Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-20

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

NEW PUBLICATIONS..
A YEAR OF WRECK; A True Story. BY Victim
New York Harper & Bros. San Francisco A
L. Bancroft & Cs. vol, s yo., muslin.
This is the rather humorous and grimly
sarcastic story of venture in cotten-raising
in the far South by Northern man soon
after the close of the rebellion. While it i;
not of that vigorous character nor of that
literary mold which marks Judge Tourgee's
Fools Erand and Bricks Without
Straw" yet it is in the same vein, but Is moi
campaign literature-havinga far higher value
The author gives the reasons why the wrecks
of that superb stream of emigration" which
flowed into the South at the close of the wal
mostly drifted back to the North within the
year, leaving the stream dry. As he puts it,
the situation the first year after the war is
the key to the situation since then. This IN.
derstood. the snail-like progress of that sec.
ton viii no longer cause surprise; and whilst
the reader may say that, simply considering
It's own interests, the South could not have
done worse, it is also charity to remember
that with her previous training she could not
well have done otherwise He adds: Ii
this story shall have the effect to inspire the
good element in the South to assert itself
against the lawless, thus Fastening the day
of substantial prosperity in region
of unparalleled natural advantages, it will
have accomplished its mission" The
story is narrative of personal expert
ence and claims to be strictly true recital.
1t certainly wears the air OF TRUTH and there
would seem to be no reason TO question it on
that score. The author frequently leaves the
story of his embarrassing experiment, to
comment upon the social condition in
the South, and to give what ap.
pears to him to be remedies for the evils
complained of. The story explains how the
writer and a few others calculated, in husi-
ness way, how they could make money by
eotton-raising in Mississippi how they left
she North and entered upon the speculation
how they were cheated, misled and made
FOOLS of how they were oveTcharged on every
hand, their employees won away, their con-
tracts violated, their lives threatened, muir
ders committed at their very door-yards, and
one of the party, a mere boy, beaten
nearly to death, simply because he
was Yankee" The author &C.
espted the appointing Mt to judgehip, and
IN consequence was shot at by masked men
Willie Gu TOuIe W OuuTt, WAS WOuuucu, puT-
sued and saved from death only by the feet.
ness of his horse. In the Courtroom even,
an effort was made TO stab him in the back.
All this, he alleges, not because of any
political sentiments he entertained, for he
had concealed those he had in his own breast,
and gave voice to no political ex-
preston, but because the Southerners
could not endure that one from the
North should be appointed over them.
The Southern negro is presented in this
volume in different light from that
which Judge Tourgee casts upon his negro
characters. Here he is shown up as distrust-
full, suspicious, ignorant, and having only the
vaguest ideas OF freedom and what it really
implies. He is childish, helpless and obsti-
nate, and he is prone to lying and thieving in
a great many cases-enough in number to
cast discredit on his race at the South. The
author states very plainly his understanding
of the labor question at the South. The
true Southerner regards labor, he Gays, as
degrading, and in his dealings with
the laboring class does not deem il
dishonorable to get the very best of the bar
gain under nearly all circumstances. In
short he declares the South as wholly un
willing to accept or adjust itself to the labor
problem which the result of the war thrust
upon it. We make extracts:
DUH, Ut HflHS, uUucE bttll lTOplCdl sun, TIT
blood runs warmly through their veins. What is
in the heart is instantly in the brain. No
where is there any evidence that the lessons OF the
war have taught them wisdom. Its discipline SCENT
only to have lasted while the punishment lasted
They say they only stopped because they vert
physically unable to continue the contest not from
any conviction that they were in the wrong. The
fires are being reSndlcd for the second conflict, anC
this time, they saw they will come out victorious
1t is no longer an attack directly on the
Government, because the South is now again undel
the Government but it is an attack upon its policy
all the more insidous for that fact.
Of course the partisanship of this book is
manifest, and the just-judging reader will
bear in mind constantly that the
whole matter was viewed by the
author from Northern standpoint
and from position totally different from
that which would be taken by Southern
born and raised man. The book, impressing
one as truthful in all its asserted facts, leaves
the reader deeply impressed with the fac,
that there is great gulf between Southern
and Northern views, and that very little ha:
been done to narrow it. Its author, how.
ever, sees the gulf closing he draws conso.
lation from his experiences and declares that
The South of 1866 and 1850 is different. No
where else is the feeling stronger than here that in
a business point of view, slavery was mistake
The South of 1850 is more tolerant than the South
of 1866 But it has yet much to learn this score
There are portions of it nova very few-where a
Northerner, whatever his politics may be, is as
highly respected as he would be anywhere in the
North; but, generally speaking any one nmica
70 the politics of this section is simply tolerated
and would receive similar treatment to ours Of
1866 and there are regions alas great many
where his personal safety would be in question
Nearly everywhere the good element is under the
domination Of the 4" mschievous boys" Many time:
ID my region have though. that the former were
on the eve OF asserting themselves, only to be dsap
Nad hat .a,kx +ha .s.r
element is growing stronger and the time win come
when it will have the upper hand"
EDGAR ALLEN PoE; His Life, Letters and Opinions.
BY John II. Ingram. vols, muslin, Svo. Lon
don: John Hogg. San Francisco A. L. Ban
croft s Co.
Mr.. ingram devoted several years to re
search before ne ventured to place before the
public the volumes above entitled The
work may be properly termed vindicatory
memoir extended from that prefxed to Mr.
Migrants edition of Poe's works in 1874. Il
is undoubtedly true that no full biography q
Poe has before this been published, and it il
as certainly true that one trustworthy ant
exhaustive has been needed Griswoldi
memoir was not as full as desired. and beside
it was open to attack The same may b,
said of this work, but it is to be added that i
comes nearer closing the dispute than any
previous work. Mr.. Ingram-to briefly
characterize his volumes-claims that tn,
obloquy cast upon the memory of Poe hac
Us origin chiefly in the hostility of his earliest
hiographer. He has in these volumes pre-
ssntsd much new matter and thrown reu
SIGHT upon the character of the poet, andui-.
lSeisiys bitterness points ont that pso