Wichita eagle., 1888-05-27
LITER4Y.
From Nile to Nile, By Milton Stewart.

The readers of the EAGLE who began a
year ago TO follow Colonel Stewart in his
rambles abroad, and derived such pleasure
and profit from the delightful letters he
wrote to this paper, may now secure those
letters in a permanent form, though the
book before Us is much more than q mere
revision of the letters. one-fourth of the
matter being entirely new. and the re
malnder rewritten and greatly improved.
The book is handsomely got up, in a man
ner which would no. be discreditable to
the largest publishing house in America
The author takes Us in his confidence
from the beginning and addresses Us in a
charmingly easy style as though he
were recounting to old friends 'in after
years, around the evening fire. the. story
OF his travels. He saw the cream of the
sights in the eastern world, and displays
remarkable Judgment in dwelling upon
those things which excite in us the keenest
interest; in avoiding those topics which
have been handled by other writer's until
they are familiar to us all.
While the book is highly readable from
the first page to the last, there is notice
able improvement after the traveller has
passed from the islands to the continent,
and especially is this true of the authors
style He takes US through Ireland, Scot
land as we have never been
before, and his chapters on
Ireland viii excite a special degree of in
terest in the readers mind While Mr..
Stewart has not endeavored to rival Mark
Twain in the production of "A Joke Book"
there IS much quiet humor scattered
throughout his pages and the Irish chap
ter, as is fitting, evoked large share of
humor.
When we reach the chapters on Switzer-
land, we find that the author again sur
passes himself. and in these chapters there
is much that had been left untold by other
writers about the country of lakes and
mountains.
The best part of the book was held |
in reserve for the last, like the best wine
at celebrated wedding feast, and has
not appeared in print before, and no reader |
can fail to know Palestine and Egypt now
as he has never known them before The |
descriptions of the road between Jaffa and |
David's City, the Holy City and her sur |
roundlngs, are without doubt the best that |
we have ever read on those subjects. And |
the wonders of the land of Pharaohs have |
been presented to us in manner for which |
we feel grateful
The colonel tells us of young lady in
his party; young lady who seemed to |
possess great charms for the gentlemen, |
and to whom our hearts in fondness turn. |
hon. Is. w. Perkins, NJ c., was mem |
Der of the party, and is the subject OF some |
interesting statements
In the absence of Colonel Murdoch we |
may speak without hesitation of his con-
tribution to the volume before us, his now
widely celebrated poem, The Nile of
America at sunset a poem written sew
eral years ago, frequently reprinted, and
now appearing for the first time in a form
in which it may be preserved. The poem,
which christened anew our river, has fur
nished to Colonel Stewart the suggestion
Of the title of his book, and is now pub
llshed with the addition Of several stanzas
and the improvement of others, adding no
little to the value of the book.
In concluding this review, which is all
TOO brief, we are inclined to say few
words of Colonel Stewart himself: but he
S too well known throughout Kansas for
t to be needful Besides the literary value
Of the book and its interesting matter it
will commend itself as the production of
/ kansan, of the post department COM
nander of the @. A. r. of Kansas, as
book which was not only written
~ a Wichita man, but which
5 strictly a Wichita production; the letter
,ress work having been done by the EAGLE
,fiice, and the handsome illustrations, a
noteworthy feature of the book. prepared
~ the Wichita Lithographing company.
AS city and state, we have just cause
or pride that such book has been pro-
[uceu in our midst