The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-24

that hook appeared this reviewer got up
and yelled a bit. threw up hats and things
| of that sort but it is 10 TO that tlle
author wasn't well paid for her trouble
and talents expended in producing SO
splendid a book. Such authors never
| are; the Chambers, MacGraths, MI
| Cutcheons and Phillips are, though, all
right enough, so let us not despair.
| "Nathan Burke" is so far ahead or
| LADY Merton, Colonist," for instance,
| that those two books are really not 10
he compared with each other although 1t
can safely be done by Mrs. watts many
admirers.
Did you ever visit one of these CYCLIC
| ramas say, one showing the battle OF
cettvsburg and you found it difficult
to tell where the painting began and the
ground or flooring in front of your view
| stand left off? If you have. you Will UNI
| der stand readily the statement of this
scribe when he says THAT Nathan Burke
is so big and leisure:y saturated with the
spirit of the time it depicts anc SO run
| of the color of real life that it reads
more like delightful history Quot dry-as-
dust. either than romance. Like most
| hig novels 1t Is simple enough In outline;
| Il Is merely the story of mans ITO,
| his struggles and failures and successes,
the humor and pathos and tragedy that
| go to make up the varied events or
|
| Burke" will not seem to be anything of
| an exceptional man. He is introduced in
| Mrs. Watts delightful book as back
woods boy, sprung from the hardy pioneer
| stock that settled the great western re-
| serve He Is not brilliant youth, rev
| of us are, but he has the steadiness and
| tenacity of purpose, the answering per-
| sistency and the honest ambition that the
better, we know, than brilliancy of any
| sort-may be. Growing to manhood In
| the days Just preceding the Mexican war,
| he finds in those stirring times plenty
of opportunities for the exercise or his
| powers He comes creditably through ex-
periences that test his resources of char
acter thoroughly. and in the end wins the
success and happiness that he deserves.
| But from this bare outline you can get
| no idea of the charm of Nathan Burke;"
| few books have been written in years that
will please as much. This outline is no
more like the story Itself than snapshot
photograph is like the crowded movement
| and color of an actual street scene. The
story itself purports to be written by
| Nathan Burke himself in his shrewd and
| kindly old age, as a legacy for his grand
| children. He shows himself a genial
| philosopher with an amiable weakness
for well-worn Latin quotations and dig
nified intention of telling the story in the
| third person. But now and again in the
| old Nat forgets his pose and drops into
| the first person in an irresistihy natural
way. He is utterly unaffected and even.
offhand in his descriptions of all the GU
| rious characters in his little community;
| old George Marsh, the hard-fsted. Gym
| zeal trader who gives Nat his start in
| life: Mrs. Ducey, his early patroness. and
| the inimitabe Ducey family; charming lit
| tie Francie Blake. who adores Nat and
| afterward marries him; Jim Sharpess. the
! friend of his young manhood. and Jim's
| sister Mary And each person lives Wv
| idly In the readers minds eve There
Lis no installing their genuineness The
| letters to Mrs Ducev and her SON. George,
| from which Nat quotes occasionally. are
| ridiculous In their sly. infectious humor
In the chapters devoted to the Mexican
war number of actual personaees are
| introduced General Taylor Gen N'irHeld
! Scott. Generals Twiggs and Pierce Put
| Ter, al we'll as the ~rort Nr'e-f-.'t.
General Ouitman. grandfather. this scribe
thinks. of Mr.. W s. Lowell of Brmins-
ham. But these real persorr,ress II ~ ,
riore or no less than the wholly fictitious
characters.
Nathan Burke is so good so superior
that in writing of it one can only re-
greet that most of the available adiec-
tives employed liz discussing books have
long since been used up. pre-digested
But this novel. whether it does or not.
will not make any difference. ii should
at once give Mrs. Watts a place among
the foremost novelists using tie Enelis'p
language, American and English And
for the benefit Of those who may cast a