The Bookfellow.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 293, 10 December 1910, Page 13

The Bookfellow.

(COraUGHT: -Ali BIGHTS BE- '•""■ " SERVED.) ; - R' A-

(Written, for the " Auckland 8tu n

" Stej/b.euM.y''

THE OLD HTTT DOOB. Let the wind blow, \ ~..'; . And rattle-the old hutdoor-.,. . ; , For'it' reminds mc of smiles gone br iv ' : And laces I'll see no more. ■' ' .Lethe wind Wow, '.' ,' ... Let the old. door rattle acnln, Pot Its voice was friendly to other earn, l And Its music was sweeter-then. . Let the wind blow, . . ' ' ~ And open the old door iwide, For there's no telling what mates of yore, May wish to step, inside. ~ ' • Let the wind blow, ? Light no candle, strike no match, For a : face -may peep ; and a- spirit slip In , If the old door's left on the latch. . Let the Wind blow. °' -• ' '- And.:rattle the old hut door. ... P. W. EJIBBX* .W.A. - BOY SCOUTS. j ■ " ■ ■ - ■ •>' v ' ■ i Dan Boone -was an American hunter, mighty, before the Indian; and some years ago, Dan Beards had . the idea of organising American boy 3 into hunting parties, camping- parties; scouting parties, as "Sons of Daniel Boone." Then Xhoutp6on Seton, the American naturalise ■writer, developed the idea, in the organisation of ," Woodcraft Then Lieut.-Gen. Badenj-iPOTvoll applied the ideato tho Britiab. organisation io£ ■ " Boy ; Scouts," which has recoiled) upon .America, where all ihxee tribes are now competing; for youthful suffrages. '-The " Boy Scout" vaa known already:,on story-book corere; ■and with.lu3 noble name and his essential idea, he seems likely r to conquer-the 'world. . Beard and Seton had the;goods, but apparently. JBaden-PowelT found the label. Half of ■ life ia the label. . . The Boone-Indian-Scout idea takee the potential cannibal, aged ten, and the immature pirate, aged, twelve —the "Nick of the Woods" and "The Terror of the Seas "—and diverts their davage instincts to social uses. The-penny dreadful becomes hopeful, and the dime novel a divine emanation. ■ Every Boy "Seofct set' careering on 'his phylogenetic -track,' helps to correct one of civilisation's disharmonies. By the ancient law of fealty to the chief he is -made a prisoner of pity. Miracles he sees (in uniform), a basket of' fruit fall and (in uniform) picks it lip, and (in uniform) puts it in the basket. Then he stands at conscious ease (in uniform) awaitanghis reward. 'Both in. and out of uniform it is to be feared'that occasionally he reverts to thepirate. InAustralia } at least, he is heard using inartistic language by the Toadside, and his daily " kind action" seems to be balanced by an aptitude for actions that, to. the victims, are decisively unkind. The 'worse boy, of course, is no worse than Tie'was, before; but under loose disciplinei the< worse scout is apt to corrupt the better scout. Scoutmasters, like schoolmasters,should watch out for bad eggs amd throw" them out. ' ■ '*>

The Scout movement has a portentous literature already, including a weekly newspaper. The English firm of C Arthur Pearson issues at 1/ net a whole lib-

