The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-04
ALICE OF OLD VINCENNES
MAURICE THOMPsoN's CoNTRIBU-
TION TO HISTORICAL FICTION.
diana History which Has Long
Waited "A Literary Artist.


nance a novel OF exceptional distinction.
vigor and charm, based upon her own his
tory and written by an author born upon
her own soil. "Alice of Old vincennes''
marks the most serious effort in fiction yet
offered by Mr. Maurice Thompson. His
previous tales, of which "a Tallahassee
Grip is the most pleasing and successful,
show no such perception. analysis and
range as are revealed here. Those who
have followed Mr.. Thompson's verse must
have marked the romantic quality that has
in recent years grown to be more and
more one of its attributes, derived doubt
less from his frequent contact with the
shores OF Louisiana, with their delight
full traditions of French dominion. France
bequeathed to America rich legacy of ro-
nance, and this has lately found literary
expression IN many writers, notably in Mrs.
Catherwood and Gilbert Parker speaking
for the Canadian side, and Mr.. Harris Dick
son, in his BLACK VOLTS Breed" from
the gulf shores. Mr.. Thompson has happily
hit upon a new field. His scenes are laid
at ola Vincennes, in the time of the Amer
lean revolution, and his characters include
the habitant and coureur de bois of the
early Wabash settlements, and men of es-
tablished historical fame like the Amer
lean George Rogers Clark and the British
Colonel Hamilton, with liberal ballet of
soldiers, Indians, etc. No other novel
touching upon the French settlements i'm
the interior of America has reproduced
amply and wildly the life of the Gallo
pioneers. Mr. Thompson has restored Vim
cennes as it was under 1.-The old order"
with its cheerful colony of genial French
men, who. in their simple habitations
among their young orchards and vineyards,
retained their native vivacity and continued
many of their national customs. The Wa
lash was, in those days, commercially and
strategically speaking, of vastly more con-
sequence than it has been since or will ever
be again. 1t was a part of the line of navi-
cation between the French Canadian set
Elements and those in Louisiana, and the
fur traders and coureurs plying their pad
dies between the st. Lawrence and the
lower Mississippi, by way of lake, river and
portage, could not ignore the Wabash
route. which led by Vincennes, where
friendly hearthS and good wine invited
them.
OLD WORLD COLOR.
Mr.. Thompson presents, with sufficient
oetail, and never obtrusively, the charming
oid-world color of Vincennes as it existed
in the years during which the revolutionary
@ar was winning independence for the
Ohio valley. His narrative is. from first
TO last, lively and engaging, and the dra-
matte episodes are handled always with
skill. and sometimes with striking dramatic
energy. Alice is an American girl the
adopted child CT Gaspard Roussillon,
prosperous trader. whose home is Vim
cennes. There is a mystery about the
girls antecedents, the happy solution of
which is only indicated at the end; but
enough is suggested of patrician Virginia
ancestry to account for Alice's sturdy
Americanism. Alice is child of nature
but with differences. She has read good
books and knows through them the world
she has never seen. She is strong and
courageous. of course. fair to look upon
and, taken altogether, the most original
and charming of all the heroines that have
lately been contributed to historical fiction.
When she makes with her own hands the
first American flag that catches the winds
of the Wabash, and becomes, under moving
dramatic conditions, it's custodian and de-
fender, in the face of the British foe she
does merely those things which her his
torian prepares US to believe her capable
OF doing.
Beverly, the young virginian officer who
appears with the first American occupation
of Post Vincennes, is an acceptable lover.
Helm. Hamilton and Clark, of whom every
student of Western history knows, are set
out distinctly; and Indianians, in particu-
lar, will rejoice that Clark, whose fame
Virginia must share with Indiana, has been
given a fitting recognition in romance. But
* is a question whether, after the heroine
herself Father Beret' is not the best
character in the book. A priest, who is
also an expert swordsman, and who has a
habit of appearing at the right moment to
aid the heroine by deeds and not prayers
is worth knowing, and Mr.. Thompson has
created q vital character here. Father
Beret' is a long-lost brother of "Aramis,"
of the "Three Musketeers." and equally
capable OF taking care of himself. The
duel by moonlight between Colonel Hamil-
ton and Father Beret awakens in the read
err all those thrills and terrors which novel
readers so greatly relish.
A BRITISH VILLAIN
American historians have not left Ham
| ilton much character. and Mr.. Thompson
| does not give the British ''hair-buyer gem
| eraP' the benefit of any doubts He APP
pears as the blacklist of villains, whose
discontinue is prayed for from his first APP
pearance TO his final exit.
The abundant incidents of this tale of old
| Vincennes need not be reviewed here; it is
sufficient to say that lovers of pure, clean
romance will find nothing to displease or to
disappoint them. The domestic scenes are
not less successfully managed than those
of intrigue and action. The reader carries
| from first to last lively impression Of the
time and place. which is as clearly set out
in these pages as if ii were presented in
drama on the stage.
Mr. Thompson has long been our ablest
defender in America of the enchanted
| islands of pure romance. guarding them
against invasions from the decadent cor
sairs who have often in recent years
cruised the literary seas bent upon ruin
and piracy. The gospel that. he has
preached has been as wholesome and sweet
as 1.-The bloom o. the corn in a Hoosier
| field; and it is enough to say that he prac-
tees what he breaches.