The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-05-22
BOOKS AND THEIR MAKERS
Edited by nnoch knight

~ = ~ W. =
Edited by Enoch knight
re Tombe Of re Poet Chaucer
&c. C. Stedman.)
Abbot and monks of Westminster
Here placed his tomb, In all mems view.
"Our Chaucer dead?" King Harry sad.
"A mass for him and burial due!'
This very aisle his footsteps knew:
Here Covers benedictien fell:
Brother. thou were and minstral trewe,
Now slepe thou wei.
And now. when hawthorn is in flower,
And throstles sing as once sang he,
In this last age, on pilgrimage
Like mine from lands that distant be,
Come youths and maidens, summer-tree,
Where shades-of bards and warriors dwell,
And say. 1.-THE sire of minstrelsy
Here slumbers we'll"
And say, while London's Abbey stands
No less shall England's strength endured"
~, though its old walls crumbling fall,
Shall last her sons sweet overture.
From out the wild heap, all to tell
That here the fount Of English pure
Long slumbered well.
An especially sweet-tempered man tells
. story in the Pail Mall Gazette regarding
what he calls the most perfect bull he ever
came across. The absurdiy of it quite re-
paid him for his literary work. l'I sent"
he says, "a review of a volume by an emf
nent Irishman to the editor of popular
Dublin paper. He replied that he had
published my article, but could not pay me
Tor It, as he wrote all the reviews in his
Journal himself!''
We seem to have struck an age of spe-
cialists In fiction as well as in medicine,
and the other professions All our best
short-story writers in America make some
little section Of the country their own, and
after they have staked out their claim ap-
parently think they must stick to that spot
on the earth's surface. Why is it, we
wonder, and we hope sometime some au-
thority will tell US why, that the same keen
insight into mems character and motives,
the same seeing eye, the same power of re-
production which serve Mr.. Webster so we'll
In Wyoming, which serve Mr.. Page so well
In Virginia. to mention only two instances,
should not serve them equally elsewhere?-
Literary World.
MARCHING WITH GOMEZ. A War
Correspondents Field Notebook, kept
During Four Months with the Cuban
Army. By Grover Flint. Illustrated
by the author, from sketches made in
the field. With an Historical Introduce
ton by John Fiske, Lift. D.. LID.
Lamson, Wolfe & Co., Boston.
Grover Flint has had large experience as
= soldier and newspaper correspondent.
He was especially fitted to undertake the
task Of marching and camping with the
Cuban chief, and he has done his work we'll.
He dropped from the clouds upon ter
ritory held by Gomez a little more than
two years ago, and his notebook gives
full and faithful account of his adventures
and observations. He had lived in Spain,
and thus knew the language perfectly, and,
being something Of an artist, he has also
given US series of very excellent and
helpful illustrations. over hundred in
uumber. besides several valuable maps and
skeleton sketches.
The Introduction by Mr.. Fiske is exceed
fngly interesting, as is everything from his
pen. Taking it all in all, it is the best
book of its class we have yet seen on the
Cuban question.
Escorted by a small detachment of La
cret's men, with Camaguey in command,
Mr.. Flint crossed the Sagua line into Free
Cuba" and soon found himself in the pres
snce Of Gomez and his staff officers:
As we filed past headquarters, straight
little white-bearded man, in a gray cloth
suit and riding boots, with two golden stars
on either lapel Of his coat, came out to
meet US, peering with a sharp eye from
beneath his broad hat brim, that was cock
Cd a little to one side, while a group of
neatly dressed officers remained at dis
lance behind. This was Gomez. the man
who has made his name famous in three
continents.
At first thought Gomez's staff a less
courteous lot than the aids of Lacret. They
were less inclined to lionize the foreigner,
and were perhaps rather more attentive
to their own affairs. But noticed that
these aids were alert and prompt in obedi-
ence to degree that 1 had not before wit
messed In the Manigua. Their very ap-
pearance was businesslike, for they car
ried carbines, in addition to their pistols
and machetes of their grade.
Gomez's utter contempt for those who
did not take up arms in behalf of their
fatherland is shown in this extract:
Once Gomez paused as he saw farmer
ploughing by the roadside. "Why do you
work." he cried. Don't you know that
you are working for Spain, who will seize
your crops? Don't you know that you
make the land richer for Spain, and that
for your work she will be less ready to
abandon 1t? To support your family?
1t would be better If you fed them on roots
In the forest or left them to starve, as my
men have left their wives and children and
parents to starve for the sake of the father
land. You work when you should destroy.
When the war is over there will be need
and time for blowing. Until them only
the machete should be lifted
Mr.. Flint says that the Spanish officers
invariably act on the defensive, and even
then with poor judgment He instances a
case, where the impedimenta-the servants
OF officers and camp ollowers-actually
captured a garrisoned town:
1t was during the invasion of Havana
province by Gomez and Maceo, when the
horsemen Of the great cavalry leader and
the awful infantry of Quintin Bandera
were sweeping the island, and lie Reforma,
Caliverte. and Nal TEMPO were fresh in
the minds Of Spanish soldiery. The adj
vance guard of Gomez was to take GER
tain town; accounts differ as to the ma me