The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-11

| fish, in two volumes; Ethical and
Moral Instruction in Schools by Prof.
George H Palmer and Teaching Chill
| dren to Study" by Miss Ida B. Ear
hart, in the Series of Riverside Educa-
tional Monographs; Heroes Every
Child Should Know" edited by DR..
Hamilton W. Mabie; and, in the popu-
lar Riverside Literature Series. 'sHux-
ley's Autobiography and Selected scien-
| tlfic and Educational Essays "Byror's
| Chflde Harold, Canto ", and the Pris-
oner of Chiffon" and ''washington's
Farewell Address and Webster's Bunk
er Hill Grafton
THE Lady of the Decoration" now
| more than three years old, still con-
tinues to be among the best selling
BOOKS on its publishers list. several
thousand copies a month being the
usual output. The first book the au-
| thor has written since 1.-The LADY of
| the Decoration" is Little sister snow"
which is announced for October 9.
One of the minor but annoying diff
cultles Of the novelist's trade is the
oeartn or good names for his charac-
ters which are not already appropriated
by characters who live in the flesh. A
curious case was given to A. c.. McCIug
d Co by the late Will Lilub1idge who
qlscoVered In the very county of his
nero another and real ben Blair" wao
pursued the more or less even tenor
of a rancher and cattle mans wav ir.
oIlssful ignorance of his namesake in a
most successful novel This fact was
brought to his publishers attention
AFTER they had written Mr.. IilIibridpa
that the name of the hero in .aT6e
dominant Dollar" to be published next
month, was the real name of a vel
known brother novelist
Some OF the best friends w,,,,.r,
Allen White has is among the news
paper men of Washington. The
washington Herald. of which Scott G.
zone. Is owner, pays the Kansan the
a a3itowLne nigh tribute in a recent
William Allen White has written
story that puts him at once in first
rank or American novelists His "a
best product of the all too prolific
school OF present-day fiction writer's,
and will assuredly have a pIace in
literature long after the frothy best
sellers OF MS contemporaries have
passed into oblivion.
In his "Stratagem and SpoiIs''-a
series Of short political stories pub
Hshed a few years ago-Wiiliam
Allen White disclosed a talent for
character delineation rich in promise
Of further development and achieve
ment, and it has borne splendid fruit
in his latest and greatest work.
His theme-the money-mad mania
that put the country to shame and
brought about a political evolution
unparalleled in the republics pre-
v1ous history-is a strong one, and
he handles it graphically. But 1t is
In the characters he produces that he
excels. They are of flesh and blood
folks whose like we know or have
known, whom we have seen come
and go, and whose joys and sorrows
we have shared. Real people they
are-not the make-believe creatures
that figure in impossible roles in the
average novel. For example, the Col
Culpeper to whom We are introduced
and whose ups and downs we follow
with glad or heavy heart is as
loVable as Thackeray's Col. Newcomb
and just as human. Moreover, the
story told embraces the period of
fifty years just past. beginning with
the civil war and reaching into
Roosevelt's administration. and thus
deals with our own times and the
times of our fathers and mothers.
1t is not our purpose to review Mr..
Whites book. which heretofore has
received adequate attention In that
respect, but only to emphasize
editorially a matured conviction that
an American novel has finally been
written-a work of fiction worth
reading and rereading. and deserving
Of and destined to have more than
f1eeting fame. It is not only the book
of the year. but the best story of the
generation, and we hail the author,
William Allen White. and tender him
this tribute of our genuine esteem.