The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-04-19
An Epic of the South.

An Epic of the South.
"The Leopard's Spots: Romance of
the White Mans Burden" by Thomas
Dixon Jr New York: Doubleday, Page
& Co. S1.5O
Mr.. Dixon, long famous as politician,
preacher and lecturer, has proved good
his claim as a novelist in a book which
is bound to be one OF the most widely
discussed books OF the past twenty five
years, and which may be destined to
change the current of American fiction.
The Leopard's Spots" is a powerful and
dramat tic panoramic picture of the South
since the Civil war, through the period
or reconstruction, carpetbag aud negro
dominance. down to the present time 1t
may well be called an answer to Uncle
Toms Cabin" in that it gives the
Southern white mans point of view of
the negro problem. Furthermore, Mr..
Dixon has boldly used in his story sew
eral Of the characters made famous by
Mrs. Stowe. Simon Legree occupies a
large place in the newer book, as do
also Tim Shelby, George Harris Jr. and
Dave Haley, trader. Great as was the
Flsk OF this venture, Mr.. Dixon has
peeh' on the whole, more than success
ful in the undertaking.
Inc reader will be somewhat perpIexed
after laying the book aside as to what
estimate t Is to be placed upon it. The
very fact that it is in it's nature con
lroVersial, book with a dominant mr.
pose must needs detract from its value
as work of fiction. And vet If is rot
~ ~ inferred that Mr.. Dixon fails short
~ tHe powers of tine novelist But do
?pltG all the elements of pure romance
AZ me volume the central theme ren.<inS
T Tlre white mans burden" the negro
PlooIeln IN Its complex forms Can fhe
leopard change his spots or tho Etbia,,jaS
nio shln! is the text from which Mr.
DIAoh breaches his powerful sermon Tho
tive. - 'AOASnt mega
judged on it's merits the bool, 10 an
einI,oaIS performance; it is charged with
;I4eIleIltdl power. Its dramatic Intensity
- 10 su I'o as TO carry conviction, and sweep
~ iri1 aeapef on lrresistibly with the author
~ ~ nearly all the conclusions of the hook
Ine pages are full Of a thrilling clio
puence' or powerful, convincing and nm
i InTa " e etaole argument; and there is a
tTNe story, sweet and placid as a dream.
moving through the terrible and traric
stress OF the main theme
~ could hardly be expected that a bool,
oSlenSlDly written from one yieW-nOint ~
SO momentous a question as thii u-n,, -
ce wholly Tree from extravaganza. from
lnaccuracy and from a certain nartjsan
Iouch. But these elements in this book
are small defects in the splendid whole
winch Will remain for a long time 90
perhaps the most perfect fictional picture
OF the reconstruction period in the South
anu II must be acknowledged that the
reader, whatever his prejudices will Law
the book aside unable to resist the feel.
ing OF great sympathy for the South.
great Indignation for the wrongs heaped
upon heL defenseless head by the shame
less intrigue of wolfish politicians who
grasped so greedily the field for spoI:a-
ton LETT unprotected by the death Of Lin
coin, whom Mr.. Dixon speaks of
t tIhroeghout the book as the best friend
the South ever had. And it must be
generally conceded, that barring the in
eVitable exaggeration, almost essential to
dramatic writing, Mr.. Dixon has, in the
fidelity
He has been most lavish in his use Of
material, OF which there is enough in the
DOCK DOCK Tor 10 several good novels; THIS love
story OF Charles CASTOR and Sallie Worth
is a beautiful idyl in itself; the charac-
ter study of the preacher John Dur
ham, and his wife, contains incidents
enough to do for complete novel. The
makes a book by itself and there are
other, more psychological, clements which
really form separate phase of the
story.
The novel is divided into three books.
The first book, 'Legree's Regime" is a
nightmare Of hideous reality which al
most suffocates the reader. 1t begins
with beautiful and pathetic picture of
the return of the Southern soldiers to
their devastated homes after the war of
the hope with and silent hero SIN with
which they turned their faces to the stu
pendous task of building anew the shat
tered remnants of their statehood. Mr..
Dixon we'll SAYS:
1.-The task before the people of the
South was one to tax the genius of the
Anglo-SaXon race as never in it's history
even had every friendly aid possible been
eXerted by the victorious North. -Four
million negroes had suddenly been freed
and the founda tons of economic order
destroyed. Five billions of dollars worth
of property were wiped out of existence.
banks closed, every dollar OF money
worthless paper, the country plundered
by victorious armies, it's cities, mills and
homes burned and the flower of manhood
buried in nameless trenches, or worse
still, flung upon the charity of poverty,
manned wrecks. The task Of organizing
this wrecked society and marShaling into
efficient citizenship this host of ignorant
negroes, and yet to preserve the civiIiza-
ton of the AngIo-Saxon race. the price
less heritage of 2,CO0 years of struggle,
was one to appall the wisdom of ages
Honestly and earnestly the white people
of the South set about this work and ac-
cepted theathirteenth amendment to the
constitution abolishing slavery without
protest vote
Then he pictures the terrible wreck that
came to these dreams of Southern hope,
upon the death Of Lincoln, describing
with almost brutal truth the dominance
of the carpetbagger and the enfranchised
negro.
1t is with a great relief that the reader
comes to book second, Loves Dream
and puts eagerly behind him the sicken-
ing dread of the first book The love
story is one of the most beautiful in re-
cent fiction. 1t is an idyl of rare Celicacv
of feeling and sentiment of quaint hui
NOR, Of dramatic power here and there.
and finally of splendid triumph It proves
that Mr. Dixon is story writer by d.
vine right.
The book is full Of incidents which
prove the author to possess creative pow
er of a high kind. The preachers resig-
nation of his church to go forth to shoot
the villain who has vilely slandered his
wife is direct, powerful and natural.
one OF the strongest situations in the
volume is the chapter In which Mr.
Dixon takes a rap at the claims made
that Is denied him in the South. George
Harris Jr. Is educated by Senator IIowsII
and lives in his home with him. Listen-
ing to one of the senator's powerful
speeches on the negro question. a plea
for giving the black man ali the white
mans rights, Harris is inspired to ask
Lowell for his daughters hand in mar
rage, only to be turned into the streets.
Where, with all his education and abiI-
ty, he is unable to find work
among the pictures the author draws Of
the new south and its spirit and the new
lowing: - W
While this fight was in progress and SAL
he was In Europe. the destruction of
the Maine In Havana harbor stiIled the
world INTO silence with the echo of It's