The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-11-26
WILMINGTON N. C..
1.-THE BROKEN SWORD

" civ OcAA0J AA0oL ~ - = u ID Ian
ly well o n and is creditable to the
publishers. 1t is entitled THE Broken
Sword" and is from the facile pen of
Col. D. Worthington, now a resident Of
Wilson. but of whose previous history
and nativity we have no knowledge.
That he is a writer of boldness, vigor
and pertinacity Of purpose is apparent
from the beginning to the n of his
volume which deserves to be widely
read all over the south, and by all who
have come upon the stage of action
since 1870. He calls his book "a Picto-
rial Page in Reconstruction" It is
we'll named for it is an intense. graphic.
picturesque and vitalized description of
the darkest. saddest. bitterest days
that ever befell any modern people af-
ter a protracted and most desperate
war.
1.-The Broken Sword" cannot be called
p novel or even a a 1t has but
little of the qualities and characters
ties of a genuine novel. 1t is more of
a Renaissance and a history. and is
really an interesting, absorbing discus
sion. We have often wished and have
frequently expressed a desire that some
gifted North Carolinian with the true
touch of vivid portrayal and Of accen-
tuated intensity. would write for his
people a faithful. well ~delineated pic
ture of the days that were so we'll cal
culated ito try mems souls" to arouse
all the revenge in their natures. to fire
them with a consuming heat to strike
down h imported accusers. persecut-
oIs and scoundrels-the awful, grue-
some, hopeless, ferOcious times when
the carpet-bagger was at the front, the
native scallawag following in his wake
..Ingry and solicitouS, and the 1gno-
rant. besotted, c%redulous. superstitious,
Eager negro pushing ahead, with tongue
oIt and eyes staring in a fond desire
that a. promised Land" was just ahead
and the fifty acres and the mule" were
abou to be delivered to him with all
his blushing honors upon him. What
a day of desolation and crime and
wrath! He'll seemed turned loose. The
darkness was like that Of Egypt, and
you could feel it. 1t was the dread sat-
mnalia of white mans villainy and the
black mans folly-a day of reprisal and
pillage and persecution and untamed
savagery.
North Carolina should have that pc
Rod in it's history carefully. calmly,
accurately, vigorously presented. 1t was
the time when the north reached its
lowest depths of ignominy and the in
fernal world opened wide its ~devouring
jaws.
We have said that 1.-THE Broken
Sword" is not a owe or a romance. 1t
is a series OF most lively. fresh, ener-
getic, appealing. illuminating pictures.
the whole forming a completed repre-
sentation, as if a panorama. of the re-
construction times, but better described
as destruction times. We found use
for our handkerchief more than once.
for there are beauty, tenderness, hu-
man nature, real life in many places.
1t is full of pathetic appeal, there are
many pages IF power, there are pas
sages of kindling eloquence, there are
scenes of enthralling passion. 1t is not
a perfect work. 1t is not the production
+, of a trained artist. 1t is overdone in
places. The language is sometimes
strained, aspiring in excess, almost
grandiloquent and turgid, and the
classic illustrations abound to repletion.
But the work as a whole is extremely
estimated and even brilliant, at once
passionate, glowing and virile. 1t
would not please perhaps the acute,
cultured British critic, wide awake and
the hunt for objections and faults
and blurs in the art and the style. We
spine that a Yankee writer win ms
freshly ground scalpel, would delight II
cutting this southern product into parts
and Offering certain things to the view
as hsN,aI and false and ridiculous. But
we hold to what we have sald. me
book has power, interest, TRUTH me-
pictorialness. 1t is a picture, d por-
travail of character, Of cause, OF eVeh's'
of results. 1t reproduces. in some eA-
ageeration, we grant. the awful, DUH
dering. savage days of reconstruction III
the SOulu. out H. ~
theless that should long live. we trust
the unborn generations in the south
will read this revelation Of consummate
viilainy and iniquity, this mastery oe-
scription of devils incarnate Inc STU
pidity run to seed.
There is good character drawing
both of whites and negroes. Inc negro
dialect is faithful and impressive. but
Il is of the most ignorant negroes. In
fact. it sometimes appeared to us tina
If almost drifted nto characature. inere
are three OF four negroes who are
drawn with amusing coloring. N YET
there is a genuine verisimilitude In tue
execution. we DO not undertake anaiy-
tss of the book or any account o. the
more engaging personalities. The one
white maiden is Of fascinating beauty
and interest. ana most lovable and