The Cordova daily times., 1922-09-13
COLOR, ROMANCE IN
 OLD KODIAK

 lightful," writes Miss Florence Will loughby, who, with her friend, Miss Ethel Mistrot, is spending the sum- mer in this vicinity gathering data for her next novel, which she will write this winter, says the Valdez Miner of recent date. Miss Willoughby's pen name is Barrett Willoughby, and her latest book, Where the Sun Swings North" will be brought out in Oc- tober by G. Putnam's Sons, New York.
 'How the charm of Kodiak has so long escaped the notice of literary people, I cannot imagine" she states. Aside from it's interesting Russian background Kodiak today is a place suggestive of the olden times of TO- nance, when commerce was not yet commercialized and colonial gentle men dispensed lavish hospitality to the visitors to their land. And yet there is also distinct savOr of the sea about Kodiak-the port for so many little vessels; a hint of those days when jolly tars sailed the deep - a kindly, helpful savor it is, too, for l notice that those sturdy, courageous captains are always doing favors for those who live on the outlying islands, such as carrying letters, buying the most personal articles at the trading posts, delivering messages. No one ever gets paid for these kindnesses- and apparently no pay is ever expect ed. In fact, we find these Kodiak peo- pie so generous that we have diffi- cu1ty paying for anything. We have rented an adorable little Russian house for the summer, and our inter- esting landlord, Fred Stewart, who they tell me was for many years cook on the famous steamer Dora, not only sends us gifts of fresh eggs and vege- tables from his ranch on Wood Island, but his wife furnishes us with beau tiful icon in chased brass to hang 
 on our walls and give us the proper Russian mosphere-because we ex- pressed desire for one.
 "If we go out to purchase salmon for our dinner, the smiling Aleut fish erman will give us one all fresh and silvery from his net, but we can never induce him to take money for it. We decide we will have some herring, and no sooner have we thought it than MT. Erskine, of the trading post here, sends us some all cleaned and ready for the pan.
 Judge Halferty hears that we would like to see a silver fox, and comes out of his way to conduct us to his home where he has three beauties awaiting boat to conduct them to his fox island. Marshal Karl Armstrong and Billy Erskine learn that we would like some first-hand information on fox ranches, and invite us as their guests to visit their fox farm on Long Island-the finest one in this section of the country. This is not a day visit, but they urge us to remain there as long as we like, and in addition to this they place at our disposal their sixty-foot launch to take us there and back, to say nothing of the services of their ranch foreman, w. Smith. "Indeed everyone on Kodiak has given to us of his or her best, from gentle, sad-faced Father KashevarOff, who says mass in beautiful, old robes sent over from Russia by long dead Empress, down to pudgie, love- able little Bos'un, the three-year old son of the dusky-eyed, pretty creole girl who keeps house for the marshals family.
 And the town itself! It is difficult to believe that in this day of soul killing efficiency any blessed people would be allowed to build their whim- sically, haphazardly here on a knoll, there in hollow, none of them close together, white houses just where they fancied. Houses that know no streets, but that are connected only by paths like silver threads winding across the green downs, where cows with tinkley bells are always grazing
 From our window we can see col orful lines of clothing waving, sun faded orange and blue and red from