THE humour and wit of past Don Marquis stories are not lacking in his last novel, "Sons of the Puritans", concerning the life of a boy in the small-town atmosphere of Hazelton, Illinois. Still, the undercurrent which flows through the whole book is one of tragedy. For Marquis the tragic and comic are not conflicting elements, but intermingle to make up life itself.

Marquis has, after all, a wonderful ability for characterization. No matter with whom he is dealing he does so sympathetically. Mister Splain, a village drunk, a backslider, chicken thief; Cherry Saltus, the stupid, over-sexed girl who turns the town upside down by her adventures; Jim Shale, the grave-digger who is guilty of being an unconfessed free-thinker--these people the author neither reproaches nor encourages. He merely shows them to you as he understands them, with all the power of his insight.

The various characters make up a strange, stagnant society, in which the main character, Jack Stephens, finds himself. The bigotry of this society is typified by Jack's Aunt Matilda, who rules him with a hickory whip. As a child, Jack is gifted with an imagination and questioning power which disturbs his own aunt and the whole community. He forms all kinds of ideas, many of which are true to him although denounced as lies by his aunt. She teaches him that it is wicked to tell any lies (even though they are true). As an adolescent he is beset by many painful and humorous experiences, which make up one of the most revealing parts of the novel.

Don Marquis had not finished the novel before his death. He intended to have Jack break away go to New York, and perhaps to Europe to fight in the World War. When Don Marquis tried to follow Jack from Hazelton to New York, he was beaten. He could not go on, for to break away from Hazelton society in the last few chapters would certainly not be wholly satisfactory. "Sons of the Puritans", as it stands now, is more than satisfactory.