The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-06-02
The Crisis ~ -
y - BY Churchill.

~ ~ BY Churchill
After such vogue as Winston Churchll.s
me Celebrity obtained through sheer
unheralded merit, coupled with the vast
popularity Of his "Rlchard Carvcl~ both
as novel and play, third book FROM
MS hand must dnd an eager audience
| awaiting IT, This pleasant fate now con
fronts "rhe Crisis" his third book. ana Il
may be said NJ once that Il shows greater
knowledge aud more cousummatc skill
| III literary art than either Of it's nredeces
sors' IL Is conceived on a larger scale and
nobfer plan than THE Celebrity" IL is
better put together and from mater al
more certainly assmilated than 'Rithaid
Carvel. Aud Il differs widely from BOTH
III scene and time most Of the action tab.
ing place in st. Louis the authors birth,
place and long his home during the YEAS
Immediately preceding the civil war. .ex.
iepding Itself on 10 the surrender of Ro6Srt
h. Lee.
MI. Churchill learns trick from the
stage In having the rise OF the curtain dis.
cover subordinate character. Ellphalet
Hopper. young msn who has just lie I
his New England home with the hrm de.
termination to amass money in the West.
Such part as II civilian has 90 play in the
work fails 10 him, and Ice stands rs
biting satire on those men who stitch at
nothing TO gain the power that wealth too
often brings in America settling upon the
very moment when he aud all his evil nd
inst raised their heads into bad emincnce
in our National history to pillory the tyne.
! n ba luff
duced to as line character as we 7. cali
In our National fiction, Colonel Comyn
Carve, duly descended, in the third gen.
GRAFTON. from our old and esteemed friend
Richard ana Dorothy Caryel. Such a
touch as this goes far toward epdearing the
author and his characters TO his readers.
49,
II is about the widowed colouers only
child. Virginia that much Of the story re.
wolves. In the romance Of the book there
Is little Of that Withholding Of expectation
In regard 10 the heraine's choice which
once characterized the work Of hction and
II might have been better if the last chap
ter were not SO completely fotcshadoweo
10y the third Then enters stephen Rice
young Harvard man, at the close OF the
sos, the hope ~ an ancient Boston family
/
judges and all the other lowering of The
intellectual life OF New England. WIZ
his mother and the small c0vngs Of 8
once large familp estate Stephen has comt
10 81. Louis to- seek his fortune. a y
ambition which is his TO succeed in law
and in all that is Of good report is neccs'
sUrily coutraStcd at the Beginning Of the
book with the sordid and indecent s'rug.
giles Of Hopper opposing and lehding types
Of our National story,
Two types of the Southerner are also ar
fordel in tho first settling q the stage
Elijah Brcut. captain of the DIVER steamer
Louisiana, IS young man who having
manifested decided talent in iS chosen Zoe
cupation has been given the powerful lin
duence and monetary assista'ice Of Col{nei
Carvel, then the leading merchant of ithe
Missouri metropolis and sLouis Mt That
time was the metropolis Of the Wej PAS
we'll and may be taken TO represent the
best business ambition of the new Stath.
Clarence CoifaX Is Miss Virginlas. cPusiu,
His mother. widow, has been left aflargs
landed estate, aud her son passes his time
as the young planters Of The SOUTH were
too often pcssIns theirs NJ every jti,1ty
which commended Itself to Slm as aqt be-
Ing in any mariner usexl lie Is the
southern arislorat, INDICATED
still another character, a noble Creation
stand, strongly before the reader y these
opening pages This IS Silas. Whlpple a
lawyer Of marked learning and ability, a
man whose devotion to the cause OF liberty
leaves him practically friendlcSs IN a com.
munitv the Interests Of which are so large y
bound up in the perpetuation Of slavery. II
Is Into his office that stephen nr'ce goes
ia read law and there he meets as his fcl
low student the graduate 81 German uni
vcrsity. can Richter, IL representative Of
that rverty-lovlng band Of c~iies Who left
, the fatnerland after the revolutionary up
risings following lSiS,
Ii is with these principals and host OF
more lightly sketehed subordlnates, young
men and maidens OF the old French stock
which first settled in st.t Louis, co'ored
sorvitors charged With all the faithfulness
and affection which were the marked qual
!. lties Of the house slaves, and, as the story
advances. many mere, soldiers and citizens
on both sides Of the impending struggle
Moe than one historical parsonage appears
az well. Abraham Lincoln. 10 whom whip
ME sends stephen Brlce for better ac
ousintance with the realities of the epoch
4. $. Grant. at this time resident OF ST
I.onls and in small circumstances; w 7
sherman. then President OF a street rail
way in the city; Joseph Medill, in attend
e. o.ce upai Lincoln during his debates with
Douglas: All lending an air 81 reality Il
, scenes which are told with vlyidness ant
= realization.
RI is unfair to the reader 10 anticipate thu
7 Measure which is certain 10 be his In th'
: development OF the argument from thes'
clearly presented figures. With rare SELF
ronrossion Nj Churchill has been conten
y 4, 10, inc limo furnish Its own story, work
Inc out nj the principal point Of contac
: between North and South the history Of th
/. great Republic.
= The Late Magazines.
n - o.,snt tonicq 81 the month tn