Evening star., 1933-12-27
NEW. BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret CermOnd.
EYES OF THE WILDERNESS. BY
Charles G. .. Roberts, author of
"Klngs In Exile" ele. New York

n,
The Macmillan Co
There is IN the heart O! almost every
human being ali inmate foudness for all
vi the creature things which inhabit
The woods and the fields and the waters
OF the earth, though 1t may lie dormant
To the point where the individual may
never know OF its existence. To thoss
who since childhood have loved the
domestic pets, and through them have
learned to respect and i'll h measure to
understand the natural REACTIONS Of the
great and the small furred and feath-
cred creatures to the peIiS and dangers
which beSet them In their daily struggle
for food and life, there is feeling Of
pity Tor the men and women. boys and
girls who have either been denied the
invaluable companionship and devotion
OF dogs and cats or have been taught to
fear and mistrust them.
long stride toward the attainment
OF the ideal in human relationships and
Fellowship would be achieved If every
parent could realize the Importance Of
giving TO every child the educational,
social and spiritual advantage to be
gained through fostering the natural
comradship and understanding which
exists between animals and humans and
to encourage the cultivation of sin
Cere affection for the beasts and birds
about which they read ms well as for
those which are indigenous to their i'm
mediate surroundings. For IL Is through
these extraordinarily Intelligent citizens
VI The next lower order vi beings that
much of the true philosophy Of life
and OF religion and VI responsibility
toward mankind can be more readily
learned and understood. For man him
sell Is not So lar advanced beyond the
primitive stage that he CAN honestly
consider himself entirely supreme in the
conduct ol either his family or his
business affairs
A child born In the woodland country
becumes III the earliest stages Of his
Consciousness aware OF the Wild life
Mhlcn surrounds him. The flowers and
trees. the animals and birds are a part
OF his daily contact with the world. Be
fOfe reaching the teen age he is keen
lY alive to the lure Of the woods and
fields. the streams and perhaps the
greater bodies of water it, perchance
he should live near the shore line.
The boys and girls who have spent
the early years Of their lives in such
a setting are indeed fortunate, for
theirs is the kingdom of nature-than
which no realm Is greater in the free
dom Of its gifts OF glory and beauty to
mankind.
The privilege OF being such lad was
accorded to Charles G. D. Roberts,
whose animal stories are loved for
the sympathetic understanding with
which they are told, and which are
always being hoped for because they
invariably contain a fund of knowledge
CLEANED directly through a thorough
observation and study of the mental
reactions Of the wilderness ceratures
i'll a variety OF circumstances and sit
uauons. In this new collection of stories
the same sensitive and intuitive ap-
probation OF the wild animals and
their ways Of life prevails as in the
former anecdotes and tales told By this
unusual author
There are a variety of subjects IN
this newest volume, as entertaining and
as fascinating as any writer about the
beasts OF the field and the birds of the
air has ever produced. One story
tells OF the almost suIerhuman endeav-
ors OF COW moose TO flee with her new
call from the enYeloplng flames Of q
forest fire, while another relates the
escapadeS OF an indiscreet Persian cat
which escaped from its we'll regulated
Is another story in which an Airedale
engages in battle with q pack OF
wolves. and still another about the dis
appointment and the reactions of a
bear who sees his dinner of delicious
fresh fish appropriated by twO-.esged
ANNA called man Others Of these eX-
traordinary tales tell OF the perils and
dangers through which different AMI
nf he
escapes from death from which they
have rescued their. human friends.
In every one of these tales is TO be
found the keen insight into the mental
reasoning of these children of nature
which only student and lover of the
wilderness and its inha bitants can grasp.
Not all of them have been related from
the point OF view Of the animals, as
there ale always two sides to every sit
uation in life. and Mr. Roberts Is not
who possess a single-track intellect He
knows humans as intimately as he
knows animals. and he has included in
this collection several stories which deal
directly with reactions of men whose
knowledge of the ways and the man
nerS and the customs of wild life has
been limited to an occasional observa-
tion Of specimens in geological garcen
and whose familiarity with animals has
been confined to q curSory acquaintance
with the family cat.
One very delightful story pictures
the somewhat pitiful ignorance of
city-born fisherman spending his first
day in the great out of doors, and from
another angle there is one about a
highly admirable boy who saved a fam
lily of moose from the agonies OF star
yation.
Apart from the human quality which
pervadeS the episodes related by Mr..
Roberts, the outstanding feature OF
interest in this work is the fact that
there is no killing. Born in the wood
lands. this writer has quite naturally
engaged in all OF the sports which life
in the country offers. He has responded
TO all of the invitations to enjoy the
lure of the wilds. and to all of them
save one he is still a devotee. Hunting
no longer attracts him. He is an ex-
ponent of the art of camera hunting,
and of studying and trying TO under
stand the mental processes of the shy
creatures which people the Canadian
wildernesses. He is therefore hunter
of the highest type, for the true hunter
never kills except for food.
Beautiful stories. all of them, and
worthy lessons by which all Of man
kind will be better and more sensi-
lively human for the reading.
X 4
MY FARM IN LION COUNTRY BY
Joyce Boyd. New York Frederick
A Stokes Co.
very different story of life among
the wild animals comes from the pen
of this intrepid woman, who has lived
in the heart of Central Africa and
faced the perils attendant upon life in
a part of the world where the kingly
beasts reign supreme and neither love
nor fear the two-legged creatures who
have the temerity to settle in the re-
gionS which they inhabit.
This is another tale Of adventure in
which imagination plays no part ior
the events recorded III the chapters OF
this altogether thrilling and exciting
volume are true stories OF expei fences
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