The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-09-23

home on the stretcher, hopeless paralytic.
But his betr0thed's devoted nursing and the
vigor of his race triumphed, and a year after
he re-entered the service as First Lieutenant
of the 105th Ohio, being thereafter in most
of the great battles of the later years of the
war; several times wounded, and seeing much
more than he wanted of the inside of sew
eral rebel prisons, besides getting married
most romantcally.
At the close of the war, broken in health
with the sight of one eye gone, and cripple
he determined to move to the fair land of
Dixie the scene of John Fax" and "A
Royal Gentleman" Indeed, its mild climate
held out to him the only chance of life
Where how, and to q great measure, why he
went is told in "a FOOLS Errand" with all
necessary closeness to the actual train of facts
OF the words and actions which his conscience
would not allow him to withhold. ii also tells,
as does Bricks without Straw"
Taking prominent part in the affairs
around him. sent as Delegate to COnstitu-
tional Conventions, where he made the dis
tinct impress that comes as part of his force
full personality elected Judge of the Superior
Court, the beardless boy of Guildford " ran
many tilt with reverend seniors" who
were now his official interiors ex Governors
ex-SenatOrs. almost ex Yice-Presidents, and
if half the tales his friends tell OF his audaciy
and wit are recorded, the Judges biographers
will have no trouble finding Light " matter
to relieve their supposedly ponderous tones.
A wonderful parlamentarian and lawyer,
a dead shot, daring horSeman, with an alb
soiute faith in the goodness of God and the
Righteousness of his own convictions, with
him to think was to act, and he is one of the
striking figures of that curious, almost in
credible, epoch in our National history known
as 1.-The Reconstruction.
In 1879 the great West attracted him. He
went to Denver with the intention of making
it his home, but the unparalleled success of
" A FOOLS Errand, :" which came out the next
year, played havoc with his prearranged
plans of life He came East again, settling
in village near Chatauqua. Since then his
life has been that of a litterateur. His socio-
logical writings have made him well known
abroad. His stump-speaking in every Presi
Dental campaign but one since the war has
confessedly swayed many doubtful balance
and added millions of auditors to the thou
sands who have read his books. He has con-
tributed a weekly editorial to Chicago news
paper almost without intermssiOn since 1886.
He has put forth Il volume year, some
times novel-like, .'Out of the Sunset Sea,
the tale OF a Gloster lad who sailed with Co
lumbus, which the historic John Fiske places
at the head of the list of fiction to be read in
connection with his 8 History of the United
States, so vivid is its action and so perfect
its presentation of these wonderful times.
Sometimes it is Il pOetical phantasy. like The
Queen of Hearts, OF bit of war literature,
like THE Story of Thousand. " the history
of the 1o5th Ohio, from its oath of office to
its disbanding.
Last May Judge Tourgee was appointed by
President Mckinley Consul at Bordeaux,
France, thus going back, oddly enough, to
within few miles of the spot where his an
cestors lived 500 years before. He finds life
in the quiet old city very pleasant.
The official duties, with their questions of
International law and mnuti2 of Inter-
national trade will not, it is to be hoped,
absorb so much of his time but what he will
be able to find enough romance to serve for
fresh stories of American life abroad. That
their view would be unlike any ever pre-
sented is foregone conclusion, and would be
awaited with curiosity.