66

mischief in his eyes a great exhaustion, that “Thank you for your kindness, but my brought out the silver flask without farther vacation ends tomorrow,” he sighed. misgiving,

They all joined him on his walk hotelward, "I came off at four this morning, without to make sure of his taking the right turns any breakfast,” and one could see his weari- and angles which were to take him to FM, ness was real. “You know,” he added, ex: and it seemed to him that Amy was even cusing himself, “ I expected to be back at more beautiful in the tender twilight than the hotel by six with a deer for breakfast.” before. They parted from him as warmly

“You are staying at F-?" she asked. as from an old friend, with cordial hand F--W

-was a village on the line of the railway, shakes all around, and Mr. Desart told him about a mile distant.

to run down any Sunday when he wanted I have been there for the last week, but a breath of the redwoods-an invitation corintend to return to the city tomorrow. I dially seconded by Mrs. Desart, and shyly suppose you can show me the way to F-?” by Amy. They stood and watched him till

" (), yes. I am so glad it was full,” she he reached a bend in the road, where he said irrelevantly, as he returned her the empty turned and waved his handkerchief, at which Sask. * You must have been very faint. We three handkerchiefs fluttered in response, are nearly to the path ; and Miss Desart's then the bend in the road hid him from compliments, and will Mr. John Westwood sight. They turned back on the path with deign to partake of an informal lunch at rather a lonesome feeling, for this bright young Hepsidam?”

fellow, whom they had not known a dozen " Mr. John Westwood accepts with due in- hours before, had proved such a jolly comformality, not to say that he jumps at the rade for the few hours of their acquaintance, chance. But where and what in the name that they honestly regretted his departure. of the redwoods is Hepsidam ?”

And though they would have disclaimed in“Hepsidam-as the name signifies--is dignantly, and with truth, any suggestion that 'a place in the wilderness,' rented during the they had suffered ennni before his appearsummer months to campers for a small sti- ance, still they began to look forward to the pend. We have been down every summer possible Sunday when he would come again. for three years. But here we are."

They might have had visitors in abundance, He stepped out on.the path and stood be- of course. But, though not by any means side her. How fragrant and cool the woods selfish people, they were still not gregarious were. The broad, leafy path made one sigh to any extent. with pity for those who were bound to tread Their unsocial instincts were probably due the stilling streets of the city. They soon to their fondness for traveling, and the ease reached the cottage, which was not far from with which they had always been able to where they struck the path. It was an idyl- gratify that fondness. Amy, in fact, could lic repast that awaited them. Mrs. Desart hardly have told which was her own country. was as lovely and cordial as her daughter, She was as familiar with France and Germaand Mr. Desart was full of bonhommie and ny as America, and Scotland she had always unconcealed delight, at meeting anyone so loved. But since they had discovered the recently from the city.

redwoods of California, she was inspired by “I wish I had had the good luck to lose their grandeur to uite a strong patriotism, myself in this vicinity a week ago," said for, though cosmopolitan bred, she was CalWestwood, regretsully, as he was taking his ifornia born. departure, considerably later in the after

The next Sunday, John Westwood could “Well, you can find your way here easily hardly conquer his desire to visit his new now, and we shall be glad to see you at any friends. But he felt that it would be better time," said paterfamilias, cordially.

taste to let one Su day elapse between his

noon,

visits. He was not very much expected, to romance of a year ago was enacted. It is be sure, as they did not look for him before not strange that ignoring the charms of Mentwo or three weeks. But in that week, Mr. docino redwoods, which necessitated a day Desart received a telegram that demanded or two of steamboat travel, and steeling his his immediate presence in New York. And heart against Donner Lake and the snowy in a few days this family, always prepared for Sierras (which were rather far off into the such emergencies, were on their eastward way. bargain), he decided to seek the bracing Mr. Desart, as politeness demanded, wrote mountain air in the Santa Cruz Range. F

. a note of explanation and apology to Mr. was only a few hours distant from the city, Westwood, whose address he intended to and yet the place was a wild introdden transcribe from the San Francisco directory. wilderness—a wilderness possessing the great His intentions were good, but when they had advantage of accessibility. One had only to left New York and were far out on the At. strike out from the station at F-- in any dilantic, he discovered the still unaddressed rection to lose himself-as he had once note in one of his many pockets.

