The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01

two hundred dollars and an oyercoat.
II must have taken nearly all of II
except the oveFcoat just to get there
20 begin, and after he got to the front
he must surely: have had to throw
away the overcoat just. in order to
step lively and keep close to the firing
line.
Anyway he arrived, in two senses of
the word, for he got on the ground in
proper time. saw the show. and became
the correspondent of some of the
worlds greatest periodicals. for in
stance, the illustrated London News
and the London Graphic. Later he
wrote a book about what he witnessed
and called IL Port Arthur. a Monster
Heroism." II was full o. very vivid
description. and with ones eyes abb
sorbingly fixed upon its pages ones
ears might imaginatively hear what
Bayard Taylor calls the scream of
shot and burst of she'll and believing
of the mortars.
Barry's new book tells the story of
a gritty and hkabie California boy.
right from the time when he was
twelve years Of age. when he caught
blacksnake in the act Of devouring
the hedgiings of birds nest and
Sandy fought and Killed the Shiny
horror with his bare hands.
But as the boy stood looking at
I WIldl lay Qedu lne some
thing unconscious within him shud-
dered. He had entered the grove a
gentle child. He left it a member OF
the race called mankind, for across
the white marble of his imagination
had crawled the trail of snakes"
Thus you get first glimpse OF the
boy you are to watch develop into
manhood, with the Inspiration of the
high Sierras breathed into his being.
". ar1A . H.
nately fierce and gentle, made a man
of him. AS for the snake incident,
at twelve years old, so he strangled
his first monopoly" When grown his
ambition was to be a master of men,"
end he sought that goal. via the mas
terry of the art OF journalism and
then the ownership and control of a
big newspaper. He is represented to
US as having succeeded.
"It was no easy conquest. and the
supremacy he maintained was kept
only at the price of constant vigilance
He lived on the tick Of the clock, kept
his appointments as punctually as
ferry boat and watched all the little
habits of his life-his eating, drinking
and sleeping-as carefully as he did
the loop holes through which news
sifted its sensational powder in upon
him -.
As guide for his morals Sandy
remembered a. copy-book line: ITO live
the obscure life OF the hermit sweetly
is easy, and it is easy to live in the
world as men live: but to live In the
world the unsullied life OF the hermit
--ah that is diff7cult,":f
One whole beginning page of the
book is devoted TO this sentence stand
ing forth Immensely margiued:
Tell me OF his early struggles; af-
ter a man has succeeded he" ceases to
be interesting: George. Eliot.
I like the look of his wide margined
page that gives the novels Con
tents" Note how concise and com-
prehensive is his statement of the
chief items in an Interesting life
romance. "Book.,I; The. Boy; Book
II. The Girl; Book al, Man and
Woman" -;
B: 1 regret lack of space to tell you
about the girl; but let 1t suffice that
Ss ndy could no. more live. without
Elizabeth than an :incandescent lamp
could glow without a power -house be-
hind It .'.;.'e:
. like this bit, which will give you
as sample of the books art in show
ing how the environment of the High
Sierras tended by their inspiration to
develop high character IN this young
California boy. The extract tells of
a time when Sandy was In misfortune
to weak despair: to go away into the
South Seas and give up his ambitions.
Sandy prayed .. but in his
own way: /" he reached his spirit
back along the rough road of his d.
ninutive past until he stood on the
peak of the high SIerras. He
felt suddenly asha med of his desire. to
fee to the South Seas. He would stay;
he would re-enter the present world.
!" -. Stretching out his arms he
called to the mountains to give. him
strength, their immovable security.
To the eagle he cried for peise, to the
bear for endurance. TO the stag for
fieetness. to the chipmunk for cum
ming. and then. to crown ALL he mag
iAed that he had cFawled into. his
mothers arms to accept her blessing
(Moffat. Yard & Co.. New York.
s1-50)
-