The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-12-01
wnLwHrrE.s NEW BOOK.

ISSUE" which, after the literary manner
of the times. hides all the others behind
it's single title
The story of "The Real ISSUE is by
no means the best in the book. There
, are in the volume many better ones,
although this is written with the acs
knowledgment that no ten men proba-
bly, could agree as 10 which story was
the best. The contents of the volume
are as follows:
The Real Issue.
The Story of Aqua Pura.
The Prodisal Daughter.
The Record of the Blotter.
The King of Boyyille.
A Story of the Highlands
The Fraud of Men.
The Reading of the Riddle.
The Chief Clerks Christmas.
The Story of Grave
The Home Coming of Colonel Hucks.
The Regeneration OF Colonel Hucks.
The Undertakers' Trust
uas . tOT itciueulDTduCS.
A Nocturne. :,
All these are Kansas stories Kansas
stands out in every line. Kansas. light
hearted and desperate, high-colored and
somber. comic and tragic, her men and
her women, her boys and her girls, her
seasons of plenty and her drouths. In
every word Kansas is limned Just as she
Is. And why not? VIII White, the
author. grew up with the cottonwoods
Of Butler county. The early settler who
stuck walnut sprig in his front yard
also set the youthful Bill on the buffalo
grass to play in the sunshine. The wal
nut is now great tree; the boy is a
man. Both have developed with the
country: both are part of its develop
ment. In his stories Of western Kansas
(the 'Story Of Aqua Pura" for instanee)
the authors Kansas origin is harshly
apparent That discordsnt element,
which is so characteristic Of the state
and its men. that rebellious element
which is always defiant and never sub
dued which can never submit but must
always complain, strikes in this story
high note of despair, which is really so
masterful that 1t makes real Kansan
suuirm. The manner in which the
author brings in the dryness, the dust,
the hot breath OF the winds, the warped
boards, the curled vegetation, the heat
lightning, and the damned soul OF the
despairing boomer as he sits amid 1t all
with no friends but God aud the coun-
ty commissioner" is painful, brutal al
most. In Its truth.
But that is only one story. There Is
another. ,,The Home Coming Of Colonel
Hucks," which will make the Kansas
reader drop the book and go to the win
dow to look upon and love Kansas. The
authors deep devotion to the state. his
belief that it is greater, better, prettier
than all the states beside, glows IN this
story OF the Kansas man who went
back TO Ohio to renew his love for the
Buckeye state and could not.
But we are prepared to defend the
declaration that ''The King of Boyville"
Is the best thing In the book, on the line
Of argument that in the other stories the
author is an observer of Kansas things.
In 1.-THE King Of Boyville" he Is not an
observer, but one Of the observed No
man could ever have written the story
without having been Kansas boy. The
Kansas boy Is sui generis. Men who
have passed their boyhood in other
states do not know the Kansas boy.
Will White was Kansas boy. and he
has given to the state something as
clever as Missouri's ''Tom Sawyer" and
much cleverer than Thomas Bailey AL
dric,l's New Engand lad. This is really
masterpiece. Every Kansas young
man between twenty and thirty can not
read it without living again years Of his
boyhood.
First. there is the turning pole In
somebody's back yard. Then there Is
the sign of the "two fingers" on suitry
summer days; and on the pole there Is
the sophomore skin the cat back
wards and the post graduate muscle
grind.n What Kansas boy has not felt
the crowd grnding him intellectually By
the number Of times he could chin the
pole and how to rank high his little mus
cles ached. as he struggled 10 get his
chin I'D over the pitchfork handle!
What Kansas boy hasn't pracfised for
hours 10 catch the secret Of threading"
the water and laying the hair!'
White. the author. was topped with a
head of hair which would LAY easily.
No boy who could '1ay" his hair would
ever forget il: no boy who could not
would remember IT. And there are The
marble games of ~taws' and "knuckle
down." and cutting the initials on the
ice" with skates. and "whirling-"
This story is about Kansas boy who
did not fall in love, bat was trying TO
fall in love.
Did you ever see this at a Kansas
party The hero is Piggy"
There was one thing Piggy Penning-
ton could not do, and il was the one OF
all things which he wished he could do;
he could not under any circumstances
say three consecutive sBd coherent !
words TO any girl under fifteen and over !
nine. He was invited with neariy al Of |
the boys Of his age in town 10 csildren's |
parties And while any other boy. whose !
only accomplishment was turning a