The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-24

should us bent Dt Sutii, 'O P'
 ress and peace-all this. it is natural. sbould claim the attention of men of studious mind and 1t Is natural that this huge horror called the race ques- tion should engage the pen of MT Me:- tins.
 In the little town of Granville. and in the country surrounding, the scenes of The storm Signal are laid. There are the old time darkies that we love- with hearts full of peace toward hu- manity and adoration for their white folks" there are the new negroes, With love for dress and contempt for work !; there are the negroes with schemes or black nation to take the place or that reared with toll and sweat by white men; there are noplemcn or the Old South, and knightly young scfons of chivalric races; there are sweet and gracious young women of Alabama; :; there are moonshiners and adventur- CTS; there is a young man rom Mlchl- gan who is beloved by one girl and who loves another.
 There. at times. are the heavy scent of the magnolia; and the languor Of the Southern sun; at times there arc deeds of valor and of daring that would not shame a Bayard CT q LOT ing; love is made and murder done; men sunk in the depths of depravity throw of the stupor and live once more as the Anglo Saxon lives; the highly educated negro preacher, striving to follow the precepts that he has enun- ciated so often in sermons to his race, finds that 1t Is impossible for him to continue to counsel peace and frater- nity, and with eloquence calls upon the black hordes to go forth and murder the white man and all of his kind. MT. Martins story Is complex; it is here that the chief criticism is l. L.,,N kL@N +, xryff h the hand of an adept must be admit ted. There is too much of it all; the mind is confused before the story takes it's way in logical sequence to the end to which all the time was aimed. It is ability, it is art, that enable Mr. Mertins to bring The storm Signal, with a sweep and d force, from the chaos of ideas and situations that he has developed. MT. Mertins has put several novels in one. The completed whole is a book that will stand com- parison with most that have come from the press in our time.
 Some authors have used the differ ences between the white man and the black man as an end; MT. Mertins has employed racial hostility as inciden- tai to the telling of a romantic and powerful love story. The Storm Sig nal teaches a lesson that is profound in its significance to the people, not alone of the South, but of the world; ; yet The Storm Signal should not be called a problem novel. To nearly every one the interest is the love of Martin Wentworth for Virginia Tray Tor. and the love of Jessica Brantley for Wentworth; the fall of Slim Simpson, and his recrudescence. Red Shirt, De- Quina and Aaron Green are drawn strongly and sharply; the meetings of the Brotherhood of the Letter l. are described in a style that is graphic; the attack on the Traylor home is told in a way that thrills, but it is the white people, their loves and their differences. that have our attention.
 MT. Mertins has his own ideas of the so-called negro problem. They stand out boldly from the background in a way that cannot be mistaken. From our viewpoint they are radical, but he writes with such a compelling force that one is carried along with him. It is plain that he has thought deeply on this subject. and he has reached con vlctions that he dares to express. In bold sweeping phrases he gives voice to courageous convictions and he com pels one to think unwillingly along new lines as to the future of the negro race.
 This Montgomery author possesses the true dramatic genius. There are tragic incidents in the book which are tiCdlGd WItH IIidSIGTiy SLyIes He CT Is made to shudder, for example, at the murder of MT. Oliver by the two, brutal negroes. Again, nothing more graphic has been mirrored by the types in recent years than the court room scene in Macon, Ga. -...~. :
 Much of the story is told in dialect. Uncle Ephraim, from the time he comes to the school house in q buggy to drive little Virginia Traylor to her home, is our friend. We have known old dar- kies like him, and In the mind of each reader is prototype with whom we can claim now or in the days agone, could have claimed personal acquaint- ance. He relates some of the history necessary to a clear understanding of the story. He does so in dialect.
 Now, we all have known negro dia- lect There is that in some books which makes us throw down the book in disgust, and swear to ourselves that the author never knew bona tide real sure-enough, actual negro in his life. Mir Mertins's dialect is not of this kind | In fact. in the opinion of this reviewer. MT. Hertins's dialect is the best that | ever was put on paper. Perhaps Thom- l as Nelson Page should be excepted. But | even MT. Pages dialect is not so con | sistently true to life as that of MT | Mertins. Here is stanza from a song | sung by Uncle Ephraim, as he strums a | banjo, to make amends to Virginia | Traylor for having expressed a wish | that she had been d boy. It tells of the nest of a Hooraw, which even Inc Eph' Is not positive that he has seen; "Oh, hits down in de swamp in CT big
 gum tree, De bigges oF gum dat ever see: Er mile fum de groun an CT foot fun
 de sky
 Oh. I tell yer dat nes am CT hangin'
 mighty high.
 Hits a Hooraw nes'; hits a Hooraw
 nes.
 An down at de bottom, 'mongst de
 water an de slush
 De alligator tail go swish, swash,
 swush;
 An whut gifts bawn fun de Hooraw pey got no wings an dey got no lairs.
 Denis Hooraws; great big Hooraws.
 Now, won't you agree that Mir Mer- tins knows something of the negro and is able to transcribe his lingual pecu- |
 It is not intended here to tell tbe | story. nod to give even an outline of | the seeneh that MT. Mertins has de- | scrtbed, dnd the actions that bA has portrayeG The book should be read. | In this Aay of triviality in fiction it is