"HE HAD SEEN LIFE PANG RAMICALLY."

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 671, 23 May 1914, Page 3

"HE HAD SEEN LIFE PANG RAMICALLY."

■" MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS

GIANTS AND PIGMIES."

Bit by bit, Rose learnt what DereK. Devdiish had .been through, the details of the fight for his own hand. He had a knack o! vivid description. He could make her see what he had seen, and feel what he had; felt. If his language was at times racy of a new soil, she liked it the better foi* that. If he led her into strange places, excitement put to flight disgust. He had seen life panoramically, mountains and molehills, giants nnd pigmies. He had learnt what the ordinary Englishman ,of his class so rar-ily comprehends —values. The work before the mast— shorten-', ing sail in a furious gale of wind, a fight to a finish with an ironhanded bully oi" the fo'c'sle, building up sennit when becalmed in the Pacilic, washing his own duds, swallowing vilely-cooked food —these experiences had hardenwl body and ■mind. The work in California — leading and unloading timber upon the San Francisco wharves, beachcombing at Catalina, riding the ranges of a cattle-ranch, picking fruit in the San Jose Valley, logri'ng in British Columbia, noting everywhere the relentless struggle of Man against Nature, facing doggedly the odds against him, beholds ing starvation round the corner—these 1 had thrown up in astounding contrast the smug lives of the Charmin3ter townspeople, thetf limi-ta-iions, prejudices, and inanities. "They know just enough to get in out of the wet," he said to Rose—--1 'just enough to secure to themselves a little comfort upon which they set an inordinate: value. That's a universal instinct which thsy share

with the Eiiwash Indians and the Digp-ors. Beyond that—what ? A fat-headed com'iction that they're—as Mrs. Walkington puts it—Britannia's sons, and that they rule this world and will have a controlling interest in the world to come."

"Derek, are the people out West — the miners and cowboys and loggers —very wicked ?" He laughed gaily.

"'Wicked ? What do you mean by wicked ? Wickedness is relative: Some of the best men I've met, the bravest, the sincerest, swore like bargees and got drunk whenever they had the chance. ' Thsy didn't know the virtue of a clean tongue. They grinned at Death twice a day, and cursed Mm to li'ls lace. Mrs. Easter would have thought them wicked, but the vicar, I fancy, would be more charitable." 1:1 Manners don't count for much, I suppose, in mining-camps ?" "Manners count everywhere, even in the fo'c'sle of a sailing ship. Cowhoys have very good manners."— "Cornhill Magazine."