The Newtown bee., 1906-12-07


 pleasures of a given people in a given age. In one way it is needful supple ment to history, partly because you can tell so much more and partly be- cause you can introduce a great many things which would be utterly out of place in history. It is the details that count, you know; the little things too unimportant to be included in a history are the things that make the historical novel like life and give true impression. Beyond that, the historical novel serves the purpose of interesting people in history and tempting them to read into it further for themselves.
 "But it is not sufficient nowadays that 8 novel should merely give truthful picture of life. no matter how complete 1t may be; you cannot simply tell a story with historical back ground, no matter how accurate the setting; the history, as we'll as the life and the manners and customs, must be a vital and essential part of the novel, and it must all be woven inextricably together. And no matter how well and how faithfully man may do this, no matter how profound and inexhausti- ble may be his Knowledge, he is falling below the standard of the present day if his book be in any place dull. Every line of it must be alive with interest.
 Two or three years later "The Cri- sis'' appeared. This time MT Churchill chose for his background the stirring days of the Civil War, through some of the most thrilling events of which his hero passes; and incidentally he painted supremely good pictures of Lincoln and Grant, showing how they urouu n.,1 n fhn conditions fhQt nFn. duced the crisis, and how they domt- mated 1t and brought it to such an issue that the country became better and greater and stronger for the cataclysm that had threatened to disrupt it. Like "Richard Carvel," "The Crisis" was dramatized, ,and opened It's success full run on the stage few months aft CT its publication.
 MT Churchill's next book, in the series of historical romances which he began with "Richard Carvel," is entitled ''The Crossing," and was published in the spring of 1904. It's title refers to the crossing of the Alleghanies by the tide Of American immigration after the Rev War. A portion of the volume is the thrilling account of the mountains, of their siege by the Indi- ans, and of the expedition of George Rogers Clark and his little band of followers to capture VincenDes. The Mississippi from St Louis to New Or leans and the states on the eastern shore form the background of most of this novel, which perhaps contains more of the adventure element than, any other of MT Cnurchill's works.
 Meanwhile, MT Churchill had be- come actively interested in politics In the year 1903 he became Member of the New Hampshire Legislature, in which he has served two terms; and quite recently he announced his can dldacy for the. nomination for govern or of his state. This attention to poli- tics is eminently characteristic of MT the bent of whose mind, ac- lively interested te,i In ] actual ,st snipgs, PES tory in the making means to the men with it. His new novel, is the direct OutgrOWth of his participation in politlcs.
 MT Churchill'S power to fascinate his readers has been from the first one of the most notable characteristics of his novels. This power involved some thing great deal bigger than merely the grip that 8 swiftly-moving story takes upon it's readers; for in 1t were involved the delight of vivid cOlorful pictures of phases of active life, the companionship of the kind of people whom one likes to know, and the de- light of history supremely well related. Above all, MT Churchill's books are fairly alive with constant human in- terest. In "Coniston," however, the of Mir Churchill's style and kfc of fo11jnn O pears to far better advantage than engaging and enjoyable than any of his previous books. It is a love story pure and simple, without historical back ground, (savelin the sense in which it might be said that 1.-The Vtrginian" had historical background); and in addition, 1t is packed from beginning to end with romance.
 The love story is naive and genuine, and engrOsSeS the readers attention There are, however, sev- eral other capital elements in the book. There are good many charac- ters in the story, and the drawing of these is admirable. This is true even of the characters which appear only their personalities and their whole at- titude toward life are suggested in a lew words so vividly that you feel that you know them. The political con- test, which appears at intervals, in )ne form or another, throughout the whole course of the story, is handled n all it's phases with the most master y skill. The description of the Wood :huck Session and of how JethrO Bass carried through the Truro Franchise Bill is one of the most exciting and ,killfully written passages of the kind n literature. But, superb as are these occasional glimpses of political contest for control of state, they | never long distract attention from the | nost bewitching, piquant, vivacious md ingenious of all MT Churchill's | leroines-Cynthia Wetherell. 'tory more often and to much better Idvantage than any of MT Churchill's l 'ormer books. Indeed, the story Ihows a noteworthy advance in the lramatic handling of situations. It l s in all ways more readable book | han anything which MT Churchill l las previously done; and it is so we'll l init, so we'll told, so absorbing in its 1 interest, and in it are combined so de- l fghtfully romance, character l md political contest, that it is no 1 wonder that it has at once become the l most popular and most widely read look of the year.
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