Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-17
WOOLWlNE BRANCHES
INTO LITERARY WORK
FORMER PROSECUTING ATTOR-
NEY WRITES BOOK 4
ain the Valley of the Shadow" Shows
Much Ability and Is RepIete
with Pen Pic
tures

Thomas Lee Woolwine, former prose-
cutting attorney of Los Angeles, is the
author of a book called, Sin the Valley
of the Shadow" just issued by Double
day, Page and company of New York
Mr.. WoolWine shows he is as proficient
with the n as he is with the big stick,
and his book is a surprising revelation
of literary ability. 1t is a tale of the
Cumberlands, simply but effectively
told, with an abundance of good de-
scription and narration and coloring
throughout which leaves no doubt as
to the authors familiarity with the To-
Gale Of his story.
The plot is transparently simple, in
volving the love affairs of Betty Taylor
and Nathan Gentry, a boy and girl of
the mountains. The families of the two
young persons have been bitter enemies
for years, and the mountain feud has
been the cause of more than one death.
The implacable hatred of the men of
the two clans is a barrier between the
union of Nathan and Betty, but it is
overcome finally by the magnanimity
of Nathan in sparing Andy Taylor, the
girls brother, after Subduing him in a
fight.
There are touches of description in
the book which place it among the best
of the tales of the Cumberlands. The
KNOWS Ills U6lONGu lIlOuuldlIlS
in all their moods.
Makes Pen Picture
"On the edge of Twilight valley, nest
| ling close between the towering ridges,
! lies q vast, sequestered clearing. 1t is
a picturesque, unfrequented solitude,
| locked in the heart of the vast wilder
ness, and long since overgrown with a
! thick carpet of native verdure. An
abandoned footpath cuts an uneven
rift in the grass and weeds, leading
! from the woods to the rOtting steps of
a dilapidated mountain cabin, deserted
| and tenantlesS, save for the wild things
that find Indifferent shelter beneath it's
decaying roof, and live and build and
thrive, unhampered and unharmed of
mankind.
cit was May, and the busy wasps
were hanging their nests close against
! the Oaken shakes; the winged dirt
daubers fashioned their homes of earth
in the tiny inches, out of the way of
! the dew and the rains; white head
bumblebees flew, honey laden, from far
away fields, and disappeared in circular
holes bored deep in the finty fiber Of
the weather seasoned logs; and water
swallows, swift as arrows, circled from
a nearby creek, fitting in and out past
the half open, sagging door. Between
! the house and the slopes some strag-
Cling fruit trees still survived the raw
| ages of long neglect, and stood, weed
choked and forgotten, with here and
there a bare, dead limb, showing stark
and lifeless amid the sweet-scented
blossoms, and the green of the leaves"
The opening chapter shows a differ
ent mood:
The SentneIs of the Valley
"Great mountain ranges, the silent
sentries of countless ages, kept their
eternal watch over Twilight valley, and
reared their pine-hooded heights far up
! the sky to the east and to the west
of the fertile lowlands. The first rays
of the morning sun streaked high
| across the heavens, far above the Slum-
] bering vale; and long before the fall
of night, the orb of day sank between
the lofty SUBMITS of the westward
ridges and wrapped the little valley
| in the restful, soothing shades Of early
twilight.
winter was on the land. A steady
snow had fallen throughout the day,
and long ere the shadows Of cleaning
! heightened across the narrow vale, the
Ieafless branches of the great trees
creaked and swayed under their leafy
burden, and the earth lay under a
! thickening cover Of unblemished down.
1.-TWO roads cut their devious way
| luIOu5I1 IltS ClSdIlLlS anu ILO WOOOASRuN'
and met and crossed at right angles
midway the valley. In their guise of
white, they lay like mystical, untrod
| highways, fashioned by some strange,
invisible power, and wrapped in. spot
less folds, awaiting the tread of myriad
angels"
Aside from its literary merit, the vol
ume is beautifully bound and illus
| trated and is, altogether, one of the
| most attractive of the recent book out
J put of Doubleday, Page & Co.