414 



RECREA TION. 



things, and less algebra, fossilized ancient 

 history, and other useless studies, that wear 

 out our boys and girls to no purpose, I 

 heartily welcome " Citizen Bird." It is the 

 first volume of an important series, and I 

 hope it may win for itself a permanent 

 place in our schools, as a text book, or a 

 supplementary reader. 



Citizen Bird. Scenes from Bird-Life, in 

 Plain English for Beginners. By Mabel 

 Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues. New 

 York: The Macmillan Company. 1897. 

 Crown 8vo, pp. 428. in Illustrations. 

 $1.50. 



A BREEZE FROM THE SOUTHWEST. 



Mr. Alfred Henry Lewis need not draw 

 another card. With " Wolfville " he stands 

 pat. Long before his publisher sent it to 

 me for notice, I read it and gloated over 

 it with many gloats. On taking it up again 

 to see if it still seems what it did at first, 

 I like it better than ever. Beyond a 

 doubt it is great; and if Mr. Lewis only 

 develops good staying powers, we have in 

 him an author to be proud of. The editors 

 of the " literary " magazines will not like 

 him, for they can not stand anything not 

 cast in their divine moulds. Instead of 

 seeking to interest live people, they aspire 

 to "make literature;" but the American 

 people will like " Wolfville "; and, like lit- 

 tle Oliver, they will " want some more! " 



It is a book of tales of an Arizona cattle- 

 town, told by the Old Cattleman to an in- 

 terested and sympathetic tenderfoot, — the 

 author. Wolfville is the principal scene of 

 action, but it also serves as the axis round 

 which some of the stories revolve. The 

 same characters appear in most of the 

 stories, and I am glad they do. 



There is a swing and " go " about the 

 characters that is delicious. Contrary 

 to literary-magazine custom, there are no 

 dreary pages upon pages of heart-search- 

 ings and qualitative analyses of inner 

 thoughts and secret motives, that have be- 

 come a weariness of the flesh. Thank 

 Heaven, we are spared all that! These 

 stories have good, hard flesh on their 

 bones, and blood in their veins. They are 

 also American — another quality to which 

 the " literary " editor usually objects. 



The action is lively, but without a trace 

 of spurring on the part of the author. The 

 gun-play is frequent and free, and while 

 at times the thread of a story is almost 

 burned off by powder, somehow the tales 

 do not seem gory! This is because the au- 

 thor does not take himself too seriously, 

 nor pose as a heavy tragedian, working up 

 awful climaxes. The tragedies are not de- 

 scribed as such, but merely as incidents 

 and accidents happening in the stories of 

 Cherokee Hall, Dave Tutt, Enright, and 

 the others. 



But the humor of it! In "Wolfville" 

 there are more. laughs to the page than in 

 any book that has reached my hands since 

 the days of Nasby. Without the slightest 

 apparent effort to be amusing, the pictu- 

 resque similes and slang expressions of the 

 Arizona cattle-country, and their applica- 

 tion to human beings and their affairs, is 

 irresistibly funny. The frontier philosophy 

 throughout the book is simply delicious. 



The inventive genius of the author, and 

 the artistic quality of his touch are really 

 great. His humor is genuine, original and 

 abundant. For the sake of the lovers of 

 good things, I hope he has come to stay. 

 But I beg of him not to pump his well dry 

 to please the literary syndicates, nor to 

 deliver himself into the hands of the liter- 

 ary magazines, and fashion his work to suit 

 their stupid standards. If he does either of 

 these things, we will soon be writing of 

 the light that failed; but if he preserves 

 himself, sticks to his own standards, and 

 strives for quality rather than quantity, all 

 America is his. 



Wolfville; by Alfred Henry Lewis (Dan 

 Quin). Illustrated by Frederic Reming- 

 ton. New York: Frederick A. Stokes 

 Company. i2mo, pp. 337. $1.50. 



" Sport Royal I Warrant You. — 

 Twelfth Night. Thomas Martindale. Price 

 one dollar?' And not another word on the 

 title page! The make-up of this little book 

 surely will throw some reviewers into fits. 

 There is no imprint. The printer sticks his 

 own name where the author's copyright no- 

 tice should be; the frontispiece has jumped 

 the claim of the dedication; there is neither 

 table of contents, list of illustrations, nor 

 index, and the dedication trails along after 

 the preface. 



But who cares? The book's a book for 

 a' that; and when you have read it, and 

 have taken a good look at the handsome 

 portrait of the author, you make up your 

 mind he is a genial gentleman, and a 

 scholar; that you would like to hunt with 

 him, and to have him for a member of the 

 Camp-Fire Club. 



We find Mr. Martindale is a Philadel- 

 phian, for, with rare and commendable 

 judgment he roasts his own town, instead 

 of ours. His book, of 148 pages, is an il- 

 lustrated story of 2 hunting trips to Maine, 

 for moose, caribou and deer, each trip be- 

 ing fairly successful; a long shooting trip 

 over the Canadian Pacific Railway to Van- 

 couver — almost as bloodless as a French 

 duel. Then there is a story of brant shoot- 

 ing on Monomoy island, Cape Cod, and 

 several sketches of hunting in Pennsylva- 

 nia and elsewhere. 



The stories are told with a degree of di- 

 rectness and fidelity to truth that is both 

 refreshing and interesting. The author en- 



