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[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

The Marrow of Tradition. By Charles W. Chesnutt. Cloth. 12mo. Pp. 322. $1.50. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Robert Clarke Company, Cincinnati.

This is a very strong and intense story, laid in the South, and dealing with the relations of the whites and the blacks since the war. There is the opportunity for a strong and burning story, and some of the pages glow. The characteristic racial antagonisms are described, and the instances are given of the bitterness and injustice which, in too many cases, the colored people have had visited upon them. It is a novel with a purpose. Wellington is the name of the town described, and the narrative given of the race riots and the cruel slaughter and banishment of negros, burning of their property, etc., most readers will recognize the similarity to the events recorded in Wilmington, N. C., a year or two since. The story is wrought out with great dramatic intensity, and is strong in its appeal to popular sympathies.