The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-25
Conducted By r1lartDa Young

liar nerve wrack caused by railroad wreck. "oppressing the oppressor" lets us into the how and the why of the boom towns that spring up where great through lines go.
 "On the Limited" is a good, plain statement that it Is not always love that lures a man on but sometimes good friend and a quiet pipe Till do the work quite as well.
 Jack Ramsey's Reason" brings up at that little six foot of earth where end the stories of so many prospectors who start out with bold hopes and dauntless courage.
 In the Black Canon" is quite one of the best of the volume. Nora O'Neal Is girl to love, be she found East or West. and Cassidy Is the sort of man Some of the stories have too much manner for too little matter. perhaps. Too much telling and too little to tell. Especially "Pathfnding in the North west" and The Great Wreck on the P'ere Marquette." No matter now swiftly and smoothly we get over she ground we want something to go for So In quite a few of these tales Mir Warman does a lot of smooth, swift writing that, after all, bring up on facts or fancies hardly worth telling at all. But in a volume of seventeen railway stories we can find joy enough in the majority of truly bright ones and MT. Warman writes from an in- timate knowledge Of his subject. From starting the first survey to riding on the limited he knows 1t all and writes from the inside.
 The Maid of the Foot-HiiIs, by J. w, Daniels This is Southern story | filled with truth and facts that every | American should know. The story is not put together with much literary merit. The facts might have better been put into essay or reminiscence form. Successful fiction writing is for the few, not for the many.
 Writing of any successful sort is as much a trade, art, profession,-- what you will.--as is shoemaklng, painting, | medicine or law. We do not wish .o wear the shoes Of prentice hand, we do not fancy ourselves able to paint an exhibitable picture with no lessons taken, we are not allowed to put up | a shingle and announce ourselves as ready to practice medicine or law with out license, the fruit of several strict | examinations. But the novelist ex- poets to step full fiedged to his task from field parlor, pulpit or any walk 1 of life whatsoever. I was surprised i several days ago when talking with
 the Southerner who had written the | novels, perhaps, most read of any present day fiction. T have studied
 the art,' he said. He had found a
 teacher, taken his lessons and paid for
 them as any other student would in
 any other profession. T wrote first
 novels" he said, without such study
 1 hit the bulls eye fortunatey and by
 good chance. My latest book shows
 however, the difference due to study l I f,af I ( h
 work more easily. more artistically
 l drew up to my climax by surer ana
 more artistic development"
 It must be admitted that few writers
 have the opportunity for such study
 and fewer still have the modest sense
 of their own ability to do all things
 and the good hard common sense ant
 business ability of the author witt
 whom l talked. But there Is a schoo
 in which all writers may get a thor
 ough apprenticeship. An, yes. Jus
 try the magazines, the best ones tha
 use no contributions but those paid fo
 at the rate of from one to five (com
 mon rate) cents per word to the enor , nous rate of twenty-five to thirty-fiv, , i cents per word. Bombard those mag azines with your writings and wheI , you get an acceptance and d checI i from several of them, be sure yol , 1 are about ready to apply for a diplo 2 ma in your chosen school. Also re ! member that this author who tool
 lessons" had already attained success , wealth, and worldwide reputation il !, the fields of endeavor before he eve I wrote novel. Yet he took lessons
 This book of Southern reconstruc
 tion days is valuable as 1t is as fac , | cannot be accorded high place as lit 2 erature.
 - It has much good material therein v It shows the heroism of Southern wo I men in their trials, lays low the nefa
 rious deeds of those Southern me- s | who joined the hosts of carpet bag 2 gers from the North, and supplies som 1 of the most important links in the his v tory of Reconstruction. It tells of tn
 Red Shirt movement. which was reall e the eliminating stroke that severed tn shackles which bound an almost help