LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 49, 26 February 1916, Page 14

LITERARY.

"Steve Yeager," by William MacLeod Raine, and "The Valley Road," by Mary Hallock Foote,- two Western stories published recently by the Houghton Mifflin Company, are in their third printinge. "A Clip of.Wool from Sbfaring Shed to Ship" is the title of a book by Alexander Sinclair, of Sydney, an expert in all that concerns the .wool trade.

The latest addition to the True Stories of Great Americane Series now in course of issue by the Maemillan Company is "Thomas A. Edison," by Francis RbltWheeler. The etory is told with commendable energy and the result is a portrait.

The identity of lan Hay, author of "Scally," "A Knight on Wheels," "A Safety Match," etc., is announced by his American publisher; the Houghton Mifflin Company; he is Captain lan Hay Berth of the Tenth Battalion of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Among authors who are fighting abroad may be mentioned R. E. Vernede, author of "The Quietness of Dick" and "The Flight of Flaviel"; Filson Young, the well known musical critic, author of "The Wagner Stories," etc., and. A. Loton Ridger, author of "A Wanderer's Trail," all of them fighting for England.

"Under a Cloud," by Arthur Wright (N.S.W. Bookstall Co., Ltd.), is the latest addition to the rapidly-growing library of Australian sporting fiction. The story chiefly - concerns a capable jockey -who ruins his career iby clumsily riding an odds-on favourite to defeat, to secure a promise of marriage from the girl he loves.

Among the many facts that Mr. Arthur Davison Ficke tells in "Chats on Japanese Prints" perhaps this is the moet astonishing: "Japan itself/ he says, "has been ransacked so thoroughly that the would-be purchaser can perhaps more wisely.go' to London or New York than to Tokyo or Kyoto in his' search for prizes."

Among the deaths of December there is none that will be more keenly felt in Kterary circles than, that of Stephen Phillips, the distinguished English poet and dramatist. Mr. Phillips had been in failing health for several months, and the end came December Oth at hla home in Deal; The author will <be remembered chiefly for his books,'. "Nero," 'The Sin of David," "Ulysses," and "Pietro of Siena."

Robert Bridgee, the Poet Laureate, is a Licentiate of the Koy.il College of Physiiians. Mr. ~W: S. Maugham, the author of several, popular playe, such as "Lady Frederick" and "The Explorer," and the novel "Liza of Lambeth," is qualified aa a doctor. Among women doctors, Dr. Lillias Hamilton and Dr. Margaret Todd (Graham Travers) are both well known writers of fiction.

At'Sotheby's recently there were sold sey«ral J nata;'ble=Teligs oLJßitl*- Steveraon. A -first-edition Beach of Falesa," iS92, realised" £152. It is. one of the.expurgatedjSet printed to secure the English .copyright." "The Memoir of Fleecing.,JenKin," presented, to Charles Baxtef iii NeW'York, 1387," went to Mr P. Fi Steveiffi fbr ; £36.' .Mr; Stevens also: secured "The Master 'of Ballantrae," 1888, for £123. Only 10 copies of this advance edition were printed, one of which was -afterwards destroyed. A presentation- copy- of "Kidnapped," with autograph inscription, found a purchaser at £51. An autograph poem, consisting of 32 lines to be engraved on a drinking tankard, sold for £31.

: In "Passion and Faith," Dorothea. Gerard follows the career of an emo-, tional and impulsive girl who, having deBerted heir husband and child for a. titled lover, 'becomes-converted to the Roman Catholic religion when residing in' Vienna. "Meanwhil'ei her "husband having ' obtained a divorce, the way is opened for a second marriage, but the laws of the Church forbid. And so love pulls one way, and faith another. Love triumphs ior[ a while, but "she is haunted with the fear of dying without the sacraments. of the Church, and passion and faith tear at her unhappy heart until a tragic death solves th« problem for which a less intense nature would have found a much easier and more human solution.. The novel appears in Stanley Paul's .Empire Library.

