The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-08-02
ll3HE CALL OF THE WILD" by

book since the appearance of Bob. Son
Of Battle" which was a classic In Its
way. The book surpasses the work oil
Mr.. Ollivant, however, in depth Of mean
ing in vividness OF style, and in every
other essential characteristic except.
perhaps, pathos There is moro tragedy
than pathos in the storysof Buck, ="
though here and there one does feel a
lump in the throat at some terse phrase
OF fash of suggestion.
The plot of the story is outlined when
IL is stated that Buck" was a dog OF
fine breeding, stolen from California
ranch and sold to the Klondike, where
he became part of a dog team, and
finally reverted to the wild state and
went off with the wolves The reader
will see from even this bald sketch that
situations of dramatic power and tragic
possibilities are within the grasp CT
the author. To say that he has made
the most Of them is TO keep we'll within
the truth No animal story like this one
has come TO light since the Jungle
Books" Mr.. London knows dogs. and
he knows his Klondike as an old-time
schoolmaster knew Webster's spelling
book His salient quality as writer
is his ability TO see a strong situation
and present it with absolute. sometimes
brutal. truth. Another quality which
he showed in some of his earlier sketch
es, but which is not so evident in most
Of his work, Is a certain poetic beauty
of style which appears when the idea
takes perfect possession OF him. and
glorifies the material as the setting
sun transmutes a rocky canyon Both
strength and poetry are in this story of
a dogs life, and the result is magnifi-
cent.
Moreover, IL is not merely a dog
story, but possesses. as all true tales
of life must. a subtler meaning which
runs along Under the thread of the mar
rative and proves the kinship OF brute
and human While Mr.. London has net
ascribed to his hero any emotions or
thoughts beyond the limits of animal ma
ture and this is the commonest
fault among writer's of such histories
he has contrived to- convey, in some oc-
cult fashion, the idea OF a parallel be-
tween the dogs life and that of the
man sent into the Klondike wilds TO
fend for himself amid conditions prim-
itive to the last degree. One feels that
the experience of Buck" is analogous
to that OF a thoroughbred man in the
Klondike-a man too virile and strong
to succumb 20 hard conditions. too fne
to be essentially degraded by them, yet
not strong enough-no man could he
strong enough-to preserve unchanged
the individuality Of his past The great
and inevitable change in the nature of
any civilized thing which comes into Iii
rect competition with the wild life OF
its own kind. a change arising partly
from compelling necessity and partly
from that mysterious summons which
Mr.. London terms "the call of the wild. :"
is here described as IT never has been
described before. 1t is a wondo-14
piece CT work
A writer less charged with feeling for
the poetic fitness of things might have
made his hero a man, and encountered
himself with all sort of complications
thereby BY taking a dog for his cen
trail figure Mr.. London has confined him
self simply to primitive emotions and
developments. He has secured the sym
pathy OF the reader without question
from beginning to end, and avoided the
utter tragedy OF the quenchins of a
human soul. He has. in short. created
a classic. book perfect OF its kind. and
of rare species.
The subtlety with which the human
analogy is suggested is shown in the
passage which describes Bucks evolu
ton into a thief-he had reached the
point of stealing meat from another dog
without getting caught at II. The au-
thor saws:
This first theft marked Buck as fit
to survive in the hostile Northland en-
vironment. 1t marked his adaptability.
his capacity to adjust himself to chang
| ing conditions. the lack of which would
have meant swift and terrible death
1t marked, further. the decay or going
| to pieces OF his moral nature. a vain
thing and a handicap in the ruthless
| struggle for existence. II was all well
enough in the Southland. under the law
of love and fellowship, TO respect pri-
vate property and personal feelings; but
in the Northland. under the law OF club
and fang. whose took such things into
account was a fool. and in so far as he
observed them he would fail TO prosper.
mot that Buck reasoned 1t out. He
was fit, that was all, and unconsciously
ne accommodated himself to the new
| mode of life. All his days, no matter
what the odds. he had never run from
a fight. But the club OF the man in the
red sweater had beaten into him a more
fundamental and primitive code Civil
lied. he could have died for a moral con-
slderaticn, say the defense of Judge
Miller's riding whip, but the complete
ness OF his decivilization was now evil
denced by his ability to fee from the
defense for a moral consideration and
80 save his hide. He did not steal for
the 10Y OF IL. but because OF the clamor