The times., 1898-11-27
A stor, of Reconstruction.


is one of the few books of fiction Of the
year which is likely to have marked and
strong influence on its readers. 1t is a
story Of the days of reconstruction in Nir-
ginia-presumably in Hanover County.
though the county is not mentioned by
name. and is an earnest and honest at
tempt to counteract the influence which
"A Fools Errand' and like books had on
the Northern public. This purpose Is SO
prominent as rather to injure the oh
as literature while 1t does not detract
from the interest awakened IN the read
er.
Mr.. Page begins his novel by sketching
daintily and with skill certain phases Of
the life of the Old Dominion before the
war The picture is ideally beautiful, and
according TO Mr.. Page, in the old days
of the South, every man was brave. every
woman virtuous, and there existed a state
of transcendent and exquisite perfection
socially, industrially and morally.
Whether this was SO or not, 1t is delight
ful to read of such people as those pre-
sented to US in the first chapters of Red
Rock" and everyone who knows the
South will recognize DIR. Cary, Gen.
Legaie, Jacquelin Gray, Steve Allen. and
Blair Cary as truthful and sympathetic
portraits. II there were any ugly phenom-
sna visible in those days-any injustice,
any meanness. any cruelty-Mr. Page con-
siders that they Were all due to the poor
white trash and the bad niger The
naivete of this view Will probably amuse
the Northern reader, but in the main it
is a true one. The best people Of the
South, the true aristocrats, were not di-
rectly responsible for the worst evils of
slavery. The system was. as Mrs. Stowe
said kept alive SO long because it was
used In a way infinitely better than il
was. Like all aristocratic systems of
social government, It developed men and
women of rare grace and beauty of char
acter. These men and women We meet
in Mr.. Pages books. The weak points of
his work. from an artistic and scientific
point of view, are his constant assump-
tion that no other types were developed
by this same system, his constant omission
of every fact which does not prove his
argument; his constant implication that
no one outside the Southern aristocrscy
| can possibly be Il lady or gentleman. AL
| though the reader may perceive these
! faults and consider them in forming his
| opinion he cannot fail to sympathize with
| Mr.. Pages loyalty TO his people, and his
/ passionate desire 10 present what he con-
| ceives to be the true version of the woes
/ of reconstruction.
| 1t is hard for the modern mind-even
| the mind of a person past middle iife-to
| conceive of the complete separation in
| thought, feeling and ideals which existed
| between the North and the South In the
first half of the century. While the
! South had remained practically at rest
for two generations. the civilization of
Maryland, Virginia Kentucky and Geor-
gia gradually ripening to perfection, the
!.
| rice and sugar regions as slowly stag
I mating. the North had been developing a
sort of pioneer democratic civilization and
| instructing foreign peasants in the duties
| of citizenship and the rudiments of social
| customs. In the South, a Representative
man" was considered to be a white man
| of the best class. In the North it was
the average man; and the average man
might be but one remove from the plow-
handle, and was certainly not a man OF
! position and education. Mr.. Page brings
out this difference in his story. He in
| troduces half dozen types of Northern
men-a man of position, culture and re-
| finement; half-educated officer of the
volunteer army; an Irish sergeant; q
young regular army officer. and carpet
bagger,' who is represented as in charge
of the Freedmen's Bureau, a Heep-lik,
creature bearing the appropriate name o.
l>eecn. IL Is a tact not generally reC0S'
nized in the North that after the dangel
and stress of the early abolition move
ment was over numbers of men and wo
men of small brain and less conscience
drifted into prominence on that grea
wave of humanitarian enthusiasm. Som,
OF them sought, and by dint of persisten
endeavor got, fat places In the societies
which We're formed TO help the freedmen
They worked side by side with earnes
and honest men and women of real cul
ture and nobility of character and mad
themselves considerably the more prom
inent. They colored the reports of affair
; in the South and brought the whole re
construction movement into disrepute 70
; one hypocrite associated with a dozel
true men can spoil the reputation of tn
entire company. This is the phase of re
construction brought out by Mr. Page i
| Red Rock
The particular influence which the boo
: is likely to have is in connection with tn
= recent election riots in the Carolinas. ]
will probably influence thousands of pee
l Pile to believe that these riots are solel
due to the enfranchisement of the negr
e and that the white people of the Sout
should be supported by the nation in theI
: determination to preserve white supren
: acy. That is the purpose of the bool
T and il could not have been published :
{ a more opportune time IL 1t had bee
: | waiting publication for the last five year.
! Some of the characters are negro pol
teians Of the worst and most ignorar