Life — July 9, 1896 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

550 OUR FRESH-AIR FUND. E have a tent! A good, roomy, waterproof, canvas edifice for the children to play in on rainy days. It has been sorely needed, as the house and barn have too little space for the proper disportment of so many children. trials at Branchville. And on that account rainy days have been heavy Hereafter we shall defy the elements—unless, of course, they really go for us—and our city boarders can be as noisy in the worst of weather as when the sun is shining and the grass is dry. We herewith express our thanks to John F. McHugh for a generous reduction in the price because of its purpose. Previously acknowledged, 1,271 87 In His Name 200 E. B. He. J. H. Perkins... Club... QUICK AND SURE. lw. L. Coster... wae Fay School Dramatic $30.00 $1,320 87 ROLLEY PRESIDENT: How does that new fender work ? SUPERIN never know what strikes them. THE WRONG NOTE, A ATURAL manner was her aim, Sincere and simple, and all that: She failed, but she was not to blame, For she resided in A flat! A GOOD SUBSTITUTE FOR ROMANTIC FICTION. THERE would be a great saving of blood- shed and suffering in fiction if, before a man wrote a novel of adventure, he should be compelled by statute to undertake the haz- ardous enterprise himself. There would be more foresight and common humanity in the stories, and less feminine caprice. That is how a book like Casper Whitney's “On Snow Shoes to the Barren Grounds’* (Harpers) differs trom “Under the Red Robe" for example. Of course if Mr. Weyman had written Mr. Whitney's book there would have been more musk-oxen at the end of the GOT THE BULGE ON HIM. NDENT: I never saw anything like it. They an ane Bs] “ HALF CLOSE YOUR EYES, AND, IF I DO SAY IT MYSELF, THIS STUDY 1S RANG-UP.” “SHUT THEM, AND IT's OUT OF SIGHT.” hunt, and the hair-breadth escapes would have occurred at more frequent intervals and on the last page of conspicuous chapters. Mr. Whitney's journey to the Arctic circle in midwioter in search of a head or two of big game was certainly a test of endurance and pluck. The game may not have been worth the candle; but at any rate he got there, and accumulated matcrial for a pug- nacious narrative of travel and adventure. * * * R. WHITNEY evidently sct_ up his hardships beforehand, and walked right into them. He trained for them just as an athlete trains for a race. He could have escaped most of the suffering by going a few months later, and moreover he could have achieved more trophies of wood-bison and musk-ox—but who wants to read about a prosperous undertaking of that placid kind? Starvation is the stock in trade of all Arctic adventurers when other horrors fail, and Mr. Whitney works the pangs of bunger for all they are worth, There is really no necessity for having any such pangs in these days when you can purchase beef lozenges and capsules of condensed extracts that will keep you go- ing far better than the famous pemmican, or even raw-hide boot soup. But they are not romantic, and it makes poor copy to say that “at the end of a day of unusual hardship we dined sumptuously on one of Doe & Roe’s famous Tenderloin Tablets equal to 2tbs. of the best beef.” Mr. Whitney tries to destroy one of the accepted traditions of camping in the far North. At one fell swoop he attempts to annihilate the sleeping-bag. He says that he ripped his sleeping-bag to pieces, and restored it to its original blanket form in which it is possible to roll up snug and tight. No sportsman will allow this calumny to prevail. A man who has been saved from the cold feet and shoulders of the camp blanket by a sleeping-bag is going to stick to it. What Mr. Whitney needed was a light blanket to roll tight around him, and then to crawl into his sleeping-bag. The most interesting part of the narrative is the account of life at the far-away, deso- late posts of the Hudson Bay Company. They are pictured realistically, and leave the impression of reservoirs of romance. Droch. gs ID ycu say he wascomfortably fixed?” ‘‘No. I merely said he had plenty of money.” WHERE WORDS FAIL. R. GLADSTONE saysthat the behavior of the Grand Turk is far worse than any words have hitherto expressed. Lire wishes Mr. Gladstone would try to say what he feels about the Sultan, We all feel as he does, and as we can’t do anything, it would give some relief to our congested emo- tions to have some competent rhetorician speak out. What we prefer, of course, would be to see England wring the Sultan's neck. One could express his opinion of that in decent language, whereas, of course, to speak one’s mind about the Sultan and his Kurds must necessarily be a very dirty job. Mr. Gladstone is a clean man and naturally shrinks from it, but if he should undertake it there are editors in America who will print his remarks in full, and no Anthony Comstock shall suppress them.