A book rather out of the ordinary is this “Spirit of the Border.”
The main thread of the story has to do with the work of the Moravian
missionaries in the Ohio Valley. Incidentally the reader is given
details of the frontier life of those hardy pioneers who broke the
wilderness for the planting of this great nation. Chief among these,
as a matter of course, is Lewis Wetzel, one of the most peculiar, and
at the same time the most admirable of all the brave men who spent
their lives battling with the savage foe, that others might dwell in
comparative security.
Details of the establishment and destruction of the Moravian “Village
of Peace” are given at some length, and with minute description.
The efforts to Christianize the Indians are described as they never
have been before, and the author has depicted the characters of the
leaders of the several Indian tribes with great care, which of itself
will be of interest to the student.
By no means least among the charms of the story are the vivid
word-pictures of the thrilling adventures, and the intense paintings
of the beauties of nature, as seen in the almost unbroken forests.
It is the spirit of the frontier which is described, and one can by
it, perhaps, the better understand why men, and women, too, willingly
braved every privation and danger that the westward progress of the
star of empire might be the more certain and rapid. A love story,
simple and tender, runs through the book.
=RICHELIEU.= A tale of France in the reign of King Louis XIII. By G.
P. R. James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis.
Price, $1.00.
In 1829 Mr. James published his first romance, “Richelieu,” and was
recognized at once as one of the masters of the craft.
In this book he laid the story during those later days of the great
cardinal’s life, when his power was beginning to wane, but while
it was yet sufficiently strong to permit now and then of volcanic
outbursts which overwhelmed foes and carried friends to the topmost
wave of prosperity. One of the most striking portions of the story
is that of Cinq Mar’s conspiracy: the method of conducting criminal
cases, and the political trickery resorted to by royal favorites,
affording a better insight into the state-craft of that day than
can be had even by an exhaustive study of history. It is a powerful
romance of love and diplomacy, and in point of thrilling and
absorbing interest has never been excelled.
=DARNLEY.= A Romance of the times of Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey.
By G. P. R. James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson
Davis. Price, $1.00.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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