The New York herald., 1922-04-16

Marguerite Wilkinson. The Macmil-
Ian Company.
TRULY RURAL. BY Richardson
Wright. Houghton Miifiin Company.
TT ERE are two books fun OF the
sweet. fresh smell Of out of
doors. savored abundantly.
yet as different upon the palate OF
the mind as dawn and afterglow.
One tells OF the life enjoyed apart
from the usual and settled" the
sense of living free which comes
from cutting the tetker and going
joyously across country where the
grass is tall and wet, where forest
paths are unfamiliar ard where de-
tanning thorns often accentuate the
rhythm of the swinging gait. The
other unrolls the fair panorama OF
beautiful gardens and feeds the mind
with delicious sense Of the fairy
food OF beauty which comes upon the
table Of those who win study Ma
ture's ways with seeds. and by low
ing care and cultivation find the
increase so bountiful as to fill the
cup of wonder to overfowing-
The "Dingbat OF Already" was the
quite absurd name OF fat bottomed
scow. with tholepins. built by Jim
and his wife when they decided to
leave indoors for a while and let a
river carry them from place to place
on their "vagabond" holiday. The
authors keynote on the first page
Is appealing:
ITO live thirty years without ever
feeling the fun energy of the sun.
the rigor Of wind. the sweet instancy
OF rain-that, you may say. would
be tragedy. Or perhaps you would
say 1t would be impossible. But it is
not impossible. It was my tragedy.
/ did not know sun and wind and
rain because | had always taken
them for granted. In a
spiritual sense / had lived most OF
my life indoors. 1 knew
people much better than I knew
Nature. who has been the condition
OF their life from the beginning. who
is the everlasting enemy and the
everlasting friend"
Jim's wife tells US that they were
hard up and had a summer to pass
with little to maintain them while it
lasted. and so they decided to spend
their time out OF doors until Jim's
school term opened and until the
poetry market rallied from its sum-
mer depression. They were living
In Oregon at the time. so they built
their Argo and pushed or into the
gentle current of the Willamette
River. The trip Tasted seven weeks
by the clock" but in their feelings it
has never ended: Sometimes when
] am at rest and retrospective l can
close my eyes and see the sinuous
curying OF that little river. the mossy
sides OF the great firs and naples
near it. the strips OF singing shingle
that made tunes for Us under our
boat as We slipped down the stream
over the shallow ripp.es. the banks
or clean sand where we made our
fires at night and sat watching the
thin strands Of gray smoke unwind
ing themselves upward
Many who have followed the
travels OF these gay young adven-
turers under the sky. as parts OF this
engaging narrative have appeared in
Scribner's HG1d.iIle during the last
year. will be glad to have the whole
story of their wanderings ION sing
ing rivers and blue bays in the Ding
bat OF Already the Royal Dingbat'
and the Royal Canoe and on roads
brown, yellow and white In Frankie
Ford and Rover chug-chug.' IL Is
a most personal record OF small but
sprightly adventures" Their earll-
est sallies on Western rivers were
followed by camping trips In Cali
fornia. New York. New Hampshire
and Nova Scotia. where they smelled
the woods and drank the pungent.
almost Intoxicating air. and later in
England and Scotland. where they
sei upon beauty still different from