The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-13

The Fool Errant, by Maurice Hewlett
 Mir. Hewlett could make fairy story of a trolley ride from Brooklyn to Ja- maica- Therefore 1t goes without say ing that he weaves very giitterins web of fancy over road that runs from Padua to Rovigo to Liena, to Lu- cia to Florence and ending up In happy Tuscany Mir. Francis Strelley of Up cote, our hero. the fool, is one of those gentlemen born to be strolling player, a wandering tooth-puller, a meander- ing poet a travelling clown. . journey man carpenter. a peddler of cructhxes' a true lover at last of a beautiful peas ant maiden.
 Mir striIiey, who saw Upcote no more after settinG foot in Italy, home of his spirit, died (vouches the author) in 175s and was buried behind the altar of San Romano.
 But the Mir. Strelly whose adventures we follow Is alive today. young and handsome. and fondly foolish.
 The conventions of the early eigh- teenth century were as binding to the woridling as are those of the early twntieth. They are as little under stood by the adorable fool of today as by Francis Strelly. Mir. Hewlett has infused into his story life giving ichon; through plot and counter-plot. through character-d drawing, love tale and passions record, wanderings through shaded olive groves and down sunny roads he gives us living, breath ing companions. Some of them none too good to live. Fra Palomone, killed many times by feinting. killed at last by a pistol shot in revenge for Belviso, the Player Girl is the very trouble some fat villain. Donna Aurelia, the dainty housewife, silken. profound. chary of her skirts and laces, "storm- ing into the kitchen. speedily return ing with a steaming and savory dish.' all things to all men, no goddess save to the Fool Virginia, the peasant. Diana of the Olive Groves, true and constant, the correct balance wheel for an Erant Fool. But only in Fairy Land do the peasant maidens make the ideal housewives for gentlemen! They grow to be fat, quarrelsome. shiftless wives in real life as chariots and four drop with the touch of daylight into pump kin shells and mice But why faunt in F o'clock sunshine tints made to glow mellowly by candle-hght? Old children want their fairy stories, too, and MT. Hewlett is the writer to givo us those that we read to the last page with zest.
 sfIecIa Sandwith."-Mr. Edward Uf- fington Valentine is a new writer and a most promising one. His first novel, "Hecla Sandwith," Is the strongest piece of fiction that has been presented to American readers for long time past.
 The scene of action Is a valley in Central Pennsylvania, and it's 7 chief actor a young woman, Hecla Sandwith, named, contrary to the usual custom, after the big furnace owned by her Quaker father This furnace plays a conspicuous part in the history of the people connected with 1t. The story is also the record of the love of a man for his wife, against a background of most peculiar circumstances far re- moved from the ordinary conditions of life, and while these conditions are dis cussed frankly and earnestly, they never offend. Richard Hallett, the husband in question. proves by his life that love ia the creative force after all and the silent appeal of love held him firm when lower things assailed him. In all the long years of his trial nothing had such potency as the voice of love, nor did any other appeal sound in his soul a note so compelling.
 Throughout the book there are incl dents of tragedy and suffering. but there are also instances of heroism and faith. He3la's love for and belief in her brother David. whom the rest of the world had lost faith in, is as fine a piece of work as the devotion of Mag gie Tulliver to her brother, Tom, so
 
 Mill on the Floss" Unlike Maggie, Hecla does not lose her life in the flood. 1t is only poor. weak David who suffers that fate.
 The book contains many passages of somber power and curious glimpse.s of by-gone customs and traditions. The local color is strongly brought out, the author being intimately ac- quainted with the conditions about which he writes. having spent his youth in the region he so vividly DOT trays in 'Hecla Sandwith." The background of Quaker life is strongly drawn. Benjamin Truelove. "a Quaker preacher Of eloquent address and hay ing repute as a seer" is one of the prominent characters. and the scene is very dramatic at Joshua Sandwith's s tea table when the young preacher suddenly rises to his feet and deliv- CTS himself of this message: 'Ruin ap- breaches this house. Its shadow hath even now fallen upon the threshold" That the door should open at this point and David. the profligate son, enter does not surprise the guests. for they would naturally associate any hint of