Book Reviews 



259 



sensitive, alert mind, open to every new impression. He delighted to 

 "ride over this unsullied country of ever-changing water," or to "cling 

 to a small chip of a ship when the sea is rough, and long, comet-tailed 

 streamers are blowing from the curled top of every wave." The Cali- 

 fornia plains were "the floweriest piece of world I ever walked." Even 

 the prosaic jack-rabbit seemed to him to move ^'swift and effortless as a 

 bird shadow," and January weather "grows in beauty like a flower." 

 He exulted in the winds, even those of Florida, though they "no longer 

 came with the old home music gathered from open prairies and waving 

 fields of oak, but passed over many a strange string." 



The editor's work has been done with such sympathy that the whole 

 book breathes of Mr. Muir's own personality, with no intrusive sense of 

 an alien hand. Less happy, however, is the make-up of the volume. 

 We regret that the clear-type, wide-margin pages could not have been 

 given a more dignified outer dress, like that of the admirable large pa- 

 per edition. M. R. P. 



"The Klon- One finds it rather difficult to characterize this book, wheth- 

 DiKE Clan"* er it should be classed as a work of fiction or as a narra- 

 tive of adventure. The author himself says of it: "The 

 incidents are more history than fiction. The characters are types. . . . 

 Many of the adventures of the story occurred under the personal ob- 

 servation of the author or that of his friends." We are inclined to feel 

 that a simple narrative of personal experience would have been even 

 more effective than this admirable romance of the Klondike stampede, 

 especially after reading the author's earlier published book, Alaska Days 

 with John Muir. When the reality is so rich in romance and heroism 

 one feels that a really great book is lost to the world when a man of 

 Mr. Young's qualities fails to give the simple, direct narrative of his 

 Alaska experience. We hope that some such story of his many years of 

 life and work there may yet appear. 



To the lover of tales the book as it stands is more than worth while. 

 The hardship, the humor, the folly, and the tragedy of gold-rush days 

 are stirringly depicted. The characters are human and likable. We 

 quote one story of a missionary's disastrous dependence upon an inter- 

 preter. The Parson had found some difficulty in explaining what sheep 

 were like when he went over the text of the twenty-third Psalm with 

 his interpreter, only succeeding after "Billy" had grasped the idea that 

 they resembled the wild goats which the Indians hunted. "I noticed a 

 queer look on the stolid faces of the natives as Billy interpreted my ser- 

 mon," says the Parson, "but until I had learned the language myself I 

 was ignorant of Billy's rendering of the verse. Here it is : 'The Great 

 Chief above is the goat-hunter who hunts me. I do not want him. He • 

 shoots me down on the green grass and drags me down to the quiet sea- 



* The Klondike Clan. A Tale of the Great Stampede. By S. Hall Young. 

 Fleming H. Revell Company. Price, $1.35 net. Illustrated. 



