The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03
GOSSIP ABOUT BOOKS
AND THEIR AUTHORS

Rex E. Beach, is a comparatively
young author. who. after having
passed through a great many excit-~
ing experiences IN little known quar-
ter of the globe where life flows at full
tide, now shows an ability to write
stories OF unusual vigor and freshness.
His first novel. The Spoilers is taking
everybody by surprise. He is one OF
those authors who write in that appar-
emily easy. offhand way which is only
possible TO the most original. and IL Is
evident that he will soon be recognized
as among the foremost novelists.s for
his stories are destined to be POPULAR
and he has the skill of a born writer.
/ 1t is somewhat remarkable that he was
able TO dispose OF the serial book and
dramatic rights of his first novel within
| three weeks OF each other and so far
he has not lacked critical appreciation.
Rex E. Beach has had career so
far that compares IOr vicissitudes in
some degree with that of Mark Twain.
and perhaps this resemblance of ex-
perience partly accounts for the gen.
uineness of his humOr and the grip and
reality of his stories Mr.. Beach. who =.
| is now 2S years old. was born q
| farm in Michigan in 1877. but most OF
his youth was spent in Florida, where
he attended college He went to Chi
cago 70 study law. but was swept away
in the great wave OF excitement over
the discovery of gold in the Klondiks
region. and. giving up his legal pros
poets, sailed for Alaska on four DAYS
notice That was in the late fall of the
first season Of gold-prospecting in the
north, and the United States was filed
with horror at the reports of famine
and the scarcity of all kinds of things
in Alaska
Mr.. Beach had 10 travel with scant
provisions, both for financial reasons
and because of the necessity for making
haste. The result was" he says, in
speaking of this time. that all I had
when i landed was toothbrush. a
suitcase, with one shirt and a collar in
IL. and a mandolin that I had picked up
on the way for arts sake With the
collar l was enabled to get right into
the most exclusive circles of society.
because there were only two more like
it in the first camp struck. and in this
way l secured entree to the cabins of
some OF the best bartenders In the sec
tion. My mandolin also made OF me a
kind of public utility which the COM
munity felt bound to safeguard"
Mr.. Beach tells how. In order TO re-
pair his fortunes, he Joined with two
college boys, and began to chop wood
for steamers. His partners were honest
this time; but after suffering tOrtureS
from mosquitoes and lack of fresh food,
and having chopped of all the toes
they could spare" they were compelled
to dispose OF their wood at the ruinous-
price of $40 a cord. although they be-
gan by asking $40. Among his other .
adventures he was shipwrecked on his
way TO Nome in the early days. and
drifted on Behring Sea for three days
and nights without food. After this
he reached success, but he suppresses
this part of his biography on the
ground that the story of a mans sue
cess does not compare in interest with
the tale of his hard luck" Altogether,
he was in Alaska i've years. and saw
the game through from beginning to
end.
"All through that long night Of un-
natural stiffness" she says, I'VE heard
the nee11g footsteps. 1t was a horrible
sound, that continuous, hurried. strag-
Cling exodus. The stricken people did
not run-they were toe exhausted by
the time they had reached our guar
ter-but they toiled doggedly on. on
out toward the west. toward the cool
eucalyptus forests in the Presidio, out
toward the edge Of the bay. One man
| saw carried with care brand-new
pair of tan shoes. He had absolutely
nothing else, but these ne bore on a
stick over his shoulder. Women car
ried their babies, their canary birds in
cages. their parrots Next to a man
who trundled all his household pos
sessions on a lawn-mOWer rode a grouu
of negresses in a CHASTITY Learse. pulled
by stalwart negroes A .ehartering'
crowd OF Cinnamon carried pathetic lit
tie bundles of rice. their brightly clad
little wives and babies. dragging mis-
eFably on behind A man and his wife
harnesSed themselves with ropes 20 a
trunk. and with bowed backs and blis-
tered feet went on 1t was a fearful
procession-"-Miriam Nicholson in Har-
per's Weekly.
The new volume of the letters Of Mrs.
stevenson. the mother OF Robert Louis
Stevenson. has just been published un-
der the title of Letters from samoa"
They are edited and arranged by Marie
Clothilde Balfour. who also edited the
first book of Mrs. Stevenson's letters
called From Saranae to the Mar
queSas-" In the Introduction she says:
To Stevenson lovers there may be
some interest in his mothers account OF
the last happy days they spent together
on earth At the same time il NAV be
frankly confessed that these letters are
published. far less with a desire to fur
nish few more details of life about
which so much has already been writ
ten. than to present some memorial Of
one as well beloved. II less widely
known In her own circle Mrs Steven
son was not in any sense only the
mother OF R. L s. and Ii may be said
without injustice to her brilliant SON.
that among those who knew and loved
them both she held no secondary place.
Personal charm and wit. a bright re-
sponsive spirit. extraordinary quiekness
OF sympathy and understaading and a
sterling common sense were qualities
as fully shared by mother and son as
We're their patience and bravery In sur
fering and sorrow, and their amazing
cheerfulness of heart. she. Like him,
lived TO the tune of that most characs
teristic of his prayers:
Give 20 awake with smiles:
Give % labor smiling.
The Book Buyer