18 SEPTEMBER 1897, Page 23

"Old Man's" Marriage. By G. B. Burgin. (Grant Richards.) -

-Is there, indeed, any region in Canada of which "Four Corners" village, as Mr. Burgin graphically describes it, is typical ? We know the familiar properties, the fighting editor, "Bully Buck" "Old Man" himself, with his very rough-grained chivalry, in Mark Twain's pages, but we connect them with Colorado or the Mississippi. Are they to be found in the North- West Territories of Canada also ? Anyhow they are very interest- ing. "Old Man" is a peculiarly admirable person, and 'Miss Wilks,' his mule, is a worthy companion. We know no more entertaining animal in all the fauna of fiction. Mr. Burgin has a very pretty gift of humour. What could be a better description of a "buck- board" than that "it had a knack of occasionally throwing its passengers up in the air and catching them again as they iescended; sometimes it went on without catching them."