Zola portrays the triumph of rectitude, the triumph which follows faith in the powers of life, and observance of the law of universal labor. Fruitfulness contains charming pictures of homely married life, delightful glimpses of childhood and youth: the first smile, the first step, the first word, followed by the playfulness and the flirtations of boyhood, and the happiness which waits on the espousals of those who truly love. And the punishment of the guilty is awful. -- Earnest A. Vizetelly, 1900