St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1907-07-31
New Books.


Herbert |. Goss. Cloth, 16 mo- 1896 PIP.
Published at $50 by The c. NJ. Clark
Publishing Company, Boston.
This is a romance of a young lawyer
written by a native of Waterford who is
now a successful attorney in Berlin, N.
H. Mr.. Goss was nephew of the late
Judge Ross and a student in the '70s
at ST. Johnsbury Academy. He studied
law with the firm of Bates & May in the
early sos and is we'll remembered here,
as we'll as an occasional visitor to st
Johnsburv in legal business. The follow
ing appreciative tribute to the book has
been received by the editor:
DEAR MIR. STONE Il thank you for
calling my attention to At Thorndyke,
Attorney. at-Law," new novel by Her
bert |. Goss, Esq, of Berlin N. H. Mr.
Goss and were boys together and class
mates in ST. Johnsbury Academy and the
book has enabled me to renew acquaint-
ance with an old friend and to have even
a more close and intimate view of his
inner life than might have been afforded
by meeting face to face. | cannot
safely say how much of the interest
aroused in my mind by the story has
been due to the fact that everything in it
has sounded as if spoken by familiar
voice; but | do know that it held me
from beginning to end and that parts of
it touched me deeply. When you read it
tln+ sc 1,,11.
yelled record of his own struggles and
achievements, with such reflections on
life and such dreams and visions as
sensitive, thoughtful. ambitious young
man was likely to have and be impressed
with. There is the mark of sincerity on
every page Good legal anecdotes
abound and the familiar names and faces
of New Hampshire and Vermont lawyers
meet us at every turn. There are scenes
of real pathos, like that of the death of
Bill Whipple. There are passages of
description that could hardly be i'm
proved, like that in which we are led up
to look into the very eyes of the grazing
and drinking deer. There are para
graphs of genuine eloquence, like that in
which the JOY and beauty of the physical
world is chanted with the fervor and
sympathy of poet. There are homely
! touches of country life and manners in
every chapter given with fidelity that
leaves nothing to be desired. When the
author writes to make his reader &C.
quainted with the merits or chances of
law suit, he knows how to state the
question with such clearness and COM
mon sense as to meet the comprehension
of any man, or any child who can read
his words. He has dealt freely with
local and state celebrities, but with such
nvariable good humor that surely none
of these can take offense; and the local
color is so strong and pithful that the
book cannot fail to have wide reading
and to greatly increase the number of
the authors friends. The plot of the
story is extremely slight and is often
lost to view for many pages, yet it
serves to give certain unity to all that
is said, and therein well serves its only
purpose. No one who has gone through
the always difficult first years of law.
yer's life, especially if those years were
full of hardship, hope deferred and bitter
disappointment, will be able to read this
record without an occasional moistenine
of the eyes, even while he laughs.
Very sincerely yours.
WENDELL ?. STAFFORD.
ST. Johnsbury, Vt, July %, 1907
The book is also published in ar
edition deluxe, sumptuously bound in rec
cloth and containing numerous full page
portraits of the characters mentioned in
the story. Most Of the pictures are o.
well-known residents of northern New
Hampshire, though there are two from
this section, George Van Dyke and Hon
Alexander Dunnett.