Page:Oregon Literature by Horner.djvu/52

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34
OREGON LITERATURE.

and he is under contract to write three other volumes at the present time.

Dr. Banks' popularity as an author is such that the great Reformer in writing an introduction to one of these books said, "To be invited to a place beside the author of the volume, and to present him to the reading public, is a delightful privilege."

Mr. Banks' books and sermons may fitly be termed "the Wild Flowers of Oregon," for he has culled the lambs' tongue, the rhododendron, the wild lilac, the field lily, the honeysuckle, and the wild grape, and taken this handful of wild flowers from the hills and valleys of Oregon and woven them into beautiful sermons and books—thus furnishing a delightful source of help to thousands of men and women on both continents. Indeed, his style may be defined as the wild flowers of Oregon so delicately transplanted from the mild atmosphere of the West into the conservatories of the rigid East that they have lost none of their original fragrance or beauty. Thus, through Dr. Banks our scenery has flowered out upon an eastern landscape and developed into a beautiful style which he may proudly call his own; and while the scholars of the East may notice the exotic elements in it they cannot resist the pleasure it gives them; therefore, they will encourage Dr. Banks in preserving his literary identity in the fast flowing stream of books he is pouring out upon the reading public.