THE WAY OF THE WILDERNESS

The author of The Healing Woods (1952) tells more about life in the Adirondacks, which she learned to love so much while regaining her health that she refused to leave. Her present story tells of her efforts to establish an independent life along the wilderness ways. There are incidents revolving about the house she bought -- with repairs to be made, a well to be dug and back taxes to be cared for (Mr. Rice saw that they were taken care of by the former owner). Martha shared her sill with a squirrel, her hearth with a duck and her cellar with a skunk. Her efforts to continue educating herself had to give way for a time to moneymaking by brandishing a curling iron for some very unreasonable customers, but she turned from artificiality to camp alone for a summer. Her book is so boundlessly full of contacts with earth's creatures, it takes on almost an ""I must tell you about this"" quality, but any nature-lover will be pleased to meet all of her friends and acquaintances from the rascally Rufus, a coon, to R.B., who built his hive in her tent. When Martha met Eric, a handsome young X-ray technician who shared her delight in woodland life, she decided against solitude, but a fatal accident causing his death threw her again on the inner resources she had so carefully nourished. Taking.