Margaret Ballentine or the Fall of the Alamo: A Romance of the Texas Revolution. By Frank Templeton. Published by the Author. Houston, Texas. 1907. Pp. 244.

Ramrod Jones, Hunter and Patriot: A Tale of the Texas Revolution against Mexico. By Clinton Giddings Brown. The Saalfield Publishing Company. New York and Chicago. Pp. 321.

The avowed purpose of the first book is “to pay a deserved tribute to the men who fell at the Alamo.” “The many episodes that go to make up the story are strung upon the golden chord of love,” and the author says that he will feel repaid for his labor if the volume serves “to keep alive the spirit of patriotism among our people, and to lighten the labors of the Daughters of the Texas Republic in perpetuating the glorious deeds of our ancestors.” Mr. Templeton shows some evidence of ability to write serious history, and his knowledge of the period of the Texas Revolution is considerable, but he has not achieved a very happy result in the field of romance. The illustrations are poor, but one of them is of great historical interest: it purports to be a sketch of W. B. Travis made by Wyly Martin in December, 1835. If it was really made at that time, it gives us the only pretended likeness of the most heroic man that has figured in Texas history.

Ramrod Jones is a story for boys. It is written with some skill, and is mildly entertaining. It keeps close to the historical facts of the Texas Revolution, but has no didactic object.