26o 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



beach.'" As one of the characters observes, "Mony is the meenister of 

 the kirk who comes no nearer the sense of Scripture." M. R. P. 



"The a comprehensive guide-book of the northwest, giving 



TouRiST^s modes of access to most of the mountain regions of Ore- 

 Northwest"* gon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia, with de- 

 tailed accounts of roads, railroads, and steamer routes, 

 and many items of historical interest. The bulk of the book is given 

 over to the scenic features and outdoor life, though cities and hotels 

 are also touched upon. A splendid aid to travelers. Well illustrated 

 with maps and photographs. M. R. P. 



"The The book is well printed, artistic in appearance, and easy 



Mountain"! to read because of the beautiful type and wide margins. 



The topic scheme on the margin makes it easy for refer- 

 ence. Mr. Van Dyke is an artist in feeling and in the use of the English 

 language. He is a word-painter par excellence. While the title of the 

 book is The Mountain, and the descriptions are adequate, the heart of 

 the writer is most at home in those scenes where he is dealing with the 

 desert. It is in the desert description that he rises to his highest point 

 of excellence. You feel the stretches of sand and the shimmering lazy 

 sunshine, the dreaming hills that sweep toward the horizon, and the 

 smell of sagebrush. You catch the fragrance of the desert air. The one 

 word which would describe, possibly, better than any other Mr. Van 

 Dyke's ability and method of description is atmosphere. It would be 

 unfair to him to say that he does not know the mountains, or that he 

 does not describe them adequately, for he does. He is a poet, and he 

 sees everything through a poet's eyes. While he has climbed the snowy 

 peaks and become acquainted with the terrors of the glacier, you some- 

 how feel that he does not thrill with the joy that delights the intrepid 

 climber who scales the precipitous heights and triumphs over difficulties 

 which make up so large a part of the life of the adventurous mountain- 

 eer. He talks most familiarly of the Himalayas, the Alps, the Caucasus, 

 the Rockies, or our own beloved Sierra, with equal facility, and he leaps 

 from one to the other with the agility of a chamois. His pictures are 

 always fascinating. He is a lover of nature. He loves the birds and the 

 woods and the song of the winds, and he makes you realize that the 

 mountains are not all made up of inaccessible peaks. While his view- 

 point is not entirely that of an impressionist, he has beyond question the 

 impressionistic tendency. You love the mountains better for having read 

 him, but somehow you feel that his scientific explanations are not en- 

 tirely satisfactory. In other words, Mr. Van Dyke is first, last, and al- 



* The Tourist's Northwest. By Ruth Kedzie Wood, F. R. G. S. Dodd Mead & 

 Company, New York, 1916. Price, $1.75. Illustrated. 



t The Mountain. By John C. Van Dyke. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 

 1916. Price, $1.25. 



