Page:The Pacific Monthly vol. 14.djvu/135



PARDNEES, by Rex. E. Beach. Pub- lished by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York. This collection of Mr. Beach's fascinating stories of Alaska will be hailed with pleas- ure by those who have become familiar with "Big George" and "Cap." That these stories have been published, separatelv, in a magazine, will not in the least detract from, but will rather add to, tue interest with which they will now be read in book form. The rough mixture of ungrammatical Eng- lish and picturesque slang used bv the pio- neers of the far A'orth is delightful. As an illustration, take the opening paragraph from "Pardners," the first story in the col- lection and the one from which the book is named:

I'Most all the old quotations need fixing" said Joyce in tones forbidding dispute "For instance, the guy that alluded to marriages germinating in heaven certainlv got off on the wrong foot. He meant pardnerships. The same works ain't got capacity for both no mor n you can build a split-second stop-watch in a stone quarry. No, sir! A true pardner- sliip is the sanctifledest relation that grows is and has its beans, while any two folks of 'op-

^n^fJ^Z o'J """""y ",'? P®^ the game out ^?,^L ^- °^ course, all pardnerships ain't thlVlt 0^2 ^'■'^^l °"® "'at's heaven borned there s a thousand made in— There goes them cussed dogs again."

The title of the book, "Pardners," is pe- culiarly appropriate, aside from its being the name of the first story of the collection; for that curious tie which so often exists between two prospectors or miners, known as a 'Pardnership," is treated of in nearly all of the stories.

Most of the tales are of Alaska, but a few are not. "The Mule Driver and the Garrulous Mute" is one of the exceptions, the Mute" is playing the game in order to save his "pardner," who, after having killed an Indian, is making tracks for the Mexican border. The one who remains is naturally suspected of the crime, and by refusing to talk, or to understand what is said to him, he gains time for his fleeing mate. The "Mute," who is an ex-mule driver, is able to hold out until he sees a mule team being ill treated and then—but let him tell it:

"Now a good mule driver is the littlest or neriest speck in the human line that's known onp il.S''"°-1^°P^' '^"t when you get a poor ^PoH 't'^ !P°'^ °"® of them cholera germs you bnnni?*'°"* •'"■^^ ^y contact. The leader of this bunch was worse than the worst; strong on

Wp ?;LT; but surprising weak on judgment. i^rnJ^^f' fv,"'K?,i^® t""' '■"" V^^mp into the nnd tTr.-?^ the building, stopped, backed, swung, and proceeded to get into grief



tin^°^'^'^^^ "^"'^ ^^" "^^^^^ a- heap of tribul'a- W 'twl ^"^ "^""'^^ '^^^ '^''^ak a man's heart, =ta^^ ^ wasn L no excuse for that driver to stand up on his hind legs, close his eves and throw thirty foot of lalh into that pluAg1n\ ?IP H}\i-.'^'"*r^^^'^-7"^^-'^- ^'hen he did it^all fi^^ii 1 L °'"^!-i"^''^® °^ "^^ began to foam and fizzle like sedlitz; out they came, biling, in mouthfu s. and streams, and squirts, back- vvards, sideways, and through my nose hf^c^-^®! ^'^H infernal half-spiled, dog-rob- bing T^alloper I says; 'you don't know enough to drive puddle ducks to a pond. You qiSt heaving that quirt or I'll harm you past heal-

"* * * J skipped over the wheels * * * linls. *^^*® S'™ ^ *°^^ ^"^ gathered up the

"I just intimated things over them with that ^Jl\?' a""^ i"^^^^."^ H t'^^'" ^'^^ they was my own thP VnSLV''^°'^- I starts at the worst words d^^o^ %^ X langwidge and the range had pro- duced, to date, and got .steadily and rapidlv worse as long as I talked. ^ <^ ^^ idpiuiy

. "Arizona may be slow in the matter of stand- ing collars and rag-time, but she leads the ^^=fif'"T??!'°^''"'ty. Without being swelled on ^^^f,^ ,' ^^' f^l' top. that I once had more'n a local reputation in that line, having origi- nated some quaint and feeling conceits which has won modest attention, and this day I was certainly trained to the minute

fr,,- fiff *^^^^^®*^ them brutes fast and earnest tor five minutes steady, and never crossed mv trail or repeated a thought."

In the last three stories of the book "Big George" and "Cap" are the principal char- acters.

Humor and pathos abound in this most interesting collection of tales. Mr. Beach has struck the right chord. "Pardners" is a distinct addition to American literature.

" CHESS— HUMANICS, " a philosophy of chess, a sociological allegory, by Wallace E. Nevill. Published by the Whitaker & Rav Company, San Francisco. This peculiar book is little more than a collection of thoughts from many great minds, ancient and modern. Just what these extracts have to do with the game of chess is not always clear. It would seem as though checkers, or any other game, would have served as well.

In chapter III we read, "Chess is played with 'white' men versus 'black' men." Then follows a series of articles and para- graphs bearing on the race problem.

Again, under the caption of "The Kiug." we find the questions of "Monarchies." "Despotism," and the like discussed bv Gid- ding, Spencer, Cicero, Shakespeare, Thack- eray, Zenophon, David Starr Jordan, Aris- totle, Carlyle, Pope, John Adams, Horace, Garfield, and many others.. The book is a curiositv.