LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 12

LITERARY.

Under the title "Lord Kelvin's Early Home" have ibeen puMished the recollections of hia eister, the late Mr 3. Elizabeth King; together with some family letters and a supplementary chapter by the editor, Elizabeth Thomson King. The book may be fittingly described as the annals of a worthy family. Lord Kelvin's father, James Thomson, was the son of a farmer in County Down, Ireland. He distinguished himself as a mathematical scholar, and was ultimately appointed Professor of Mathematics in Glasgow University. His eon, William, inherited his father's talent in an increased measure. His career at Cambridge University was very distinguished, although he just missed the coveted honour of Senior Wrangler, standing second, but securing the honoured place of Smith's prizeman. In these sisterly recollections many incidents are recorded showing his lovable disposition. Mrs. King records with simple frankness the little details of domestic life which illustrate the routine followed 'in a good Scottish (household sixty or seventy years ago; their joye and eorrowe, acquaintances and recrea tions. It is a pleasant autobiography, full of human feeling. Lord Kelvin's biography, to which this volume is merely a prelude, has been undertaken by Dr. Silvanus Thompson, F.ILS., than whom no man is more capable of doing justice to the talents of the eminent scientist. Both (books are published by Macmillan and Co.

"The Burnt Offering," by Mrs. Everard Coles is an up-to-date story of Indian unrest and revolt. The central figures in the novel are Mr. Mills, M.P., his daughter, and Bepin Dehari Dey, M.A., a Hindoo, who ihad been educated at Cambridge. The Englishman was visiting India with the object of investigating the causes of unrest and revolution in •that country, and ihis daughter, an ardent suffragette in England, was equally willing to espouse tho cause of the disenfranchised natives of India. Their sympathies for Dey were aroused during a casual meeting on a railway platform by witnessing the refusal of two young Englishmen to allow the Hindoo to enter a first-class railway carriage, of which they had taken possession. Miss Mills invited Mm into their carriage, and so an acquaintance began. ißefuaing offers from European (friends in India, Mr. and Miss Mills took up their • residence among the natives and soon became embroiled in a seditious agitation, which caused the Government to deport Mr. Mills to Ceylon. The young lady was wooed by an official in high position, but refused ihis advances, declaring her intention to marry Dey. She was unaware, however, that the latter was a member of a secret society engaged in making bombs and collecting arms, but her English lover got on the trail of this plot, and pressed it against Dey with tragic consequences to Iboth. The story into prominence the present condition of India and the difficulties that beset the government of the country. It is published in Methuen'e Colonial Library, and came to us through. Wildman and Arey.

The "Pall Mall "Magazine" for January opens with a story by William Waldorf Astor, entitled "The Vengeance oi Poseidon"; E. R. Low contributes an amusing eketah, in dialogue, "■When Woman Rules the Roost." Some glimpses behind scenes at Drury Lane Theatre take the shape of a sketch illustrating, in anecdote and picture, the life etory of a clown. Football and its popularity with 'the public and player is the subject of an interesting article by C. J. L. Clarke, from which we learn that £1700 has ibeen taken in gate-money for a single ■match at Stamford Bridge, and that ■when George Wilson transferred to Newcastle that club paid the magnificent sum of £ 1600 to eecure his services, and instances of amounts ranging up towards £1000 are by no means uncommon. Mr. George W. Smalley, in his "Anglo-American Memories," discourses on the Dulce of Connaught, Lord Kitchener, Mr. St. John Brodrick, Mr. John Morley, and Lord Grey. Among Uhe contributors of short stories are W. Petit Ridge, Albert Dorrington, S. BaringGould, Edward Fyazer, and Laurence Houseman. The supplementary story book has a strong list of writers.

In a paper on "Mars as a Habitable World," in "Ohambers's Journal" for January, A. W. Roberts, D.Sc., explains the difficulties that must beset life, as •we know it, on that planet, its rarefied air being an insuperable obstacle. E. A. Gatty describes Napoleon's flight after Waterloo, and the petty oppressions he suffered at St. Helena. An article on the museum at the Record Office, London, mentions a number of famous historical documents that are exhibited there. In "The Vagaries of a Fluctuating Currency," a former resident in several Seuth American repub lies narrates his experiences with depreciated paper money. The new serial story by John Oxenham is entitled "Lauristons."

The agricultural annual and almanac issued from the offices of the "Mark Lrino Express" —one of the leading agricultural papers in England—contains, as usual, a large amount of information regarding the live stock world of Great Britain during the year just closed. The eales of pedigree stock, ■which form euch an important feature in the farm year of the Old Country, are summed-up in a particularly bright and readable form, co that almost at a glance the reader can obtain a good idea of the prices that have reigned during the past twelve months for the various breeds and classes of stock. The annual contains a fine series of illustrations of representative stud animals, while there are also several practical articles of interest to English farmers. The editor in his review of Old Country farming during 1909 states that the year has been noticeable for the extremely wet and disastrous harvest, particularly in the South of England, where a great deal of the corn v»as never got in at all. Prices for agricultural produce, however, with, the exception of mutton, have been on a higher level than for a number of years past, and the farming industry may be considered to be more prosperous than it has been for many years.

Among the contents of "Life" for February are the closing chapters of Dr. Fitchett's story of tb'e Kelly Gang; a short story, "The Goßsiwr 3 r ~-'i— " by Jessie Mackayj "Captain Hayes's Duel with an Opium Smuggler/ „,> _v.bert Dorrington; apd other short stories. The other contents include many interesting articles on current topics, literary reviews, and smart comment upon Colonial pad jEnglisi nfWifc J '

"Jack Caretairs of the Power House," ■by Sydney Sandys, is intended by the author "to chow the engineer in two phases, as I have met Urn." Jack was an electrical engineer, into whose life came a lovely gipsy girl, with, disturbing consequences. His fortunes were also affected by the nefarious practices of another engineer named Darwen, who endeavoured to eteal the secret of an invention which Jack was perfecting; he was, however, thwarted in this design by the adroit substitution of bogus ifor the genuine plans. Glimpses are afforded in the book of the working life of the mechanical engineer, for whose calling the author has evidently a cordial regard. The interest of the lover of roniance is sustained by the relations between Jack and the gipsy girl, who turns out in the end to be of aristocratic parentage, and also by the rascalities of Darwen. The book appears in Methuen's Colonial Library, and we have received a copy from Wildman and Arey.