The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-19

unlocked for failure in thstr a<ss attack
told n= what iO sEpect
In the description % this six day siege
AZ in the. other historical events described
Mrs McCaTtsr does not Use imaginary
names She calls Gov. Crawford Gov.
IRA ~ford. She calls by name Col II.
l.. Moore. who now lives at IAwrence.
Kan. Judge Howard Morton OF Fort
Scott. Sharp Grover. who was killed;
Jack Stilwell. who lives nov in Oklahoma
Allison Piil@y Of Kansas City and John
McKee, 81 Topeka.
From participants also the author
learned the details Of the Nineteenth
Kansas Cavalry campaign OF 'ss. in COM
mand 81 Gov. Samuel j. Crawtord-as
tragic campaign a. found in fiction.
The main setting OF the story Ia In .
settlement called by the author Spring
val"-hy the Seo=ho, though no kansan
had difficulty in at once recognizing ~
as the little town Of Council Grove from
the Typographical surroundings:
The very air abou, sprinsvaie MAS full
of tradition The town had been from the
earliest times a landmark OF the old Santa
Pc trail when the freishters and plains
mon LEFT the village and climbed Ia the top
81 the -lopr and -, their faces TO the west
there Law before them only the wilderness
wastes Here nature. grown miserly. offered
not even stick OF timber To mend a broken
cart pole in all the thousand miles be-
tween the Seo-ho and the spanish settle
mcnt Of New Mexico.
Here the Ind ians came with their furs
and beaded garments to exchange for Are
arms and Hre~ater. People fastened their
doors nj night for a purpose. No curfew
Was needed 20 call in the children. Tbe
wooded Neosho Valley grew dark before the
evening lights had left the rrairies beyond
the west biun and the waters that sang all
day a song Of cheer they RIPPED over
the rocky bed seemed always after niahtfail
to xurgie murderously as they went their
way down the black shadowed valley. My
! fathers house was on the very crest OF the
west blum. overlooking the Neosho Valley.
IL fronted the east and across the wide
At rect before u the blum broke precipitously
80 feet TO the level floor Of the valley below.
Sometimes the shelving rocks furnished
a footing where one could Chamber down
| half way and walk along the narrow ledge.
Here were cunning hiding places. deep
creyIccS and vine covered heaps Of jagged
stone outcr"p inv,-.hle from the height
above or the valley below II was . hit
of rugged. unrAmshle clin rarely found
! in the plains country. and II broke so sud
denly from the level promontory sioping
down to tn" south and away to the west
that a stranger sitting by our east win
dow- would never have guessed that the
seeming bushes peerinS up across the
street were really the tops OF tall trees
with their roots in the side OF the blum
not half way tn the bottom.
From our west window the green glory
OF the plains spread out to the baths Of
sunset No wonder this Kansas land 10
T life OF my ltt~ The sra IL to me q waving
trcachery. but these firm pSairics are the
. Joy of my memory
B The story is a good Kansas story.
drawing from the prairie at every breath.
and the many incidents and characters
which are historical draw no more than
the main current Of fiction which runs
through the book.
/ Although this IL Mrs. McIarter's first
appearance a. a novelist, she has Tor
some years been writing holiday gift
books which have appeared in Topeka
and Kansas. and is known TO the readers
Of the Topeka Daily Capital by her series
Of articles entitled A Hundred Kansas
Women She began writing her novel
not quite a year ago and completed its
$50 pages within five months. between
interins of her housework that a Kansas
hou-skeeper always puts first. writing
from ,UO To 600 words a day. After
sh. had completed the story she had 20
tell she made "A personal trip TO Chicago
20 see tn. publishers she wanted 20 pro-
due, IL within thirty days il was ac
cep,ed and within six months. three
weeks after publication. II had become
Kansas best seller