Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-11-04
III .
: LITERATURE AND LIFE.
"A. j. n.


| The Crisis is by far the best piece
| of work done by Winston Churchill, ano
one of the very best historic novels thai
has fallen under my eye. 1t is in its
wav as fine as Alice of Old Vincennes
Less of poet and artist, perhaps, thar
| either Thompson, Allen or Page. Mr.
| Churchill. notwithstanding, possesses q
keen insight into the human heart. and
| in q style easy and natural treats us t.
u broad conception of his theme. 1t Is
q good. live human story. together with
an excellent panorama Of the civil war
| in which we are transported back to the
past to feel again with the author. al
the pain, passion, prejudice. hope, fear
| and emotion of those who participated
| in the life of that period.
There is no posing for effect. nc
| lengthy descriptions, no poetic passages
for quotation, no long drawn out psy-
| Geological dissection of the heart, nj
tedious analysis OF motifs. The author
simply throws upon the canvass the ac-
| tors, who gradually develop and unfold
before our eyes, thru speech and action
| their respective characters and mo-
tives.
| The setting for the story was aptly
chosen. in st. Louis. at the opening oil
the war. the home of the authors birth
and childhood, where every spot was
familiar to him. and where converged
the two conflicting streams of emigra-
ton from New England and the south
that set in with the development of the
west. Here were met and blended puri-
| tan and cavalier, and here We're to be
found the three leading figures of the
war, Grant and Sherman settled in st
Louis. and Abraham Lincoln just across
the border in Illinois.
Besides these the leading characters
are Virginia Carvel, the heroine and
great granddaughter of Richard Carvel;
her father, Col Carvel typical south
ern gentleman of "the old school," and
1.-THE soul Of probity and honor" the
hero, Stephen Brice, a young New Eng
land lawyer; his mother. lovely lady
of gentle birth and breeding, whose &C
quaintance taught Virginia-in her own
words--"my first lesson in charity to-
ward the north" Judge Whipple, the
stern and uncompromising abolitionist;
Calvin Boinsmade, the successful mer-
chant and philanthropist, and for the
villain (who ever heard of fiction with
out villain?) Il shrawd and unscrupu-
| lous Yankee, Eliphalet Hopper. Who as
manager of Col. Carvel's business
| takes advantage of the confidence re-
posed in him by his employer, by bank
rupting him and getting possession OF
the business.
Virginia is a typical southern girl, a
splendid heroine and worthy daugh-
| ter of the revolution. Beautiful. proud,
| generous and high-strung, loya! to her
| southland and capable of sacrificing her
| heart, nay life itself on the altar of pa
| triotism, she hates the Yankees with all
| the intensity of her nature. The trag-
edy of the story, aside from that en-
gendered by the war, lies in the stormy
| conflict that RACES in Virginia's soul,
| where love and loyalty are at war; her
| heart drawing her toward the Puritan
stephen Brice, duty and patriotism
| binding her to her cousin, Clarence Col
| fax. to whom she is engaged. Both men
are devoted to her, both enter the war
on opposing sides; both are promoted
for bravery and heroism, both resign
| her to the other Perhaps it is hardly
| fair to forestall the readers anticipa-
ton by giving the final denouement. but
\ there are many ieauSi . WV Viii W i1Ai
| with the writer, that the generous Col
fax might have met the death he
| courted. His love of fame and glory
| was even beyond his love for the girl.
He longed for the glory OF martyrdom
and heroism. And why the author
should allow him to go off detected and
drop out of sight without further men
ton. and at the same time kill off to no
apparent purpose Cal. Carvel, Is to me
| inconceiyable. 1t would have been so
easy to have placed Colfax In the front
of battle to be shot as hero, and have
made the noble colonel live to enjoy his
daughters happiness. Otherwise the
ending is all the most romantic reader
| could wish.
If there is any motif for the book
aside from the desire to crafty the pop-
uiar demand for good historic ro-
| nance, we fail to discover 1T unless it be
the authors purpose to project ON the
| canvas. his love and admiration for
| Abraham Lincoln. The idealization of
the man is complete No such picture of
our martyred president was ever before
| been presented in fiction. Not only are
all the finer qualities of the man
| brought out and emphasized, but even
his faults are glorified into virtues
In spite, however of the authors hero
worship, there is not in the story sin
gle word or feature to which the most