Mr. Stribling's "Birthright" some years ago was a real contribution to Southern literature, chiefly in that it was the first attempt by a novelist to weave the story of an intelligent, educated negro into a tragic social fabric, and to discard the threadbare character of burlesque stage and fiction. That tale exhibited a passion for truth, an ardent intuitive sympathy which selected with sureness the really pitiable victim of circumstances as they are. Now [in "Teeftallow"] Mr. Stribling moves east in his native state of Tennessee and essays to tell a story which, set among the people of the villages in the foothills of the mountains, will reveal these strongly individualistic folk, their character and customs.

In a larger sense Mr. Stribling has shown a journalistic spirit in both his novels. The first touched a strong current interest in the poignant theme already indicated; the second follows hard...