The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-24
Kate Stephens Interesting Re-
view Of the Story.
EPIC OF THE WOODS.
Characters Learn Their Lessons
From Nature.
Gossip which WIN Interest
Book Lovers.

White, author of "1he Westernefs- NC
Clure, Phillips q Co, 1902 PIP 40
In all history there is no stronger or
more picturesque figure than the Amer
lean pioneer. Literature has been por-
traying him ever since Captain John
smith told what he and his comrades
saw and did. and editors have been saw
ing every scrap that would help to a
completer portrait since dakluyt pup
lished his Divers Voyages We nave
not vet his great picture. we never
shall have il until the great eplc-or
great dramas written which snal
have him for its protagonlst Feillal's
the scene Of the poem viii be early New
England, perhaps the fertile region o.
the Ohio or Mississippi, perhaps the
great northwest, or the gold coast OIL
California. The geography OF II makes
little difference. The soul OF tIe IMAM
is everywhere, and has been everywhere
throughout our country, or where the
national flag flies. Along side OF MN
is a woman who has fought the same
battle by his side. The poet that pro
duces this representative work WILL 1
believe be born in the fOlkland that is
about the middle of the United states.
The time is not yet ripe for hlfn-or
her for il may be woman we VINO
are now here are the literary pioneers
and forerunners of that great express
sion-uniting our strength toward the
best that is written in order to hasten
the more glorious coming day.
The Blazed Trail" is Il contribution
to the literature of the pioneer 1t IS
an epic of the north woods, of lumber
men and lum Der cutting In consider
ing the good points of the book II IS
difficult to- chose which to speak OF
first, the able and loving description OF
the forest nature with which the author
is plainly enchanted or the clever
analysis of men and their mOtives-the
psychical states and changes OF two or
three Of the chief characters.
There is some association some un-
dertone in every book that IS a real
book. With this the under sugges tive
spirit is the forest-the balsam Of the
pines; the oxygen OF the ar over me
broad lakes of northern Michigan, where
the story is or was, enacted; the CLEAN
ing Of tree trunks; the glancing OF birds
under branches; the melody of dancing
leaves The unspeakably vast woods
and their strangeness, the spell they
cast over the indweller, their mystery
which he endeavOrs to probe, are before
YOU. You blaze your trail through the
thicket, and breathe the adventure CT
the untouched forest. In or underneath
the branches you find q multitude OF
shy things-hermit thrush and white
throat, deer, beaver and musks- OK, TO
begin the list. The author is close
observer, and seeks to get into the very
secret of natural things OF one mat
ter he speaks, for instance, which we
have noted in West and East: Clear
forty acres at ramon IN the very GG4llcA
of pine forest, without a tract OF
poplar within a hundred miles; the next
season will bring up the fresh shoots
The books heroes are pioneers, and
they learn their lessons from the slow
and constructive nature which is about
them. There is in them none of the Tad
euthusiasms Of the mere sportsman,
who often is a mere destroyer, the city
bred or city dwelling man, who has SO
much of the pioneering of his ancestors
stirring in his blood that must
force go out and kill something. al
though fOOd-fOr which his ancestors
kilted-is plenty; and he must rough it
a week, or month, because fOrsOOth his
forefathers wrenched their living from
rOughing it for life. The full flavor OF
the primary struggle with nature. E..
to Wrest a living from her store-sa tur-
atiug the man, squaring his shoulders,
sharpening his features stealing adj
pose tissue and putting muscle in its
place, inducing habits of mind and
character as marked as the habits OF
body are peculiarly the pioneers.
such men and their work are the gist
of the story, and the forest is the back
ground of the scene A young man.
Harvey Thorpe, goes into the lumber
camps to make his fortune His com
rades and tools toward the end for
which he strives are mber- jacks. 9TH
erWlse called shanty boys and river
men, They form the temporary settle
ments which the author brings before
cut the logs, travOy them and finally
after the winters labor drive their
cuttings down swollen and ice-cakeI
rtY ers to the raft or mill. They are pfo-
neers They have the independence
the una dashed eye, the INSTRUMENTATION
even, Of the man who has drawn his
intellectual and moral nourishment at
the breast of 81 wild nature. They are
afraid Of nothing alive" They are
taclturn and direct, and of a strong and
condensed speech and dry humor They
nave that trait Of never showing aston
lsnment or approval which marks a
sell-pfouu and self-reliant nature They
nave polse and cool calculation of the
enQ IN the midst of excitement Under
an apparent familiarity with the en-
plcyef they have real reverence for
MS unapprOacha bility
Somewhere in the book is a remark
tnat drunken lumber-jack is one of
tue most dangerous animals of the
American fauna. That is when he Is
purnlng in three days the money ne
mas worked six months to earn when
he is reacting from a daily fourteen On.
eighteen hours Of heavy labor. His la
DOT mas been an excess In his ien0-
rance his pleasures therefore must be i'm
excess. All elemental impulses and pas
sioils must nave play. He has known
no law ln the forest-sometine the
NUMBER he has cut his employers have
stolen from the government He real
ICES no law when he is once within tle
ptslepoard, saloon town built to catch
ms earnings before he takes the town
The hero-Thorpe. is noble nature:
man 1ree executive, just and honest. H.
noids his shanty boys. who Worship an
ideal similar to him. in the palm of his
hand. His story in some parts is said
70 be a recounting of the adventures Of
me authors father. who was an. early
land-loOker and timber-owner in Affc1i-
gan ~
Anorher interesting character-and an
evidence or the authors close observa-
ton Of human nature and his able
ana lEsis or mems temDeraments and
motives-is Radwav RadvraE-s s,.s
found more often in real life than thew
are IN the books that endeavor to nor
tray that life. They are always men of
capacity, but with such an altruistic
senslt1Veness that i'm their dealings with
tie world they are always looking to