The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-05-26
LITERARY NOTES.

THE WHITE DOE-the Fate of Vir-
ginia Dare, an Indian Legend. BY Sallie
Southall Cotton. Illustrated. 12mo
Cloth. Price. $780, For sale by Alfred
Williams & Co.
In an age when the historical novel has
commanded first place, it is fitting that
the oldest, the most romantic, the most
pathetic and most instructive of Ameri-
can legends should be celebrated in verse.
Mrs. Gotten has embodied in elaborate
and delightful verse all the historic and
traditional lore connected with the birth
and fate of the first child born of white
parents in North Carolina America, Vir-
ginla Dare, and the disappearance and
survival of what is known in history as
Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony. Mrs.
Gotten has delved into the depths of his
tory and tradition, and interviewer fic-
tion and fact, into historical poem that
may be called North Carolinas Hiawa-
tha." 1t is beautifully written and the
author has woven a poetical story that is
as instructive as it is delightful, proving
that she not only leads in woman's prog
ressive work, but is also a poet of rare
gifts. The book should have large sale
everywhere, particularly in North Caro-
lima.
VIRGINIA DARE, by Major Graham
Dawes.
This is the first number of 1.-THE North
Carolina Booklet which is to be issued
monthly by The North Carolina Society of
the Daughters of the Revolution. Mrs.
Hubert Haywood and Miss Martha Helen
Haywood of Raleigh, are the editors, and
1t is published at $1.00 per year or 10
cents copy 1t is fitting that the first
number should treat of Virginia Dare,
the first White child born in the New
World, and equally fitting that the story
should be told by Maj. Dawes who has
done more to rescue from tradition and
preserve the most romantic chapter in
the history of North Carolina. Maj. Dawes
has given US delightful monogram that
deserves to be read and preserved. and
the State owes a debt of gratitude to the
patriotic ladies who are putting North
Carolina historical events in permanent
shape. The next number of the Booklet
will contain an article on Colonial New
BERN" by Mrs. Sara Beaumont Kennedy
THE OLD PLANTATION; How We
Lived in Great House and Cabin Before
the War, by James Battle Avirett, au-
thor of "Ashby and His Compeers,
"Who Was the Traitor, ''etc. With an in
PRODUCTION by the late Hunter MCGUIRE,
NJ D., Chief Surgeon to Stonewall Jack
son. limo, Cloth. illustrated with por-
trait of author. Price $3.50. Publishers:
f. Tennyson Nicely Company, ia Fifth
avenue, New York
The people of North Carolina will be
glad to know that DR.. Avirett's book is
on the market. He is peculiarly qualified
to write of the conditions in the Old
South. as he is the son of a planter in
one of the most fertile sections of the
South-Onslow county, North Carolina.
Dr. Avirett was brought UP upon South
ern plantation, he fished, hunted and
played with his fathers slaves, and his
book is enriched with many incidents of
the familiar scenes which illustrated the
old time life on Southern plantations.
The character of Daddy Cain" Uncle
Amos" "old Uncle Philip" and Nanny
Ferrebee'' are true to that life and time
and are made living creatures. The hu-
NOR is 'racy or the SOIL the stories are
we'll told and each has a peculiar flavor
paragraph the spirit of that old-fashioned
regard for the negro that obtained every
where in the South--a spirit which the
North never understood and which will
be understood only by association and
contact.
1t is a true story of "How We Lived
in the Great House and How We Lived
in the Cabin Before the War" drawn
b,y NH M knew
loved every scene he portrays. There is
no attempt to make it paradise or TO
rub off the warts. but to draw true
pen-picture of the life among those peo-
pie as it really was. One VINO read the
manuscript said of the book
1.-The great charm of the book is its
fidelity to facts and these stubborn
things as Mr.. Grandgrind calls them,
are what furnish in this book the most
effective answer ever written to those
who have traduced the ante-bellum civil
ization of The Old South
''To the younger generation North and
South it cannot fail to be both an in
SEPARATION and benediction for it is per-
haps the last of the series of pictures of
a past that is past, but whose memories
are redolent with humor, pathos and
romance.
No review of the book can give its real
essence, for it is the, spirit of a day that
has gone never to return, and can be
felt only by reading of the Incidents
anecdotes and side-lights in the book
itself. 1t ought to be found in every
home and library, not only in North
Carolina where the characters lived, but
as we'll everywhere where men and wo-
men wish true story of the old planta-
tion days.
VALUABLE INFORMATION.
We note in the biennial report of the
late Superintendent of Public Instruction.
G. Fl Mebane. just from the press, that
DR.. Kemp p Battle has full and accurate
sketches of all the presiding officers OF
the University of North Carolina from
its opening in 1895.
Also by DR.. Battle is an addendum 10
tN-- Gyn1,C nlcff