SCISSORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 99, 29 April 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

SCISSORS.

(By Marie Best, 9, Hasbury Avenue, Mount EJden: age 15.) For those Budgetites who prefer Sidney Horler's murder-mystery "thrillers," or Ruby M. Ayres' romances, "Scissors" (by Cecil Roberts), is certainly not the book. But if you enjoy reading stories of the typical English schoolboy you will enjoy "Scissors." Yet "Scissors" is not merely a school story. It goes much further than that- We follow the hero through the varying stages of young manhood until we witness his glorious death in the: Great WarThe story deals with John Narcissus Dean, nicknamed "Scissors," and in him you have the ideal hero. His strength of character is manifested in his noble bearing and in the flash of his blue eyes. Scissors is by no means perfect, but hie very imperfections assume the rank of I positive virtues. He is headstrong hut n'ot wilful, proud but not arrogant,) ! accustomed to command yet obeying his i superiors without question. Add to tliis that ho is loving, tender-hearted and true, and you have Scissors. In "Scissors" we meet all kinds of men and women, from Mrs. Purdie, the landlady of the unpretentious boardinghouse, to the Right Honourable Ellertonj Ribble, M.P. Who can help but fall in love with Muriel, Vernley's fairy-like sister, or with Vernley himself, so steadfast and dependable? And then there is the faithful Ali, and Merritt of the "Daily Post," famed throughout j Fleet Street. All have their share in moulding John's youthful character. Not a little of the novel's charm lies in its vivid descriptions. The first and last books have as a background the mysterious East, with its wealth jf tradition and romance. The drums of Timur the Terrible weave a subtle spell upon us as upon their victims. In imagination we wander on the banks of the Yeshil Irmak, or wander in the courtyard of the deserted "khan," where the body of a naked boy, white as marble, lies beside the broken fountain In the last chapter we are not disappointed. The ending is sad, but who would desire it otherwise? The prophecy of the "saz" must be fulfilled. Scissors dies as he has lived, with the drone of the drums in his ears, and the faithful Ali by his side.