Evening star., 1938-12-14
New Books at
Random
By Margaret Ger7no1ad.

THE SAGA OF FRANK DOVER. BY
Johannes Buchholtz. New York: G..
p. Putnam'S Sons.
Frank Dover was an elderly man when
Mr.. Buchholtz met him in Denmark q
few years ago. He was nearing the end
Of life of reality that had been more
strange than fiction and Of adventure
that had been as fantastic as experiences
accorded to many Of nterature's famous
soldiers Of fortune.
The story Of his life as told In these
pages, though fictionized for convenience
and elasticity of presentation. is factually
true and is the outgrowth of friendship
developed between two men who under
stood and admired each other, yet whose
experiences and attainments were as dis
similar as the polar extremes. Regret
accompanies the knowledge that shortly
before the completion of the novel its
hero died, for only those who are heed
less OF the uncounted valiants whose
greatness of heart and dauntlessness of
spirit are known only to the recording
angels can res1a the story of Frank
Dover without Wishing that he might
have had the privilege Of reading about
a man he would likely not recognize as
himself and Of knowing that this splen-
did story OF his life was well worth the
telling.
Frants Nicholson was Dane and the
son of minister. Modesty is the reason
given for changing his name when he
Offered his life to the public" He Sc
lected Dover from the village in Jutland
In which he spent the happiest of his
childhood years. From the day the FAM
lily moved to the parsonage in Svejstrup,
where his father had been assigned, life
lost its happiness for the lad. He did not
like his new playmates and he heartily
hated his new school associations, mas
tiers, classmates and lessons. When only
twelve years old he urged his parents to
permit him to go to sea, and won their
consent to enroll in class of navy proba-
TONERS then being formed. His applica-
ton was accepted and a few days after
his arrival on board ship the armored
frlgate Sjaelland put to sea. Life had be-
gun anew second time for the hopeful
young Dane. He was destined to begin
a new way Of life many times thereafter.
From the Danish Navy young Dover
entered the merchant marine service and
sailed the seven seas in many ships before
becoming weary of life as a wanderer.
He had seen the world as most sailors see
it, in some of its finer aspects and in
practically all of its cheap and ignoble
aspects. He had come to the conclusion
that he wanted stability. He wanted to
settle in friendly cline, to take root
and prosper. He liked South Africa,
which at that time offered all the oppor-
tunity Of a new country, so he jumped
ship and turned landsman, determined
to make his fortune and retire to peace
full living.
AS a tuner Of pianos Dover started
earning living in Durham and prospered
sufhclently to become 8, dealer with q
good business He had known many wom-
en-, but in Durham he found the one great
love of his life, and the circumstance was
to lead 10 more vagabonding and many
unsought adventures. He sacrificed his
business and treked into the Boer coun-
try with Emmely and her little girl. The
ldyllic happiness of Dover and Emmely
too soon was cut short by death, but as
though she were his own child Dover
lavished upon little Elizabeth all of the
care aid training of devoted father. He
was rewarded with contempt and de-
nunciation when she grew to womanhood
and learned that she was not his child.
When the Boer war broke out, Dover
joined forces with the men beside whom
he had farmed and fought with them
until captured by the British and i'm
prisoned in Ceylon for four years. He
prospected for gold in the Murchison
range, dug for diamonds, lived alone in
the bush country with only horses and
dogs for companions, endured the hard
ships of poverty as well as of imprison-
ment, made several fortunes for others to
take away from him and was finally
saved from destitution in his last years
by kindly relatives in Denmark.
While listening to the tales of his
friends experiences Mr.. Buchholtz was
Impressed by the large humanity, the
simple philosophy, the sincerity and
modesty OF the man who had given so
much, who had lived so adventurously
and from whom life had exacted such
heavy toll without narrowing his vision,
without dampening his joyful spirit of
freedom and without robbing him of his
kindly and magnanimous nature. He
wanted Dover to write his own story and
urged him to try, but the few rough
sketches that the man was able to pro-
duce were colorless and fiat. He could
talk, but he could not write.
Il therefore" explains Mr.. Buchholtz,
weighed the possibility of making some
use OF this oral medium of expression,
for surely this lacked nothing in style
If anything it had too much style 49,.
Exciting episodes were given in English
or Afrikaans-Dutch as spoken by the
Beers. He would sit there telling his
story, his bushy eyebrows drawn tightly
together, he himself wholly carried away
OFF to distant places, back into the dis
tant past. Here was genuine old Morse
saga-man! But an exact even a stylized
written version would be frightfully IA
tiguing in its effect. But telling and
writing story are, after all, two differ
ent things. So simply did what had to
be done, If was to give Frank Dover an
immortal ife'-I gave him style which
was not his own"
And this is the story in the style de-
I~..A