THE HESPERIAN.
3
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and all the other necessary places ' for work that in this
country is done for the fanner at the nearest town. There,
in Norway, the peasant must depend upon himself for repairs
and to a great extent, for manufacture.
Another interesting feature of this Noiwegian rural life is
the mountain pastures or dairies, whither the peasants go,
often by crowds, to eke out the scanty pasturage of the
valleys. In vivid language the author describes these pleas-
mu, roiling upiuuu uic.muws, uim one can nunosi seem 10
sec the laughing, blooming maidens and the stout-limbed
)ouths who gather there to make the time for work a holi
day. The fisheries, also, come In for notice in this paper,
and with intelligent directness and a charming brevity the
writer describes the habits of the fisher and the fished, and
discusses the economical value of this industry and the phase
of life to which it gives support. A particularly pleasant
portion of the article is that in which he describes the forests
and the timber felling. The reader cannot help laughing at
the life-like description of the heavy sledges loaded with
logs, forcing the horses to slide on their haunches down the
steep, slippery hills.
No one can realize the charm of Bjornson's style (no
doubt much impaired by the imperfect medium of transla
tion) who has not read some of his writings. Those who
have read the first paper on Norway will look eagerly for the
continuation of the scries.
As long as the people shall remember the "Iloosicr
Schoolmaster,'1 so long will Edward Egglcston enjoy a high
degree of popularity. Hut he has surpassed himself in "The
Graysons," the publication of which in the Century has
reccntly'bccn completed. The last work of Eggleston's lacks
some of the novelty of the "Hoosicr Schoolmaster," but it is
much more finished. The art in writing consists in conceal
ing the traces of all art, and this is what Egglcston has done
in 'The Graysons."
The story is a talc of Illinois country life, in the years
when Abraham Lincoln was a young man. The story has
to do principally with Tom Grayson, .his sister Barbara,
Hiram Mason, Bob McCord, George Lockwood, Dave
Sovinc, and "Abe" Lincoln. Hiram Mason was a young
man teaching school in order to get money enough to pay
his way through college; he was also a young man very much
in love with algebra and with Barbara. Tom Grayson, on
the other hand, was a wild, reckless fellow, of good talents
but with no desire to use them. He was forever getting into
scrapes, and as constantly being helped out by his mother
and "Barb", who thought him the greatest of geniuses, and
were wont to excuse his looseness with the reflection that
boys arc destined to be boys. D ave Sovinc was like Tom
except that he had not Tom's good qualities. He was a
gambler and a dishonest one. George Lockwood, an
acquaintance of Tom's, tried to make love to Tom's sweet
heart, much to Tom's dislike. Tom swore vengeance. Not
long after this, George, in order to lower Tom in the lady's
estimation, enticed him into a game of cards with Dave
Sovinc, in which Tom was beaten, losing all his money ana
even the coat he wore. This only increased Tom's dislike
for Lockwood, and he was heard to say that it would be
better for Lockwood to keep out of his way. A few days
after this Lockwood was found dead. Tom was the guilty
man, of course, and was promptly imprisoned, and brought
before a coroner's jury, where Lovinc's testimony proved
beyond a doubt that Tom had killed Lockwood in a quarrel.
Tom was taken to jail to await trial; Abraham Lincoln was
retained as his counsel. And so the summer began. Now,
near the village of Moscow, where the jail was situated, was
a community of shiftless, restless men. who would have been
called squatters in Kansas. These men took it into their
heads that Tom would never be convicted and punished
by law, and they determined to take the place of the law, for
f course there was no doubt of Tom's guilt, or rather, no
imagining that Tom was innocent. So a mob was organized
to lynch him. Then, big Bob McCord, a hunter of gigantic
stature and enormous muscles, appeared on the scene as
Tom's friend and helper. He discovered the attempt that
was to be made on Tom's life and managed to divert it by
telling the lynchers that the sheriff thought he had found a
man who might have committed the murder. A second
attempt was made to lynch him; this time he was moved to a
place of safety by the sheriff. And thus the time went on
until the court convened to try Tom. Tom's trial began;
Lincoln sat in his chair and never said a word; a jury was
procured and things were in readiness to proceed with
with the trial when the day was done. This was the last
night of suspense for Tom. Tomorrow night he will be a con
demned murderer or a free man. Of course il he is a free
man justice will have been defeated, so the lynchers made
up their minds to make one more effort to kill Tom. This
lime there were strong hopes of success, for the sheriff had
intimated that he would not risk his li.'e fighting for Tom.
But Bob McCord was still alive: he found out the whole
scheme, and together with Hiram Mason went to save Tom
again. They arrived at the jail only a very few moments
before the lynching party was expected. He and Hiram
armed themselves with deadly wagon spokes, and then,
thanks to Bob's great strength, obtained entrance to the jail.
They sought the sheriffs room where he was peacefully
sleeping. The cold muzzle of a wagon spoke was placed at
his head and he was ordered to give up the keys. He, in
great fear and with many protestations of his willingness to
die in defence of Tom, complied, and in ten minutes more
Tom was out of the jail and hidden safely in the court house.
Fhc real lynchers soon appeared at the jail, where they were
met by the sheriff demanding the reason of a second visit.
Explanations follow and the lynchers learned that a party of
forty men had taken Tom out and hung him. Next morn
ing Tom is found quietly sitting in the court room,
and the trial proceeded. The prosecution multiplied phrases
to prove the guilt ol the prisoner, and seemingly did so sat
isfactorily, for Lincoln did not say a word. At last Dave
Sovinc swore that he saw Tom kill Lockwood with a pistol.
He recognized the pistol and said he saw the deed by the
light of the moon. At last Lincoln was aroused, and rising
in all the majesty of his great height, he looked at Sovinc as
if to read his very soul. Then cautiously, subtly, he pro
cecded to entrap the unhappy witness, lashing him with his
questions, twisting his answers, making him contradict him
self time and again. Then, producing an almanac, the law
yer showed that there was no moon on the night of the mur
der, and quietly moved Sovinc's arrest and Tom's release.
The climax is reached, and the story is at an end. Tom
went home a man. All his folly he left in the jail at Moscow.
Hiram and Barbara, Bob McCord and Lincoln all go on
their respective ways, and the story ol "The Graysons" is
finished.
Tom, and next to him Barbara, is the main character,
but in the climax, we lose sight of him in the other characters
brought in to make the climax. Lincoln, as shown by
Egglcston here, has no prophetic knowledge of his future
greatness; there is nothing of the leader of the nation show
ing in him. He is simply the shrewd, keen lawyer, and the
o
