The San Francisco call., 1909-02-14
Dreaming River

By Barr Moses. Published by Frederick A.
Stokes company, New York. Price 81.
HE tired and callous book re-
viewer is bound to become
something of cynic in re-
gard to the printed legends on
the paper envelopes of the new books.
so when one as laudatory as this meets
the eye ii seems TO defy the reader and
positively challenges criticism:
man and a girl together on the
Minnesota prairie--that is all, except
sunny, cheerful Doctor MacDougal in
one chapter. Nobody else lives within
20 miles. Yet the story is often
breathlessly exciting.
The reader grows very fond of Jas
per and Dorothy because they act SO
deliciously like ordinary. real people
He is wild. unaccouatable. sometimes
very gentle poet who has ina gined hq
was in love many times that he does
not know how 10 behave when he real
ly is. She is just sweet little New
York girl. who knows next to nothing
about herself or anybody else, bat is
very nice just the same.
The binding Id of the 'zza..t' the
lonely red sunset, the terror OF the
cvclone, the warm delicasy of the
ring-all live in the pages Jasper
poems, too, al worth reading. The
story itself is capital
How many authors up to now have
put poets into their stories and when
they have been obliged to show off
their poetry have invariably fallen
back on some we'll known selection
from the masters. Mr.. Moses uses no
weak subterfuge like that. He writes
some real poetry and some of it is as
nice as his very nice prose.
Dorothy, the lonesome little heroine.
is a child of the city, New York. and
suddenly at 16 is left an orphan. Her
dying father makes her promise to go
to a certain old relative who lives at
Dreaming River" on the Minnesota
prairie and tell him her story and he
viii advise her what to do for a liv-
ing. When the poor child arrives at
her destination. she finds the relative
is dead and his son is left. The son,
man of so, seems very old to the young
girl. and she stays at the lonely house
with the man and helps him in the vari-
Gus duties about the house. charming
love story develops and is carried to a
satisfactory close.
One would think that page or two
could tell the whole story of a man and
a girl alone on a prairie. and the
author adds to his own difficulties by
making one Of his characters uncon-
scious for about a third of the book.
But not lot a page QOeS the DOOk drag.
The publishers tell us that Mr.. Moses
lives in small town amid the very
scenes he describes in his novel They
add that it is fortunate that he is not
dependent upon his literary earnings
for his livelihood, for up to date he has
been singularly unsuccessful. He has
been writing short stuff for magazines
for six years, has had 80 pieces accept
ed and has made less than 5000 out of
them all. The author is evidently not
discouraged by this experience. but
courts failure by neglect, by telling
this. The most dangerous experiment
OF all is the introduction of original
poetry which must be read to be ap-
preciated. 1t is woven into the story
so artfully that one can't skip it.
in fact after a few pages of this de-
lightful book one begins to grieve that
it is so short and must so soon be
finished.
1t is the first novel beyond the short
story length which the author has Of
fered. but he will win extravagant
praise for it and will deserve it ALL 1t
is a delight from cover to cover.