THE BOOKSHELF.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

NEWS AND REVIEWS. A PRESIDENT'S LIFE. VARIOUS NOVELS. Father Christmas is the static witness of the kindly world that we should all like the world to be.—Mr. A. G. Gardiner. I doubt whether it ia not better to be a coalminer than a popular reviewer.— Mr. Arnold Bennett. A too clerkly cast of liberal education would not liberate anew the soul of England, but might imprison it under varnish.—Sir Michael Sadler. "Miss / Barrett's Elopement," by C. Lenanton (Hodder and Stoughton), tells of a famous pair of lovers. The story of the Brownings is. one of the most exquisite love stories ever enacted, and Mrs. Lenanton has brought to life again the background of Victorian primness and propriety against which it was unfolded. It is indeed a charming old-world story, charming alike to those whose memories are of fifty years ago and to those young people who, with all their modern ideas, are still-in love with love. "What CheerT" is a collection of jokes and storeyettes for public speakers and the domestic fireside. It is by Ralph Frost, and'issued by Angus and Robertson. ■■ We quote a few. Under "Answers to Queries" in an evening paper there are these pieces of advice: " You ask how to deaden the noise of a parrot in a room next to yours. We reply, deaden the parrot." "How do you"treat sick bees?" —"With respect," was the reply. "Visitor, 'You think I should put more fir© into iny poem?' Editor, 'No, just the reverse."' "'You can always tell an Eton boy,' boasted one. 'Yes/ said his companion, 'but it's no use.'" "Fashion note, 'There will be little change in men's pockets this summer.'" Read right through at a sitting, a book like this is dull. It should be dipped into. For a man about to leave for a public dinner without having prepared a speech it should be useful. All good after-dinner speeches begin with anecdotes.