Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-22
FROM NILE TO NILE"
The Rambles of a Kansan in Europe,
Palestine and Africa
By COL MILTON STEWART OF WICHITA.

Fl Scot Monitor.
In this age Of a multiplicity of books.
1t would seem Ike On unwarrrnted pre-
sumption for a iAansan. living without
the range q ine polished hterati, who
have been supposed 10 have monopoly
upon book making in this country, TO
present the reading world with his views
upon any subject. in bound form. This
presumption would have the appearance
OF absolute affection to many, when it
became known that those ideas, and that
book, were upon the threadbare subject
of foreign travels. Yet we have before
Us such a book, and upon such sub
ject, giving an account of the rambles
of Col. Milton Stewart and wife through
Europe, and across the sacred
lands of Palestine, and the burning
sands of Africa. If any one thinks
the production of this book an
assumption upon the good nature of a
long suffering public, they have only to
open its covers and glance through the
bright and animated pages. If they be-
ieve that the subject is a threadbare one,
the delusion will quickly disappear when
the absorbing interest of the scenes de-
picted are seen through the authors
eyes. There is no denying that the old
country has been picked to pieces from
yegr to year by American tourists who
have an itch for scribbling," or that the
public have been gorged with feast after
feast of scenic description, vivid, glar-.
ing, tawdry and nauSeating. 1t Is re-
freshing, however, to pick up book
from the pen of one who is evidently a
natural observer, who has seen things
sar beyond the mere superficial eX
teriors, and who takes his readers into
his confidence as an old salt does his
mates when spinning yarns in the fore
castle. One who really has something
to say and knows just how to say it 10
the best advantage and in the most inter-
esting manner.
Col. Stewart, in his work entitled
From Nile to Nile" has struck the
same happy vein, only to a more en-
larged extent, and in his descriptions of
scenery, events, political peculiarities
and regulations, the military infusion
into every walk of life, and the customs
Of the people, domestic and otherwise,
he displays many of the attractive
peculiarities of Sterne and Bayard Tay-
lor. Probably the best way to express a
jurt criticism of this book is to say that
Col. Stewart tells exactly those things
which his readers most want to know. in
every instance avoiding the irksome
moralizing and heavy phIiosophizing
which makes most books of travel turgid
and intiictive. We do not remember TO
have pursued an author for many years,
who had so attractive mack of throw
ing in historical embellishments with
such judicious discrimination and with
such relishing effect \ :
Throughout the book. one is constantly
kept with his eyes and thoughts upon
the present and his memory busy with
the stores of history.
Col. Milton Stewart lives in Wichita
He is one of the prominent citizens of
that wonderful place, and IS well known
throughout Kansas, He went to Europe
i'll 1887, III company with his wife, upon
purely a pleasure trip. To fulfill an
urgent promise made to the editor of the
Wichita EALLE. he wrote a series of let
ters for publication in that journal, Civ
ing accounts of his progress from time
to time. These letters were so favorablv |
received by the public that upon his re-
turn he was urged to revise and enlarge |
their scope and publish them III book |
form. He consented, but the work of |
revision took on a new form almost en- |
tirelv, and the book would be considered |
new matter TO even those who had read |
his letters.
The Monitor hopes that every reading
kansan will procure copy, and we can |
assure every purchaser that they will |
have rich field to CLEAN from and will
never regret the investment. Colonel |
Stewart is not bookmaker from neces- /
sity, being one of the wealthy men of /
Wichita, and we presume that in writ |
ing his book he felt that he could afford ,
TO be natnIal