Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-17

Hopkinson Smith, the author OF lhde
charming and delightful novel, ''Coionei
Carter of Gainesville" This new WORK
appears in an especially beautiful edltloh'
a,,a x,a are told that the workmen in It's
bondling were compelled to wear KID
gloves: but not so the reader, for as sui.
as the finish dried there is gloss anu
sheen to the handsome red and goiu
cover which permits no finger marx "
1ineer on its surface or mar It's oeauey'
The nortrait of .'Tom' has long since pc
come a familiar one by the striking anu
attractive posters issued by the enterP,ii LIE
ing publishers Messrs. Hougnton, NIL vi
fin e. Co. This poster, by the way, Ior
ssTom Grogann was designed by Mr..
Smiths son, who seems to have inherit
ed a good deal of his fathers cleVerness'
for besides being an artist OF no mean re-
pute, both with pen and pencil FRAMES
H Smith, as he is known to any NUMBER
of downtown people In New YORK - a
and few of these people who know MIN as
such in any way connect him with the
f. Hopkinson Smith who writes dehght-
full stories and paints Venetian scenes
and any number of other charming
things.
In this latest work, which, 1t will be re-
membered, ran through the Century
Magazine and attracted a great deal OF
attention, the author gives us the benent
of his experience, for Tom, his most
prominent character, is a contractor.
Mr. Hopkinson Smith possesses rare
and delightful skill in word painting
and in the consummate presentation OF
dramatic situations, and the first scene,
where we are introduced to the heroine
and find that "Tom Grogan" is woman,
is well calculated to make a pleasing I'M
preston.
A go vol ;e T., oourso of constrlIction
and Babcock, who has the contract,
fears delay from extreme weather and
other dire extremities, SO takes run
over from New York to see what tom"
is about He, like the reader, is surpris-
ed to find the able, mastery, hard-work-
ing and reliable Tom woman, and
he, too, like the reader, continues to lave
her all the way through the book and
feelingly sympathizes and weeps over
her trials and disbursements.
The printers, l said, handled the book
while in press with kid gloves, but not SO
did TON" deal with her opponents, for
she physically must have been like the
attendants upon the Princess Ida.
Daughters Of the plough, stronger than
men,
Hugh women, blowzed with health and
wind and rain and labors =
She needed no gloves when she, with
her stout right arm, knocked the paling
off the fence just to show a weak member
of the masculine gender what she might
be tempted to do in future, and the exhi-
bition was not without its own force of
logic, for her cowardly enemies there
after pursued more underhanded meth
DDS.
1t has been said that this story has for
it's leading motive the labor question,
and so it might seem, for Tom Grogan"
is pitted, without wish or desire on her
own part against organized labor in gem
.eraL and the stevedores' union in par
ticular. However, my impression was
rather that tom" was the most splen-
did, practical, satisfying "woman's
rights woman any piece OF fiction had
or could present, and Is a better argu-
ment than all the editorials on woman's
ability and capacity, speechifying and
what-not that we are accustomed to see
and hear.
But then-Tom-there are few, very
few. like her. She can stand out in the
rain and cold and brace her we'll round
ed figure to the cutting breeze while she
superintends days-nights, too, some
fimes-the work on the sea wall, man.
aging her men with decision, Judgment
and frmness. Brave, morally and phys
ically. Industrious, thrifty and devoted
to the interests of her employer In the
delineation of her nobler sentiments,
feelings and convictions Mr.. Smith has
done fine piece of work. Tom has a
history, and, what is more a mystery
connected with her past, and the -delicacy
of feeling with which she clings to the
slame and memory.of that earnest help
mate who, years before we are permitted
to know her, fell helpless victim to an
ACCIDENT, Is worthy the refinement and
tenderness of soul of the gentlest of the
feminine sex. Then, too, in her pathetic
and touching devotion to her crippled
boy-her Patsy-who could help loving
and admiring Tom? Her cause is our
cause; her troubles and disbursements
our own. The calculating pen of the
critic may figure out that labor organiza-
tions are called Assemblies" and that
the dues are 80 cents and 81 month
instead of 50, as Mr.. Hopkinson Smith
puts 1t, and the author may be chided
for failing to inform himself upon these
subjects before he attempted to intro
0lce them into a novel! But who cares
for minor technicalities like these when
we know and realize that he has given
us great, live, breathing character,
with a heart that throbs and pulsate
with the energy, activity and earnest
ness that characterizes the nineteenth
century, coupled with purity, gracious
ness and sweet, womanly sincerity that
has made the age what it Is; and So
all hail to Tom Grogan."
A work containing many of the strik-
Ing and engaging qualities which charac-
terlze MISS Mur1reeS tennessee Stories,
and powerful and able descriptions of
that mountainous region, is one by Kate
w. Hamilton, and is entitled 1.-THE Par
sons Proxy" There is much of the al
most unintelligible dialect of the back
woodsman. which seems to be peculiar
to this section of the country. Instead
OF the moonshiners we have in this story
a band of counterfeitdrs, which are O
terror and dismay to the entire communal
ty, and form a weird, rugged back
ground for the contrasting portrayal of
many beautiful, pure, genuine charac-
ters.
The story IL mainly concerned with
the lives Of a young minister, his wife
and sister, as fate threw them among
these rugged country folks. This
ignorant class, which. If we are to be-
lieve works of fiction, seem constitution
ally opposed. as the Chinese themselves,
to railroads or any modern innovations
whatever. However. railroads will and
must be built, and thus It IL we are In
troduced to worthy young man, stran-
ger to these parts, Mr.. Cade Barrow, the
boss of that there new track what's layin'
up yere." Nate vicroy Is one of the menu
bers of the unruly and wicked gang, who
In coming from the wedding, which
forms the opening scenes of the book