Birmingham state herald., 1896-04-26

. - = . the pen of a genius to make so charming and perfectly real story with such
 meager material. The whole action of the tale but occupies three weeks The plot is simple and there are no incidents to speak of. It just seems the most nat | ural chapter from any ordinary human beings life that we might have known.
 In this regard his mastery of realism is perfect. AS he tells us, "The story is a slice, as it were, cut from the most in teresting part of life, generally at the point where that life most closely touch
 es another so that the future of the two
 momentarily depends upon each sepa-
 lN tely and upon both together"
 The main story has to do with but three actors Adam Johnstone's son. Clare Bowring and Clare Bowring's mother. Mrs. BoWring is the widow of an officer killed in action; consequently she has small pension upon which to live, and she and her daughter, although English, spend most of their time on the continent.
 In Amalfi they are stopping a a hotel queer place that was once a monastery,
 perched high up under the still higher overhanging rocks. Of Clare the author writes: Her thick flaXen hair, straight
 ly parted and smoothed away from it's low growth on the forehead, half hid small, fresh ears, unpierced; long lashes,
 
 light shadows as she looked down, but when she raised the Ids the dark-blue eyes were bright, with wide pupils and straight look, quick to fasten, slow to let
 go never yet quite softened, and yet neY-
 CT mannishly hard; but in Its own way, perhaps, there is no look so hard as the look of maiden innocence can be- There can even be something terrible in its un- | conscious stare. There is the spirit of Gods own fearful directness in it"
 cp1ppdl1 IpcCrintiOn Of Clarel | Had one lived with her and known her | all her life one could not have more beau- tifully or completely described her. Much | of the charm of Mr. Crawfords work con- sists in his irresistible and easy style and | his perfect delineation of character. Few | men can possibly know human nature as | he shows it to the reader in his books, and fewer still are those who possess that
 ntuitive quality which subtly expresses what they see and feel.
 "The young girl stood on her balcony, happily dazed for a few minutes by the strong sunshine and the clear air. 1t IS ply the sensation enjoyed Tor hours | together by dog basking in the sun, | but with most human beings 1t does not l last long; the sun is soon too hot for the head or too bright for the eyes, or there l is a draught or the flies disturb one. Man | is not capable of as much physical enjoy ment as the other animals, though per
  | first moments. Then comes thought, rest lessness discontent change, effort and progress, and the history of mans supe- rorty is the journal of his pain
 It is passages like this, keen and in- l csive in their applica ton and directness, l that lend so much of force and power to | the authors work. Whatever faults he may possess, he creates real men and wo- men, people of flesh and blood, with | whom in their human frailties and feel nd n th0rOllphlV l thize Brooke Johnstone is fine, manly creation Honest and honorable and yet ! in the fiber of his being is much Of the l strong belief in many of the hpertles l which conventional society Is prone to grant to his sex. MT. Crawford makes or l him the thorough-going, typical English l man. and does not mince matters nor characteristics in his portrayal. He says: "He got up rather late, and promptly marched out upon the terrace, under the | vines. smoking brar-root pipe with l that solemn air whereby the Engllshman | abroad proclaims to the world that he owns the scenery. There is something | almost phenomenal about an English mans solid self-satisfaction when he IS alone with his pipe. Every nation has l it's own way of smoking. There is a nasty | and vicious manner about the French mans little cigarette of pungent black tobacco; the Italian dreams over his rat-tail cigar; the Amer ican either eats half of his l Havana. while he smokes the other, or else he takes frivolous delight in smok- | ing delicately and keeping the white ash | whole to the end; the German surrounds | himself with a cloud, and, god-1ke, med | itates within it, but the Englishman,s l short briar-root pipe has powerful lndl- | viduality of it's own A man who asserts | that he has right to smoke pipe any | where practically asserts that he has a | right to everything; and it will be ad- l mitted that Englishmen get good deai. | MT. Crawford knows his art well. With out this dissertation one could not have | appreciated the rugged persistency with | which Brook declared his love for Clare, | nor the dominating strength with which | he claimed her. Adam Johnstone's | Son" may well be termed most readable | novel. excellent in style and exquisite Tn it's delicate flashes of humor. The story | is skillfully and picturesquely written, | and may well endear the author to that | large class of readers who have long since l grown to love and admire him as one of 1 our ablest modern writers. As to the | ending of the story the author says: | Real life has no conclusion but real | death, and that is sad ending to tale, and one which may as we'll be left to the Imagination when it is possible" This the author has done, and as the reader
 reflects over Clare's ultimate decision | the agreeable conviction is assured that 1 we shall hear again of Adam John- | stone's Son." PAUL FRY.