CRAZY WHITE MAN.

By Richard Morenus'17. New York: Rand McNally and Co. 320pp. 1952. $3.75.

When the doctor told him he must have a rest and a complete change, Richard Morenus '17 did what many city men have dreamed of doing. He left behind him the crowds, the time clock, and the hectic rat race of radio script writing in New York City and struck out to lead a Thoreau-like existence in the Canadian "bush."

Sight unseen he bought a camp in northern Ontario, and here he lived for some six years. The nearest settlement was Sioux Lookout, a way station on the Canadian National, and a day's walk or a day's paddle away. His only companion was his city-bred cocker spaniel. His nearest neighbors were Indians, who called him "Sha-ga-na-she Wa-du-kee" which in Ojibway means "Crazy White Man." They gave him this name because innocent though he was of the ways of the bush he chose to leave the city and live alone on his island. No doubt many of his New York friends would have agreed with the Indians, but Morenus made a go of northern living and by the end of his first winter he was accepted by his neighbors, both red and white, as being one of them.

This book tells of his wilderness experiences and includes some sketches of the more colorful of his fellow woodsmen. Although Morenus planned to live off the country his account deals but little with fish and game. Actually most of his time his estimate is 85% went into the business of just keeping alive chopping wood, cutting ice, repairing his cabin, making trips to Sioux Lookout for supplies. But all such aspects of wilderness living held interest for the author and most Dartmouth men, be they "chubbers" or citydwellers, should find his account of interest also.