The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-06

William BLACK Qlspiays III ms Wftt- ings a remarkable genius for setting moods of nature in accord, for making the stage upon which the action takes place so perfectly agree with the i'm cident recorded that it seems natural Mining that 1t should be so. 1t Is not sufiient to say that he was a lover of nature: he seemed to putAa soul in- to nature and make it character in his story. Especially is this true when he takes us to the Hebrides, where he knew every little bay and every rocky island. and where his spirit seemed to | ind it's fullest sweep and his heart its truest home.
 An old skipper of one of the vessels plying among these misty islands once said to him: well Mir. Black. you need never starve. anyway''--the skipp CT seemed to regard a mere writer of books as one who generally stood in danger of such catastrophe--''you can always make living as 9 pilot for the islands" No one since Sir Walter Scott has succeeded in so accurately portraying the fealty with which Highlander regards his chief, and no one ever has been able to write so much about sum sets and salmon fishing as Black with out boring his readers. In "A Princess of Thule" all of Blacks characteristics as an author are strongly marked and ' 1t is pervaded from cover to cover with his own peculiar charm.
 He who undertakes the acclimatiza- .tion of plants must know his business ! in order to succeed The first requis- fte is tIlat he should understand thor oughiy the nature of that which he seeks to make thrive and grow healthy | in a foreign soil. Even Frank Laven- der the diiettante artist, who was lfv- ing on his aunt's money, knew this. Nevertheless, he conceived that it would | be an easy thing for him to transplant | Bheila Mackenzie from the Tone she'll lings and the misty islands" of the He- | brides, where she reigned verftable Princess of Thule, to the heart of Lon { don society. She would take the same commanding position in the London drawing rooms, of course. that she held . in the domains of her father, MT. Mackenzie, whom people in the High lands called the King of Borva.
 Lavender's friend Ingram, clerk in the Board of Trade and now on his vacation, was not so sure of this. I ] tell you, Frank" he would say. you do not understand that girl" But Lavender was twenty-pdd and Ingram was forty, and twenty-five listens with . good natured toleration to \ advice or J all sorts--a little annoyed and consid- * erably amused by it.
 \ Ingram had come to the little island where old King Mackenzie reigned be- i cause he was accustomed to go there ! for his vacation; the quaint life there 5 attracted him, together with the saf- mon fishing and the shooting, and had he not seen Shei1a grow up and did E not her face, Drowned by exposure to wind and weather. and her blue eyes under their dark lashes, filled with the 7 deep mystery of the sea fit often be- ! tween his vision and the records of the
 Board of Trade?
 when he brought Lavender along with him one summer, the young artist fell 4 in love at once with the girl with the soft, magnificent eyes. who could nsh ' and sail a boat; who established schools, 4 looked after the poor and was a sort { of .Iady Bountifur overseer to her
 father, the king. Ingram watched the
 love-maIsing with sigh. X The two Englishmen were guests of old Mackenzie in his stone house on \ the hillside overlooking the bay of < Loch Roag. There was a vast expanse
 of sea visible, grim mountains. bare
 heaths and rocky islets, all of which H took on a thousand tints and colors sn the wonderful sunsets and delighted | the heart of the artist.
 The very room in which the mystic
 princess sat was strange and wonder N ful papered with impossible Tyroiese
 Landscapes covering even the doors. N But Lavender saw nothing incongru-
 ous in q whole chalet disappearing to give entrance to Duncan. the gillie,
 with q smoking salmon, or Sheila's \ cousin, Mairi, who waited at table with Z potatoes.
 T when sheila said eferry" for "very' |. kNIo N%
 accent and constructiony Lavender
 thought he had never heard the Eng N fish language pronounced so beauti- # fully She told him more about duck # shooting, fishing and sailing in five
 minutes than he ever had known be-
 fore in his whole life. and got him in
 terested :. in her efforts to make the # people put glass in their windows
 You are not in love-" said Ingram n one night to Frank. You only think
 you are. How about that American
 widow you were raving over last sea-
 son--Mrs. Lorraine. I think her name
 was?"
 f "Bother Mrs. Lorraine" exclaimed # Frank. T tell you am going to Esar- # ry Sheila and take her to London. She M told me I might ask her last night VI And want you to help me out with
 the old man iik ca good fellow"
 "All right" said Ingram with [
 sigh.
 sThe King of Borva was a big, bluff
 nasty old man. who considered himself
 a diplomat and governed his people ab. V solutely. As a matter of fact his little
 strategems were as transparent as M glass and his three hundred subjects
 obeyed him, first, because he was theiI
 hereditary ruler, and. secondly, because
 they loved him and worshipped Sheila
 He was as fond of discoursing on the
 nifhcult art of governing as any other
 monarch. He was fond of cheerful
 songs, and all the songs of the peo.
 ple were of drowned men and of fare-
 wells. and when he told John the Piper
 to play, that lugubrious person would
 make his pipes skirl out Lochaber Nc
 More" or "Macrimmon's Lament" Sc
 when sheila sat at the piano and sang
 with Lavender the English ballads, g < collection of which the young man had
 brought along, Mackenzie listened with
 delight.
 ing the old man said to Ingram
 ''They sing ferry well together" Ii
 was love song they were singing
 and Ingram replied: "Ah. yes; of what
 should young people sing but of mak-
 ing love? I suppose Sheila will mar
 ry some time"
 "Yes, that Is so," answered the King
 "Of course Sheila must marry"
 And do you not think you see be.
 fore you one who might take charge
 of Sheila's futureT said Ingram, plung.
 ing in.
 The thought struck Mackenzie fol