The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-02
ANOTHER GOOD BOOK.

Maybe it IS a little late 10 say a good
word for - Certain Rich Man. Ana
vet the book store keepers say that there
are a great many people in Utah who
have not read it. And these few lines
are written for the benefit of those VINO
have not read.
"a Certain Rich Man" is marvellous
ly interesting story; wonderfully well
conceived plot, and a masterfully de-
veloped recital Furthermore, IT Is
moral and a lesson. But since the les
son is directed at rich men, the rest
of us can drink our fill of the delights
the story offers, and leave the moral 70
those whom it may concern.
Maybe it is especially interesting to
the man or the woman in the neighoor-
hood of fifty-and from there to the
sunset line of life. But there is enough
Of human nature, and of love, and of
music, and of humor. to delight all the
rest of the world. It is a product Of
the pen OF William Allen White of En-
poria, Kansas, and in all his active and
useful career he has done nothing half
so good.
The hero of the story was boy when
the war broke out, and he followed to
battle the company that was raised in
his county. He was far too young to be
a soldier, and if the army then had
been organized with the precision
known IN later years. he never would
have reached the front. But in the for
native period of military life in the
republic, he and two of his boy COM
panions managed TO stay with their
neighbors and friends even through the
horror and the perils of battle. One Of
the boys was killed at Wilson'S Creek
where General Nathaniel Lyon lost his
life. One-the hero-was shot in the
foot and limped TO the end of his
career.
He limped back home, and became a
scholar, and then a trader, and then a
rich MANTLE Certain Rich Man" of
the tale. He represents the intellectual
type-turned TO money-making. And
he becomes a captain of industry; a
millionaire. And his heart grows hard
er and harder with the passing years till
not a semblance of human pity, not a
vestige of simple honor remains. He
stops this side of actions the penalty
for which would be imprisonment-and
believes himself justified so long as he
achieves that result. Yet he is the hus-
band of one wife, the loving father of
one girl, and the affectionate son of a
of character delineation, and no word
of comment can at all suggest the
charm with which the simple material
has been handled.
HOW John Barclay crushed every hu-
name instinct in his race for wealth,
how he amassed a tremendous fortune,
how he drove other men to crime, how
he was converted through pain and sor-
row to a better view of life. how he
atoned in his death for the errors IF his
Hfe-these are matters that can be
known only by a reading of the story.
The Herald-Republican has always
spoken Of the things believed to be help
full TO the people. Here is a book they
should read. They will weep with the
sorrows OF those that mourn. They will
laugh with the vagaries OF those who are
gay. They will see the rise OF a mighty
state. and the painting of American
character on broad canvas as they are
not likely to do in any other book now
before them.
It is impossible to speak too warmly
in commentator Of "A Certain Rich
Man"