The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-11-09
THE NEW BOOKS
days OFF" by Dr.. Van Dyke, Q Charming Series Of
Essays on Outdoor Life--A Novel by Harrison
RhOdeS-SOme Gift Books.

Days Off," BY Henry Van Dyke.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
TIC turn from the ordinary duties of book
and play reviewing to a work like this of
DR.. Van Dykes is itself like taking a day
Off" Next best thing to getting out in the
woods and the fields oneself is the COM
munion with Nature through the medium
of a lover of her so steadfast in affec-
tionate sympathy as is the author OF this
book.
DR.. Van Dyke is always a charming
essayist, and in days or he writes In his
most delightful vein. The ardency of his
o for birds and flowers and trees and
! the whole wild family of outdoors is
matched by his ability in painting them IN
words and enabling his ever-growing Pubic
to share in his happiness over them. 1t is
difficult to read such as the following ran
don bit of description without responding
to the poetry of the scene described. seeing
it's beauties and hearing it's music: THE
full moon climbed into the sky as we SAT
around our campfire, and showed her face
above the dark, pointed tree tops. The
winding vale was flooded with silver
radiance that rested on river and rock and
tree trunk and multitudinous LEAKAGE like
an enchantment of tranquility. The curl
ing currents and the floating foam up and
down the stream were glistening and
sparkling, ever moving, yet never losing
their position. The shouting of the water
melted to music, in which a thousano
strange and secret voices, near ana fnl
away, blending and alternating from rapid
to rapid and fall to fall, seemed Ike
hidden choirs answering n another from
place to place"
1t is not only descriptive huency, pu'
there is Imagination and art ana poetle
fancy in what DIR. Van Dyke writes. Ihere
is also an occasional delicate and delicious
bit of humor. One of the most delicate
and delicious is contained in a little satire
directed. at our friends, the nature faklrs
whose hearts, like DR.. Longs, are wrune
with agony at the thought of the WIG
creatures suffering in the sport OF the
, hunter and the fisher. 1t is called Little
Red Tom and tells of the tragic fate OF
a beautiful. plump tomato torn from his
happy garden home and his mother to-
mato's tender care to grace an unfeeling
salad dish.
The Jerseyman who reads the essay Be
tween the Lupin and the Laurel" descrio-
ing an expedition of pr. Van Dyke on a
'day off, from the round of academic
duties at Princeton, will discover how
much of unsupported charm some of the
unvisited wild spots OF South Jersey can
offer him. This Is one OF the very pleas
ATTEST days off" of the whole series.
There are others that AXE the reader
Among the Quantock Hills" of England,
moose hunting in New Brunswick, canoe
ing in Maine and fishing in a dozen places.
1t Is fishing that is DR.. Van Dykes par
ticular delight and of fishing expeditions
that he delights most to tell. The book Is
dedicated to his friend, %neighbor and fel-
low fisherman, Grover Cleveland.
There are twelve days Off in all. One
or two are described In the form of short
stories. His Other Engagement" teaches
the hanger of a too great devotion to the
sport of fishing in the experience of an
angler whose love of a good catch made
him late at his own wedding and lost him
his bride. "Silverhorns'' is the highly en-
tertainingl story of a big bull moose, and
there is a laughable tale, "Leviathan," of
a couple of ministers at odds over mat
tiers ecclesiastical. amatory and piscatorial.
There are also interesting digressions on
such topics as Books Tha I Loved as a
.BaTH and Motions About Novels"
One who loves nature will find DR., Van
Dyke in this book a most eloquent spokes-
man In her behalf. a man observant OF her
moods and her creatures in many places
and who writes only of what he knows
He will find the book a source of I'M
adu1terated Measure.