ral . r 3 Pf ,'Boy,-. Stoat; books,.of which someJ will b&jfoiuid, useful : in New : Zealand. Lieut.-Gen; Baden-Powell appears'to adyantage as an author,in "■yamsfor.Boy Scouts,", and' ''Scouting Games."., .Hβ writes simply, and, sensibly, ter 'is full'of; in.terost| jOwen Jones and Marcus'r.Woodward, writing," Woodcraft for Scouts," suggest- at, once\that rthere .is room for. a/New, Zealander tojwritei.a VBushcTaft -for since the English r book".does not apply.. The best .book,in the ,collec£ion } :.-for>.our purposes, .is; a scout's". encyclopaedia , — " Things all Scouts Should is of uncommon -value -to inquiring ,mind. <. There are. illustrated .tips about the navy, $c- army, ships and boats, railways, roads, camps, and half-a-dozen other subjects, . expressing much,; out-of-the-way knowledge. : Do you'know, for that the large balls on-important gateposts represent the heade with which the old savage., decorated his wigwam to prove hie prowess'} '■•■■• - : .-. i UNIVERSITY ■ • mr-A T.B. Cambridge , University's new edition ot tie. "Encyclopaedia : Britannica" is to have 28 volumes, 26.000 pages, 40,000 articles, dnd . 1500. contributors: The chief .editor is Hugh .Chishblm,. formerly editor of "St. James' i Gazette , ' (1897----1900), and co-editor of the."terith edition" .volumes-added by "The.Times" to the 818, in.1902., The tenth edition will be virtually superseded., , . \ The part which the two great English Universities are now taking in the publication* of ..books -is useful and honours able.: Already.we are indebted to Oxford and Cambridge for many worthy books, many sclolarly i texts, i which; but for itheir aidj > could I not have been issued, or would not:have been issued, in so excellent . a ; form. ■.; When will the - NewZealand University follow suit? It is no answer, to'efay. that thejre..are no New Zealand .books -deserving.• their attention. The University should encourage authors to. create.them.. Everything isin/ithat encouragement. For .want of,.a.strong impulse, a definite aim, and an- assured reward, ...promising talents ~ are being frittered away, continually. ■; i r... r..: ■! ■ And how many University profeasore are idling in : their i chairs, with learning tarnished, and ambition ifled!, The heads are good enough, if we had the hearts. And,who : should cry "Sursum ' cordaj" but ,ihe Universities;, if they,be. true to the old idealt- ~ .';•'•• s •„ .■ , ■ .';■■-. Under my hand is, a letter-.from =.a University man. ."Now for .three months' gardening and ; fishing." 0 . He; has- talent too; his dreams ■ r.enew (life; : once ■,' he had ambition.. 'T3on;t;ybuyenyy.-nie?" Not'l .; ;not. a .Gardening and .fishing enough.to,revive energy for labour; but three'monthsof, them!; : ' Solomon, notwithstanding, "Died at Capua!" is the poorest^epitapji:anybody can -have. _'■ How. it to see ipower(wasted! While the .universe is dissipating us-as f aist as ;-it can,. a man should rise to his deity and concentrate-r:if Trat one atom. '"■ It isn't necessaiy- to'lcnow anything of Athanasius except that. he-was-contra muhdum: that js enbugh: give him your suffrage.' "To dig'a well; to plant a tree;, to father , '.a son"—the AraVe-forriiula of huhian ; efficacy-—is -not enough; Gallit'a ■week's wort';- anji afterT ,Well,-you have to keep ihe well 'clear, the tree living, and; the son : shining. . Call it a year's work; and after? Say you have;a' grove ] and'half-a-dbzen'trees;'- (one well , ought to be enough while you pay water-rates).j" —call-it ten yeara' work: After!. Go

fishing and gardening?.. 'No; , , light,-a* flame for Ormuzd: wmle you have the spark. Quit tiauing and light. ,- ' i "Fight what? Ideas; if you axe a University ' man—the worthiest ;pf all; antagonists.:. If.you, don't master, them, middle-aged, cynicism and tobacco .will master .you. i Antecedent bo every- 5 ; mdl-; vidual's right to-an easy, life ; ia the. racial; claim that he' have' ■ power, ■ hard - life, .if -.need be.; i Qtherwise ,next; century's .'historian; of our -paradise will moralise:.;.':'ies; : a pretty ihing ■ —while it lasted." ;■■ ■/ - : ' . :,; ' • - ■' ' * COPYRIGHT. •■-----. A ; ; , ; , ■ hyA •■■■" ■. - ..;■„. ,'.,., Ji.X ■. In connection .with the . new British 'Copyright Bill, at appears that , the Minister in charge has agreed to give Canada! a free, baud in the mattery of,, foreign -copyright,, The "Times", of October i 4 'says a Canadian bill is being prepared ''which .will cut out the,"Uiwted; 1 publishers iroui' the Canadian ■ market, "WSicb. tas'ihitherto been secured' to'them under' the .Imperial ■ Copyright 'law; and it'inSll printing'and-bind-ing to W-dohe an Canada.' -"J3je bill will .recognise. copyrigh-t of . British, authors upon registration at - ' ■' -• /' ; The market is .flooded with books, printed, in the U.S.A., <*hicli concedes British copyright only on condition. that" a British book is simultaheausly printed and published in. the U.&Ai - The Canadians naturally "wish to equalise condiiions; bub apparently" fh'e -projected legislation ' will; riot' go as \ far as. the uiiaanctioneil Act of 36 years ago,- which nenfti tted a ' Canadian.' publisher -to ■ issue *a 'British ibbbk ; if he jwiid the 1 author ten per cent on-sales; Now-it seems that- the British copyright- is ito run in Canada' if'it is Tegiefcered; 'so ■that the change - ■will' affect; ther,'; Amepcan:; trade only.. Junta the;; British and ( Canadian ■bills ifcake; precise Bha.pe,'xto more can be ami. 1 ' Britieh copyright legislation still resfa.ttn an Act of 1842, and the difficulty of securing amendment has 'beccone pro l verbiel;. In any- case, the ; dissolution of Plarliament will postpoßO .the echeme indefinitely, s . . . i i •.-. ..: • ;< : If:tthe: Canadian plan becomes legal, and Jβ found to work well, Australia nuty follow suit; though there is not. in Australia the American, competition which. Canada, resents. And if Canada admits the British author on an .equal'footing, there ; will .be, no precedent, for the' Australian :exclusion of "the -British*,author that 'has been suggested. Of.course tho, Canadian duty on books remains; and, ,when ■■ it ..seems werth; white, ■ English publisliers avoid tihe duty, by sending stereo. plates across ,tie> Atlantic and printing in Canada. ."IAn.A-ustraliain'duty oi books •would occairionally have the same effect. As a matter of Australian principle, the duty n&y be advocated; thfi.Canadian ; idea matures ■it; "yrall be- better- to wait and see how it works in 'practice. Ttie U.SJL ; may ' find: at way of hitting .'back. !.. .-. / .■.■.',■ ',- ■■ r : ':', -.■ i By ihe way,i when".will. Dn Findlay' «fdd <: to ■Kis'inany legislative services ■by drafting, a, New Zealand Copyright Bill for Parliamentary consideration? \ MEWS AND NOTES 'liinley 1 Sambounie, ' : tie deceased "Punch , :' cartoonist, left £15,000. Hugh Maclean, in Australia, and v L.H.-Booth, In New Zealand—one I wasting hie time I and ;.the- other lost in a ( unlikely to leave, as much. Yet "here are 1 two; talents, that, with better. practice, merit a place in "Punch"—oaotas-cartoon-ists, but *a illustrator*,

