The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-18
THE LONE STAR. BY Eugene p Lyle.
Jr. Doubleday, Page g. Company,

THE LONE STAR. BY Eugene P. Lyle.
Jr Doubleday, Page g. Company,
OF New York. publishers.
In this stirring romance just pub
lished, the author gives vivid por-
trayal of the men who won Texas
from Mexico-Sam Houston, stephen
Austin. David Crockett. William
Travis and the others. of group of
indomtable heroes, who practically
added the great expanse of the Lone
Star State to the Union.
This epic of the Southwest is dra-
matte enough TO stir the blood irresist-
IDLY and enable the reader to under
stand the kind of men Houston.
Crockett, Bowie and their companions
were and what the Alamo tragedy
meant
Lyle's pen-p!ctures of these heroes
are remarkable. He has the faculty Of
putting with a few unerring strokes
the whole picture upon his canvas of
presenting not merely a figure, but
conditions. an epoch. Nan Buckalew
is not merely the heroine OF charm
ing romance. She is Texan womanhood
itself In a couple of paragraphs we
see and moreover. know Santa Anna
| and knowing him, we understand the
whole spirit of Mexico as she was
| under his mesmeric spell.
| These are the words in which Mr..
LYLE describes Bowie as he was first
seen by the hero of "'rhe Lone STAR
| in the famous duel of the Sandbar:
"A lean, 1.-the, heavy-boned patri-
clan was swaying sullenly. He had
curly reddish hair and side-burns. One
hand was pressed to his ribs. With the
| other he tried to aim his weapon. But
an antagonist from behind dubbed a
! pistol on his skull, and as he crashed
| to his knees a second man leaped on
| him. Yet even then he flung them on
and reclining against a log, he aimed
once more at his first man. He and
the other fired together, and at tina,
| the lean giant pitched his length, face
| downward, and / could see the splen-
! did limbs relax and the crimson breaF
+" like Wine over his fine linen. instantly
| his first antagonist was leaning oVel
| him with a sword cane. AS In spasn
my giant rolled over on his back
| heavily, like man asleep. But nj!
eyes We're open, and they We're pierre
| ing. steel-gray eyes; and as he rolled
his arm swung a stiff circle. and {
long knife in his hand met the breas
over him. and sank so deep that TIL
/ hand fell from 1T and thumped pain
| upward on the sand. His antagonis
pitched across his body, and die
i there. It had been no trouble to iden
tify my chevalier of the knife. Every
il body knew i'm Bowie"
4 With equal acumen he picture
Houston in his moccasins, his mud
stained leggings, his yellow leathe
breeches and soiled buckskin hunt
ing shirt; Crockett. the quaint oil
backwoodsman. who killed more tina
one hundred bears In a single winter
Santa Anna dining in his Mexica
palace, surrounded by his general
and henchmen, and Nan Buckalew, tn
heroine. American fromsthe top of he
boot to the resolute tilt OF her SON
brero.
i Along with its dramatic and pix
!, turesque flavor, Lyle has chosen in h
, book to depict n situation which mo.
thrillingly reveals the Americans II
herent capacity for rugged, unalloye
! physical courage. In the Alamo It
! courage without hope, the supren
test. Every man behind those wal
knew absolutely that he must die If
: stayed. and all but one did sta
though. until then escape was posslbl
Moreover. 1t was not only, chan
to escape with honor, but by escapr
they would have. obeyed orders Th
was real courage.
THE Lone Star" Is a story OF Il
Illad epoch of America. This was t
epoch Of the knife. Empire had to
won with the flintlock first. with t
ak afterward. Then there We're t
mon who did 1t, who for prove!
fighting, and wisdom surpass I
merely legendary dcmigod of Gree
and Troy. Their very names fascina
with the suggestion OF good stor
Hike the name of Robin Hood, and J
there exists neither ballad nor el
] about them.
So much the more welcome, TIL
Ito Lyle's romance. Very reverent
hut with buoyant enthusiasm, he i
gone to his native State, and tax
the thrilling story of Texas for
own. and If the tale he has told dc
II not forthwith become "A classic
N Texas. 1t cannot be the fault
u the Texans who WOO. and fight, a
have their being between the GOV
NJ OF "the book.
u TO TIE CREDIT OF THE SEA.
- Lawrence Mott. From Harper /
Brothers. OF Network through
Bell Book and Stationery Go
Il pany. of Richmond PIP. 2N6 81
A story of Labrador fisherraen, til
wives and children, the grim sho
they inhabit. and the treacherous, $
4 from which they snatch peril
living A book With plenty OF