Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-09-26

TURK" By Opie Read. Silk cloth,
12mo., 3s9pp. Cover design in
three. colors, FULL page halftones,
colored frontispiece. Laird & Lee,
Chicago; SIPS.
Opie Reads fertility in invention
and industry in execution are stimu.
lated, no doubt, by the readiness OF
publishers TO print his books, and the
publishers in turn, are justified by the
Reading public. mo pun intended.)
Turk" Is more sketchy than most
of Reads other novels, and II gives
one a very good Idea Of conditions In
Kentucky in the early sixties. The
lawlessness and Inconsistencies OF the
poorer whites, where the keeper of a
still-house or the slayer of half dog.
en- men will read his Bible with assid.
uity and have prayers" twice day;
where a man guards his own and his
daughters honor" with his shotgun,
then curses and beats niger, or
puts buckshot into a neighbor for a
trivial offense. Here among abolition.
lists and Shareholders, with ignorant
religious leaders and worse political
ones, with courts whose hedges" chew
and swear and spit, with feuds wiiCh
make enemies Of neighbours aud kill
of whole families, Turk tries to grow
up straight.
He persists In his difficult attempt
to be man, seeks books and learning,
avoids strong drink which had ruined
his grandfather and, with occasional
lapses, keeps on an upward way.
Working under bond" for peculiar
Yankee who was an aboltionist even
In Kentucky in the sixties, he learned
to love the masters daughter, a per.
verse, unthinking though kind.hearted
girl. She supplies the boy with books
and tallow candle to read by. Then
the great war comes on, and Turk,
true to his State" but untrue to his
country, joins the Confederate forces
Many incidents and experiences are
related, and, on one or two occasions,
Turk shows his baser nature, bru
tally fostered by certain manner of
life not yet extinct In many parts Of
the country. This readiness TO resort
to personal violence In revenge for
some real or fancied affront. was en-.
Outraged by precept and practice,
both father and mother looking with
pride on a son who could ''lick" his
enemies. This was called pluck"
spirit" and considered manly. II new
err so much as occurred to these PEG.
pie that they lowered themselves to
the level of their enemy by resorting
to personal encounter; they must
pay back the insult In blood.
The style of the story, related In the
first person, is pleasingly direct and
natural. the narrative runs on
smoothly with interest, and at last the
story ends without too definite detail.
Italy's celebration ION the Goth OF
July LAST Of Petrarch's six hundredtn
anniversary will cause much literary
reference to the poet. A study of him
and his time naturally brings one to
Dante; SO the study will be doubly
profitable.
+ + 4
Mr.. Joseph G. Lincoln's "Cap'n Fri"
has not stirred up the Cape Cod PEG.
pie as other novels descriptive of that
community have done. Either those
sensitive folks down there are getting
used to literature, or Mr. Lincoln has
been more careful than other writer's.
At any rate, he has revisited the scene
of his work without fear OF being pun.
meled by some fancied victim.
"The House in the Woods" will In.
terest the many who have been or In.
tend to go to the Catskill mountains.
1t is. published for the author, Mr..
Henry. by A. s. Barnes & Co.
+ + +
Mr.. Gladstone several times refused
title, as have some other prominent
men, and the B. B. knows OF at least
two titled men engaged in business
who are known as "Mr." They show
their sterling sense, but their action
did not prevent one or two Americans
from giving their birthrights for the
title Of Sir"
! am glad to read that number of
distinguished persons have refused to
allow their names to go into who's
Who Probably they felt they would
be In too mixed a company.
+ :. +
Mr.. Lummis has good word to say
about changing the names OF Califor-
mia mountains, as, for instance, San
Antonio to "old Badly" and San Der.
nardino to "Greyback," and so on.