Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/48

 SQUIRE PHIN

"SQUIRE PHIN"1 BY L. C. HOWARD "Away from the guile o' the town awhile, Forgetting the grind o' gain; And a truce to Care as we gayly fare Back home, my dears, to Maine." HOLMAN F. DAY has given us, in "Squire Phin," a vivid picture of a country lawyer. I do not say the country lawyer, for they of the country are as vari ous in their characteristics, natural or acquired, as their brothers of the city, but in " Squire Phin " the author has chosen to portray the best of the widely differing models. A big man is Squire Phin, gifted with a big brain and a big heart, in a big body, and the three animated and directed by a soul equal to the task. The same type of man, in various stages of evolution and degrees of elegance, is to be found in the city, and his good deeds shine like a candle "in a naughty world," as do those of the village squire. But in the clear air of the village the light of the candle may be seen from afar, while in the city the sun itself must struggle through smoke and dust before it can make even a poor show ing. And in this fact lies the charm of this picture of New England country life. The author has given his story an atmos phere so clear that we need not tax the mental vision to apprehend its characters. They stand out before us so boldly, and move so naturally around us, that we find our selves marching beside them, laughing at incident, or anxiously awaiting event. And while the human nature of the vil lage is not in itself essentially different from the human nature of the city, it is not swathed in the conventional, or masked by the artificial, and in this book of Holman 1 " Squire Phin." By Holman F. Day. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, 1905.

Day's we see it undisguised, and hear it speak with refreshing and stimulating can dor. Nor does it lack the charm of variety, for its range is wide and the peculiarities of its types accentuated and often in strik ing contrast, as exemplified, for instance, in the boy bridegroom, " in all his wretched, discouraging inefficiency," and the retired showman, who may be best described by the author's extract from his " Ballads of Gumption:" "Old Zibe Haines walked out one day, And a barbed wire fence, it stopped his way. Never climbed over, never crawled through, But he bit that wire right plumb in two." One of Squire Phin's clients was Benson Wallace, who, as the Squire tells us: "Had all his new grading washed away by a cloud-burst, and came bootin' down to the office here, and wanted me to sue Deacon Bassett, who had been praying for rain to fill his mill-pond. Laid the whole damage of the cloud-burst to the Deacon's power of supplication." Unfortunately, we are not told what argu ments the Squire used in refuting the Wal lace theory, but in the case of Sumner Badger, old, rich and penurious, we can not but admire the unselfishness and candor of the Squire's advice. Said Badger to the Squire : "' You've been reasonable with me. Now I'll do something for you. It's goin' to be worth something for you to reelly know whether there's anything on the Other Side. So after I arrive there and git a little bit wonted to the place I'll come back and appear to you and tell you all about it.' "The Squire leaned forward and shook his finger at Badger. "'Let me advise you on one point, Sum. This advice isn't going to cost a cent. Now, if you ever get so much as one foot into