The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-03
Among the Books
and Magazines
The southerncr.

The SOutherncr.
BY Nicholas Worth. autobiographer.
Doubleday. Page & Co. Of New York,
through the Bell Book and Stationery
Company; $3.50.
The author of this book represents
himself. In Its latter pages. as max
ing a speech to O. Boston audience, and
saying in reference to the people OF
the new South: do you wonder that
we arc become weary OF being a
the feeling with which any self-re-
specting Southern man or woman. abb
sorbed in work. and asking nothing
better than TO be let alone, looks at Il
social and political questions relating
to the South are exploited. Tho pro-
gram of this class of novels is such
q we'll worn one that the ending is
known from the beginning. the whole
number as a rule being chiefly re-
markable for the amount of ignorance
displayed.
But 'srhe southerner pulsates with
virilc force and differentiatcs itself
entirely from the usual class of such
romances that are written only to be
forgotten. or to be remembered be-
cause OF their absurdities. Like a
score of others 1t begins at n crucial
period, that of the War Between the
States. Unlike score of others. Its
utterance is vital, not lifeless. from
%
traced the pages of The Southerner.''
there is heart and feeling and per-
sonality not to be disregarded.
into the makeup of the book has
gram: the pathetic desolation of the
South when wartime ended, the hard
ships of reconstruction days, the re-
turn of young boyhood and manhood
to school and college. the after grap-
ping with conditions that discour-
age and perplex. and the discussion
of political Issues and racial questions.
which are too serious to be tempered
with in fiction.
But into the treatment of his theme.
Nicholas Worth has infused an energy
and vital quality that give it color
throughout interesting. His reader
may not agree with him. but the ring
Of honest sincerity pervading what Mr..
Worth writes renders Ii quite possible
to differ with him respectfully.
In description. the book Is very at
tractiye. he Southerner'' touches
the backgrounds of his life with a
reverential hand. and impresses others
ny SO doing. He is not less clever in
Characterization, for the two women
most prominently portrayed by him.
his cousin. Margaret, and Louise Craig
hill. have their likenesses admirably
taken: In the narration of events
there is terse vividness rendering
that overlooks no mlrth-provoking de-
tail, and that lightens what would
otherwise be too sombre.
The fault of the book lies in Its
bringing up. under the guise of fic-
ton. some Of the gravest issues that
affect American national life and well
fare, issues that should find no place
In a novel and that can only create
further mischief and discord by be-
Ing introduced into one
The supreme merit OF the book is
found in the lesson 1t teaches. that
it is the duty of every Southerner to
remain loyal to his State and section,
and to give himself the highest that
in him lies, to the betterment of con-
ditions in land whose infinite va
riety and riches are not yet known;
to people whose development may
be illimitable: to the continuous im-
provement of humanity: to the i'm
mortality OF democracy and the right
mindedness Of the masses.