Rapid Reviews

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 48, 9 February 1912, Page 7

Rapid Reviews

"A Sailor Tramp."

By R. S. ROSS,

Bart Kennedy is a novelist from and for tho masses, lie is also a unique stylist. In a. limited degree, he is that' rarity, a creative writer, lie tells things' roughly, freshly, -realistically. Though not a gro;H- writer, he is a great journalist, and his bo.; 1 are e_cellent. journalese. And .is no small compliment. The for. ..-t journalists are necessarily the representatives of the "spirit-of the age. 'ihoir methods in sensation are the outcome of the times. ■ ■ • - # • .«. Bart Kennedy's books are daring. and they are sympathetic. This is their .chief characteristic.. They are stories, but" also histories'.' Specialist in "tramp" literature, Kennedy'writes of what he knows- and what he has experienced. His philosophy is the philosophy of the disinherited. It is the hardy, adventurous, devil-may-care types who read and appreciate Bart Kennedy. He rivets their attention alike in matter and manner. The superior critics would consider the matter ''low,'' would term the manner "bizarre." Jlut the superior critics never seem to learn. * # * ''A Sailor Tramp." by Kvn ncd-y. is just the yarn for noiiiids.-'-ror shearers, miners and btishmcn.- The scene of. tho story is America, but-.in many wa\s. Ihe places and: the experiences surest Australia.'' The chapters "From the Desert" and "Back to the llc-iit,'' must he very vivid and true iv ''"atmosphere" to the toiler who lias "humped bluer" through the great scorched, weird Western districts of Otieru'-l.'ind and New South Wales. "On ihe Wallaby" might well be the :iil" of this book if its contents were Aiistralianised. * # # I! is a very human document. This bonk. It is a presentation of the life of the tramp, that peculiarly modern by-product of capitalism. It lays bare his *oul and voices bis feelings. It r-veals his suffering*, pictures his desperation, suggests his danger. He is a rough customer, necessarily, and the land that produces him in nnmbi rs is going to have a pretty bad time of it. Of social phenomena he is the least pleasant or reassuring. a. * * The "sailor vamp is an Englishman evidently tired of the sea, and stranded in the country of the starspangled banner. He lias all sorts of adventures and experience's, with mam exploits. In Book I. h<» tramps with others across' the desert to Galv"s;on. in which town lie makes acquaintance with saloons. gariMing policemen, the municipal "boss," smugglers. and outcasts of all (-errs. He starvs. begs, robs, riots, toils, and is then banished back to the desert. Book 11. is magnificently graphic in its grimly picturesque writing. One involuni.-r-----ily says, "By God." as he reads of a thrilling railway lide per a "jumped" train. Then there* the appearance of "tlie girl," and all the romantic inspiration thereby inevitable. In Boo\--111. (and last) we meet a pathetically terrible "man of the swamps." and later a ropeUant. "hobo," and still later "emancipated" negroes, aud here we read: "It is as well to record the fact that old negroes in the south are unanimous in saying that the, negro had a much better time when he was ixntght and sold titan when he was given his freedom," with other observations finely ironical and correct. The ending of the story sees tho sailor steering the ship home. "He looked up at the sails. Re was going home." * * I. don't--know hew Bart Kennedy's style would be named, but here's a sample of it: — "Thieves, murderers, wanderers, and outcasts anil other men were here. Drinking at the bar. They were drawn here, together by the instinct of man to be .sociable with man. That, wonderful instinct that will yet save the race of man from the hideous stupidity of war. Tit at will ycfc stay the bloody hand of Cain. A strange crowd. It gave forth the splendid and complex power of humanity. Here it was carousing and cursing :ind talking loudly of its deeds of the past .and its deeds to come. A hard, rough, line, picked crowd. A crowd of men." That's'word-pointing of a high order. I should say. That picture becomes photographed on the memory. .Now consider this: — "Music carries along the soul into flii uncoiicetvc-,1 world of charm and mystery, Thete strange, swelling, vast harmonies, and beautiful flaming melodies! They came lrom out the very heart-of things — born of the winds and the flowingwaters, and the stir of the leaves, and the throbbing of life. Sound. It is the soul of life." You couldn't say much more in a treatise, could you? And here's a; paragraph that grips:— "It is a hard tiling to be crowded out. To be willing to do work-and not to be able to n<:t it k huintbtat-

ing. It is one of the strange and revoking cynicisms in the game oi lite. Here you are willing to do the most simple and lowest form of labor. But you are not wanted. You ate not even worth-being used. You are notallowed even the sordid privilege oi becoming .someone's slave. \<m are not allowed to take a hand in the game of life. What good are you r Crowded out. It is a terrible thing to be crowded out—no ng.it to a place 10 sleep—no right to make a living. If mar be that you have a wife' and little children depending upon yon. They must go hungry now. 'You will not be able to keep a roof over their heads. There will be no lire in tho grate. Your little child may ask you if there is food. You, the provider. It is a terrible question for a child to have to ask. A. question from which a man shrinks, more than lie would from death. An awful question that involves the destruction'of states and empires." * * * This is writing for th" crowd, whatever its demerits. Jt is not sound English, but it's sound sense. And it scores, and hits, and lives. * * * Don't think the book is all this kind of thing. .Not a bit of it. There s lots of dialogue and plenty of exciting incidents. .Whether you care not a dump about tramps or style or conditions, you'll yet enjoy the story. It is so readably told—so full of sparkle and lire and 'devil. Withal, iCs the atmosphere of the plentiful men in our midst who know tho ups and downs of existence. And if you do car© for tramp philosophy and tramp nature and work : ing-olass questions, you'll find yourself strongly moved by passages m " A Sailor tramp." * * * Let some examples of pointed phrases from tho book close this review: The world demands that its worthloss vagrants be sanctified by the possession! ot icortoy. Theft iis levw degrading than bejt,- ---' _>o : . '

Men are. of different sizes. V.XI ther. is a wonderful magic in equality ni plane —in having the mii«« plane lor all. A curse lev upon h:;rd, rough labor. "Don't drink any more," said the sailer. " You're he in' your he;,<.'. No main has a rhJ.-.t to take on a load when he can't carry it." It is the indefinite and shad-ciy that is apt to eau.se fear. To strongly arm t'l-'ir policcux c, and to allow' them 10 be at ui;i-<----judges and executioners is pair. <-i the American ideal of pe;-MU,;>) liberty. When men know how their bread is to come from day to day the un.int last is at- hand when they are i.e. longer men.