He urges
the need of more outdoor education and as many open-air camps as
possible, and shows that, if we are to carry out such a scheme as he
lays in detail before us, scoutmasters and still more scoutmasters are
wanted. With reason he complains that none of these good fellows is
paid one halfpenny, and that nearly all of them are young men who have
to get a living. "Offer them," he says, "a living wage and how gladly
would they become national scoutmasters in charge of national camps."
You may, if you are on the look-out for it, find much that will seem
fantastic in Mr. HARGRAVE'S ideas; his appeal, however, is not to
those of us who, even in a case of great national urgency, cannot get
away from the tyranny of convention. Intrinsically his idea is sound,
and I plead with all my heart for a fair consideration of his schemes
and for help in their development.
* * * * *
Mr. REX BEACH is one of the few prolific writers whose stories
increase in power as they increase in number, and this though they are
essentially novels of action rather than novels of thought. Of his
latest effort, _The Winds of Chance_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON), one may
say that there is not a tedious page in it. The scene is laid in
Yukon, a very vortex of life and colour and excitement in fiction,
whatever it may seem to the actual inhabitants. The true hero of the
story, _Napoleon Doret_, the French voyageur, wins his heart's desire
in the end and we breathe a sigh of relief.
Pages:
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61