the New York Times reviews the play version of Rebellion, giving commentary on the plot and performance of the actors including Gertrude Elliott and George Farren. An editorial in fictional form, the main criticism of the story is that no conclusional opinion is offered on the merits of the Roman Catholic position concern divorce.

"To be sure, all this doesn't affect what is obviously the chief purpose of Mr. Patterson's "Rebellion."

 That is to discuss and get discussed the question of divorce, especially as it is viewed by the Catholic church.  Mr. Patterson is, one assumes, opposed to the churchly view, for when all is said and done, Georgie does fall away, even though in doing so she has lost the hope of absolution."

Link:  http://www.query.NYtimes.com