West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1903-09-10
"Land Of the laurel.

lrtom tcNicw in Acme News.
The "Land OF the LAUREL Is the third of
the series of books published by O. +. Nor.
ton. The scene is laid in IS4S in the
mountains of what Is now West Virginia.
This la,es, book is without doubt the hest.
IL Is certainly the best so far as the absorb.
inc interest OF the story is concerned. The
author has thown into Il more romance. love.
hate, dash, hight and hurry, and the work is
greatly improved thereby. There is plo,
and by aud by delicate and pleasing love
story ereeps in aud is handled so skillfully
that the readers only regret is that there is
not more Of II. Taken as a whole, the book
Is not love story but !, contains enough
OF that element TO show what Mr.. Morton
can do along that line.
The leading characters are the ambitious
boy, his sweetheart, Hoover aud Galwix.
The mysterious character Is Hoover, who
glides from place TO place, appearing here
and there abou, the settlements, without any
particular business that anybody can sec.
The account of the wagoners and drOvers,
assembled one night at the Sunrise Tavern
ON the old Northwestern Pike, is one of the
fines, pieces of work MIR. Morton has done.
IL IS picture that merits preservation, for |,
Is true transcript of phase of life which
VIII never be known in West Virginia again.
The stories, brief and to the point, which
the wagones tell as they sit on the porch
after supper, all are true to life rs il was
fifty years ago.
The narrative hurries from one scene to
another with such rapidity that the readers
attention never lsgs. The climax is reached
In the account Of desperate race in the
night. This forms a chapter of absorbing
interest, not TO persons only who are
acquainted with the locality but to the
general reader
The book portrays the condition of the
people of West Virginia and their manner
OF living, in the middle of the last century.
Yet in doing this the author spends no un.
necessary time in mere description. lie has
much accurate and valuable description
of persons, places and affairs. but this part
is woven incidentally into the story and in
reading the book we are taught history, as
the child likes to learn IL, by its being
clothed in story.
Mr.. Morton is doing a valuable work for
the people Of Yves, Virginia. His hooks
deal particularly and ably with conditions
OF the past in this portion of the Union. lie
Is careful student and he works out his
books with painslaking exaetness which
will make them standard authority and
therefore valuable, not only for the present
but for the future. lie has shown that he
can no, only elolhe what he has 20 say in
language strong in description, but he can
also make Il move with all the dash and
excitement of romance.
Doddridge wrote his Notes to describe
how the people lived and worked and hunted
a century or more ago. Morton has chosen
the middle period between pioneer GAYS and
the present and he works out all hs details
and draws his pictures with as much faith.
fulness as was done by Doddridge. lie
adds this advantage that he wesves his facts
about story and thus gives his new book
double value-a value simply as a story, and
greater value as a s,orehouse of informa.
ton concerning time and people who
have received comparatively little attention
hitherto from writer's Of books.
Though the story does not 90 back beyond
the memory Of people yet living, it deals
with conditions which are strikingly differ
eni from what they are today. There was
not a mile Of railroad or telegraph ,n this
region. Slavery was In force and labor
saving machinery had scarcely appeared.
The people were isolated and comparatively
poor, but they had honesty of purpose and
strength Of character
The locality Of the story has the singular
advantage Of lying on the old border be-
tween North and South and East and West.
and therefore is well suited for the portrayal
Of picture Of American life in the evenifuI
year IS4S. This circumstances will give the
book value TO American readers anywhere.
The new volume is we'll printed, hand.
somely bound and is embeliished with nine
half-ione illustrations Of houses and scenes
which belong TO the epoch referred to. The
price Of tho book is one dollar, postpaid,
and il may be had Of the author at King
wood, w Va.