LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 18

LITERARY.

Stands Ireland, that country of poets and patriots, where it did? An Irish f paper recently offered a prize of 50 ' guineas for a poem suitable for an Irish ( national anthem. Many sets of verses ( wore received and submitted to a committee composed of W. D. Yeats, the poet; Lennox Robinson, playwright, and ' James Stephens, author (says the Dub- ' lin correspondent of the "Christian ' .Science Monitor"). The judges in ' announcing that they found nothing ' worthy among the contributions, ' declared: "We read these poems, ' and all agreed that not one ' amongst them was worth a guinea ' or any part of it." They suggest ! that another attempt be made, advising ' the aspirants this time to Btudy the ' national songs of different countries. ' Most of the verses submitted in the con- I test, the judges say, were imitations ' of "God Save the King!" (The exclama- : tion mark is ours.) We have received too late for notice' > before Christmas, a large batch of books for boys and girls from the Religious Tract .Society. Lest the nature of these be misunderstood, we hasten to explain that the society is the publisher of the "lioy's Own Paper" and the "Girl's Own Paper," and most of these books are of thu kind that appear serially in these excellent publications. For boys there' are, "Under the Serpent's Fang," a tale of adventure in New Guinea, by J. Claverdon Wood; "The Riders from'the Sea." a tale of smuggling, by Ci. God- ■ frey Sellick; "The Treasure of Tre- ' gucida," by Argyll Saxby; "The Brigands' Prey." by A. M. Jackson; and for jrirls, "The Taming of Winifred," a Miool story, by Phyllis Mord; "The Right Kowena." by Edna Lake; "The House in the Strand," by Margaret S. Comrie; and "A Girl Guide Captain in India," by Janet Aldie. We say for girls and for boys, but our experience is that some of "the best girls revel in boys' stories. There is also, "Down the Araguaya," travels in the heart of. Brazil, "by Archie Hacintyre, a mission- ' ary, and there is our old friend "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which seems to be going strong sixty years after the question it so tragically discusses was settled for ever by war. This is a large edition, slightly abridged, and liberally illustrated. All these books are illustrated, in black and white or colour, or both,. and the wrappers alone should be sufficient to make a boy or girl persuade his parents in the desired direction. IONG MVEB OP SERVICE. We have before us two volumes of recollections by eminent men of long service, issued by Mr. John Murray. Sir Francis Fox's "Sixty-three Years of Engineering" (and scientific and social work) cavers the career of one of the foremost British engineers of his time. The profession runs in the family, for his father, Sir Charles Fox, was also an eminent engineer, and was associated with, among many other works, the building of the Crystal Palace, and Sir Francis' brother, Kir Douglas Fox, was distinguished in the same line. We get in this book light on many of the great engineering feats of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries — tube building in London, railway construction in various countries, tunnelling under mountains and the sea, and restoration of cathedrals. Sir Francis Fox was one of the international committee of engineers appointed to advise about the Simplon tunnel, and much interesting information is given about that wonderful work. Many readers, however, will be most interested in what Sir Francis has to Bay about the work of protecting some of the English cathedrals —including Winchester, Lincoln, and St. Paul's—from the corroding hand of Time and other i enemies. Sir Francis is perhaps best known as the saviour of Winchester, and ' the account of the operations there is especially interesting. Throughout we get a deep impression of men of excep-r tional uprightness and strength of character, whom it is good to know. Sir Francis Fox believes in the golden rule. | He tells how lie bought shares in tho | London Omnibus Co., so that he might j protest at a shareholders' meeting against the non-use of brakes, which caused much suffering to the horses on j hills, and the conditions imposed on the ' men. Year after year the men were I worked sixteen hours a day, Sundays and all. If they wished for a Sunday off they had to pay a substitute, and if they applied too frequently for this holiday they were dismissed. A thing like this does much to explain the | Labour Movement. This volume, which j is admirably illustrated, is of excep- | tional interest to anyone who follows I engineering.

In his "Memoirs" the late General Sir Heorge Greaves has a different story to tell. His was a long life packed with activity in soldiering arid sport. Born in IS3I in the Lake Country, the son ! of one of Wellington's Peninsula i officers, lie entered the army in 1849, j served in the Indian Mutiny, came to New Zealand for the Maori wars of the 'sixties, served as chief of staff under i Wolseley in Ashanti in 1873-74, was | Adjutant-General in India in 1879-84, went to Suakim in the Sudan troubles of the 'eighties, commanded the Bombay i army from IS9O to 1893, and livel until i 1922. We get glimpses (and more) here ! of some famous persons. As a child Sir | George knew Wordsworth, de Quineey,! and Harriet Martinoau. Later he met ' Dickens, who said to him, "You seem ■ to know more about my books than I j do!" There is much about Wolseley, | for whom Greaves had an unbounded i admiration. Earl Haig as a yoirng man j was on Greaves' staff, and the senior ; predicted a great future for him. The Field Marshal has returned the compliment by writing a preface to this volume. Greaves had an extraordinary zest for life. He indulged vigorously in i all kinds of sport, and was a keen, ' though not, we should say, a very intel- i lectual soldier. He tells us that he never felt either physically or mentally tired. There are two chapters on his New Zealand experiences, and very interesting they are. He surveyed the Wajkato River, was one of the first into the enemy's position at the Gate Pa, was present at Orakau. and played cricket near Wanganui with the enemy looking on, on a rough pitch that gave him a broken thumb. He was mixed up in Grey's quarrel with General Cameron, of whom he speaks in the highest terms, and he shared Cameron's pro-Maori sentiments about land. "My last word on New Zealand is that the Maoris, taking them all round, as enemies or friends, are as good a. lot of men as I have ever met before or since." This breezy, honest, sport-loving, untirable humorous English officer must have got on well with all native races. There is too much padding in the book, but the dull matter can easily be skipped. The picture of army life, in India ie interesting, j

