The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-07

conversations unlike anything that human beings in any age any condition ever could have used, have retired this book to the distinguished position of the fa- nous novels that every one knows by name, but nobody reads
 This is unfortunate. The blemishes, al- though conspicuous, are superficial. The moment Cooper reaches dramatic points he exchanges his stately, labored manner for style as vivid and instantly compell- ing as are the lightnings and the winds that he describes. "The Water r-W1tcn" is we'll worth reading, if only for the sea scenes, and of these there have been few better or more simple and effective in English than the description of the chase of the smuggler through the Hell Gate. ~ N the afternoon of June 8, 1710 the British 2O-gun corvette Coquette
 sailed from under the tree-c1ad heights of Staten Island in the harbor of New York and stood down the lower bay, bound in chase of an outlaw ship.
 With the exception of her young com mander, Captain Ludlow. and a few of her officers, none aboard expected any thing of profit from the attempt. The old sailors, including even the sailing mas ter, expressed the opinion openly that it were as likely of success to chase the devil himself.
 If the tales told in the colony were taken as basis, the belief of the super stitious sailors could be well excused and understood. There were men who said that the famous Water Witch was as we'll able to sail in the clouds as on the pil- lows of the water
 Although her exploits in the Americas had been such as to arouse the English
  ever had seen vessel or master, and these few kept close mouths, for the Water Witch was engaged in the illegal but highly popular trade of bringing contra band into the colonies.
 While the white pyramids of the cor vette were driving her down the channel toward Sandy Hook, a swift light sail- ing piragua was dancing toward the same point over shorter course, being able to dart over shoals that the heavy cruiser could not cross.
 The piragua contained the heavy and valuable form of Alderman Myndert Van Beverout, one of Yorks richest men; the no less valuable and almost as heavy form of Oloff Van Staats, the young Pat room of Kinderhook whose inherited tSldlc Ol luU,OUV dCItS IcdCHcQ lIOlH lIo Hudson river to the Massachusetts line; and the much lighter, but far more beau- tiful form of Aida de Barberie, the nfece of the Alderman, in whose figure and form the grace and elegance of a Hugue- not father had mingled with the bloom and healthy beauty of a sturdy Dutch mother.
 They were bound for the alderman's summer residence the little mansion of Lust in Rust, meaning Joy in Rest, which he had built at the foot of the great hills known as the Highlands that tower strangely from the ocean in region where all the other land is barely above sea level.
 From the cozy nestling place of Lust in Rust the white skeleton arm of the Sandy Hook reached some miles due east, if to embrace the lower portion of the great and beautiful harbor. Sitting on the veranda of the Dutchman's luxurious house, one could look across the sandy spur only few hundred yards wide at this point, and see the heavy surf beat ing itself into foaming death against the ocean beach; or by merely turning the eyes the sight would transfer itself to a
 
 Staten Island in one direction and by the shining dazzle of snow-white Coney Island in another, while northward the lordly sea gate of the Narrows hid the town of York that lay beyond.
 It was a spot lonely as it was beauti- full. With the exception of the alder mans slaves, who occupied cabins near the Shrewsbury river below the house, there were no human beings within many miles.
 It was this loneliness more than the beauty that had inspired the alderman to select the unique spot, so far from York and so difficult of access. The prominent citizen and pattern of all civic and private virtue was the gentleman who lealt with the Water-W Witch and her mys- terious captain.
 At that very moment the craft was ly- ing in a cove near Lust in Rust, and when the corvette came to anchor just in- / side of Sandy Hook to wait for westerly wind for sea, the crew of the smuggler was watching her, not league away but completely concealed by the high back ground with which the tapering masts of the vessel blended perfectly
 The hull of the celebrated outlaw trader was molded with exquisite art. It seemed to float on the water like a sea fowl rath- CT than a ship Her rig was brigantine, the forward and smaller mast having all the complicated machinery of a square rgged ship, with immense spars set across 1t and reaching far over the water on either side. The mast astern rose like the straight trunk of some splendid pine and spread one single, enormous sheet of can vas that in itself was sufficient to drive the vessel with vast velocity.
 Her blanks were less like the works of a ship carpenter than that of cabinet makers. She had cabins great and fine enough for an admiral, and her crew had quarters superior to the officers quarters in many Queens ship.
 Built to carry precious freight in small compass, she needed neither the depth of hold nor the breadth of trader. Under weighted by guns, she could float where royal cruiser would have her great sides out of the water and lie dry.
 Her master had not neglected to take advantage of her supernatural reputation. He had mounted a figurehead of a wom- in sea green with a countenance so angry and frightening in expression that