The Washington times., 1907-09-15
Canadian Poet
of the Yukon

that he is an EnEiishman By
birth. not long out OF his
teens. who il q clerk In one OF
the Yukon branches Of q great Cana
dian bank" says E. B O.. IN the
London Morning Post. However that
may be. IN Songs OF 3 Sourdougi1'
published BY William Briggs. Toronto,
Cansda). r. ". Service has got nearer
to the heart OF the oid-time placer
miner-the grimly humorous wGndsrer
who went gold hunting h the days
when yeast was an unknown luxury IN
the. High North and lump OF sour
dough was kept TO lift the next lot
OF bre:zd'-than any other verss-mslksr
in ali the length and height OF he
Great Dominion. Icanadians. By he
way, mean to call New Zealand ths
Little Dominion."I Not a few OF his
songs and ballads would never have
been written Il Rudyara Kipiinw had
never read the old Testament IS 1t
erature It Is rather a pity 50 many
OF the younger poets OF the younEsS
nations insist on initiating the rsking
rhythms OF the master-iuevitablY they
fail 10 reproduce the haunting under
tones. so ike the undertons OF sounds
IN an engine room. OF his finest, rowdb-
est verse and perpetrate stun which
phone With a broOmstick. Still 81
twenty-one or Twenty-Five the poet
Ike the man who plants cabbGgez--
must Initiate somebody, and KicIing -
a virile model But Mr.. Services
manner, as well as his rl~ttsr, ara his
own more often than not, and Ia some
OF his poems he has already said IN q
new way what every inartioulats
Yukon miner has been thinking ever
since he pushed IN over the passes
for the first time. In The Spell Of
the Yukon. for exampls, which could
never be left out OF any anthology Of
Canadis1 verse. he certainly sees the
Northern wilderness through the eyes
OF the man into whose soul Il has en-
tered. Here is the poem IN its entirety:
I've stood IN some mizhty-mouthed
That's plumb-fun of hush to the
brm;
I've watched the big. husky sun val
low
IN crimson and gold. and grow dim.
TIL the neon set the ps&rly peaks
cleaning,
And the stars tumblsd eat. neck and
crop.
And I've thought that I surely was
dreaming,
With the peace Of the weird piIs6 ca
top.
q" The summer-no sweeter waa swsFt
The sunshiny woods ali athrill:
The grayling eleap IN the river,
The bighOrn asleep on the hill
The strong life that never knows haE-
The wflds where the caribou CALI
The freshness, the freedom. the far
ness
o God! how I'm stuck on it all
The winteri the brightness that
The While land locked light as a
The cold fear that follows and finds
The Silence that bludgeons you
dumb.
The SHOWS that are olosr than history.
The woods where the weird shadows
The stiffness, the moonlight, the nys-
terry
I've bade EN- gOod-by-but can't
There's a land where the mountains
And the rivers al run ood knows
There are lives that are errinx and
And deaths that hang Just BY a hair:
There are hardships that nobody
reckons;
There are valleys unpeo2led and stil.
Iand-oh, It beckons and
And I want to SO back. and wiz
The homely metaphors and SMILES
here are quite in keeping with the
character Of the true 'scourdOuRb'
homesiek 70 get away from home back
70 the more spacious life Of the un-
FENCED North, where he viii not be
troubled BY the sight OF ouarter-sec-
ton farmers and other merely me-
chanlcai persons bound down 10 times
ana seasons and. the worst biots Of
al sLsl IN tne MINDS eye, city clerks and
5radespeo2le and millionaires with Of
ices downtown forever connejia5
70 need the cantankerous tenpyis "a
glts OF clocks IN openair pulpits. Gfvs
ne nealth. bacon. beans. tobacco. and
4ay says the Tree miner OF the Pa
enc siope), and VIII make the pomps
OF san francisco or Denver as rfdIcii-
ious as you please. Moreover. Mr..
service certainly has a sense OF the
Nhlte vertigo OF life IN the High
North. the readiness resuIti11 49, 80.
lhe everlasting metallic glare OF Its
unfreezlng scenery, and Succeeds ~
conveying an impression thereof. 10 his
IsSoer' mere Is something evil and
askeW IN the bitter fascinating dav-ns
OK the Yukon. In The I,owdovvn
white, which shows the sous.v man
VINO mas lost his sense Of racial n-ida
SSwnlch Is, after all, the only sure
foundation OF empirel and awaits IN
MS squalid shack the nffIs sI,,-.
Slwesh girl with the rose OF shane ~
hsr h6ir, he gets this atmosnbsrirs
She VIII come with the dawn. and the
dawn Is Eear; I can see its wi
glow N'i4
Like a corpse-lght seen through
frosty pane IN a night of want
And yonder she comes. by the HEAL
LII pines, swift staggering
through the snow
AS humourfst somewhat IN ff,s
style OF Bret Harte, Mr.. Se~vfce is aISS
young poet OF parts. The Woman
ana the angel (Which has a tvyang
OF the hiplingesQue) is too original ia
Ds quoted Ihe angel Is 4 Westerner-
tAere must be West In Heaven as
vel as elsewhere-and he lounges IN
the golden street with HIS halo tilted
Sideways and receives & pass for :
month vts,E to earth. The story NAV
6s commended to the consideration -
Bernard Shaw. Much more sr,1t
able for quotation is The Cremation ~
sam McGees which tells the story Of
tenderfoot from the Southern states
VINO went into the Yukon and was az
ways so cold in feet and hands and
knees that when he was dying he
begged 20 be cFemated-a request con-
scienuously carried out by his partner.
Inc corpse-'It-w loaded on a sleigh
and the survivor OF the partnership
pulled II along TIL he found a place
where enough 1reWood could be found
10 cremate Il Ii YVES not until Iake
Labarge was reached and the dereiIct
steamer Alice May was discovered
frozen ia he ice that the dead mans
diving wish Gould bn q y-~fa5 ossF