spirited romance, full of invention and narrative power. If considera
tions of space had permitted, some selections from his great Revolu
tionary romance, "The Partisan," would have been included in this
volume. This book is scarcely less interesting and successful than
"The Yemassee " and portrays the same period of history as Kennedy s
"Horseshoe Robinson." The two stories are, however, by no means duplicates; Simms s story has as its background the swamps of South Carolina in which Marion, the "Swamp Fox," and his followers found refuge.
SELECTIONS FROM " THE YEMASSEE "
THE ATTACK ox THE BLOCK HOUSE (PAGE 105)
The blockhouse was a familiar means of defense from Indians in the early days of settlement in America. It was a structure built of stout logs, in which were loopholes through which rifles might be fired. This particular blockhouse is described in an earlier chapter of " The Yemassee " as consisting of two stories, the lower story being a single apartment, but the upper story, reached by a ladder, was divided into two rooms, one of which, more securely built than the other, was for the protection of the women and children. amour propre: vanity. Ariel: the sprite in Shakespeare s "The Tempest" who performs the bidding of Prospero.
QUESTIONS, i. "What preparations for defense did the inmates of
the blockhouse make? 2. "What methods of attack were used by the Indians? 3. "What traits of character did Granger s wife display? 4. "Was the life of pioneer days conducive to giving women such qualities of character as she shows?
JOHN ESTEX 1 COOKE
The selections here given are from "The Yirginia Comedians." This book, published in 1854, is generally considered the best of the dozen or so romances written by Cooke with scenes laid in colonial and Revolutionary times and in the Civil "War. Cooke s aspirations in this story were, in his own words, " to paint the Yirginia phase of American society, to do for the Old Dominion what Cooper has done for the Indians, Simms for the Revolutionary down in South Carolina, Irving for the Dutch Knickerbockers, and Hawthorne for the weird 1 Pronounced Hasten.
