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LETTERJS IN CANADA: 1949 315 6. Canada: The Land and the People J. M. S. CARELESS Examining the books of the past year that fall within this category inspires the thought, not wholly new, that the Canadian land wins far more attention than the Canadian people. Few books attempt to deal with the Canadians. Many describe the varied aspects of the setting in which they live. Yet among this latter group there are some which treat their particular portion of the Canadian scene with a warmth of understanding and a 'power of expression that perhaps convey more about the life of the country and the nature of its inhabitants, past or present, than many a general study of the Canadians might do. Nor are these works merely of regional or sectional significance; for only out of their sort of feeling for the local scene and local tradition can come the self-consciousness and historical sense which lie at the basis of any broader national viewpoint, Canadian or otherwise. One of the .most interesting of these regional books concerns the Pacific West, The Valley of Youth by Charles W. Holliday. Among other things, it is an account of the author's life in the Okanagan Valley at the turn of the eighteen-nineties, when the mountain-ringed parklands of the Okanagan were being opened to settlement, ranches, and orchards. Mr. Holliday was then a young emigrant from England, after two voyages around Cape Hom as an officer-apprentice in sailing ships. To him, this was truly the valley of youth, ~'where even our greybeards were young in spirit"-a •land of spring, as he describes it, of constant freshness and sparkling beauty. This first book has many faults, as its author would be quick to recognize. It is almost shapeless. Mr. Holliday remarks in his preface that, if it is rambling, it reflects the rambling quality of ~fe in the Okanagan at that time: a carefree wandering through the loveliness of the distant valley, deep in the British Columbian mountains. The work is full of digression and anecdote; but as its writer has a sharp sense of characterization and a happy touch of humour, these by-ways seldom become tedious. And since Mr. Holliday is an artist, as well as having engaged in many other pursuits, he shows a keen appreciation for the colours and vistas of the Okanagan. Yet perhaps the essential charm of the book lies in the translucent air of reverie that surrounds it. The author is ,one who has found his far-off valley, lived his dreams, and is happy in the memory of them. Another work with the quality of reverie is Douglas Leechman's Indian Summer, brief sketches of a number of old Western Indians, with some of their folk-tales, by an anthropologist who has long known their people. This is another book that glances backwards, to the memories of an older race. It does not speak of the zest of spring but of the repose of age, of "old times that glow so softly through the calm autumnal haze of Indian 316 THE U~IVERiSITY OF TORONTO 0VARTERLY summer." " 'Old times all gone. People forget. People don't care. Everything different now.'" So says one of Mr. Leechman's old Indians. But the author does care, and transmits the dreaming, nbstalgic mood of a people in their Indian summer through an aptly titled and tenderly written little volume. The region of the prairies is represented by Blankets and Beads) by James G. MacGregor. This is a history of the Saskatchewan River, ·or rather it is a collection of episodes in the history of the country traversed by that broad waterway. It is not a work of original research, and .it would hardly meet the historian's requirements regarding organization and balance . Furthermore, it is published in rather dull, unattractive form. Nevertheless; the author's wide knowledge of his country and sure feeling for it illumine the book and keep up interest. In fact, this is regional historical writing of an encouraging sort, done by an amateur (in the original sense of the word) who has sought to orient himself in the past of...

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