proved-in a virgin and primeval forest. It is unnecessary to dwell on the disap- He had no hopes of meeting his quondam pointment and surprise of Mr. Westwood, acquaintances again. If they had been down when in high spirits he set out on the wood- at all, he felt sure they had down before that. land path, only to find a deserted house at He assured himself that he would not have the end of it. He repeated the visit at odd wished to meet them, for they had treated intervals during the rest of the summer and him shabbily. It was a most contradictory fall, but always with the same result, till he impulse, then, that drew him the very first day finally gave up in despair, and came near to of his arrival past the redwood cabin. If he believing that he had never been lost in the had hoped for any sign of his will-o'-the-wisp redwoods, but had fallen asleep on an en- friends, however, he was disappointed. No chanted hill-side (as Grimm's people do) and sign of life was about the place, and he avoiddreamed the whole thing.

ed it in his future rambles.

The large streams that flowed through the II.

forest were famous for trout, and to trout

fishing he devoted himself, as offering fewer It was late in September of the following opportunities for getting lost than hunting year before John Westwood felt able to take the

wary

deer. So with rod and line, a plenhis annual vacation from business cares. tiful supply of light literature, and a sportsBut the days grew so warm, that he deter- man's lunch basket well filled, he would start mined to break away from the hot pavements out for the day. and ceaseless noise of the city, for a week in He was impartial in his choice of streams, the mountains. But where? There were and often angled in the one that flowed near mountains north of him, mountains east of Hepsidam. He chose that one today, and him, mountains south of him. He had only made his way up the stream for a long disto choose. The mountains to the north tance by leaping from stone to stone, or by were the Marin County branch of the Coast walking the mighty length of the redwood Range, of which Tamalpais is the most prom- trees that lay, as they had fallen, in and inent feature. But Tamalpais is visible from across the stream in every direction, and by the city, so they wouldn't do. The same wading with his water-defying boots in the fault attached to the mountains to the east, beautiful smooth stretches of water. that rise from the arid San Joaquin plains. At last he reached a place he judged savMount Diablo was their great feature, and orable alike for angling and for reading. It his infernal majesty was plainly visible from was a redwood trunk, soft with mossy growths, the city. To the south were the Santa Cruz hid among mighty boulders; and from this Mountains, in whose depths his short-lived shelter his line could play on a smooth peb

Vol. VIII.--14.

in its pages.

bly pool that promised lots of trout. Here He hardly knew how to offer his services he ensconced himself comfortably, baited -as he was evidently unobserved, it was his hook, Aung his line carefully out into the awkward to break the silence. But of course stream, propped the pole up near at hand it was only fair that he should help this (which may not be a scientific way to fish, damsel in distress. He was just essaying but was quite in the way of a lazy young “Allow me," when she suddenly rose, withman), stretched himself at full length on his out having extracted the hook, and attemptbroad divan, chose the most conversational ed the feat of walking on her heel. Then novel his pockets bore, and was soon deep raising her eyes, she saw him heipless and

guilty before her. Behind him rose an absolutely perpendic- “You !" she cried faintly, and let her ular cliff, many feet in height, dotted from skirts drop quickly over her feet, whereat top to bottom with waving “five-finger” the former became as wet as the latter. ferns. They were of such dense and large “You !” he cried in rapture; for it was growth that no portion of the rocky wall was she! no strange pixie nor Lorelei, but his visible, and down through the tops of the dryad of a year ago. “Can you ever forgive redwoods, hundreds of feet above, and over me?” he asked in deep contrition. “ Let the living green curtain, the sun sent his me take out that wretched hook." flickering rays. The trout were wary, and She offered no resistance as he lifted her gave him plenty of time to get interested up on a mossy log, and then deftly and as in his book, which, being a lively summer gently as possible cut out the barb. novel, caused him soon to forget the shy- course it was painful, but two or three little ness of the denizens of the stream. So in gasps were all the sign she gave, and they turning a page it acted quite like a shock cut him to the heart. He tore up his handto his nervous system when he saw his pole kerchief for a strip to wrap around the little bend, and suddenly show symptoms of fall- bleeding toe. ing headlong into the stream. He caught it “And now,” he said, as gayly as he felt with the mental ejaculation, “It must be a to be consistent with a bad conscience, big one to pull like that!" and straightway "fishermen always carry their catch home, his book was forgotten. He lifted the pole I believe, and you cannot walk." and carefully began to draw in the line, at She yielded to this arrangement, saying the same time advancing to the edge of his “It isn't far—I had just started out to wade nook to see his game.

