The trend of the book, and the religious crisis through which its hero passes, give the story its title; while an important part in the development of the hero's character is played by his passionate love story.
A well known critic affirms that the story contains by far the finest and noblest work Mr. Allen has yet done, both in respect of that human passion and interest which characterizes his former work, and also in the tender reverential feeling with which he dwells on the simple rural life of the Kentucky which he loves so well. In spite of the reserve which characterizes the author, a few of the leading facts of his life have found their way into print, and may be of interest to many who read his books.
He comes from Virginia ancestry and a pioneer Kentucky family. His mother's maiden name was Helen Foster, whose parents settled in Mississippi and were of Revolutionary Scotch-Irish stock of Pennsylvania. He was born on a farm in Fayette County seven miles from Lexington, Kentucky, where he spent his early childhood. He was educated in Kentucky (Transylvania) University, and graduated in 1872. For several years afterward he taught in District schools, at first near his home and then in Missouri. He afterward became a private tutor, and finally accepted a Professorship at his Alma Mater which he exchanged for a similar position at Bethany College, West Virginia. He gave up this latter profession in 1884 and began his career as a writer in the city of New York.
The chief literary and critical Magazines and papers of those years contain many of his essays, while all his short stories saw the light in "Harper's Magazine" and the "Century." These short stories were collected and published under the title of "Flute and Violin." His other books are "The Blue Grass Region of Kentucky," "A Kentucky Cardinal," and its sequel, "Aftermath," "A Summer in Arcady," and lastly "The Choir Invisible," some two hundred and fifty thousand copies of which have found their way into the hands of readers on both sides of the Atlantic.
A new and complete edition of Mr. Allen's works is now being issued by The Macmillan Company. It will contain seven volumes; including The Reign of Law, A Story of the Kentucky Hemp Fields, an account of which has been given in the preceding pages.
James Lane Allen's
NEW NOVEL
A TALE OF THE KENTUCKY HEMP FIELDS