LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 309, 30 December 1922, Page 20

LITERARY.

"Racing and Sporting Rhymes.' bv| "Akarana,' W.W.R., is the title given to an entertaining volume of verses by a well-known contributor to the Auckland Press in days gone by. and more recently a writer for sporting newspapers in England. It includes some spirited descriptions of races on Ellcr-slie and Takapuna . courses, and of classic races at Flemington. Lovers of sport will find in its pages a good deal to interest and amuse them. As a sample of the author's quality, we may quote his description of the finish of the" Melbourne Cup, 1884: "The rinnger's beat:'" "Commotion wins!" As 01-l Vag's son drops back. "Commotion wins!" "Cuuimotlon wins'." His colours white and black. But wait, what's this that from the ruck. With crimson sash so bright. Comes like a meteor o'er the sky On clear and starry night. "Malua comes!'' "Malua comes!" Commotion catches fast. . His quarters reached. Ills girths, his head, Malua struggles past. The two top weights then fight it out. As side by side they run: Blair Athol's grandson wfns n length l'"rom Panic's game old son. "The Straight Tip" amusingly satirises a well-known type of racing tout: I know a cove who's nil about. And you bet this is no fable. He's bound to rome ami give to mc A straight tip from the stable. Whene'er the Auckland c"up comes round. He always says he's able To plrk a certain winner out — With a straight tip from the stable.. The sequel it need not be added, does not justify this knowing tipster's claim to inside information. The publishers are Perkins and Co., Wellingborough, England. We have received from the Lord Mayor of Sydney an appeal,for subscriptions to the memorial to Henry Lawson, the famous Australian author. The executive for the memorial has decided on a statue, and, if funds permit, to found a Lawson scholarship at Sydney University. Tho Lord Mayor of Sydney will receive subscriptions. | "The Greenway Heathens," by R. A. 11. Goodyear (Xisbet), is a public school story by an author who has already won popularity in this branch of fiction. It records the activities of Greenway Heath, a public school dating back to the days of. Henry VIII. There are rivalries between aspirants to the captaincy of .the-, cricket - team, rebellion against authoritative decisions, sensational victories! in »port and plenty of incident of the' kind that is dear to a boy's heart. Tile Hundred Days which ended in Xapoleon's downfall at Waterloo is the period chosen by D. K. Broster for bis novel "The Wounded Name," but it does not deal directly with the Emperor's last struggle for a throne. In the course of military operations in Brittany the Viccnite de la Rocheterie, a yoamg commander, attempting to lesid the Imperialist army into an ambuscade, forwards their commander -reliable in-' formation regarding the movements oi his own troops. The plot miscarries, and La Rocheterie is accused of treachery and condemned to death by his own men, but is only wounded by the firing party. His thrilling adven-, tures in effecting his escape and subsequent attempts to clear his tarnished reputation, make a romantic story. "The Pit-prop Syndicate," by Treeman Wills Crofts (Collins, per Whitcombe and Tombs), is an'irigenious detective story by the author of "The Poneon Case." The mystery of the Teal business of the 83'ndieate, whose operations involved investigations in England and France,.-utterly baffled the clever younjf "amateurs" who tried to solve It, and it took all the experience and perseverance of the "professionals" to break up the dangerous and murderous gang. "The Cross Cut," by Courtnev Ryley Cooper (Collins), is "the story" of the' perils, the trials, and final victory over treacherous enemies of Robert Fairchild and Harry Harking, the one a plucky young American, the other a splendid type of Cornish miner. Bob has to vindicate his father's name and make his fortune, and the key to both lies in.the Blue Poppy Mine in Colorado. Incidentally, Bob Fairchild brings back from Colorado not only a very large wad of dollars, but a very charming bride. "Tyler of Barnet,' by Bernard Gilbert (Collins), is a long, powerful novel of life in the English countryside. It shows the dilemma of a middle-aged man, with an invalid wife and grown-up children, who falls passionately in .love for the first time. As he is a man of iron selfcontrol, he represses his passion till it bursts all bounds, with a tragic result. "Domenico," by H. M. Anderson, is a Collins' first novel. This is the story of a cardinal of Rome, a member of one of the great noble families, who is regarded as the strongest candidate for the Papacy. But in his youth something had happened which had thrown a shadow over his life. The pictures of Rome and Roman society are* vivid, and the great scenes which mark the decisive moments in Domcnico's life are told with the colour and force they demand. Tbe legends, songs, and- folk lore of the Maori race have been recorded with great care and understanding by a number of scholars, but less attention has been given to the traditions and mythology of the Australian black. The'wild nomadic life of these aboriginal tribes, and'the* low place in the scale of mankind which they occupied, no doubt rendered research into this branch of ethnology unattractive. Some valuable work* however, has been done in later years, and the. information derived fropia sympathetic study of the ways and customs of the Australian aborigines has improved our opinion of them. j Among the workers in this field is Mrs. Mary Grant Bruce, who has published in popular form a number of their legends. The latest volume on this sub- | ject is entitled "The Stone Axe of Burkamukk," and it comprises thirteen short stories. In a foreword the author \ says.: "Year by year the old black tribes aro dying out. and many of tliejr. legends and beliefs are dying with them, I These legends deal with the world as the blacks knew it: with the bush ani- j mals and birds; the powers of the I storm, flood, fire, thunder, and magic, and the beings who they thought con- I trolled these powers; with the sun. moon and stars- nnd with the life am; death of men aa'il w mien. . . . We ! arc apt to look on tic blacks as utter barbarians, but. as we read their own old stories we see that they were boys and girls, men anel women, not so uplik'e us in many ways, and that thej could admire what we admire in each other and condemn what we condemn." iThe publishers are W r ard, Lock and Co.

