ROBINSON CRUSOE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 9

ROBINSON CRUSOE.

, .-The New York "Evening Post" is moved • by the appearance of a fine odition of "Robin- - Bon Crusoe" to explain • the' real charm of . j Defoe's famous book. • It concludes its article , thus-—The-idea.,.which": we urge is i -that' ' '.'Robinson.Crusoe," -though .it may bo a work ■■ on historical ovolution and,social .philosophy,- : is much more than -that.. Social philosophy for; those who want itmay be had iroin'many ; eoureesjevery day ill the- week. Mr. Harrison, himself,' has offered us a good deal of ,-it; 'and in this country -Professor Giddings % is an unfailing of :;it. : .But of ; them could write,'"'Robmson; Crusoe/' -We hold,';-rather, with Charles Lamb, that "all nges. and descriptions of; people" may "hang delighted" > over - the adventures of this searover and practical man • of-- affairs. ' As a !ipiece of-characterisation, ho is , ■ to men, but'not, we'regret to say, to the ladies. He -is, no- figure of • romance, like Launcclot; lio could never play tho languish- , jng lover, ho lacks-tho'attractions of a 'Don . .. Juan. But, .though lie could- not poso as any of theso accomplished - wooers j whom women_ think -so delectable, ho would bo an admirable* husband.' "Without a trace'of the . subtlety 'or. exacting taste of 'Henry: .James's ' - •r l ' men'- to. ,livo' : 'with—without th a t instability which we. politely:.call tem-. . pP'amontj ho is.the model of a solid,' steady .; man.w-He would, r do his. best for the wife of his. choice;.,ho ..would. never ho ruffled by her wiutang moods ;and as a "good provider," in ( the - old - New- England phrase, lie would bo inconiparablo. • On that slender ground wo . .. may .commend him to. tho suffrages of: those ■for-.. -whom .novels, are: chiefly;.written-. But .whatrwe .like/most about,orus6e is- the'firio ; ' stoicism i with: : :which; ho .-inflexibly • faces' the world as it is. Heat and cold, hardship ' : sickness,' ahdv peril ! ..that;- would shatterthe ■-• mmd and body of .ordinary mortals leive' him' .;.- unshaken; .unafraid,.' and ready-for .the l duty that lies next his hand. No' character in the'range of fiction has a,.better right to quote those lines by Henley; . ~: I'ain the master of my fate; • '1 am" the captain of niy soul. ' ■ But aside,.'.from;.tho-: character of tho • pro; . tagonistj ":the;; incidents ...form:.an,.: absorbing '.. and/ tale;v-i'lti.is .nearly ' two centuriessince' 'the- .book, 'b first,- .appeared. : 'Thero;have: .been - innumerable .imitations "in : many languages, but tlie most accomplished - practitioners have failed to reach the . level of the great. original. . Wo have just been . turning :the loaves again,jtbv'bij struck biice ■ : now.) by. the freshness and vitality of this narrative. . Dip into it almost anywhere and. you- aro tempted. :to read Jon', and on; and re- . new .your vanished youth. There is the -. escape from the- Moor) at: -Salleo ;■ and - tho - voyage;\vitli Xury,;the vivid:ac«iunt of the : shipwreck, that, wonderful "cave with the stockade about-it—can: the wit of man coii- ' ceivc a-more, attractive dwelling?—the making of the earthen pots,-the'building of the ■ big boat, the cruise about ' the island in tne " little penagua,; the discovery; "of "the print ®f. a man's .naked foot- on,-.-the - shore,'- the' . ■ hght; with- .the;; savages and the ' rescue of Friday—how captivating it all is! Merely to - glance at tho familiar pages strikes thirty years oil the reckoning... The roar of the , street traffic dies away in our ears ; the stock tables in the . newspapers and the dispatches from Washington are forgotten.' This hard practical world is transfigured into a land of romance; with Crusco' and . Friday"' wo are ,''."?r<*pin&rthrbiigh-;-the'Avbbds'?ti>surprise''the ; cannibals and save,.their; Eurooean caotive:

in; breathless suspense: we are levelling 'bur muskets •- and—by- heavens I—the other. pris-oner-Is 1. J- : 7 ~7, :