The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-07-26
Jack London Gives Us a Delight
full Story About a Dog in Alaska,
Dwight W. Huntington Has
Companion Book for
the Huntsman.
SEVERAL SHORT REVIEWS
of a Diplomats Wife," by Mary
King Washington; "a Victim of Con-
science" by Milton Goldsmith; "a
socisble Ghost" by Olive Har-
per; How Paris Amuses It.
self" by F. Berkeley Smith.
Features of the New
Magazines.

milan Company FOR Sale III i.ieli.
mond by the Bell Book and stationery
Company. Price $3.50.
No other American can write OF Alaska,
ITS nri,nitiyeness, Its vastness, Its SHOWS,
silence and savagery, as Jack LONDON can.
..The Call of the Wild" Is the story OF
dog. In It's setting there is remote.
shadowy California background, overshad-
owed by 1.-The heart of things primordial,"
into which life plunEes In the Klondike.
The dog hero of Mr.. London's book IS
called Buck" Born of his father, Elmo,
q Saint Bernard, and his mother. shep,
Scotch shepherd dos. he first opened MS
.ves In the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley
home of Judge Miller where he was so
r.spectcd by the household that he came
"a have fine pride In himself, arrogating
tho airs that comported with ms &C
knowledged kingship in his California
kingdom AZ.
+reachery of an under gardner, Manuel.
This man had weakness for gambling
and for losing the wages that should have
Eone to the support OF his famliy. Inc
year was 1897, when dogs to pull sleos IN
tho frozen north commanded big prices.
Manuel wanted money. and Buck was
magnificent specimen of canine strength
and development. Ergo, Manuel took the
,,nsuspecting dog for a walk to the rail-
way station and sold him to kidnapper.
Buck was throttled into emi-unconscious-
ness, put on the train and taken IN the
exnress car TO San Francisco. When he
reached there he had his first encounter
with brutality in the shape OF q beating
from a man, who had a club In his hand,
and knew how to use 1t with advantage.
Then and there the iron entered INTO
Bucks soul The old. trusting, lazy al
fectionats stage Of his existence was gone.
He entered upon the realization Of new
life. In which he submitted to domination
where he must, met cunning with cum
ming, and fought for his life among the
savages of his own breed with whom ne
was thrown, with the awakened instincts
which sounded the first Call OF the
wild" and sent his Imagination thrilling
back through the centuries to the time
when his ancestors ran through the pri-
meval forests and hunted and killed as
they ran.
In tho meantime. the chapters which
chronicle Bucks experience In the Klon-
dixie are vivid and intensely interesting
He first served Francois and Perrault.
the bearers Of Canadian government dis
patches, in tho run from Dawson to
Shaguag. And during this run his educa-
ton progressed. He learned to work IN
harness with the best and most expe-
rienced sled dogs. to sleep comfortably IN
the snow, to eat coarse food and to steal
an extra share when occasion demanded
It, He bided his opportunity and slew his
the leaders place, which his enemy's death
had left vacant He behaved himsef so
well to Francois and Perrault that they
wept to part with him when Skaguay was
reached
Then Buck was put in charge Of a
Scotch half breed, and doubled on the
trail, retracing with the other dogs who
formed the team the weary way to Daw-
son. dragging the mail train behind him
1,Sv haoi1 Ia In
camp fire after he days work was done,
the sunland of his early past seemed
dim and distant, and the STRINGS of his
heredity grew stronger and stronger; the
call" sounded nearer and clearer. and
his dreams were full Of visions In which
memories OF the past quickened and be-
came alive again. He had learned to love
work and leadership. but change to bad
masters, coupled with insufficient food
and incessant toll, brought him near the
end OF all things. He saw his comrades In
harness fall aqd' die. He was saved from
death himself only by the almost flicker
Ing out OF his spark of life and by the in.
PREVENTION of John Thornton, into whose
camp, at the mouth OF White River
Bucks owners had strayed. These
owners pedarted and left him behind
Then followed the episode OF his life witt
Thornton. the happlest Ink in his asso
citation with mankind. for he came II
time to regard his preserver with pas
s!onate love that bordered on alteration
Ono OF he most vivid chapters in tn
book tells OF how Buck won wager TO
John Thornton, of sixteen hundred dol
lars
Tho winning OF the wager enable
Thornton to go hunting for gold into tn
Alaskan East and find it. While he and HI
partner gathered their dust and nuggets
the dogs were resting. and the ''call c
the wild" came still clearer and loude
into Bucks ears day by day. One night h
sprang from sleep into the forest ant
having made friends, ran and hunte
with his Wild brother, the wolf. His al
fection for Thornton brought him bacl
but he took to sleeping out at night, an
as he came to know his power and tn
full measure of his strength, now deve
oped In Its vigor and perfection. the lus
OF killing awoke in him and made hi
formidable, indeed, In the fan of the yea
he CHANGED upon wounded bull moos
cut It off from the heard. ran 1t dow
made prey OF 1t and had his feast, Aft
this WAS over he turned his steps HON
ward He found there band Of yeehat
who had slain John Thornton and h
partner and were dancing about The ru
of J'horntons cabin.
The dog fell upon them and avenged l
master. w men liley were 6ONc no sdl a
incurred for John Thornton. but when I
night came once more, he heard the ca
and answering 1t. he was soon ''runni
side by side with his wild brother, a
yelpng as he ran. There was nothi
left TO hold him longer and when the 10
winter nights came and tho wolves f
lowed their meat into the lower Alask
valleys. he might be seen running al t
head OF the pack through the pale moo
light or glimmering boreal!s, leaping
gant;c above his fellows, his great thrc
a-below as he sang song OF the yount
world. which was the song OF the pacl
The story seems easy telling in the r
respect, The force that has been put II
1t, the strength with which Klondike m
tiers have been touched, the lifting Of
curtain yelling that primordial land. &
the sombre glmpses that are given-th
things come only into the consciousn
of the reader who must acknowledge I
although the fame OF the book has 7
coded Its coming, its half cannot be te
Il must be known.
- A lA.,.t