The sun., 1903-06-20
4 Sprctre OF Power.

| 4 Sprctre Of Power.
| Charles Egbert Craddocks story. a
! Spectre of Power" (Houghton, Mifiin.
. < Coz, il a story of the Tennessee wilder
! ness in the year 1852. The French and
, English are In 1t, and Indians aplenty. 1t
is rather learned story supplied With
notes and with many examples Of the Tor
| cible and fine things that used to be said
in the Indian tongue Here is Choctaw
and Cherokee, together with the obserfa-
tions OF Humboldt and others upon the feic-
ity Of the language Of our aboriginal people.
| "Ahoruttie-ia phenn chemunun,-boIe says
the Choctaw ambassador, in reply to an
grafton of welcome pronounced by the
great chief OF Telt,o. This means II shall
firmly shake hands with your discourse
and turning to note 2 we And, among
mucn else. sons remarks pertinent to the
subject by tho eminent philoiogist. Mr..
Duponceau. Tho Greek ia admired for
rs compounds. yc, what are they t" those
of the Indiana" exclains Mr.. Duponceau.
What would Tbulius or Sappho have given
to have had at their command a word at
once so tender and 40 expressive az WufatH-
nics aohdIian. thou who makest me happy"
How delighted would ba Moore. the poet
OF the loves and g-aces il his language.
instei I'd of i've or six tedious words, had
rurni .he1 hin With an expression like his
in which the lover. the object beloved, and
the delicious sentiment are blended and
fused together in one comprehensive and
appellative term" There is Frenchin the
story besides; and one of the characters
being Callum MacIlvesty and others OF the
characters being of the same strong and
admirable nationality. we have many
passages in the Scotch dialect, so tenderly
beloved.
The descriptive passages are accom-
plshed with much care and finish. Here
is Cherokee beauty, widow. as she ap-
peared to the delighted vision of a French
Lieutenant: "She was evidently not ess than
20 or % years OF age and he being rather
elderly himself-some 2s thought
this we'll advanced in life and an age Of wis
dom. She was slender, and. like all the
Cherokees, Of notable height, and when
the crowd was out of the state
house he saw her again, glmmering
with willoy grace in the moonlight
The distorted gibbous sphere of pearl was
high above the violet mountains and the
gray and misty valleys, and he thought
the woman beautiful and picturesquely
placed in the solemn and splendid en-
vironment Of the ranges. for he was ac-
customed to the bizarre details of savage
raiment The skirt of her tunic-like garb
of white dressed doeskin reached trite
below the knee, and she wore the long,
white doeskn buskin, fitting closely that
came half az high; around each leg, below
the knee, WAS tied a soft dressed otter skin,
hung with glittcrinE metal bell buttons.
that tinked as she walked. Her hair
anointed and glossy in the moonlight
was tied and dressed high on the head,
and was stuck full Of the quils Of the
white pigeon. Her head was clearly de-
fined against the dark blue OF the instarred
sky. as she threw it backward and gazed
at the moon as If to verify some calculation
of time. its light full in her lustrous eyes.
Then she turned, and running swiftly
past, disappeared in the violet shadows
or course there is much action in the
story. Things happen. Passions are
aroused. Beauties like this Cherokee
widow we're not made with the idea that
men should remain placid. The cool and
empty heart ia not thinkable in the cir
cumstance. There is beauty besides in
the story. 1t is a story of love and storm
as well az Of the Indian language and the
notes Of learned phiologists. The poor
French Lieutenant But the reader must
find out for himself what happened to him.
An eventful and readable story.