The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1901-07-14

Crisis''-cOuld not very well have been
selected, for north. south, east and west
meet here as in no other city.
Winston Churchill was born in this
city on Nov. 10, 1871, though he is of
New England ancestry, his grand
father having been merchant in the
West Indian trade, with headquarters
In. Portland. Me-, while on the mater
nal side he is descended from John
Dwight, founder of Dedham, Mass,
and that intellectual giant, Jonathan
Edwards. He received his early educa-
ton at Smith academy. which Of course
is proud of so brilliant an output.
Principal Charles L. Curd, speaking
of the authors school days at the
academy, said: winston Churchill
came to us when lad of years. We
all liked him from the start because he
was such polite and elegant little fell
low. He was always well up in his
studies, but showed no particular fond
ness for books. He liked sport, but
took no active part in athletic games.
He seemed to be fonder of baseball
than anything else"
In 1888, at the age of IS years. young
Churchill received an appointment to
the Naval academy at Annapolis, and
he continued to serve as Z cadet until
shortly after his graduation in 1894.
The training which he received at An
napolis was, Of course. chiefly tech
meal but it was nevertheless a good
traininge for the work he was subse-
quently to undertake. Apart from the
advantage of being thrown with stu
dents from all parts of the country, the
severe mental and physical discipline
to which he was subjected has given
him a power of concentration and a
habit of persistent work which ever
since have stood him in good stead. At
the same time 1t made him realize that
he could never be permanently salts
fed with anything but literary life.
Much against the wishes and advice
of his relatives and friends, who had
pictured for him brilliant career in
the navy. he resigned from the service
shortly after his graduation to accept a
position on The Army and Navy Jour
nal During his brief connection with
this publication he wrote his first story,
Mr.. Keegan's Elopement," which was
published in The Century Magazine.
He then became managing editor of
The Cosmopolitan Magazine, and after
year of editorial work he decided to
devote himself to the writing of stories
and particularly Of historical novels
dealing with American life. His first
book, THE Celebrities" published in
1897, was indeed written in a vein Of
very lively comedy, but Richard Car
vel" upon which he was engaged for
several years, is the first of a series Of
stories in which Mr.. Churchill proposes
to cover different phases of American
social development. THE Crisis" is the
second in the series and has for its
principal characters the descendants Of
the dramatis persona of Richard Car
vel"
1.-THE Crisis" as everybody knows,
deals with the civil war period, and no
better theater could have been selected
for the exploitation of Mr.. ChurchilPs
characters. 1t is interesting to note in
this connection that the novelists,
north and south, are beginning to deal
freely with this period, and some Of the
most entertaining and well constructed
novels of the past few years have had
the civil war for their setting. Among
these might be mentioned Thomas Mel
son Pages RED Rock" Morgan Bates
martin Brook" John Uri LlOyd's
"Stringtown on the Pike" Henry Bor-
lands Passing of the Chevalier," Cap
tain f. A. Mltchers Chattanooga, :"
''Chickamauga" and "Sweet Revenge"
1t is withaI significant as indicating
that the heat of that bitter conflict has
passed. that the passions have died
away and that In a true perspective.
both of time and of feeling, the old dis
cussion can be treated frankly and dis
passiOnately. RICHARD TUPPER.