The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-03


through which 1t ran, but the receipts fro %
tolls we're not enough to maintain II anu ~
pay the interest on the cost Inc cV~n ,r.
was too new Tor such an s,I. ,,rson ali the
canals and roads projected. Inc ~ ~ *inr,
Water canal was opened Tor navls sssa
Madison & indianapolis Railroad. was nnai ,-
~ completed and the state soid lts S = 80
for great deal less money than II nau -
pended on the york which aInouht ,shtch
ST. 49,. GOO The financial distress Wnlcn
swept over the country in 1887 finally COM
PEELED the abandonment OF all
Much space is devoted to the civil war;
its effect upon the political conolIoiliss ~
the State and the part taken by lnuldn9
troops The objection may be raised va "a
the author wanders somewhat Deyonu tif ~
limit of his theme in this chapter anu U1
fers war history in which indiana Was nJ III
involved, except in a general way, a. az
States were. but this is probably due 20 I.iS
immensely of the subject and the nInic ens
of defining the States interests. In CON
Guiding this department of his work anu "a
so the first volume, an account Is glVSh. %
the Soldiers Home at LaIayeat cted anu IN the the
counties together with br1eI biographies
of noted war heroes.
Mr. Smiths experience as newspaper
writer has given him the ability o seiect
and develop the salient features on the ms
tory to the. exclusion of the unlm s, am
and the skill to set them forth clearly anu
without undue verbiage. Now ana then ne
uses a colloquialism that would be Detter
omitted-as for instance, went DaGk OH
meaning repudiated But the fauitS are
inconspicuous and the merits are many
He has endeavored to be accurate IN ms
presentation of facts. and dountless $50 -
particularly useful in schools, Wnere rel
erence work on Indiana has been most
needed but it will find a place in puolic
and private libraries He gives due credit
to the writer's and others who nave heipe91
him in the preparation OF his WORK, anu ~
dedcates the volume to Hon. Robert -. r.
PIERCE "as a slight token of remembrance
of his years of faithful friendship ana as
an acknowledgment OF MS generous III. III
collra cement and help while preparing TINS
work" The work will be sold by suDscrip-
ton.
New Works by GEN. Lew Wallace.
1t would be unreasonable to expect tnat
the author of "Ben-Hur'' should enhance
his literary reputation by any subsequent
work: it is evidence enough of genius if he
continues to write and does not detract from
it. That he should have ventured another
work after that is evidence also of holiness,
for many persons would not have dared to
risk a reputation so worthiy won and so
safeiy anchored as General Wallace's was
by his greatest work. But the instinct of
authorship in him is very strong, and his
capacity for work seems to be equal to 1t,
for while he is not a prolific author he is,
from ali accounts, very laborlous ana
painstaking one. Perhaps he remembers the
adage that Easy writing is hard reading
for everything that he has published bears
unmistakable evidence of careful literary
workmanship and of having been brought
to the highest degree of perfection that he
is capable of. Next to genius itself a con-
scientious devotion to work, a talent for
drudgery, is the best gift for an author,
and where it is added to genius the results
are sure to be notable. General Wallace
has genius, and all his works show the re-
suits of conscientious labor in the prepare
ton, digestion and assimilation of ma
terials and the literary workmanship of their
fashioning. AS for preparation, it must be
admitted shat one who has pleaded at the
bar, fought battles, painted pictures, jolied
with the Sultan of Turkey, roamed in the
halls of the Montezumas, ridden donkeys in
old Mexico, burros in New Mexico, drom-
edaries in Asia and Pegasus between times
is well equipped for any literary work that
may strike his fancy. General Wallace'S
latest latest works comprise a poem and play
The WoOing of MalkatOOn" and "Commo-
duS, in one volume. The poem deals with
the origin of Mohammedanism and its tri-
umph over Christianity, the displacement or
the cross by the crescent, while the scene
of the play is laid in the reign of Commodus
a Roman emperor who reigned in the latter
part of the second century. In THE Woo
ing of Malkatoon'' the author seems TO have
Invested himself of all occidental prejudice
and to have got close to the heart of the
Eastern faith-an operation, by the way
probably not congenial to the Oriental side
OF his imagination The hero of the poem
Gilman (Osman), whom tradition says AL
lah chose for his strength, genius and beau
ty to be the first great leader of the Os-
manli and founder of the Ottoman Empire,
becomes the object of the poets affectionate
regard. He is our Gilman the enemy of
our enemies, the Christians. And even a
stubborn reader shares the poets sympathy
he he hotr
for Malkatoon, the years of trial IN which
his wild nature got its discipline from eagles
and lions, his subsection of the tribe that
supplied the first Osmanli warriors. his VIC
tory over the Christian Lord of Eskicheer
the splendid vision in which the Mohamme-
dan Empire was promised to him. Othman's
first sight of MalkatOon al a spring, where
he had gone while hunting to drink, is thus
described:
Below the fountains lip there was a pool
Ger which notified rock of gray and
Rose high enough to cast the whole in
And in the shade, unconscious, safe a fair
And slender girl A yellow earthen jar
Which she had come to fill for household
Stood upright by her, and he saw her face
Above a fallen veil, CLEAN of white,
Made whittier by the blackness of the hair
Thorough which it shone. And she, all child
like, hummed
A wordIess tune of sweet monOtony
AS in the hushed dOwar at dead of night
The Arab women, low-voiced, sing to dull
The grinding of their mills And to her
knees
Her limbs We're bare. and as the eddies
brought
The bubbles round she beat them with her
foot,
Which gistened mid the splashes like the
pink
And snow enamel of a sea-washed shell;
And by the thrObbing of his heart he knew
Her beautiful, and turned and walked away
Himself unseen. And up the path he went
A stately youth, and tail and self-contained
AS any proven man."
This shows the meter and style of the
poem, in which. from a literary point of
view, there is not faulty line or misplaced
word from beginning to end. As to the
poetic sentiment readers may differ. The
imagination of some will put them in close
sympathy with the author and the story
especially in the Oriental coloring that per,
vades 1t, while others may say that # is
simply fine piece of imaginative fiction
done into clear and lucid blank verse. The
tome OF the sinrN which h1. ttn q