;'. ;';Winifred Leys, the Auckland girl whose travel book "Golden Days in Many Lands" was published recently -in London,, has a kava'. that may • settle ' some doubts. She says that in Pi'ji, or some parts ; of j happy use of; '^village girls Especially chosen for. their beauty and- cleanliness," to chew the root and: '«pit?.the,:essence.- inca-.' JbowV.. haa.-be«n. aDandoned sinco ;;:the' introduction ;.oi gratera. Craters 1 So poetry, passes. And jf'you: object,,that-saJiva ltfnt poetical, what, of young Swinburne, with •his "lips inter-twisted aiid bitten- till .tjkiefoaiii has tho savour of blood." Por "flavour ! read- "flavour,'?.,-: and-, there, you-; .«*,_. ]X, Our . travellerX adds that • "if. you mix a little toilet soap and .water and add tome grated.nutmeg-you'.will..get aU the, : flay-, our of the much-rolished kava." It leaves the I head - alone .and i in toxica tea' the _ legs,, nays the author, in that resembling cider; though, there is cider.- nnd kava and kava; and all the effect* of a new ,tap; are not to be predicated from previous experience. <j '; ;

''The Earl;' of Itoeebery, uncomfortable Laodicean of British politics and landlord of .Sydney 'Athenaeum Cliib;; probably would have been » great man had he not been a great lord. Both as statesman and writer, he has! distinguished him__elf, yet neither aa- statesman nor a» writer- does he 'seem.'td :-. have .. achieved.' himself._'?;" In his; forthcoming of the '„"'«arijr life of tho eplehdid Pitt, Lord Chatham, he ■returns, to. a subject! that,has always attracted Jiiin. '., Pitt, Peel, Napoleon, Orom. well, Randolph Churchill t these 'have been his heroes; it seems,as if he ..-were instinctively drawn to.;: lean,: on; .the •trength-he lacks.

Last ■ week:, wo; talked of millionaires backing authors,'and- passed:-' With an easy traoiuUonito tho poetical millionaire, th« piping Bullfinch, Dorrie Doolette. This .week hews comes that Doolette has l become a partner, in the new W.A. magar. wnei^ , ''The r 'Lteuww'^"..' i prophecy--was. witli' Artiat-editor A. G. Plate is one of the most-travelled men in Australia. ;He > went' systematically over Melanesia, the Malay Archipelago, Japan, and' other territories, in order to write the Nord-Dentacher Lloyd's'tourist giaiSe, and is an Asiatic Baedeker in flesh. His article on "Peculiar Coinajge''-in'-"the Leeuwin" is full of curious '-information "about dogs'' teeth; porpoise-teeth,' 'and- stones 1 '

. Treharne, director of ,liaido Theatre, earns the praise due to everybody;, who troubles the mental waters.'-The social pool pf'Bethesda is Often, stagnant. , .Always there, is; a -great multitude of .impotent, folk, of intellectually bKnd, of spiritually halt and withered, waiting for the moving of. the water. ■Praise Good, then, for enthusiasm, in a world; of the. slack-eouled .and halfhearted. Even if it err, it stimulates us to advance our own rectitude, or. our own. error,, in, opposition. All that's 'best ,is born from conflict: that's why life started sex.as;a happy later-thought, and began evolving with a male difference: : It is a solemn reflection tliat, if wo had stayed asexaal, a suffragette I would never hkvo hit Mr Asqnith in the eye. As Life, then, ia a mode of. motion, misrely to move is good. Por .better," we can look at the direction of 'the marines > t *r* ■ k .: .yy.-: -rcHm *i--i.

