Irving Bacheller's novel breaks off where Mr. Drinkwater's play commences. The poet has given us Lincoln the statesman, Lincoln the emancipator, Lincoln the man; the novelist presents Lincoln the youth, the frontiersman, the lover. Nothing could be more fitting. In no other way could our pioneer days with their brave spirit of young adventure be better portrayed than through the magic of Romance. And in no way more impressively than by the solemn procession of Tragedy could the dramatic rise and terrible climax of Abraham Lincoln's life be set forth.

Mr. Bacheller has drawn a glowing picture of life in the Golden West in the last century. He has given us a character novel full of the color and action of pioneer times. He has brought back visions of boundless plains and virgin forest, of smoking cabins and prairie schooners and Indians.

But most of all he has given us a glimpse of Abraham Lincoln in the making. The main theme of the volume is the story of the "years of building and sentiment," before Lincoln's marriage to Mary Todd, and the significant thread in the whole skein of minor plots is the romance of Abe and Ann Rutledge. This episode Mr. Bacheller makes the turning point in the life of his hero. He makes one of his characters say after Lincoln's last visit to Ann before her death:

"I saw Abe when he came out of the tavern that day. He was not the Abe we had all known. He was different. There were new lines in his face. It was sorrowful. His steps were slow. He had passed out of his young manhood. When I spoke to him he answered with that gentle dignity now so familiar to all who know him. From that hour he was Abraham Lincoln."

Mr. Bacheller has written with deep insight and understanding. He has done more; he has written with true feeling, and one cannot lay down his book without a clearer appreciation of the greatest American.