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Show 1JOHN JjUTlItfll LOXG'S "WAR." It Is a long time nftor 'sixty-five to bo tolling stories of tho oivll war; and John Luther Long, 'ft . author of ".Mndamo Butterfly," is hardly the man " you would expect to make an accurato picture of f 0 grim a subjoct. But ho has dono it. He locates tho action in Maryland," which was bitterly secession at the beginning of tho war, and which came splendidly to tho support of Lincoln's administration as tho days grow dark and tho need grow groat. But tho thread of tho story, starting with all tho simplicity of tho vonturo of Lieutenant Lieuten-ant .Plnkorton, hurries one along through scones of homely pathos that grip the throat of tho roador vandatlrs tho hearts of the' listonor-7--tfll that last fjulm iand Inevltablxj clash when one- loved brother dies', by tho hand of, brother and .thq, house oncq vflo full of manly love and womanly charm falls ipto tho decay of war's dosolatlon. r. Old,. Man Vonner,, Gonman s and li farmOK, Is . bringing tip his two boys as farm boys north and south have been "brought up from tho beginning of the nation; and when they learn that his niece has been left fatherless in tho attack on Fort Sum-tor Sum-tor they send for her, and she brings the tragic clement into the smooth flow of the story. For she is Insanely caught with the spirit of revenge, &nd starts a system of spying that enfolds her and her uncle and her cousins in its perilous details though she loves one of tho boys, and they both love her. And In tho end, to save the girl, one of the-brothers takes-the name she has assumed as o spy, and joins the rebel army, while his father and his brother enlist under the flag of the Union, and follow the fortunes of Grant through the bitter bit-ter campaigns of the peninsula. It is inevitable that the brothers should meet "in battle. It is inevitable that one should die by the other's hand, but the clear certainty of that climax looms so alarming that oven the veteran leader will hope against hope that It will be averted. In the end, It Is the rebel brother who survives; but he goes away lest he should meet tho girl who lias brought the horror of war of actual fratricidal fratri-cidal strife into their own homo; and he never is heard of again. And the girl comes back and waits a'or him, sorrowing for her foolish sharo in tho tragedy, and praying that she may confess her sin and die in his arms. And the book closes with the pathetic picture of Old Man Vonner asleep with his head on tho one arm they loft him at Chan-cellorsville Chan-cellorsville 3leopIng the sleep of weariness after tolling the story of tho boys ho has loved and lost, and piercing your very heart with the actual tragedy of war. It Is a good story to read Just now, when comfortable com-fortable gentlemen express tho belief that war is a good thing at least in each generation. And it would be a good book to read any time a story that Is likely to be staged as impressively and as successfully as was that story of "Madame Butterfly." |