"Betty Grier," by J. Laing Waugh (W. and B- Chambers), outlines the characteristics, of one of those-warm-hearted; simple-minded, sterling -women in Sc6tland (and in- other lands too , ), who are still untouched by the spirit of" selfseeking that is permeating every class, William Kussell," a young Edinburgh lawyer stricken With spinal trouble, the" restdt of an accident, turns instinctively to his native village and his old nurse Betty for comfort. Here he comes in contact with a number of «humble people who are struggling honourably to db their duty in the walk of life where God has placed them. Nathan Hebron, Betty's husband, a gardener, whose monotonous round of toil has 'been manfully iborne iirom youth to age; Tom Jardine, the grocer, who has come back to straggle with, a load of debt bequeathed by his father, so that, the family name may go down untarnished —the joys arid sorrows of men like these are presentea itf a w»y -thaf eirlista the reader's interest. Incidentally a love episode rather inartietically obtrudes itself in this idyllic setting. ' -

published: biography of the Kaiser, in Norwegian, bears the title of William IL. A page from the moet recent history of Germany." The author is Mr- & C. Hammer, M.A. - (Christiania Umreißity), who recently at a wellknown West End dub, thue outlined bis. worki "I begin at his birth, and trace his childhood, youth, and student days at Bonn University. I have relied almost -wholly upon German sources, considering, it preferable to refute him with hk own weapons rather than with (French or English ones. I show him to Jiave been always a selfish child, upon whom, it was not easy to make an impression. That characteristic he has displayed throughout his life. His contem-poraries-were greatly impressed by his Biemarck, a step taken by him to.obtam power which he did not know how to. nee. I show how he has acted as a SoTereign nntiL the outbreak of the war. He said in one of his speeches: 'Leave it to Mc; I will manage if Hμ object was the same ac whtn he dismbaed the Chancellor. Hi, was alwaye a vacillating one. My last chapter » called The Problem of will laD l tt, v beeause throughout his reign he hae been regarded ac a yroblm a man of theories;, if you examine them carefully you will find that there U a°dUettan£» d them ~ he U

———— —~—g 'An interesting book on that Mrf -i the Balians where interest in now^ce* Bandit, by Albert Sonmchsen. -V, Sonnichsen went to Macedonia member of the Committee of Bctolb. tion and had a chance to see the'iß»l : ' kane at first hand and from, the iajJd« as very few Europeans have doneV Hi. knowledge of the language, the fe'elinn. and the point of view of the people, aid his adventures are extremely eifitinir. He covered the territory from Salon£ north and west along the ■ borders" ni : Greece. ■-?; °?

"Wars of the Olden Times—Abraham ' to Cromwell," by Alfred H. Miles, is ; » ; book that appeals to the martial spirit which now pervades the British Empire, In Abraham's day the world .'wagwide, and when conflict arose between hjaherdmen and those of Lot, the patriveh, lin the interests of peace, gave Lot Jut choice of territory. Naturally he;d»OM'"the fertile valley of the ' in the end proved an unprofitable idee- v tion. But Abraham's successors ■ iwie ; not so magnanimous. They coveted. th»O, rich possessions of their neighbours^Va' men of other races before and since tie days of Abraham have done, and so Wan: have arisen for possession of territory,' for the achievement of personal ambitions, for the satisfaction of blood lends, and the avenging of individual and national wrongs. Sir Miles give 3 tfctorjcal sketches of the most impbrUit wars in all parts of the world during tie period 'beginning with the battle of Kidim, B.C. 1913, and ending with the battle of Worcester, A.D. 1651, atWhicn the cause of the Stuarts was finally ibst Such a review neces3arily embraces the-" wars of the Hebrews, the wariof ancient v/ Greece and Rome, the wars of Alexander" v the Great, Hannibal, the Scipios, Jnlinj Caesar, Alfred the Great, the Crusaders, and the wars of England from the Norman Conquest to the end of the English Civil War, including descriptions.of the chief battles, connected by synopsea of intervening events. There have throngir these centuries been developed.many new methods of waging war, and niany adaptations of old methods to new «6nditions. These changes are illustrated. by pictures of ancient and modern vti- '■ pons and coats of mail, but it is ranatf':■ able how little advance there was ;ijonprimitive forms of armament during a period of more than 3000 years, natii i improvements in gunnery made the anI eient weapons of little value. When it comes, to fighting at clo3e quartere'tiie weapons of the early centuries' are almoet a3 effective in destroyingilife all J the war implements of to ; day. -Ajart';.. from its military interest, this well- s written book possesses , historical Tahis, affording a brief survey of the rise and fall of nations which' have embarked upon great military enterprises. Ihj publishers are Stanley Paul and Co. : : '