The times., 1899-01-08
Scenes in Alaska.

| so unusual subject for the feminine pen.
| The main interest, nevertheless, is in the
| style and the contents. The book is
/ tharmDgly written, and full of individu-
| aiity, while the scenes and inciden nt5 de-
| scribed are still sufficiently novel to be
worth the attention of the public. Here
! and there breaks out a gay little bit CT
humor which reminds the reader of a r p
! pie on deep water. Humor is not exact y
/ a common thing in books of travel de-
| scribing wild and unfrequented regions.
| The travellers seem obliged to take them
| selves seriously, at least on paper.
| In the first chapter. before Alaska is
| sighted at all, there is a fairly good ex
| ample of the authors mischievous drol-
| lery. She says of her experiences on the
voyage:
! ] wish to state right here that the Pacific is
/ pacifed in much the fashion that Cuba
was. And if it were peaceful it allowed no
one else To be. Almost every passenger had
some medicine warranted a sure preventive
against seasickncss and people began to feel
| that life at best was but vale Of tears, they
produced these remedies. and insisted upon the
! Others trying them. One lady took some of her
! own "infaliiblc cure. The effect, it
was, was instantaneous. As she very elegantly
expressed ii: Il thought had swallowed rock
/ et.' After recovering strength she staggered to
| her room, got that bottle Of medicine and threw
| it overheard, saying: There, Mr.. Whale, when
! you swallow that you'll be good and seasick.''
| The titles OF the various chapters may
| give fairly good idea of the contents of
| the book. Some of them are: Dutch Har-
Dor and Unalaska, the. Little Eskimo Town
of Stebbins, the Potlatch, Holy Cross Mis-
sion and Indian Myths, Anvk and Indian
Death Customs, Nulato. 64S Miles from St.
Michael Coal. Quartz and Other Minerals
of Alaska; Reindeer, Resources for Perma
| nent Settlement in Alaska, Fort Yukon,
The Flats Circle City, Beyond the Boun
/ Diary Line, the End of the Rainbow. and
Sundry Pots of Gold. 1t will be seen from
these that the range of subjects treated is
tolerably wide, and that the author has a
I practical turn of mind.
| Mrs. Henderson gives the Greek Church
in Alaska anything but good name. Her
! description OF the Russian priest and his
/ kind is more vivid than pleasant. She says:
| II Cleanliness is next to godliness'' be ac-
( cepted literally. he must be in close proximity
/ TO the devil. His dirty, scant. tancolored cloth
| robe fell to his feet Its only decoration was
! spangles OF grease spots, in sizes varying from
a large number Of spatters, il the father had
/ been frying doughnuts, TO several the size Of a
! dollar. We were told the holy father in
| counsel was glad of it; ii the interior OF the
| house looked it smclled, | could forcgo the
| pleasure OF the call without plng. | am not
a higot; any church which practices and breaches
| purity, hcpfulnCs=, sohricty and genuine love Of
| God and man. compels my respect. II Is he
cause the Greek priesthood and church in ALASKA
neither live teach these cardinal virtues that
| say cmphatically that they are. generally speak
/ ing an insult 10 a forbcaring God; disgrace to
! civilization, and a stumbling block TO the ns-
| tVes. There undoubtedly noble among
| the Russian priests. but in Alaska with few ex-
! ceptions. they are grossly immoral Incorporate
| 10 be4stliness. ignorant. gambling. lazy and
| grasping At Fort Wrangell a friend saw Il Rus
! sian priest in his sacred robes drunk that it
! was almost impossible to continue the gambling
| whereby he passing the time till he should
hg all.l sltstfItg g.taY
| dying man upstairs. Methnks would go hence
unshriven rather than minGlc my last faint
! breath with this priests strong with quass.
! QuasS is the horrible drink the Russians have in
| troduced among the natives. II is brcwcd from
sugar and molasses. and simply drives i man
| mad. II is 50 Intoxicating that. described
il ne, its devotecs must hold on 10 the grass
| To keep from rolling of the ground.
| But Mrs. Henderson does not always
choose unpleasant topics for her descrip-
| tions. There is a delicate poetic touch in
a conversation which she held near the
| end of her journey;
Above Circle City the scenery cain became
| glorious. As was sitting watching the noun
| tainS tall, rather ungainly miner came to me,
and said naively: Its 50 long since I've spolen
| 10 lady, may | not talk with YOU q little
whie?' was pleased by the frank address and
| the keen look, and had a delightful chat
He was full OF ideas and longing for books.
lie mentioned ''1rilby.' ! told him ''Trilhv''
was more, nor the man who had created her.
, and happened To say that | considered Peter
! Ibbctson'' much superior in many ways lie had
never read the book, 50 | told him it, motive.
| All, he said, apprcciatingly, ''hOw | should
like TO dream true to dream back into my
home and old life. DO You know, ! was thinking
| yesterday tat in time not far distant q famous
astronomer in Mars will perfect a great te!e.
scope? lie will happen upon friend some after
noon. and viii say: BY the way, I've finished
my Ions. Como up tonight, and III show You
some wonderful sights Well that night they
# f,t nd he tppT
nm"r will say: See that insignificant little planet
! up there! That called the Earth, because the
silly inhabitants think their pea is the only
sphere worth rolling. Now, look; there their
continents. and there IS country, iIieid and
burning. and lonely and apart, called Alaska.
Now. in all other countries and states there are
great insane IsyuuS. but, though crowded.
they Insufficient. 50 there is a whole great
country given over To the worst cases. Now aud
then Fntn" poor. insane creature comes 10 his
sIiscS in lhr~'' awful soiiiudrS and, in wonder
ing ioy escapes from the land and hlstpus hIt K
To his homie; but mos, eases iucrablr. They
just suffer along, poor devils forgetting their
former life quite, or recalling it like dream. -
Several chapters Of the book are simply
! packed with information, Of 4 useful and
interesting kind. The number OF subjects
| discussed is so great that it would be i'm
possible tc name all OF them, but to any
one interested in the undeveloped re
sources CT the far Northwest the book
cannot fail TO prove fascinating. Through
the Widest scenes and the most pictur-
esque of predicaments one seems to see
the author moving, a bright-faced alert
woman, kodak and notebook at hand. and
-strangest OF company for such a journey
her little girl, bearing the significant
name OF Serene. To most women this
would seem am impossible task, but Mrs.
Henderson leaves the impression on ones
mind that she enjoyed it hugely. tChi-
caSo: Herbert s. Stone IL Coz
Minor Ficticn.
Jefferson Wildrider" is a novel of New
England life, by Elizabeth Glover. author
of The Gentle Art of Pleasing" The
characters are drawn with a certain dant :
precision, and each has a welI-defined in
dividuality. There is a strong moral tone
in the book, and the atmosphere of old
Connecticut life is preserved. The plot is
d simple une-merely the story of two
cousins an eopcmcnt, a checkered married
life for the one, and lonely and embit
tered spinsterhood. ending in a happy mar
riage, for the other. The story is pleas
ant one though there is nothing extraor-
binary in its merits. tNew York: The Ba-
ker & Taylor Company. $1.25)
Mr. f. w. Homung, the author of sew
eral Australian novels, has written a boof
of short stories. Some of them are very
readable and some are not. His tales o.
English people in England are poor anC