The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-10-13

for III IFS cost me five hundred and FIVE
| dollars. and no end Of trouble, and 1t be-
You are nned ten dollars for contempt
Of court the judge said. severely, biting
his lips behind his whiskers.
Here you are, JudgeH and Nick spun
| want that scalp as a memento Of this
| affair and to remind me not to mix my
| drinks again. I've paid for It, whole
heap NOR it's worth, and l demand my
property. That scalp's mine. and
I mean to have what I've paid for. If |
have to sue your blamed old court till the
day OF Judgment And he went at once
and Med q suit against TIE district Tor
This queue appears as sort of mascot
at opportune moments throug hout the
rest of the tale 1t serves Emerson as
| fe-preserver and finally on the last
page helps the small brother Of the he
| rome to play horse on the morning of
that wedding without which a story is
no story.
The idiom of this book with Hoops
/ Of STEEP is notable. The author is es-
| pecially happy in reproducing the YER
nacular OF the country she writes OF.
The speech of the characters rings with
the nother-wit and honest individuality,
which, as a rule, enliven western ex-
preston They have the picturesque de-
| scriptive to a degree, and the pointed
terse speech of the plains and canyons,
Such talk is commonly at war with set
trite expression and makes its indie
per dence known by all sorts of riotous
acts against the conventional usage of
nouns, verbs and adjectives. But it is
strong, and full of honest blood, inven-
tive resource and humor. In this it be-
speaks the character of the people who
use it.
Besides this flavor of local speech
there is reproduction too of another
characteristic of the southwestthat in
evitably strikes as odd an outsider who
chances to be there There are social
lines in the community of course. Wher-
ever women are, social lines ares-and
there We're women in Las Plumas. But
4 I'll
are drawn after the political division of
the town. Indeed social conventions
await political party lines. The follow
ing is one of the instances where the
author touches the fact:
ION Saturday of the first week in Oc-
tober Judge Harlin received a private dis
p preme i court had decided he hreTafy
contest in favor of Joe Davis, the Demo-
ened storm began to break. By noon
Main street again divided into two
shotgun in the town that was not carried
on some mans person, was put within
fes - Seas 5ltaslAS. 49,
offIces, stores ana gardens We're deserted,
and men hurried to the center of the
town, where they drifted along the side
groups, each side anxiously and angrfly
1ty from the other The Republicans SAID
they had not received official notice of
would not surrender the office until it
should reach them. The Democrats de-
Z
and accused the other side Of secreting
the court order with the intention Of hold
ing the office through Emerson Meads
trial Mead's case was the first on the
Men who were next door neighbors. or
friends of long standing. passed each
other with scowls or averted faces, if they
were members Of the opposing parties.
Mrs John Daniels was planning to give
a swell breakfast to dozen chosen
friends early he the next week, the hFst ap+
in Las Plumas society. and she de-
the function would be sure to create and
the enyious admiration her frien g
something new. She had talked the mat
ter over with her dearest friend, Mrs.
secrecy, and she was on her way to the
poStoffice to mail her invitations when
she saw the threatened storm was break
ing. Her glance swept up Main street on
one side and down the other. and she
turned about and hurried home to sub
whose sympathies were Democratic, 9TH
ers whose masculine affiliations were Re
The drinking habit of the people one
wishes We're different. But again any
one with knowledge of the life of that
region win see that the author is dis
tinctly within facts in allowing her
characters unblushing mixtures,-and
unhesitating use of them
AS ] said above, the plot of this story
of adventure is quite impossible to re-
late. 1t is filled with startling turns and
most unexpected contingencies and per-
lis. There is in the midst of it, and
serving as directive force, a love
story or rather love stories, for there
are two or more which run through the
book and give it sentiment of the sweet
er sort. The author shows a peculiar
felicity in the construction and evolution
of the intricate plot 1t is one of those
rare stories that you can not foresee the
course of, and the end ahead as you
read.
I remember seeing some years ago a
cff ma nzf
people you heard about wrote 'tof Kan
sas, "or formerly of Kansas after
their names. Perhaps I should add that
this remark was in Arkansas newspaper.
For this second novel by a former
Kansan which has come to my hand
within the last six months is this fair
Understands "Enoch Willoughby'
which has now passed through several
editions.
Mrs. Kelly used to live in Kansas. she
was formerly a student at the state uni
versity. After her GRADUATE ton she en-
tered newspaper work in Boston, and
since that time she has written much
for publications of both the eastern and
western coast cities. She is now living
in Philadelphia where her husband is
editorial writer for the North Ameri-
can" Mrs. Kelly is herself also an edi-
torial contributor to the same paper.
This book With Hoops of Steel may
prove especially attractive to Kansans
both because it is by one who used TO
I'VE III IHelF MIDST ana Tor whom they
have the kindest Of Kansas feeling
that is to say the kindest feeling posi-
bic in the woodland also because the
book is in itself such a stirring and en-
tertaining tale of adventure. Then there
is still another reason why 1t should in
terest Kansans-it details a phase of life
not SO remote from them that a Santa
Fe or a Pacific train may not carry them
within a few hours to the same weird
scenery, the same hearty peop1e-to the
same. life made up in part Of the nine
tenth century and its amenities, and
in part of the days of our early free
hooters and land grabbers whose law Of
right lay in their own trusted pistol and
carbine and musket.
A word should be added about the IL