up stream for ferns.” An exclamation of pain greeted his effort So Paul and Virginia wise, carefully over to tauten his line, and there on a rock in the stones and up the road he bore his sweet the brook he beheld his catch. He gazed burden, to the door of Hepsidam, where in consternation at the sight of a girl seated many explanations were the order of the on the rock, and bending over a rosy bare day. foot, which bore in the pink ball of a tiny Mr. Desart gave him the long deferred toe a cruel black fishhook. His effort to letter, and they all forgave him for capturing draw in the line must have caused her acute Amy so cruelly. But at his wedding, some pain, and called forth the moan which smote months later, he confided to his friends at on his ears. Her head was bent, and her large that it was the finest catch he had ever hands were busy trying to draw out the ugly made; and none who saw his lovely bride barb.

questioned the statement. And Amy de“This must be another ‘Lorelei,'” he clares no one can ever say that she "angled thought, “and these woods are surely haunt- for a husband.” ed. I'll be carried off by a pixie next."

K. L. Carnarthen.

GLIMPSES OF THREE COASTS.1

A Fresh reminder of Mrs. Helen Jackson's as to what is fitted to the need of their auwonderful variety and copiousness as a mag- diences; for Mrs. Jackson's magazine sketchazine writer, comes in the shape of a volume es are not the work of great genius, nor, on of over four hundred pages, lengthened yet the other hand, is it certain that genius would more by small print and somewhat thin pa- always meet the requirements of "availabilper, upon whose title-page appears after the ity.” But Mrs. Jackson's natural powers lay words "author of,” a list of the fourteen prose exactly in the magazine field; she was sponbooks already between covers under her taneously a magazinist, as some men and name—travel, sketch, and essay, fiction, sta- women are journalists. She may almost be tistics, controversy. Add to this all her po- called the typical magazine writer of this etry, and then note that of the magazine magazine epoch—the one person to be pointsketches so recent as to be hitherto stilled out by the text books and essayists of the strays, this large book has been made; and future to illustrate the epoch. It is not inremember over how few years her literary frequently noticed and commented on that activity extended, and remember, also, her some people have what is called “the newshigh ideal of the writer's art, and her con- paper instinct,” which means simply a pertempt for hasty or slipshod work, -and some ception of what people wish to hear, and the realization will be had of what the industry way in which they wish to hear it; its posof her productive years must have been. session means sure success in

newspaper The present volume contains Mrs. Jack- work; and so well recogrized is its existence son's papers upon California and Oregon, and value, that it may almost be said to have three upon Scotland and England, and a a regular market price and fixed grades of half dozen upon Norway, Denmark, and excellence, like other commodities. The Germany. All these papers are familiar al- magazine instinct is a rarerand much less well ready to magazine readers, who will none understood thing. It is the same in nature, the less-perhaps rather the more-be glad for it means simply the perception of what to have them in this permanent form. Those magazine audiences will like to hear, and in that were published in the illustrated maga. what manner, quantity, and distribution ; but zines will be, moreover, increased in interest it requires the additional discernment of seeto those readers who find the pictorial deco- ing what sort of people constitute a magazine ration rather an interruption than an aid to audience. It is easy to know who constitute the literary purposes of most kinds of writ- a newspaper audience, for it consists of eving, by the omission of the pictures.

