The Magnificent Adventure

by Emerson Hough

A woman, tall, somewhat angular, dark of hair and eye, strong of features-a woman now approaching middle age-sat looking out over the long, tree-clad slopes that ran down from the gallery front of the mansion house to the gate at the distant roadway. She had sat thus for some moments, many moments, her gaze intently fixed, as though waiting for something-something or someone that she did not now see, but expected soon to see. It was late afternoon of a day so beautiful that not even old Albemarle, beauty spot of Virginia, ever produced one more beautiful-not in the hundred years preceding that day, nor in the century since then. For this was more than a hundred years ago; and what is now an ancient land was then a half opened region, settled only here and there by the great plantations of the well-to-do. The house that lay at the summit of the long and gentle slope, flanked by its wide galleries-its flung doors opening it from front to rear to the gaze as one approached-had all the rude comfort and assuredness usual with the gentry of that time and place.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Emerson Hough was an American author best known for writing western stories and historical novels.

He married Charlotte Chesebro of Chicago in 1897 and made that city his home. During World War I, he served as a Captain with the Intelligence Service. He died in Evanston, Illinois, on April 30, 1923, a week after seeing the Chicago premiere of the movie The Covered Wagon, based on his 1922 book. Covered Wagon was his biggest best-selling novel since Mississippi Bubble in 1902. "North of 36", another Hough novel, later became a popular silent film as well, "making him one of the first Western authors to enter into the motion picture industry." He is buried in Galesburg, Illinois.

Asked in 1918 to provide some details of his own life, he replied in the context of World War I: "This is no time for autobiography of men of letters. This is the day of biography for men who have been privileged to act in the great scenes of today. It is the time for boys of 23. At least we can bless them and back them the best we know. I will not tell about myself. It is of no consequence."

Hough's hometown, Newton, Iowa, has honored him in several ways. A school named for him opened in 1926. Emerson Hough Elementary School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. His boyhood home bears a marker provided by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The school grounds include a playground with a western theme called Fort Emerson Hough. The local chapter of the Izaak Walton League also bears his name, as does a street, Emerson Hough Avenue in Lambs Grove, Iowa, a suburb of Newton.

In March 2010, the school board voted to close Emerson Hough School.Efforts to prevent its closure have included a fund raising and a Facebook page.

Reviews

[Lynette Caulkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stewart is the perfect narrator for this biography, but Hough waxes rather melodramatic and takes a fair bit of license with making up details for what should be nonfiction.