The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-07-29
THE WORLD OF BOOKS,

cere. His hero is a young mystic, an in
vertebrate. passionate creature. one OF
those who are condemned by heredity and
temperament to fall from their early
heights OF vision. He Is as weak as The
ron Ware. but more attractive. since the
emotions that work his downfall are sin
cere. He rejects God and the Bible for
the trivial and Inadequate reason that
one day, when he felt himself called"
to preach at a lumber camp. he found the
men away when he arrived. This leads
him 10 question the verify of all Of his
ecstafic visions and Headings" II one
Is false all are. He joins qnack doctor
and hts fortune-telIing gypsy wife in their
travels: falls in love with the girl and
persnades her 10 elope with him by con-
vincing her through trickery that she has
not been legally married TO her husband.
The latter pursues them. and after short
struggle David leaves him for dead be-
side the road. He lives thereafter as a
gambler, until remorse forces him to tell
pepeeta his crimes. and she bi6s him
leave her. After many adventures he
finds that the quack was not killed after
all; and he repentantiy does what he can
10 tighten the end Of his life. In the end
to Pcpeeta. The book is full OF the most
tawdry melodrama. and full also OF an
hysterical emotionaiism. II Is nowhere
real or convincing in manner yet the
author writes copiously oratorically and
drops BY the way many just and wise
observations upon human nature and its
perversities.
II Is sufficiently obvious to the think
ing reader that since we are to have
the religious novel IT ought TO be more
just. more genuine. more true TO life than
any other kind OF novel, There can be
neither spiritual value nor beauty In any
record OF the adventures OF the soul OF
man IN contact with the Divine principle
In the universe that does not strike the
universal note and convince the reader
that In this way and no other do human
beings react to life. But. besides being
realistic upon the spiritual side, such a
book needs TO be realistic upon the ma
teriai side. In the religious novel, AT Its
best. we should encounter human beings
of flesh and blood ana like passions 10
ourselves. who shall convince us first OF
their verify az individuals themselves
and then OF their verify as plastic souls.
They should be placed In a society as
real as themselves. and we should be able
to see them and their world entire Now
Mr. Allen. with all his ability and SINGER
ity has not done this for us In 1.-The Reign
OF Law" neither has Mr.. Goss with all
his nuency and enthusiasm. done It in
'"rhe Redemption OF David Corson.' but
the comparatively unknown author Of
las the Light Led" has done this and
more for us. His story Is located In
Northern Missouri, and we get from II
a vivid impression OF the life ana aspect
of tina. region. We see II all as though
some Titan had cut out OF Mother Earth
and set before US for our edification the
section OF several square miles upon
whose surface the evoiutions OF the char
acters take place. And we see, too, the
life Of hts hero from early boyhood TO
old age. with all It's manifold impulses this
way and that. II Is the way OF this world
That In general no soul travels either
down to Gehenna or Up TO the Throne
with speed precision and directness. We
are impeied toward goed or toward evil
nifty times for one time that we do either
definitely good or bad action we move
backward and forward upon our tracks,
pausing here. hesitating there, like
hounds who have lost the scent that they
follow. In most lives the straight and
narrow path runs just beside the broad
and easy way, and there are plenty OF
gaps In tho hedge between. This Is one
of the fundamental facts recognized by
this writer. Bent Hickman has always
the elements OF greatness In him: he has.
too. the elements OF meanness The war
ring OF good and evil IN him II lifelong
Such battles are not fought In day
Their duration In long as time. be-
cause their results are to be eternal.
80 we have here the evolution OF a
character depicted though Il were
some organic operation. like the fusing
OF metals In the earth's bosom. II Is
sort Of geologic process which we are in
vitcd 10 observe II conforms to the
laws OF the evolution OF character as we
see them going on about US. and we have
an instant confidence In Its value and
reality
II IN hard 10 sag In words what IL the
difference between the work OF fiction that
II genuine creation and the one that IL
not. but somehow We never fail to recog.
nlxe the former when We meet H. "As
;ae tAsh. lea" Is real hook IL has
Importance as human document The
ot his task There are faults innpmkr-
able In the book from the artistic stand
point. One OF the small afectations
which lars upon the sensitive reader for
instance IL the use OF some significant
sentencs or paragraph taken from the
body of a chapter and placed az lis head
20 strike the keynote. But this Is a
small breach OF taste. and neither this
nor some OF the weaker Incidents of the
story svan against it's large. inherent
strength.
The significance OF the title, "As the
Light Led Is shown by tho quotation.
Lead. kindly light upon the title page
II Is a story Of the SLOW prevailing 90 the
inner light over outer and inner dark
ness. and it carries into Old age the pro-
cess Of spiritual development. which Mr.
Allen drops. in the case Of hts hero. at
the early axe ef ~ the process which IN
the case of Mr.. Gass' hero IL not an order.