The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-17

BILE began my heart has been nothing but
a wound which bleeds each day and every
llour-a wound that viii be healed only
when I learn at last that my innocence
is recognized. In truth the mind stands
at times bewildered and perplexed by the
thought that such errors can be in CEN
fury like ours, and can last so long with
out the light being let in upon them. But
fear nothing; if I suffer beyond all ex-
preston, as you suffer, as you all suffer-
indeed, my soul is still valiant and it will
do its duty to the end, for your sake, for
the sake of the children All, let US hope
that this appalling, this unbelievable
situation may soon end and that we may
at last come out of the horrible night
mare in which we have been living for
more than ten months
More than ten months! That imprison-
ment lasted five years. A French court
martial has just added ten years to it.
The letters remain deeply tragical, their
sorrow increasing as injustice to Dreyfus
increases.
Edgar Poe's House of Usher had an
atmosphere of its own. Every good, eff
fective historical novel has its atmos-
phere. The majority of readers expect
a book to exercise this charm over them.
If it does not they put aside the book
indifferently after concluding it. If the
book does so bewitch the reader puts it
from him with a sigh to leave its spell.
But it is not an index of the books
worth. The average American reading
Quo Vadis becomes a Roman after the
first few chapters; any ont who has
ever read Zenobia has been in Palmyra;
a man can throw himself into the shad-
ows of Ivanhoe or Quentin Durward and
follow him and understand him. A man
can get into the tumbrel with Sidney Car
ton; or he can wander with Roderick
Random.
But the hardest atmosphere for an Am
erican to submit to is Oliver CromwelTs.
Several authors have assaulted the time
of Cromwell for facts for a novel. and
have made a dismal fist of it.
One man has come nearer it than anv
other. This is Arthur Paterson in "Crom-
wells own" that is his regiment, the
Ironsides.
In this connection it is curious that
America does not warm to Cromwell.
when a blunt statement Of historical facts
would indicate to an unprejudiced arbi-
ter that this original democrat stood as
a prototype Of his race, developing on an
other continent.
But the reason it is so difficult for an
American to take on the atmosphere Of
this mans time is the intense religious
bigotry of that time The American can
not coax a thrill by either placing him
self in the stocks with the prosecuted and
and ear-cropped Socinian. nor can he get
satisfaction by al1ying himself with the
corey executioner or his source of fnspi-
ration. The complications and the bit
terness and miuutae of fanatacism are
gone into tones no one reads, and a nov
elist cannot introduce into his work with
out soporifc effects. We cannot take on
the zeal of Muggletonian or the obsti-
macy Of a schismatic. or the hatred of a
Presbyter. or the obdurate innocence Of
a Socinian, the straight-laced solemnity
of a Puritan, or the intense fanatIcism Of
the Papist
Whether the author foresaw this diff
Guilty is not known. Being English. he
probably wrote for Englishmen.
At any rate the author has overcome
some Of this difficulty 10y making the
people in ''CromweI's Own" which : not
strihngly evident in most novels. hu-
man.
The hero Of the story. Ralph Danger
field. first eornet then lieutenant and
captain Of Cromwell's own troop. : in
love with Rachael CromweIl's adooted
daughter. Young Oliver is also in love
with her. Capell. another of7cer. Is IN
der the same spell Around this rivalry
the story gathers and holds the reader
closely.
Ralph Dangerfeld from ths FIRST shows
a lamentabIe absence Of sound dressings
in early youth. on the plea OF an inherit
ed pride he is out of balance and remains
50. consistently 70 the end Of the book
An officer, a disciphnsrian. who had two
men shot for disobeying him. he Is sub
ject to sudden flights OF passion and OF
Readiness. Young Oliver Cromwell Is
loveable. Jealous, forgiving, tender. de-
fiant by terms. Capen Is a william part
OF the time. not all. In all OF the char
acters there is an effort TO keep from
making an extravaEant type. The worst
man in the book has some good in him:
the best some bad.
Oliver Cromwell. Non, is finely drawn
HIS ti0hrolray, rsSra~+ for Asa,Sar, 49,,
well. his mother. his tender regard for
peevish Mrs. Cromwell. his iron and as,-
solute demand for truth. his sterling
worth through and through. and in him
slightly. religious tolerance. do not make
him loveable, but admirable
The best n tha work. are those snatcNes