The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-28
NEW BOOK NEWS
CONDUCTED BY MARTHA YOUNG
Gordon Keith.

Gordon Keith. It was in one of the prettiest cities of Alabama and one of the brightest women of Alabama was driving me sightseeing. | We were going down to the landing to see the Bettie Hill, white little steamer. come up from Mobiles We wanted to sec if any one whom we knew had come up. There always Is some one you know com Ing up.
 In spite of our haste to reach the wharf my good driver turned aside and drew up sharp at . book store.
 Why, what is it?s I asked. < 'T want Gordon Keith." she said. T see some announcements about 1t and am kin to Gordon Keith.' "Kin to Gordon Keithr' I exclaimed.
 'Yes. My maiden name was Gordon and my mothers was Keith-and-and- and," lot more names of note in vir- ginia.
 It was the first time had ever heard any one claim blood relationship with . purely fictionai character.
 But this little incident which is strictly true may go to show how distinctly true to life and to Southern character and char acteristics are Mir. Thomas Nelson Pages books. Even the choice of his names are typical. ~
 By the way, have heard discussions in literary societies as to the true name of the hero of MT. Pages finest story, Marse Chan, the story that caught at once the ear of the world. One leader of the dis cussion held that Marse Chan was Chan ming, .Chanley, Chancourt or some name of which Chan might be the abbreviation. The other Hterateure held that MarseChan was Marse John Chan. . as in barn, being the Virginia negro's way of saying John.
 What was Marse Chan's name?
 MT. Page is pre-eminently story teller. He always has story to tell and he tells 1t with a rush of joyous vitality. He never stops the flow of the story with pretty phraseology or quaint philosophies. If his characters are philosophies they show it in the wisdom and largeness of their lives. and 1t Is fin the good plain English of our fathers that Mr' Page un- dertakes to tell us of their doings.
 The story takes us rapidly through many phases of life at the South
 The peace and prosperity of good days before the war are pictured. The days of strife. the days of poverty loss. mort gage loss. mortgage poverty, that swept the South in the seventies, are shown with clearness.
 The opening up of mines, manufactories, laying of railroads of later days, are placed before us in glowing colors. Every scene Is true. Every character ia, life like.
 Gordon Keith, from his country school at the Ridge to the offlce in Wall Street, has done no more than many . young man of the South has done. The scenes of New York life are gay and bright. The glimpses of life in England attractive.
 Gordon Keith felt the rush, the glitter, the go of New York as every newcomer must. Business" was the watchword. the trademark It buEEed everywhere, from the Battery to the Park. It thronR- ed the streets pulsating through the out lets and inlets at ferries and railway stations and crossings. and through the great buildings that were already begin ming to tower in the business sections. It hummed in the chief centers. And through it all and beyond 1t all shonc opulence, opulence gilded and gleaming and dazzling in its glitter; in the big ho- tels; in the rich shops; in the gaudy the atres; along the fine avenues; display hibition of riches never seen before. It. did Keith good at first just to stand in the streets and watch the pageant as it passed like a gilded panorama"
 The subtitle effect on character of the acceptation, even tacit acceptation of the dogma: Wealth makes Worth Is deftly shown in Gordon's momentary ,defiection rom < the LenetS or hlS upDulldlnB. fOf the doctrines of the old South, some hold \ to the same in the new, are that the in- visible things are the most worthful, honor. boise. gentIeness, courtesy. cour- age, culture-queer stock in trade for a mans only wealth. Time had been when Gordon Keith would have called a, man rich. who possessing these things yet lacked an establishment and bonds and stock.
 !. That time had passed when had won his coal land deal and sat in his New York office the drafts spread before him. He cared no longer to restore the old plantation home. better to speculate in Wall Street But the timely entrance of his father, General Keith, type of the old school was the touch that let the pendulum swing back.
 And 1t was the gentle hand of Zone Lois Huntington that fostered our hero fast to the old ways, the old values the old loves. '-s
 A vital book. every page full of interest, every character full of life.
 Gordon Keith by Thos Nelson Page, Chas. scribners' Sons New York Price $1.5O '-...'