erybody; but while a great magazine has The eminent "availability” of Mrs. Jack- very many more readers than a great newsson's work for magazine purposes is very paper, the readers of the magazines all put noticeable in these articles. It was not the together do not approximate in numbers availability of the literary hack, nor of the the readers of the newspapers all put togethpracticed journalist, who has acquired the er; so that the magazine readers remain to ability to “get up” any given subject with a certain extent a “picked lot.” How sedecent readability. Neither was it the com- lect, it is a nice question to determine ; cermanding worthiness of great genius, over- tainly not altogether the aristocracy of the riding the minor calculations of magazines reading world, neither the reverse-rather

the bourgeois, the great middle class ; and 1 Glimpses of Three Coasts. By Helen Jackson (" H. H.") Boston: Roberts Bros. For sale in San Francis the magazine which succeeds in appealing co by Samuel Carson & Co.

most exactly to this class, makes the greatest

She was,

“success,” in the technical sense. Yet the She knew what topics were of common hudanger of bidding down to the audience is man interest, and she never knowingly wrote far greater than of going over its head. Dr. down to her audience, nor put together madeHolland created his magazine deliberately to sell work ; she used her very best efforts and expressly for the great middle class of according to good ideals; and while she readers, and no man could have been better had her failures, her best efforts usually adapted to the enterprise, for he was emi. produced what was good literature, and somenently of that class himself; and his calcu- times what was more than good. lations were justified by the result. Yet therefore, one of the small group among the when his magazine passed out of his hands, writers in the popular magazines who bring and under a more severely critical censor- the most critical and thoughtful into their ship, it gained, instead of losing, readers. circle of readers, and keep them there, while Indeed, it is probably a fallacy to believe at the same time she was highly acceptable that magazines ever lose readers because to the uncritical--a combination of availathey are “too good.” They may easily be bilities which meant certain success with good in the wrong way, however. Margaret editors. Fuller's “ Dial” did not die because it In the collection of her travel-sketches was too good. If a magazine could be filled now before us, those upon Southern Califorevery month with fiction, humor, descrip- nia and Oregon have awakened most interest tion, poetry, literature of travel and of hu- here; but in a literary way there is more man customs and experiences, and research- permanent vaiue in some of the European es into economic and sociological facts, ones. “The Katrina Saga,” for instance, is and the occurrences of the natural world, all a very happy study of Katrina and Norway;. of the very highest order the world has seen, and the extracts from Katrina's version of that magazine would probably sell more cop- "Frithiof and Ingeborg" are delightful. It

“ ies than any other. But there is not enough might be suggested that Katrina, and not great literature in these branches, the world Mrs. Jackson, is the genius here; but it took over, to fill a single magazine, monthly, with genius to appreciate these renderings, and the necessary variety, on the necessary top- transcribe them for us with so delightful ics; and while the manner of an article can record of Katrina's running comment. We not be too good for the audience, it is very find space for some part of this, which Mrs. easy for the topic to be out of the range of Jackson prefaces with, “Could any good their interest. Topics of common human in English be so good as this?” terest, treated with all excellence that is pos

Two trees growed bold and silent : never before sible to genius, is thus the ideal of magazine the north never seen such beauties ; they growed literature ; the common human interest must nicely in the garden. be had in any event, and the excelle nce of

The one growed up with the strongth of the oak, treatment as far as possible. Now the main and the stem was as the handle of the spear, but the

crown shaked in the wind like the top on the helmet. weight of all these discriminations and per

But the other one growed like a rose-

e-like a rose ceptions must, of course, fall upon the edit- when the winter just is going away ; but the spring or : but he cannot create his magazine, as a what stands in its buds still in dreams childly is smiljournalist creates his paper; for the news

ing.

So they growed in joy and play ; and Frithiof was paper is made in its own office by its own

the young oak, but the rose in the green walley was staff, who have been selected and trained, named Ingeborg, the Beauty. and are daily supervised by their chief, while

If you seen dem two in the daylight, you would the magazine is dependent on outside con- think of Freya's dwelling, where many a little pair tributions. If the contributors have not the is swinging with yellow hair, and vings like roses. magazine instinct, the editor is helpless. around, you would tink to see an erl-king pair dan

But if you saw dem in the moonlight, dancing easy Now Mrs. Jackson was a contributor who cing among the wreaths of the walley. How he was did meet this need of editors admirably. glad