The Washington times., 1903-01-25

forgiven because the phrase and the
detail are both good. Here are two
{ examples Of the descriptive style Of
the chapters dealing with the stock
market The first is taken from the
. earlier part of the book. at the time
+ Jadwin entered into the field Of spec
ulation
All through the Northwest. all
through the central world of the
wheat the set and whirl Of that inner
most pit made itself felt; and It spread
( and spread and spread till grain in
/ the elevators Of western Iowa moved
/ and stirred and answered to its cen
/ tripetaI force, and men upon the
streets of New York felt the mystic
rious tugging Of its undertoW engage
their feet. embrace their bodies, over
whelm them and carry them, bewil-
+ dered and unresistfng, back and down
ward to the pit itself.
! Nor was the pits centrifugal power
+ any less. Because Of some sudden
eddy spinning outward from the mid
/ die Of its turmoil, dozen bourses Of
Continental Europe cIamored with
panic. a dozen Old World banks. firm
as the established hills, trembled and
vibrated. Because of an unexpected
( caprice in the swirIfng Of the inner
current, some far-distant channel sud
denly dried. and the pinch Of famine
made itself felt among the vine dress
/ eTs Of Northern Italy, the coal miners
Of Western Prussia. Or another chan
mel filed, and the starved moujik of
the steppes and the hunger shrunken
coolie Of the Ganges' watershed fed
suddenly fat and made thank offerings
before iI1on and idol
There in the center OF the nation,
midmost of that continent that lay
between the oceans Of the New World
and the Old, in the hearts heart Of the
affairs of men, roared and rumbled the
pit. It was as if the wheat, nourisher
Of the nations, as it hoIled gigantic
and majestic in a vast food from West
to East, here, like a Niagara, finding
its flow impeded, burst suddenly into
the appalling fury Of the maeIstrom, I
into the chaotic spasm Of a world
force, a primevaI energy, blood-broth- /
er Of the earthquake and the glacier, /
raging and wrathful that its power /
should be braved by some pinch Of I
human spawn that dared raise bar /
Tiers across its courses"
And this. at the climax - the book, /
reminds the reader, as perhaps the /
novelist intended it should. of the
Of wheat material, literal. choking
wheat-which overwhelmed S Behr- /
man in the murk depths Of the grain /
elevator:
And straight into the turmoil and +
confusion Of the pit, to the scene of
go many Of his victories, = battle /
ground wherein again and again. his +
enemies routed, he had remained the /
victor undisputed, undismayed, came /
the Great Bull" No sooner had he /
set foot within the untrance to the +
floor than the news went flashing and /
flying from lip to lip. The galleries /
knew it. the public room and the /
Western Union knew it. the telephone /
booths knew 1t, and lastly even the /
wheat pit. torn and tosse- and rent /
assunder by the force this man him
self had unclaimed, knew it. and +
knowing stood dismayed-
For even then, so great had been !
his power. so complete his dominion, /
and so weIl-Tooted the fear which he /
had inspired, that this last move in /
the great game he had been playing, /
this unexpected, direct personal as
sumption of control struck a sense of !
CONSERVATION into the heart Of the /
hardest of his enemies
'Jadwin himself, the great man. the [
Great BuIr in the pit! What was
premature in their hope of his defeat?
Had he been preparing some secret, /
unexpected maneuver? For a second
they hesitated. then moved by COM
mon impulse. feeling the push of the
wonderful new harvest behind them,
they gathered themselves together for
the final assault, and again offered
the wEeat for sale; offered it " thou
sands upon thousands of bushels:
poured. as it were. reapings of entire
municipalities out upon the floor Of the
Board of Trade.
"Jadwin was in the thick Of the con-
fusion by now And the avalanche,
the undfked ocean of the wheat, leap
ing to the lash of the hurricane. struck
him fairly in the face.
He heard it now; he heard nothing
else The wheat had broken from his
control For months he had, by the
might of his single arm. held it back:
but now it rose like the upbuilding OF
a colossal billow. It lowered, lowered,
hung poised an instant. and then, with
a thunder as of the grind and crash
OF chaotic worlds, broke upon him,
burst through the pit and raced past
him. on and on to the eastward and to
the hungry nations
And then under the stress and vio-
Ience of the hour, something snapped
in his brain The murk Lehind his
eyes had been suddenly pierced by a