The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-14
ncW Book ncWS

&~~~~>S>~< W saffy. By John Luther Long-Mr. Long has never done better. tenderer story than this of the Pennsylvania Dutch. There is breath of the clover in 1t: the clover that grew in the CoVet- ed Pasture Land. There Is the heavy sunshine that makes the newly upturn- ed brown earth teem with richness. Cool springs, and leafy forests lure the | tired soul between the pages. Best of all there is in the book the Making of a Man. Better than any, l just yet. Mir Long has shown the force | of gentleness Why do we call the noblest type of man gentleman ana l yet in our souls and in our practice despise the gentle man2 Why do we dub the great brute wltn his mouths full of oaths, his heart or cruelty, his life of coarseness. a many | fellow9 Surely, chivalry and the wealth of spent generations has all gone Tor naught If we have not learned that the greatest strength is in genttehess. There is moro power for growth anu blessinR in the forcefui quiet some thing than in tho hurtling storm. Seffy is all sunshine Slow, heaVy sum shine. Sleepy. still sunshine.
 Old Father Baumgartner is happy at sight of his best mare and his only son.
 "rbe big bay, clad in broad-banded harness. soft and glistening with OH and glittering with brasses, was stum- bling indolently down the hill. resisting her own momentum by the diagonal motion the old man had likened to a dogs leisure trot. The looped breast chains were jingIing merry dithy- ramb, her head was holding, her tall wagging, and Seffy propped by ms ei- bow on her broad back, one leg hanging between the names. the other keeping time on her ribs. was singing:
 I Want to be an angel
 And with the angels stand,
 A crown upon my forehead.
 A harp within my hand.
 Jocose Baumgartner brings the big' slow son into the store porch, auctions him eff to the highest bidder:
 He can blow as crooked as a mules hind leg, sleep hard as possum In winter time, eat like snake, get ie1t every time-but he ken ketch fish. They wait on him. What's bid?" and Sally is the only bidder, and Seffy slower at counting than at anything else is knock ed off to Sally with the assurance: He s sound and kind, but needs the whip. And here is Sally, the belle and heir ess of the community, the owner Of the Coveted Meadows: Tier sleeves were turned as far as they would go re- VeallnR some SO1I ness, and there was flour on her arms. Some patches of 1t on her face gave petaI-like effect to her otherwise ag~ gressive color. The pretty dress was pinned far enough back to reveal the prettier petticoat--plus pair of trlmly clad ankles"
 And Seffy was slow mover. The red of burnished gold. And her temper was the tint which 4to T a~d 1oado fn match such hair, And Lefty vas a slow mover. The help of the adoring father, foE he a6ored both Seffy and Sally, the assistance of Sally's life trained, al- ready alas! to kisses of others, the prodding of all the neighborhood med- ding and community custom or court ship could not bring Seffy to the point in time.
 | Slow Seffy.
 But the man in him must be made. The gentle child must grow the noble man. Though the growing come hard i to him and to others.
 MT. Longs gentle story shall not be roughly torn from his pages. Let it stay there for readers who love the wide open spaces of earth, the simple annals of simple lines to dis
 cover for themselves, as lovers of the woodlands discover for themselves the l masses of golden love win overmattlnS all the laurel stumps of the swamps A story they will find rich with real | ity and pathos and tenderness. | MT. Long has certain mannerisms ot diction. certain theatrical hypoberating
 of words. breaking in two of words and sentences with dash, dash, dash. | that is marring.- as any small personnei
 defect repeatedly given to devise char | acters must be. v.
 It is found in all of his stories: II l ,krnf fYatr, | that is disappointing. The interest or his stories is-almost always-strons
 enough to hold attention without CT fort to grappIe it with innumerabie
 punctuation points. breaking up ms pages, and sprinkled through ana
 around and in the middle Of ms wore, wore, thick as parched plnders III shee' | of peanut brittle
 l Pardoned the mannerisms for the | good matter kindly tale ending sweetly as all tales should: "l think said Seffy. with grace and tenderness
 he never had in the old days. thal we get and lose what we deserVe-to get and lose. I didn't deserve you then. dear. Perhaps I do now.
 - and it breaks my heart-toI I don't deserve it-that one little, sim
 pie word-dear!
 (Pardon the dashesD
 Tomorrow, Seffy,' said his father
 briskly. you better let Sally marry
 you. Remember she bought you.
 The man was made, and as always
 others were made with the making, the
 red -haired hoyden was made tender
 women. the clustering Baumgartner
 Gentle Man.
 The storm Signal. By Gustave F
 Mertins MT, Mertins is new author
 from our own Alabama. The storm
 Signal' is his first novel. With the
 exception of some "outpourings" in his
 college magazine this novel is the only thing he has ever published over his own name It is always interest ing to know something of the new au-
 thor himself, of what enemies have I
 THE VALUE OF CHARCOAL. l IA.