New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-27
The West In Fiction
BY William Harris

from which Judith and her lover bare
" save themselves alive.
But one must sadly admit the West
has beaten Mrs, Willsie herself, Con-
sidering her simply as writer This
is her fifth or sixth novel, and she is
no nearer to achieving style than
she was with her first.
EDROCEEDfNG in northerly direc-
tion from Mrg. Wiiisic's home
ranch, we pick up the trail OF Harold
Bindloss, without the least difficulty,
since he calls HIS latest effort "North-
vest Mr.. Bindloss imports both hero
and heroine, after his custom, for the
sake of contrast. And he still believes
in the bracing qualities Of Western
ozone. His hero, Jimmy Leyland, the
son Of Lancashire mill owner, is a
bit of Waster. but needs only British
Columbia to make q man Of him, He
has got into bad company, gambling
and drinking. Luckily, nice girl
gives his slumbering self-respect a
Jolt, and starts him on the road to
reform He buys ranch In the bush
and tackles the strenuous life with an
axe. But bad company is easier to
pick up than to shake off. His sport
ing friends hang around and get him
into peck OF trouble, with game
wardens and mounted police. Plenty
of things happen before Jimmy is
through with the harvesting Of his
wild oats. He makes a clean job of
it in the end, and when he goes back
to England, to his inheritance, he
takes with him for souvenir Of
Canada wife, rancher's pretty
daughter who, one feels, will know
how to keep him in order the rest Of
his days. Every one is familiar wish
Mr.. Bindloss's easy, breezy, business
like way of telling story. But those
who know dear old Vancouver may be
surprised to learn that to Jimmy is
struck throbbing note Of strenuous
business" What on earth must an
English midland city be like?
Edison MarsheN plunges fearlessiv
into the great open spaces" to find his
plot for "The Skyline OF Spruce" 0c-
casionally he loses Lndley MURRAY or
the long marches, but cut there waer2
men are men grammar is nothing.
Like Humpty -Dumpty. Mr.. Marshall
makes a word nnan what he wants ii
to mean; and as for rhetoric, his motto
is treat it rough"
The story is sure-fre stuff Any one
who likes life and fiction in the raw
will eat this alive. We pick up our chain
hero, wolf" Darby, ont of convict
gang at Seattle. He didn't really be-
long there. Of course. All he needed
was to take Il course with Addison
Sims; nc had been shell-shocked in the
war, lost his memory, and slipped into
the underworld without thinking.
When an old friend recognized him,
and proved his record, the Governor
pardoned him loot sweet. Naturally,
he then went away from Seattle,
headed nor'-nor-'east. Had to seen q
man about a dog no, it was mining
claim, but there was dog. A tame
wolf rather, named Ferris. Dog. gun,
pack; what else? Oh, yes, girl He
picked up Beatrice Nelson under his
arm, and mushed along. Beatrice
didn't want to so. Her father was the
man who jumped Darby's claim; and
her fathers partners had murdered
Darby's chum. Beatrice was nice
girl though. And Darby was irresist-
ible. And though he carried her off By
force, and kept her in the wilds for
three months, he was not the kind of
man to treat lady disrespectfully
Beatrice had quite good time, on the
whole. She kept house neatly in
cave, became frst-class game cook;
sometimes she found wocus in the
marsh" If you want to know what
wocus is, read the book. Small wonder
that she learned to love Ben. When
he was injured by falling tree "the
thought sped an icy current through