The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-29

Duke of Devil-May-Csre. By Har- ris Dickson.
 MT. Dickson is rapidly coming to the place of foremost novelist of the south His work is extremely refined. distinct Ky true, intensely interesting.
 He knows his Mississippi as no one 7 but those who have lived close to its university, close tc the great wealth of its bottom lands. right amidst its contracting conditions of lordly rule and homely simplicity. The Duke of Devil May-Care is a young Southerner of that loving diamond-in -the-rougn a drinking bout all too well, but which shows its true worth when taken in hand by the Virginia girl-always..
 Anita Cameron is the Virginia girl and thin. and who literally loves a man into becoming her ideal. Alice Ashton is the pretty. timid daughter of a domineering mother. Inherent qualities sometimes stifle for a gener- ation or lie dormant a half life. The future husband of Alice may discover in the timid girl her mothers traits.
 Joe Balfour is a splendid type of the Southern gentleman.
 Monsieur Victor Labouisse of the an- tiQue Hotel Louis Le Grande, boosting "ze apartment of ze Contesse Van dreuil," ''ze apartment Lafitte, ah ze terrible Lafitte" "Ze apartment Gener- al Jackson" ''ze apartment, ze vairy same, OI Zc buC u oTIcdusy all WltH door knobs of cut glass, Hike decanter stoppers,"-ah! what a we'll done type is he. How 1t developes with the story of his lies and his flowers, his sallies and assurances of good faith and honor. his shameless deceit and duplicity. But without Monsieur Victor Labouisse and his Hotel Louis Le Grande we had had no story and the course of true love would have run all too smoothly. with Cupid striking love at first sight into nd ing old aunt to frustrate lovers plans.
 Monsieur Victor Labouisse's loyalty to Rex, King of the Carnival, and precious care of his own pockets, aid plain clothes detectives. the redoubt- able Fitz at the head, is perhaps lit- 1e exaggerated picture of Mardi Gras spirit A spirit that peeps behind the mad for fun. A spirit in the method in the madness that fills the tradesmen's hearts-and pockets. Yet long live the Carnival. He has not lived who has not tasted its joys. and that in the Crescent City.
 The chapter of gah fishing anr that of cooking main, the scene between young Duke and Bing Harper read as true words of an eye witness.
 Who does not know Bing Harper; "a place in his charge? His authority on the plantation was at stake, for white man in the swamp must cover every inch of ground he stands on or he cannot hope to control half thous- and negroes"
 The description of roads, lakes and bayous are sketched by a hand that has grown to it's breadth and strength and upon them. As the lovers drift on the lake: She gazed down into the water at the duplicate mystery of space above. below. They floated on a shim- mering veil, midway between two lan-
 Mr. Dickson by no means lets his pen run away with the Heavens and the earth, but he shows here and there in his pages keen appreciation of the beauties of that stupendous river miles out of sight of each other, as though indeed bordering some vast sea.
 Serene September night sparkled on the diamond-studded Mississippi-a girdle, broidered with stars, which belt Bd the Southern continent. Gloomy forests marshaled their hosts on either bank, the same eternal sentries that watched De Soto come and watched the red men go."
 Mr. Dickson is ever enthusiastic about his own Vicksburg, city of hills and of history. There is no swamp at Nicksburg, no slough of morbid thought, no bottomless road for man and beast to founder in. The brilliant September sunshine glistened upon her glory guarded hills, crowning her lord 1y crests with the halo of heroic yes- ter-years There's a lofty deed on ev- cry summit, a radiant glamor upon her sparkling lake. a mellow reverence in every valley where unmarked graves lie hid. There's holiness, an uplift, an exaltation in these treasures of the Beige- encircled city, in these memories of the river-girdled town"
 The story of the mysterious disap- pearance of lady, of even the room wherein she was latest seen, a room of