The San Francisco call., 1907-03-24
"RunRInq Water"


Company, New York. Price, 81 80.
roR some time there has been a
dearth OF good novels; perhaps the
appearance OF Running Water
marks the change. This story is
py A. T. W. Mason, the successtul
author OF The -Four Feathers" man
must needs have been, in The hrst place
3 lover OF the Alps TO have done such a
book. and, in the second place a real
mountain-climber. None but an eX-
perienced enthusiast could write such
descriptions of Alpine climbing they
are not TO be CLEANED from books OF
dreamed out at d desk.
The story opens in the Alps. An
excellent picture is given OF woman
whose life has been spent in pleasure
ss she interprets fl; Of her morals one
may think anything or nothing at all
She is distinctly second rate. loud,
Acheap and most unattractive. She has
daughter OF seventeen. q winsome
child, best described thus:
How much does she know" The
question would thrust itself into the
mothers thoughts. She watched her
daughter intently from the dark cor
ner where her head lay. thinking that
with lne broadening OF the day she
might read the answer in that still
face. But she read nothing, even when
every feature was revealed in the clear,
dead light. for the face which she saw
was the face of one who lived much
apart within herself, building among
her own dreams as a child builds upon
tie sand and pays no heed TO those
who pass And to none of her dreams
had Mrs Thesiger the key. Deliberately
her daughter had withdrawn herself
among them. and they had given her
this return for her company They
had kept her fresh and gentle in a
circle where freshness was soon lost
and sentleness put aside
The daughter Sylvia is so out OF har-
mony with all the life they lead that
one must wonder why she has not
rebelled before. She is dressed like
e.ld 10 make her mother appear
Young, but she has seen eao1gh Of the
under SIDE of life to make her very
acute. and she is not easily deceived
Al an inn in the Alps Sylvia meets a
man. who accompanies her on her first
climb. lie is an old climber. The de-
lights are already part OF his blood.
and each summer sees him back in
Switzerland hunting some new ascent
10 conquer. Her enthusiasm gives him
2 new interest in life, and the romance
OF the book begins.
While she is on the aountain sylvia
comes 70 the conclusion that she can
TO longer endure the life she is lead
Ing with her vulgar mother She
knows she has father in England.
but knows nothing st all OF him or the
cause for her parents separation. Her
mother allows her TO go TO her father
with no regret whatever at the parting.
rather with a sense OF relief. The
sorcid mystery of her fathers estab
rshment in London is soon made clear
20 sylvia and she uses her best efforts
10 change his mode of living. They
move 10 the country. 10 the little cot
tage where she was born, in Dorset
shire.
On this summer evening the win
dovss were set wide M every room. and
thus I'm every room as she passed up
and down she heard the liquid music
OF running water, here faint like
whispered melody, there pleasant like
laughter but nowhere very loud and
every-where quite audible. In one OF
these rooms she had been born In
one of these rooms her mother had
slept at night during the weeks before
she was born. with that music in her
ears at the moment OF sleep and Al tl4e
fs,cy Nr-1r-fa Rtar-
stood now why she had always
dreamed OF running water.
some fine pieces Of character drawing
are found in the descriptions OF the
guides IN the Alps. IN speaking OF the
bravery and seif-sacrifce so often
found among them the hero, Hilary
chayne, says:
think these guides obeyed law:
a law not OF any mans making, and
the one law last brolScn--the law that
.what YOU know that you must do, IL by
doing it you can save a life.
That little speech makes a great i'm
pression on Sylvia. and she repeats II
60 bersef ror strength and counsel
when she is trying 10 save her father
from his despicabie self and his secret
shame.
The love story OF Sylvia and chayne
is rather incidental than central in in
ferest: heredity is the underlying prin-
cipie-the law OF transmission that
makes the running waters forever TO
sound in sylvia's ears and makes her.
too the mountain climber TO that man
re- horn. And another law is the law
of the mountain and OF the guide that
At the end OF the dramatic chase across
he glaciers and up the perilous sleeps
.tays the hand Of Gabriel strood from
, fendish murder and constrains him
70 rescue at the risk Of his own life
.he man he had taken into the last
Desses Of the Alps nendishly to slay.
The father with his scientific viilaany'
h,s educated wicl1edness. his diaboiical
cunning and IethaI patience Is. perhaps.
ths strongest character Of the story
The manner Of it sIi Is mastery In