The translator of this remarkable story has done her work wonderfully well. Her choice of words, apt, pat, and picturesque--words which instantly appeal to the imagination, is skillful to an uncommon degree. This is no doubt partly due to the characteristics of the original. Whatever may be true of the French, the English of this beautiful and wholesome story is wonderfully idiomatic and good.--_The Advance, Chicago._
Of the story itself nothing can well be too good to say. We pity the one who can read it without being deeply stirred by its simple, pathetic, and, at moments, solemn beauty.--_The Chicago Evening Journal._
It is a gem of the purest ray, a lovely idyl, whose strength is drawn from what is best in human life.--_The Philadelphia Enquirer._
"The Story of Tonty" is eminently a Western story, beginning at Montreal, tarrying at Fort Frontenac, and ending at the old fort at Starved Rock, on the Illinois River. It weaves the adventures of the two great explorers, the intrepid La Salle and his faithful lieutenant, Tonty, into a tale as thrilling and romantic as the descriptive portions are brilliant and vivid. It is superbly illustrated with twenty-three masterly drawings by Mr. Enoch Ward.
Such tales as this render service past expression to the cause of history. They weave a spell in which old chronicles are vivified and breathe out human life. Mrs. Catherwood, in thus bringing out from the treasure-houses of half-forgotten historical record things new and old, has set herself one of the worthiest literary tasks of her generation, and is showing herself finely adequate to its fulfillment.--_Transcript, Boston._
A powerful story by a writer newly sprung to fame.... All the century we have been waiting for the deft hand that could put flesh upon the dry bones of our early heroes. Here is a recreation indeed.... One comes from the reading of the romance with a quickened interest in our early national history, and a profound admiration for the art that can so transport us to the dreamful realms where fancy is monarch of fact.--_Press, Philadelphia._
"The Story of Tonty" is full of the atmosphere of its time. It betrays an intimate and sympathetic knowledge of the great age of explorers, and it is altogether a charming piece of work.--_Christian Union, New York._