The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-08

up he would make a novel that would
sell into the hundreds of thousands, that
is, If he could keep the story up to the
proper degree in interest, so that the
changes of temperature from the love
passages to others would not give the
reader the pneumonia
L think the master must have been i'll,
as he was the night he mistook me for the
hall tree and hung his hat over my
chimney put in the lamp.
I'LL nothing!" cut in the knife. 'He
meant it all. He said it was fact that
the popularity of a book, other things be-
ing equal, depended in a measure upon
the intensity of the love portrayed. He
said Charles Reades The Cloister and
the Hearth and 'Evangeline' proved his
position, and then he added that Maeter-
linck's 'Joyzelle,' which has for it's key
note: ideal love- love that shall prevail
over DEATH was a more modern case, and
tho that is a drama, the principle is the
same.
''That was all by way of introduction to
reading the mistress some stories from
The Souter's Lamp, by Hector MacGreg-
or, book Of Scotch tales, which he said
further illustrated his point-that is thew
would if they should prove to be as popu-
lar as he thought they should be. 1t was
while you were getting full mean filled
Lone morning.
Those Scotch are deep folk, tho I've
cut so many leaves in Scotch novels that
l feel acquainted with the people. Their
religious. faith, like every other feeling
t with them, is deep and strong. They be-
come so accustomed to looking upon this
life and the next as cOnjoined parts of a
whole that they make plans which some
times fall across the line, lap over into
the next life. Their love affairs don't end
here always. They defy death and time
according to the story writer's. For that
reason some Of Mr.. MacGregor's stories
are. unfinished tales. But they're all the
more interesting for that. =
1.-The story the naster@read to the mis-
tress that time was the title story of the
book, The Souter's Lamp. -. Here the
knife went on to tell, in his own words
and those of the souter and the book, the
story as he remembered it, while, The
lamp purred contentedly: -
The souter was the cobbler of Glen Brearchan
! and every Saturday night when the weeks work
few choice spirits who would come in to listen
to the aged shoemaker's stories Of the early DAYS
in the glen. But the minister's love story
was the thing the cronies liked best to hear, #
| needed care to draw it from the souter's lips
but long practice had taught them how to
do it,
can there wasna BONNER lad in the coun.
| try than the minister that cam to Glen Breara
chan in '27. Ye wadna wonder that lass 10 &c
| him If We had kent him when 1 mind O. him
first said the souter ..s ..
| Jeanne Mcintosh was the lass, ''but Jeanit
wadna hev him.. -
''Wadna hev him! Keep me! T didn't think
| the lass was Graded that could say no to q
| minister" the beadle cried in feigned astonish
| ment, part Of the method of drawing out the
souter
''Jeanie wadna hev him. the souter continued
'tShe didna think she was fit to be minister's
wife"
1t was in one Of those Scotch snowstorms
which. like everything else in Scotland, is a
rather serious matter, that the blow fell upon
! the minister. Jeanies father had come to the
| glen to the market and ''wasna aye careful wi
the drink and Jeanne ''trampit DOOM toward
evening to 'try and get him hame They
set out on foot thru the storm. The minister
| and the souter. fearing for the drunken father
| and his daughter, went to the rescue week
| later ''the lasse cam t. herself bit in the
| forenicht. She put her arms roond the min
listers neck an lay on his breist like BARN. .
II couldna be your wife, Master Garment y
says she. 81 wasna fit to. gang to the
manse." ~
| @'But We. lo'ed me, Jeanie, did We no:' the
minister cried.
! ''Aye, I loed We wi all my heart, Willie. y
says she. eft was my love that wadna let me
| marry ye''
"Well?" questioned the lamp, as tn.
knife stopped.
! 'eYe'l1 haze to read the book for the res
O. it, answered the knife "The dia
i lect's nae deefcult."
1