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LEWISTON JOURNAL JANUARY 25, 1930
JUST TALKS---ON COMMON THEMES [bold, in a box]
On "A New Book on Maine." [bold]
Maine is indebted to Kenneth Roberts, a well known writer for the Saturday Evening Post, native of Maine, author of several books and summer resident at Kennebunkport for a new historical novel--"Arundel." I have no notion of writing any critical review of the story, at this time. My purpose is to mention the book as "nes"; and indicate that it "belongs" to Maine. We may well take a sort of proprietary interest in it; claim it; talk about it and above all--READ it. Thru it--and this is its distinctive charm--runs a fine ap-preciation, almost an adoration for the soil of Maine; a form of 'worship" indeed, that arouses OUR enthusiasm and we believe will awaken the same emotions in the mind of everyone who loves this fine land of the sea, mountain and river.
Arundel takes it name from the ancient name of the Kenne-bunk and Kennebunkport region and it is a pity, that the name was ever changed. "Arundel" has the reverberation of sweet music. And "music" befits, any description of one of the more lovely stretches of Maine harbors, coves, estuaries, beaches and shore--the latter fertilized by rivers of sweet water. So apprecia-tive is Mr. Roberts of the land of beauty, that his descriptions be-come almost a surfeit; but we all may say that it requires much space to do justice to this region of western Maine, along shore.
The story is historical and full of action. After on has read it and followed up its leads, he may have a practical knowledge of colonial history. It dates its action from 1760 when the hero was 13 years old, thru the romantic period of the hero's life, which we may assume to be about twenty years. As a prelude, Steven Nason, the hero traces his family thru branches that came over to Arundel (Kennebunkport) from the Berwick section of the town Kittery--the forbears of his grandfather having come to Berwick, Maine, from Berwick, England in 1639. This grandfa-ther Nason had fought in the siege of Louisburg, Cape Breton, in 1745, along with Captain Moses Butler whose daughter the elder Nason married. In 1670, Benjamin Nason, Steven's father was attracted to Wells, by gift of 200 acres of fine upland and 10 acres of marsh, provided he would be the village blacksmith. And he accepted the offer on account of the land, albeit. Wells "was populated at that time by a most shiftless and poverty-stricken folk, dwelling for the most part in wretched log-huts and con-stantly at odds with the Indians." Here Benjamin Nason came; here he worded and prospered; here he hunted with and became fond of the Abenakis; here he became a leader; man of means; tavern-keeper and here begins the romance of Steven Nason, his son, in the setting of abundance, in admiration of the good-Indian, in the blessings of a beautiful mother and a strong, wise and gentle father.
This tale is exceedingly long. In typography and makeup, we can think of nothing except the once-famous "Richard Carvel" of Winston Churchill, a book of similar purpose, historical and ad-venturous. Mr. Booth Tarkington, a resident at Kennebunkport, in the summertime, likens Robert's book to Lorna Doone; the "Three Musketeers" and "The White Company." But we fail to see either of the latter resemblances. It does resemble Loran Doone in a certain prolixity and redundance of description and introspectiveness. Arundel takes 618 pages, closely printed,--probably about 200,000 to 225,000 words--which is twice or thrice the length of some popular novels. It has a prologue, and four 'books"--in all thiry six chapters. A prodigious amount of information as to the Abenaki tribe of Indians in conveyed, their domestic life, their cooking recipes;