The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-01-19
NEW VIRGINIA AUT..OR.
Mr.. Robert Luis rresar LIQUIDS i-to inc
Ar.na o. IIteraiurS.

NEW STONE, VA, Jan. 1S-Speclat-z
In these haIcyon days OF literature, "heh
one half OIL The speopte OF the world write
and the other half act as CRITICS what
does IL mean TO write i book? we should
wish it to mean success in the broadest
and truest sense to every such writer as
the author OF ."The Shadow Dweiiers,
Robert Louis Freear, of Virginia
Pure ard beautiful in thought and die
ticn, ''Ti1e Shadow Dwellers deserves a
place in tho front rank among the best
OF the new books OF the year.
a copy OF this little book lies before me
as / write. Was it a happy conceit OF
the publishers, or was it merely 4 coinci-
dcnce that this little story of the Nile IS
clothed in a Nile green dress? However.
il attracts at first glance, and once The
covers are turned il engages ones atten-
ton from beginning to end.
Mr.. Frcear has taken Bible story, IA
niliar to every schoolchild in the land,
and interviewer with it a great dea! OF
history and a chastc and beautiful love
story, mot because / thought 1t would
take WELL he said to me. but just be-
cause I dreamed it out one day as l sat
in beautiful Hollywood.
OF all the places one might Tisit on q
trip through our sunny Southland, one or
the most beautiful and also most inter-
esting is Hollywood Cemetery, in Rich
mond, Va Here in Gods Acre, where
hundreds Of the former residents OF tae
Cd historic city are sleeping their last
sleep, one might spend hours-even days
were he of a Nedtativc temperament. in
dreaming-sad and retrospective dreams
or looking into happy, idealistic futurity
as he case might be,
This ,mdisturbed quiet city of the
dead" presents {; marked contrast to the
shrieking locomotives which pass bciow
and The rushing, restless river which
flows along the base OF the hill, upon
which the sacred dead are sleeping.
Peaceful in its tranquility, awe-inspiTing
in Its solemnity, magnificent in its adorn-
ment, picturesque in its natural sur
rourdings, made sacred to so many by an
inexorable fate or q Divine Providence.
calm and beautiful, it is no wonder that
,he name Hollywood" is inexpressibly
dear to us all. Go there when you may,
you will find people OF ii! ages treadns
that holy ground. There are mourners
there placing flowers on the graves Of
their loved ones. There arc men, wo-
men and children driving, strollng or
resting in the shadows of the raslolias
or other shade trees. Sometimes there
are artists sketching picturesque nruks
and corners, Then again perhaps seated
on the top of the green cliff overlooking
the river and the city one might see a
iterateur unravelling or weaving into
realistic shape some fantastic creation OF
his brain in order TO delight his fellow
man.
TO this magnetic spot the author OF
The Shadow Dwellers' lo?ad 10 roG n.
Leaving his home down in the noisy city
he would often turn his steps toward
Hollywood, and there by the inspiration
of oil nn ic 'Cy-n n
story with the beautiful name.
How did you come to write The Shad-
ow DwelIers?' /" [ said to him, and his
face, usually so calm, lighted more than
If a ray of sunshine had dwelt there, and
I knew that like all writers he had his
idol, and l had turned the light upon It.
Then he told me in his soft clear voice
of his inspiration. I could we'll imagine
how it was here in Hollywood, surrounded
by the marble, granite and bronze statu-
airy and the sarcophagi of the nineteenth
century he imagined himself back i'll an
cient TI1ebes one of the actors OF one
Of the most wonderful tragedies that was
ever enacted upon the stage of the world;
and how he took the biblical story of the
Israelitsh bondage and wove into it a
charming romance through which runs a
thread of gold-the purest, truest faith
and trust in God and wOmankind.
Robert Louis F'reear, son of Martha
Elizabeth and John Eaton Freear, of HUI
gUenotic lineage, was born on May %,
1915, at ''Boxwood- on ,he-Roanoke,"
Mecklenburg county, Va.
The earlier part of his life was spent in
Boydton. In 1892 he moved to Richmond
and was educated for the profession of
pharmacy at the University College OF
Medicine. graduating before the State