\, XOVE AIQCBOBE ■ "An American scientist claims to have discovered the microbe of love_" ' . "." I_oTe, it is a microbe; oh,: young men, _ ~beware!;, ■< r-..■_,-..;. ". -.' V. •It llveth in the laughing- eyes, and In the ,-.-, floating.hair; ,-.-,...,..".. .'-.■'.' ■-.--,-.,.'--.;". And in .the pretty, parted lips, that deadly ■• .thing'is there.''' '-•-■- ---"Twin; come-st; noon; -'twill coma -at *rre; 1 'twill come at dawn of day, iln. every, inconceivable .and inconvenient !--;--,.- -wayi-.r...-'.-'■-. ..■'■".:-.-.,--"■.■■.-;'.-..■. "■' ■ The merry microbe moves ; "th» world* and '-'. dances ;bhthe: and gay.'-• ! 'In all a maiden's wraps and gowns, la every .'.",. tuck and'fri11,;,.,.,.. ,'.;' ...,'...', Quite hair-a-milllon strong ho lurks; he bides hl» time until- - * - He knows the hour, he knows the man, 'tie >*' works his deadly Will. v.A champion strongman, Samson was; great,7 hearted, brave and tall; ..-•■ Delilah, she mades eyes at him, bat, ski that was .hot-all,, • • \ - ■'■•'; The' microbes' marched h_m ; to hi* death, he feU beneath_ the wan. .',"-"_ Young David smote •Goliath sore, ihe Bible ,-■■■•■ tells ua so;-. -■;■_■- - : -.- - .-:.-,-'-,. .--.-.-;'"■ And David was a flrst-ntte aan^, with any stand-up foe; „ But the. little microbe took him, and-made - him mean and low. "": '.".".' ■• . -'.' -' ' / V:. '. '.■■ - .... --'. :■ • . . ■; Just take, the- case of Solomon—a. man -we all must praise; But the microbes came In batches, seven hundred -different ways; ~...\..-.. They ruined him entirely, and spoiled his latter days'.',,'." .-■'.,. '•.-:.'.

Oh,.' Snnday Is. the microbe's day; the ■-. boldest boys- will call; ; Ihe girls get on-their-pretty tilings, as, ever since -thei-lfBll; . ' ..."-... How.daintily they v .dress, themselves—-tjhe ! ...microbe; knows It all. They walk to church; the microbe- moves; !• they hear the organ; play; ,: Oh;-.prettily they sing the ipsalms—the microbe reels his.'way;. - ~ .. ,'.', ' I Oh, the little microbe takes.us, yes,, even U. t ..,". : Wh(5a we.pray,.' l ( I The mirthful- uttte- microbe, he more* In !.;'.-., eyiery dance,:- -'■'■. .;-.-..'..;.-.--.; ' - ~..■..*. In, every dainty flying foot, ln every-tender i ..glance; ■ - - ; iln lights,' and flowers, and melody, 'the microbe sees his chance.' The glris -are -aU good friends with Mm. ■ Totand Sis, • Their dreses lengthen every year, nntii no __. Jinan rmay kiss . '~,." 1- ~. , Their pretty; months; the microbe knows.he \ - rarely makes, a miss. ;-,. ... He loves'.the dawn, he loves the' day, he I*-?, loves the bright moonshine; I When the tenderness is in onr hearts, and -;. . the red- blood;; warm as wine, In the soft sweet time of mystery, he works his. fell design. .: '. He knows our many weaknesses, he knows .' the; time of flowers,'' In' the early most delightful time, in the . scented somme'r hours, -_ s -. ■ ?.»■ He walks within, the wilderness, the i . gardens, and the bowera. :\, • •' Of 'alf his pranks "by land and sea, the half was never told; -■ r' - Ay, stronger far. than- life and Death, or hate or greed- of gold; • He hops his hornpipe "in the heat, he-canters 'in the,'cold;,, ■ > ■'"••"' I_ove, it is a microbe; oh, young men, beware! ; . . It llveth In the laughing eyea, and In the _. floating hair,/ And in the pretty; parted lips, that deadly thing is there. - —BHAW. NBII<BON. ;-.-. . v . '-':'■■■■'''_';•'.'"■;;::■