The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-09-11

vately printed from the pen of Idah
Me2cham Strobridge: its name, In
Miners Mirage Land" Encroaching in
no way upon Mrs. Austin's province
desert still life and the creatures of
the sandy wastes-this last volume Of
wilderness lore but broadens the field
by its more detailed treatment of the
humankind Of sagebrush land. The
mystery of the great unwatered reaches
Of the West is in each the fundamental
motive. The lady who wrote about
the little town of the grapevine down
on the edge of the Mohave shows us
the men of the desert stepped in the
subtle influence of the barrens until
quiescence wraps them in a mantle OF
something almost akin to fatalism;
Idah Meacham Strobridge follows the
mad striving, the restless battling of
desert dwellers, trying ever to wreak
fortune from the yelled genius Of their
parched abiding places.
This writer, whose name is not an
unfamiliar one to old readers Of The
Call, is a true daughter. Of Nevada
she has the typical Nevada love for
the land that seems all too wearisome
from the coaches of the train. To her
the desert is as the Cupaean Sibyl
whose books are only to beread by the
elect. Here is it's charm:
IF you love the desert and live in
II, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are
a part of the pulse-beat of the uni
verse, and you feel the swing of the
spheres through space and you hear
through the silence the voice Of God
speaking"
I'm Miners Mirage Land"-that
means to the author the land Of Wis
ions, the land of wild dreams wherein
mems minds are clouded with the aura
of golden imaginings. Just as the
thirst ridden traveller may vainly pur-
sue the vision of tapping waters across
miles Of shifting wastes so do these
seekers Of the glittering promise make
Of their lives but the record of cease
less grasping at the skirts of fortune
always ahead but always smiling. The
writer finds that the desert trick Of
the mirage manifests itself as surely
in the minds of men as in the actual
phenomena of the quivering heat
waves.
The best thing in the book is the
sketch of "Old Man Berry" Here the
author gives breathing picture of one
who had reached his four-score years
but who was still on a feverish hunt
for that lure that had been so many
times just within the fancied reach OF
his hand This indomitable old pros
pector-crazy, some would call him
who is as willing to bend his withered
hands to the tanning of a fractions colt
as he is to court death in the desert, is
a type that should live in piece of fic-
ton, so virile is he made in the few
sketch lines blocked out by Mrs. Stro-
bridge.
For those who have a sense quick
ened to the possibilities of fiction the
recital Of the myths concerning the
Hardin silver, "Forman's Find" or the
Three Little Lakes Of Cold brings
instant response. These tales of lost
treasure. each with it's grisly record &C
death and privation and year-long de-
spair. have in them strong possibilities
for more serious treatment, which the
author should embrace. Her manner OF
telling is dramatic: the narratives
themselves are intensely fascinating.
Though marred occasionally by a
straining after effect. Mrs. Strobridge's
style is quite commensurate with the
charm Of the subject she has elected to
portray. When she has to reproduce
before us some Of the weird beauty OF
sculptured hills and purpled skyline she
makes a choice of phrase and meta
phor at times impressive.
Briefly, in subject matter, in diction
and even in artistic handiwork of bind
ing, Idah Meacham Strobridge's collec-
ton Of sketches is one of the most en-
tertaining books that have been writ
ten IN the West this year.
CThe Artemisia Bindery, Los Ange-
les; price 81 6o)