[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

The Marrow of Tradition. By Charles W. Chesnutt, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.: Boston and New York. Price, $1.50.

We can commend this book to our readers both for the information it contains and for its literary qualities. It deals with one of the great problems of national life in a rational and interesting manner. The relationship between the old-time Southerners and the modern, progressive Negro is the main theme, which is most skillfully developed and illustrated. The lines drawn by the race question are clearly defined, and throughout the story the innate capability of the Negro, and the vicious prejudices of the white man against him, are persistently and vividly contrasted. While no plan for hastening the development of the colored race is proposed, the writer has rendered his "brother in black" a positive service by correctly describing the adverse conditions under which he is living in the South, and inferentially showing that with the encouragement of his "white brother" he would advance much more rapidly. The story is healthful and stimulating, and is entitled to an extensive and careful reading.