The times., 1899-11-05

|
| ed some attention in its serial form, but
| those who did not follow it from month to
/ month are fortunate, since ii is the kind of
! book which ought to be read as a whole
| If possible, at a sitting. The rush Of the
| story is sometimes bTeathless, and the de-
| velopment OF the characters loses some
| thing of its interest when taken in sec-
| tions. While not exactly great book, it
! is one of the most interesting books OF the
year, and in promise, in fascination, and
! realistic power, yields to no novel by any
new writer, save possibly, the work Of
/ Frank Norris. Mr.. Harrington ought by
/ all signs, TO write a great novel before
4 very long 1t may be the opinion Of some
/ of his readers that he has already done so.
The story is that of a young college man
| who comes to an Indiana town to conduct
| country newspaper, and finds upon his
arrival that he has vastly oveTpaid for his
! journal He takes this rundown prop
! eTty and, though disheartened, sets about
/ doing what he can with it. By sheer force
! of dogged will and untring energy, he gal
( VaniZes the corpse of a country newspaper
I into real life. The country people rub their
! eyes and discover that the supposed de-
! funct horse is walking about on four legs,
/ rather shakly, but with a certain anima-
1 ton. One of the happest touches in the
book is the episode of the local politicians
/ joke on young HaTHess, the editor. Com
| ing TO the office one day, the politician
/ found on the door notice that the editor
would be back in fifteen minutes. He wrote
/ under it, 'Why?" Harkless made this
sarcasm on the well known futility of his
! paper the text for a lively attack on the
politician who was eventually driven into
mis- hole and out of public life. Then the
/ young newspaper man made himself pop
/ ular with the town and obnoxious TO
whitecaps by an attack on the people of
six Cross Roads, one of those hood 4um
settlements with which many country
! towns, North and South, are cursed. They
! furnish most of the crime and all of the
! lawIessness for many respectable regions.
! Their origin and conduct are described
most accurately in the story of one of the
villagers, and as their existence and pro-
| ceedings sometimes come to light in the
papers. to the discredit of their neighbors
ard the mystifcation of strangers, this
account may be worth quoting for the in
| formation that there is in it. Speaking Of
the young editor, who had incurred the
| everlasting enmity Of this settlement by
swearing 10 the identity Of eight malefac
tors and sending them to the penitentiary,
the old settler says:
The main trouble is that we can't make him
understand that he ought to be more afraid Of
them. If he'd lived here all his life he would be-
You know there's an Old-time feud between the
Cross Roads and our folks; goes way back into
| pioneer history, and mighty few know anything
! OF it. Old William Platt and the forefathers Of
/ the Bardlocks and Tibhses and BrisCOes, and
! SChoields moved up here from North Carolina d
/ good deal Just TO get away from some bad
nclghbOrS, mostly Sklllctts and JohnSonS-one OF
the Skilletts had killed old William Platts two
sons But the Skilletts and Johnsons followed all
the way to Indiana TO join in making the new
settlement, and they shot Platt at his cabin door
one night, right where the courthouse stands to-
( day. Then the other settlers drove them out for
good, and they went seven miles west and set
up a still. A band OF Indians, on the way TO
Join the Shawnee Prophet at Hppecanoe, came
down on the Cross-Roads and the CroSs-Roaders
bought them off with bad whisky and sent them
over 10 Plattvile. Nearly all the Plattville men
were away, fighting under Harrison, and when
they came back there only few half-CraZy
women and children left. They'd hid in the
woods.
The men stopped Just long enough to hear how
II was, and started for the Gross Roads; but the
/ Cross- Roads people caught them in an ambush
and not many of folks got back
We really never did get even with them, though
all the early settlers lived and died still expecting
to see the DAY when Plattyiie would go over there
and pay off the score. It's the same now as II
was then. good stock with Us bad stock over
there, and all the country rih-raf in creation
come and live with EN- when other places get
too not 10 hold them
When the Cross Roads people, after a
long still-huut. finally got Harkless there
was trouble and the description Of the mob
ture. Mob law is bad, but there are times
when human nature rather sympathizes
with its developments. Anyone who has
ever lived in a community skirted by a set
tlement of just this description will under
stand the situation thoroughly. Such set
Elements Of rascals have a peculiarly disas-
trOus effect on farming village, since the
farmers wealth lies in his barn and stock,
and if he makes himself prominent in any
attempt to prosecute one of the gang, the
rest come around and burn his buildings,
hamstring his stock, and terrorize his
family when they have chance. This
partly explains the patience which the
American farmer has with such outlaws.
There is romance as well as political
adventure in the book and it forms almost
distinct theme, though the two stories are
united toward the end. Possibly this di-
vision Of interest may be considered
blemish by some critics. They may be in
clined 10 say that Mr.. Harrington would
have done better to write his love story
and put all his poetry into that, and keep
the story of the young editors fearless
and independent career intact. But what
ever their opinion as to that may be, they
must admit that he has told both stories
well, and that the character Of the hero Is
distinctly a creation. In fact John Hark-
different from the conventional hero and
heroine as could be found in contemporary
fiction, and the particularly odd thing
about them IS that they are drawn with
almost equal skill. Both are thoroughly
individual; possible but not usual, human
beings, placed in somewhat uncommon cir
cumstances and fully equal to the de-
mands of the occasion. If the continuity
and concentration of the tale loses some
thing through the introduction of two ele-
ments in the plot, the book as a whole GER
tainly gains some charming chapters. The
authors greatest power lies in the depict
ing OF single scenes or episodes. One
chapter of irresistible fascination is that
which tells OF the visit of Helen and Hark-
less to a country circus. 1t is the begin
ming Of their courtship and they are as yet
aware only Of the natural attraction be-
tween them, as the two people of Eastern
and sophisticated antecedents, thrown to-
gether in this dreary yet hospitable little
Western town. The handling OF the ro-
nance here is fine. Another scene of es-
pecial power is that in which Harkless is
discovered, after the whitecaps have had
their way with him, and still another is
that of his return 10 the town which. after
many years, he has come to regard as his
home.
There are flaws IN the work, Of course,
and, as usual. they are promptly detected
by the people described. Indianians de-
clare that the dialect is too crude, and that
the people Of their State are too cultivated
to use il; about which the reader in other
parts of the country may have mental
reservations of his own. Mr. Harrington