The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-03
BOOK NEWS.

A new Emerson Hough book has
Just been published by the Bobbs-
Merrill company of Indianapolis. It
is called 1.-THE Purchase Price" The
time of this story is one of the most
stirring and romantic of the years of
our history except. possibly. those in
which actually war has been In prog
ress. Even the years of active hos
tility contain less of the material Of
nction than do those days when every
Ihing is impending, when, therefore,
small events may lead to great effects.
when men are uncertain of themselves
and of each other, when the future is
shrouded in mystery and dread. At
such time the humdrum lives of COM
mon place people often become big
with portentous possibilities, and out
of the most unpromising material he
roes are made. There has scarcely
been another period In the history OF
the United States when the whole peo-
pie. not being at war. were so aroused
by public question as they were dur
war. for heretofore no question In
which all men are interested and on
which all men feel themselves to be
competent judges had come so home
to the nation at large. Mr.. Hough
has. therefore. chosen wisely the time
of this story which. while 1t cannot be
called strictly an historical novel.
draws Its interest largely from the cir
| time. By SO doing he has provided his
characters with an interesting back
ground and made possible to them
adventures that are credible and ro-
mantle.
Lord Rosebery's new book, Lord
Chatham: His Early Life and Con-
nections," was published simultaneous
" in this country and in England last
week. Lord Rosebery announces that
a m IA
Dropmore papers. and traces the ca
reer of the great statesman from the
time when he was a schoolboy at Elton
to the period when he became a re-
sponsfble minister of the crown. Chat
ham, in his early political career. was
one of the most violent antagonists of
Sir Robert Walpole, circumstance
which led the old duchess of Marlbor-
minister to bequeath him legacy of
ten thousand pounds to prevent, as
she put it, the ruin of his country"
Hamlin Garvin, whose new volume
of stories, "Other Main Travelled
Roads" was published last month. is
now in the East delivering q series of
lectures on forest conservation. While
living in ''the high country" prepara-
tory to writing his novel, "Cavanaugh.
Forest Ranger" which was published
last spring, Mr.. Garland secured a
number of lantern slides which he has
used now for the first time In address,
ing the Yale Forestry school at New
Haven. The romance of the man in
moss green" so prominent in "Cava-
Garland's lectures a popular appeal
which,, with the patriotic impulse of
the novel, is now reaching a country
wide audience.
Recently Mr.. Robert w. Chambers
xxvac int
asked him whether he thought expert
ence was necessary in order that a
novelist might depict truthfully the
things which he described. He scout
necessary to be a drunkard in order
to describe one. Continuing, Mr..
Chambers said: "The moment a man
thinks he has a mission, he's lost
That's the trouble with a lot of the
men who are trying<to be great today
What we really need is the realization
that not one of us Is indispensable.
The women are beating US on our own
ground these days. There's Mrs. Whar-
toni don't know her equal among
land does more perfect work than any
of US. There's where you get the
fallacy of the personal experience the
DRY. Those women have not found 1t
places of the earth, and yet their char
acters are by no means an array Of
saints This recalls Stephen Crane,
who said that he obtained the sensa-
lions of battle which he described in
1.-The Red Badge of Courage" from the
football field.
King George of England has paid
Miss Agnes Murphy. the Irish-Ameri-
can writer. the compliment of accept
! ing a copy Of her biography of Madame
Melba. This work is published by
Doubleday, Page & Co., of Garden
City. N. Y, and contains, besides the
/ biography, several chapters by the
prima donna herself on the selection
of music as a profession and on the