Howard Pyle, a chronicle by Charles D. Abbott, with an introduction by N. C. Wyeth and many illustrations from Howard Pyle's works.

HOWARD PYLE: A CHRONICLE
which have been mentioned before-Percy's Reliques of
Ancient English Poetry, and Ritson's Robin Hood. Howard
Pyle took the old ballads, read and re-read them, became
thoroughly conversant with every detail of plot and character that could be drawn from them. Then he set about
the writing of his own book, bringing into harmonious play
all the many sides of his own genius. Every character
was humanized, the settings were made vivid and natural,
new details of plot were added to bring the various epi-.
sodes into clear relation with one another. The style is
a very successful adaptation of archaic English, not so complex as to be hard to read, but sufficiently antique to lend the
charm of age to the narrative. The descriptions of the
countryside are superb; take for example this one: "The
high-road stretched white and dusty in the hot summer
afternoon sun, and the trees stood motionless along the
roadside. All across the meadows the hot air danced and
quivered, and in the limpid waters of the lowland brook,
spanned by a little stone bridge, the fish hung motionless
above the yellow gravel, and the dragon fly sat quite still,
perched upon the sharp tip of a spike of rushes, with its
wings glistening in the sun." What could give more accurately the spirit of listlessness of a hot summer's afternoon? The whole book is full of such passages, ideal in
their simplicity and their truth. The most striking feature
of the text, however, is the never-failing action; one exciting incident after another is related, each with an eye to
the dramatic. It is a banquet of adventure that never palls
on any child and in which grown-ups secretly find a great
pleasure when they read it aloud to their children.
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