The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-31
NEW BOOKS.
A strong puslness cnaraetey.

" SNp"b S"ohAN9
Any great interest is rather curlously
withheld in the first part of Francis Lynde's
story Of "The Qulckening" (The Bobbs-
Merrill Company, ~Indianapolis). Curl
ously, because the story after a time comes
to be very interesting, indeed. The tale
opens with an account Of a religious re-
vival in Paradise Valley in Tennessee. 1t
t@lls us how little Thomas Jefferson Gordon
was converted at the g OF IL and de-
scribes the spiritual fagltations and battles
that went on in the bosom Of the boy after
ward. The spiritual atmosphere is not
altogether unrelieved. Paradise Valley lies
in the coal and iron regions, and the forces
Of modern industry and development we're
presently to sweep down upon 1t from the
North. In the chapter entitled The Mower
Exodus" we read how Thomas Jefferson
went with his father TO the neighboring
town Of South Tredegar and found wonder
full changes there. We also read how the
choleric and unreoonstructed MajorDabney
of Deer Trace shooed the invaders of bis
own ancestral acres. He had a vigorous
way OF dealing with them. Bring youth
damned Yankee railroad through my
fields and pastchuhs, sub? Foul the pure
God given ai-ah OF this peaceful Gyarden
of Eden with youth dust flingin', smoke pot
locomotives? Not a rod, subj not a foot
or an inch oveh the Dabney landsl Do l
make it plain to you, suh?' To make It
quite plain he seized the invader whom he
was addressing about the middle and flung
him of the piazza into a flower bed.
We read along about Thomas Jefferson's
experiences In religion, and about the in
dustrial revolution in South Tredegar
and Paradise. We make the acquaintance
Of pretty and hayward Mar Bryerson, the
moonshiner's daughter, and Of Major
Dabney's little granddaughter, Ardea, who
was born and brought up in Paris,
and who Is the heroine OF the story. At
length we come to the eighteenth chapter,
and here there Is really an awakening.
A plot Is all at once established. Tom
Gordon, having reached the age Of 81, Is
provided with something to do. 1t be-
comes necessary to save the Chiawassee
Consolidated, in which his trusting old
father Is part owner, from the machina-
lions Of ~rascals, Tom hurries away from
the 30 ston technical school In which he
il just completing a brilliant record, He
sets his keen, instructed mind in operation.
He intercepts in New York the two Farleys,
father and son, who have arranged for tn
wrecking Of Chiawassee, and who are about
sailing for Europe. From this on Tom does
q whole series Of brilliant, Napoleonio
things. He unearths the whole wicked
business that the Farleys have been engaged
In. He plunRes into the manufacture Of
iron in the panicky summer Of 1893. He
buys up boards of Aldermen in cities need
ing to make large purchases Of water piping.
This will show that his early religious
nature had become subordinated and that
he was not %scrupulous In rehabilitating
Chiawassee.
There is plenty in this part Of the story
that Is not plausible. There was surely
a way to prove. long before the proof
was afforded, that Tom was not the father
OF Nan Bryerson's children. II Vincent
Farley, who was really their father, was
able to go 30 long unsupported, 1t Is curious
that Tom, who was not guilty, and who
was quite as clever as Vincent, should
have lone 30 poorly with his own reputa-
ton. Moreover, it will never be believed
that Ardea Dabney did not see through
the wicked Vincent, or that she or anybody
else In Paradise would have tolerated him
after IL was known that he and another
had blackened their faces and sneaked upon
Tom In the darkness and all but killed him
with bludgeons. At the same time the
reader will not complain. What is lacking
In plausibility is made up In strong dra-
matte effect. The 4brea thless' quality is
unquestionably here, and there is much
admirable workmanship in other directions.