Evening star., 1933-10-08

nineteenth century. Swinburne Is one Of the
most magnetic figures among Miss Winwar's
"faaien angels" His poetry was too luscious for
the Victorian taste. which adored Tennyson,
and his personal character was not approved
by the dictators of orthodox literary standards.
When Theodore WattS-Dunton from hero
worship, took charge Of Swinburne. the poets
DionySiac orgies were curbed and his connec-
ton with Bohemian London ceased entirely"
Watts-Dunton has often been blamed for crush
ing Swinburne's genius. when he shut him up
in the Suburban villa of the Pines and refused
to allow him to see his old friends. He saved
him from further disgrace and immediate death
from his vices, but genius may have suffered.
The spirit and phraseolcgy of the pre-Raph-
aelites have SO influenced the style of Miss Win
war that her book might have been written by
one Of their number.
SOURDOUGH GOLD The Log Of Yukon
Adventure. BY Mary Lee Davis. Boston:
w. A. Wilde Co.
| lP beyond 81 degrees and 40 seconds Of lati-
- tude, . "cheechako" is a green newcomer a
tenderfoot. His opposite, one who has wintered
in the North has seen the ice come and Co."
is . 'Sourdough" Mrs Davis is herself Q
"sourdough." having spent eight years in Alaska.
"bitter-sweet sourdough," the DR.. Jim Of the
precious journals called her. The old timer In
Alaska needs only to carry his crock of living
sour-dough yeast" to set up housekeeping any
where at a moments notice. Mrs. Davis former
books, Uncle Sans Attic We Are Alaskans'
and Alaska, the Great Bears Cub" combined
intimate knowledge of the Alaska of those who
stay with style personal gossipy. and full of
humor. The generalites and statistics which
may be of interest to the research student are
not her concern; the details beloved by the
reader for pleasure and information she gives
in abundance. "Sourdough Gold" Is as rich in
Alaskan material as the other books, and has
more dramatic and narrative qualities.
Mrs. Davis looked for a long time for some
one who had kept journal of the days Of the
trail Of '98. in which she might find q first
hand, accurate record of what happened to at
least one group of adventures and what con-
ditions were like at that glamorous. unreasoning
time. One day she came upon what she was
seeking, in the lonely island home of an old
doctor, who had given up his active profession
for the life of philosophical hermit" He not
only gave her his two little red and black
leather books, but all the memories which filled
in the story indicated by the jottings in the
books. So DR.. Jim's story is her book In 1899
he made the journey alone in small boat the
lengths Of the Yukon River from Dawson to
St Michael on Norton Sound. Look at Mrs.
Davis excellent, bold map at the back of the
book. No magnfying glass is needed) The
narrative is told as if by the doctor. Born in
India he found his way finally. after stops at
British medical colleges, in the West Indies and
at Washington, where he now has many friends,
to Alaska and the Yukon. He chose the Chill
koot, or Poor Mans Trail" and was his own
pack mule to the headwaters of the Yukon
Then he joined motley crowd, male and
female, out for 'anybodys gold" Mrs. Davis
follows the doctors adventures. ending on his
lonely island, as if they were her own. She
also appreciates and interprets his philosophy,
Influenced by his early life in India and evolved
through much experience. 1t is philosophy
OF withdrawal from the stupidities and irrita-
tions Of mass life. Aren't duly stupid people
the real outcasts, our real untouchables or de-
pressed classes, living in mental Easements Of
Intellectual poverty? Mental outcasts can
do your spirit nothing but real harm, are but
q drug that drags. To be with them in daily
company seems to me quite as much a subtle
drug addiction as opium One loses personality
thereby"
MORE POWER TO YOU! A Working Tech
nique for Making the Most of Human
Energy. BY Walter B. Pitkin. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
NR. PITKIN, professor in journalism at Co.
- lumbia University, has something to offer
which people. many people, want. What he
offers is not the excitement of mystery stories
nor of tales of adventure about places so mac
cessible and so little known that the reader
cannot check the accuracy of their marvels.
He offers practical common sense, an everyday
philosophy. which any one who will may use
for his own mental and physical betterment.
The fact that he has the degree of D. D. from
the Hartford Theological Seminary and the ad-
ditional fact that he formerly taught philosophy
at Columbia do not make his style either ser
monizing or pedagogical. It is very conversa-
tional. He seems to say: Come now, let's
talk over those foolish ideas OF yours-that
you're on the shelf at 40 or SO, that your
nerves are all out of order and must be PAM
pered, that your worries are different from
those Of any one else and cannot be shaken
off; that the depression has hit you harder
than If has hit the rest Of the world, Most Of