Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-04-17
JOURNAL BOOK REVIEW
JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S
TRAIL TO HAPPIN ESS
LEADS TO GODS COUNTRY
e%%%%~~~~~%%e~~At

This story of the Regeneration
of a Killer into a Nature-Loving
Man makes one of the strongest
and most fascinating books Mr..
| CurWood has written. Reviewed
I by Emma Lindsay Squier author
of The Wild Heart"
Once when | was a child a man
told me about hermit rat who
lived on the summit of Mt. Rainier,
high above the snow line. All alone
! he lived there, and it was mys
terry how he had gotten so high
and why none of his kindred were
/ with him.
| exclaimed in delight, How
would love to meet him! What
is his name?"
The man laughed, l remember
A name, he Knocked, for a dirty
old rat!
/ met the same laughter always
when I named the animals | met
| by chance in the woods of the
Puget Sound country; the birds
who flOcked around the cabin,
and the green garter snakes and
! frogs.
| rebelled uncomprehendingly at
the wanton destruction of trees
and flowers. / felt an inner hurt
when people talked of the great
out doors as if it were an over
grown picnic ground I'd be dis
poiled at will.
But until | read James oliver
Curwood's book, Gods Country,
the Trail to Happiness, recently
issued by Cosmopolitan Book Cor
poration, New York, | had not
found definite expression of the
| Thoughts that have been in my
mind for years. Then knew why |
had called the woods my church, "
| | knew why | had invested every
flower and tree, every bird and an
imal with personality, and
thought of them as friends and
companions.
If you are a lover of nature in
the true sense, you will welcome
this book as a "Credo." You will
find in this religion of a nature
loving man" the belief expressed
in words of beautiful simplicity
that we are kindred to every Leaf
}
bird that spreads a wing, to every
four footed creature in the world
and that the life of a blade OF
4 grass, a robber blue-jay a baby
bear, is not different from yours
and mine, that life in every form
is spark of the Great Divine Fire
There are many persons tt
1 whom Mr.. Curwood's book will
Z come as a sort of shock. 1t will
/ shake their egotism and disturb
II their self-made conclusions thai
the world was made for them tt
! work their will upon. But many
will like the shock. I do not be.
lieve that there lives man Oh
ID woman, of kind heart and tender
4 feelings who could not read Mr.
Curwood's wonderful story Of
Thor, the grizzly bear who fore
bore TO kill the man who had hunt,
ed him and not take the lesson tt
heart. | cannot picture a hunter
who prides himself on his sports
manship, reading the story of the
bull moose who deliberately sac
rificed his life that his wife ant
baby might escape to the woods
and afterwards failing to spare thu
life of one of those noble animals
H. 1t is not, as Mr.. Curwood says
that people are naturally heartles
or possess murderOuS instincts
lThey simply have not considered
the matter in an unprejudicet
Hight. He himself was a huntsmal
of renown, and, he admits, has !;
house furnished from cellar to at
tic with trophies of the chase
From earliest boyhood he pride,
himself upon his Skill at killing
And why not?
Church and school did not tel
me. 49,. that all other life on tn
earth was as precious as my owl
land had an equal right to figh
flor its existence" he says. From
q church rostrum he was hailed a
: the "chafhpion boy hunter" of tn
: county in which he lived
} "All other life, from the life O
, trees and flowers to that of tn
beasts and birds, was put on cart
$ for my special benefit. No othe
: life had right to exist unless tn
: human egotist saw fit to let
: live"
4 Such was the belief that he car
t ried with him into manhood, sue
: his the belief of millions of othe
people-because they have NO
-Ipaused to consider.
/. Thor, the grizzly bear, actual
!. spared his life, the life of the ma
Z who was, hunting him, and VIII
was, at that instant, helpless. Wit
THAT for a starting point, Mr.. Cur
Z wood began to think things owe
He built for himself cabin in tn
deep woods, and lived there an
4 wrote this book. He found, to
lgether with a sense of comradeshi
flor all things In the greet otti
~ doors. O peace OF mind and hear