■Four "plays of gods and men," by Lord Dunsany, have been published in booklets by " Putnam. They are entitled "The Laughter of Gods and Men," "The Queen's Enemies," "The Tents of Ithe Arafoc," and "A Night at an Inn."' Professor Albert Einstein has given a further elucidation of his theory in a new book, entitled "The (Meaning ot Relativity," published by Methuen. This book is based on four lectures delivered at Princeton, in America. The lectures were addressed to University professors and students, who possessed a knowledge of mathematics, and are therefore not adapted for the general reader who is entirely unfamiliar with the science of physics. Tlie translation has been made by Professor Adams, of Princeton University. A curious fable, told with considerable literary skill and charm, by David Garnctt, has been published -by Chatto and Windus, under the title "Lady Into Fox." It describes as an actual occurrence the sudden changing of Mrs. Tebrick; a -married woman, into a fox. Of course, such, a transformation had varied consequences, and these are described with considerable humour. The illustrations, by Mrs. Garnett, enhance the attractions of the story. 'The Orthodox Devil," the first paper in a series by Mark Guy Pearce. now collected in book form and published by Herbert Jenkins, dwells upon the fanatical wrongs which have been perpetrated in the name of orthodox religion, and shows that what men regard as orthodoxy has changed from age to age. The author mentions that the Jesuit historian Mariana states that, in 1481, fully two thousand were burnt in the Archbishopric of Seville and the Bishopric of Cadiz. In the Puritan colonies of North AmeTica, the settlers who had left England in order to secure religious freedom, persecuted Quakers, and pronounced sentence of death on a minister of Salem who declared that persecution was contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ. A Calvinistic minister said he would erut the throat of every Methodist, and John Wesley declared that Whitfield's religion made Gexi worse than the devil. By and by, these terribly orthodox people found they were quite wrong, and so beliefs of to-day are discarded by the generation which follows. In this paper and seventeen other essays, Mr. -Pearce discusses religious topics in a pleasant and practical strain. "The Complete Auction Bridge Player," by Florence Irwin (Putuani) has attained a popularity calling for a nt-w edition, in which Miss Irwin discusses the points of the game with the knowledge of an adept and the enthusiasm of a bridge lover. She explains the differences between English and American laws, and, although an American writer, holds that the English rules are best. Various leads and forms of play are illustrated 'by anecdotes based upon the author's experience as a player. Diagrams assist in making her points clear, and her brightness of . style-justifies the remaTk of Mr. A. E. M. Foster, in the "Daily Mail," that "iMfs's Florence Irwin is quite the liveliest and moot entertaining writer on auction bridge 1 have come across." THE GREAT SECRET. Maurice Maeterlinck in this book sets forth tho results of his investigations into the nature and origin of primitive religion and the ecclesiastical structures that have been built up in later times. The author concludes that the foundation of all religious beliefs may be traced Ito ancient India. Thence, in all probability, the sacred teaching spreael into Egypt, found its way to ancient Persia • and Chaldea, permeated the Hebrew , race, and crept into Greece and the North of Europe, finally reaching China i and even America, where the Aztec civilisation was merely a more or less distorted reproduction of the Egyptian civilisation. Everything seems to show i that writing was unknown in India • before the fifth century, 8.C., and that the 1028 hymns of the Rig-Veda, the i most ancient religious work, must have '. been preserved by the effort of memory I alone. There are abundant evidences i ;of civilisation and religious thought I many thousands of years before that date; Egyptian exploration has revealed pottery 18,000 years old and inscriptions 8000 years old. Investigation into the essentials of all ancient religions reveals their agreement in all essential points, indicating a common origin; and the back we go the purer and simpler becomes, religious doctrine and the | morality founded upon it. "For the Egyptian who has preserved the faith of the earliest days there is only one sole God. ... It is more than five thousand j years since men first sang in the Valley jof the Nile the hymn to the unity of I God and the immortality of the soul." I Mr. Maeterlinck proceeds to show that researches into the occult lead invariably jto fraud and illusion. When Colonel Younghusband invaded Tibet there were predictions of the terrible vengeance that would fall upon him. The great Lama possessed secret powers which would annihilate his army. Yet the handful of Sikhs and Gurkhas, of which | his force was chiefly composed, stormeel I mountain passes which could easily have been heM by any well-organised body of troops. Nevertheless the dalai-lama's soldiery, filled with fanatical valour by the mantras of their priests, but armed I with match-locks and inferior native artillery, were easily routed. "At length the British force drew near to Lhasa, and for five days the distracted abbots of the <?re!>t monasteries solemnly cursed tho invaders, set thousands of prayin? —heels turning, and resorted to tlv supreme incantations: all to no avail. Youmrhusband made his entry: the . dalai-lama. the thirteenth incarnation of divinity, the Buddhist pope, the spiritual . father of six hundred million souls, had ! shamefully taken flight and made good ! his escape." Exploration of the convents ' and sanctuaries, swarming with ao.non monks, revealed nothing but puerile, superstitions, mechanical praying wheels and deplorable witchcraft. I The author concludes his inquiry with J the verdict that "there has never been '• any ultra-human revelation, any direct I and irrecusable message from divinity, j no ineffable secret, and that all man ■ believes himself to know of Gt>d, of His origin and His ends, he had drawn from bis own nowers of reason. . . The Great I Secret, the only secret, is that all-tinners j are secret. Let "us at len *; learn, in the | school of our mysterious ancestors, to ij,o!-p -".-.w.incp. as they dM. for «hn „.,'., f..-.,'.-„ an d to search only for - h"t i--. iVr-.' f'et tho certnintv th nl' things am Cod that nil thintrs exist in Himl »n<l should end in happiness, anel that the only elivinity which we can hong to understand is to be found in the depths of our own souls." The publishers are Methuen and Co.