The Indianapolis journal., 1898-11-06

religious conditions alluded to in the be-
ginning of these notes, has further play il
MRS. Brookss Change of Heart" in AN
Occult Experience" and in THE Quickening
of Soul" Mrs. Brooks figures in an in
cident that is slight enough in itself, and
yet an immense amount of human nature
is concentrated in the few pages required to
relate 1t. The simple village woman in this
story, with her suppressed liking for the
dramatic-a liking that most frequently
found play in revival meetings of the stir
ring kind-has a counterpart in Mrs. Hale
of IAN Occult Experience" The iVelier
intelligence and more daring imagination of
the wife of a rural Presbyterian elder leads
her into an adventure that astounds the
duller mentality of her husband. There is
more in THE Quickening of a Soul than
can be touched on, but it may be said that
the description of a revival meeting in this
story is as brilliant a bit of writing as one
will find in the reading of an hundred books.
The fidelity with which Miss Nicholas
draws her portraits and the ease with which
she communicates to her pages the atmos-
phere of a familiar village of the West
Central States gives to her volume an in
terest that may truly be called unique.
Mention has already been made of the con-
SciouS or unconscious faithtulnesS with
which these stories hit off the religious con-
ditions that have existed in the Wabash
country. This alone would give to the book
value and distinction, apart from its delight
full qualities as fiction. 1t is her ability to
impart the intimate relation between the
home and the church without ever losing
sight of the business of story telling that
proves Miss Nicholas's right to be called an
artist If she had not in this same volume,
esSayed stories of wholly different character
from those to which most cordial praise is
given here, her work along this one line
would entitle her volume to a permanent
place with the fiction of those who, in our
literature have limited their studies to
small divisions of the country And it is
not without point in this connection to add
that women have been markedly success
full in this department of letters, as witness
the excellent work of Octave Thanet, Miss
Chaplin, Miss Jewett and Miss Wilkins A
woman may or may not write the long
sought great American novel, but it is very
clear that half a dozen women have in re-
cent years enriched our fiction notably with
most searching studies of local life.
There is questionable English in Miss
Nicholas's book. The tales are told with
simplicity and directness. The story is al
ways the thing, and the reader is carried
characterizes passages which a poor artist
or a clumsy writer would have marred by
excess. 'An Idyl of the Wabash is, in
short a series of stories touching life
it has existed in only a small part of the
world, and yet showing how universal are
even the subtlest of passions and feelings.
1t is written with force and precision and
with an acute understanding of artistic bal
ance and proportion:
This engaging book is, throughout, an In
diana production. The author is a resident
of Indianapolis, and the very appropriate
cover design, in which the boughs the
leaves, and the buttons" of the Wabash
sycamore are employed most effectively is
the work of Miss Evaleen Stein, who does
many things well. The Bowen Merrill Com
pdny as publisher, has faithfully performed
its part toward the making of an attractive
book. MEREDITH NICHOLSON.