Under the title "The Secret Corps," a fascinating account was published of British secret service during the war. Enough detail was given to make the Btory like a novel. "The German Secret Service," by Colonel W. Nicolai, Chief of the German Intelligence Department during the war (published by Stanley Paul), is important in one or two respects, but it is not such interesting reading as the English book. It is very full up to a point with German thoroughness. Colonel Nieolai describes the organisation of his intelligence department and the services of the enemies of Germany, but he does not give many of the examples that make it story 'like this interesting to the general reader. The most exciting story in the book is the talo, told by the translator, Jlr. George Kenwick, of the astounding treachery of Colonel Redl, of the Austrian Army. For treason on a large scale and for the sordid motive of money, Colom' Kedl's operations have perhaps never been equalled. What is most interesting about the rest of the book is the revelation of this distill - guislied German's mind. Tlio Allies are to blame for the war. and one reason why they won was that their intelligence system was better than Germany's not only during the war, but before it. Another reason, and this is really the main theme of his book, was that Germany had made no provision for political espionage and propaganda, and that this became a fatal weakness. Espionage, he says, was regarded as purely a military problem, whereas Germany's enemies realised even before the war that political propaganda, was an ! important weapon and used it with deadly effect. Colonel Nicolai puts forward the well-known explanation of his country's defeat, that it was the home front and not the army that collapsed, and he attributes that result largely to the non-military attacks of the Allies. He admits, with deep regret, that the Allies found it easier to spy in Germany than the German service did in enemy countries. The French he regards as the first of secret service organisers. His own service, he complains, was I restricted before the war by the parsimony of the Government, and he actually says that Germany was handicapped by the fact that whereas other countries enlisted as much of their general official service as they wished, to assist in espionage, German diplomats and other authorities did not help their ■ intelligence department. It would take ! many Colonel Nicolais to make one believe this, or the statement that Germany did not exploit the political situation in other countries. Colonel Nicolai shows the typical German inability to see the point of view of other countries. He attributes, for example, the tenacity of the English soldier to his realisation of Germany's political and economic competition! FICTION FOR YOUNG AND OID. Grace Richmond' 9 favourite hero, the red-headed doctor, again makes his appearance in a new story, "Redfields" (Methuen's), which is a continuation of his history. Outside America this surI geon would be a man avoided, for his manner and temperament are tliose more suited to the mate of a coaster than a doctor of medicine, in "Redfields" new characters are invented to form for him a fresh background, and as his heavy work has reduced him to an irritable neurasthenic he is less than ever a pleasant bedside adviser. In our opinion Grace Richmond wastes her undoubted talent upon this abnormal creation, and should, for the sake of the medical profession, select an example of more attractive personality, and less given to bounce and sham BClfdepreciation. She is equally unfortunate in her choice of the young journalist—the doctor's patient—but a journalist may be "peculiar" yet not lose his job, which the doctor would I have done at the outset of his nursebullying career. "Redfields" provider a i readable story, but only for those who seek amusement for an idle hour, and not information or realism.

The remark that Noah could not have fished many times as "he had only two worms" reads much more humorously when related in Scota dialect; but why "twa wairms'" should be more funny than "two worms" it is difficult to explain. However, there is no doubt that a novelist with knowledge and ability to use broad Scotch lias a considerable advantage both in humour and pathos over other writers. Amy McLaren, in the "Dominie's Hope" (John Murray), has given us a story in every way excellent. Her characters are not easily forgotten, and the quaintness of many of them 13 intensified by the (to English ears) unfamiliar turns of phrases and expressions "racy of the soil." We have mentally admitted the authoress to the companionship of Barrie, lan Maelaren, and Crockett, not one of whom but would agree witU 'C? when we say again of her work—excellent. In "The Master Criminal" (Bretano), Mr. J. J. Farjeon has produced a detective story with a. novel plot, and luany arresting and unexpected events. He lacks originality. in expression, however, and appears to have been too strongly influenced by earlier writers to avoid overworked and banal forms of speech. We have read of too many heroinea of "lithe and sinuous grace," too many villains who say ''Hist!" and conspirators who "hoot like au-'owl," also 3'oung ladies who emit "an elusive fragrance." Alliteration is sometimes welcome, but we are not sure about "pretty dresses dotting dusty streets," as a good example. We were glad to find that Mr. Farjeon'a villains way "Ah!" and not "Ha!" The careless casual customary killings are essential to the plot. Anyhow, here is a certainly lively story, with excitement upon every page, and conversations which are really germane to the story and ahvays' leading up to yet more excitement.

That fruitful source of romance, the French Revolution, has supplied us with another story in "The Bride of the Revolution" (Stanley Paul). The author. Thea St. John, has made good use of the dramatic background afforded by the earth-shaking events that marked the close of the 18th century. The book follows the fortunes of an aristocratic French family, which, like so many others, incurs the resentment of the common people. The Bride, socalled because she is scarred on the cheek by the kiss of a revolutionary bullet, has previously shown some sympathy towards the people, but nevertheless does not escape their anger, owing to her becoming involved in the affairs of her less democratic sister. This sister and the mother elude the tricolour forces and arrive safely in England. But the Bride is not so fortunate She i 3 taken prisoner and conveyed to Pari> where, after a short trial, she is delivered up to that executioner of the Revolution—the guillotine. The execution of the sentence, however, i-s frustrated, the Bride being rescued under circumstances smacking of "The.. Scarlet Pimpernel."