THE KINGDOM CARVER

You are going to carve a kingdom,"" missionary Mercer tells young Dave Laird up at Stella Creek, on the West Coast of Canada, where Dave has come with his father on a logging contract in World War I. Dave had stopped schooling short of eighth grade graduation because of an amorous scrape, was sure of his physical strength and as sure that his mind did not match it. The wilderness with the Indians, the girls at Hanley Cove, the struggle for survival in the woods, turns him into a man. There there is Sylvia Mercer, whose outward blemish is forgotten through her kindness and warmth. E. G. Perrault logrolls his story down a predictably familiar stream in a forthright manner, manages a sentimental journey without sentimentality for a successful run in cliche country.