NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12129, 27 February 1905, Page 8

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

"His Young Importance," by Ralph Harold Bretherton. is a very clever and interesting psychological study of a schoolboy between the ages of ten and fifteen. It is proverbially difficult to look at things from a boy's point of view. Even parents sometimes feel that there is a great gulf between father or mother and the most affectionate son. Schoolmasters perhaps make worse mistakes than anybody else in trying to fathom the mystery. Authors with good memories, sometimes recall tlie moods and fancies of childhood, but the instances are rare in which they give us anything like a complete conspectus of a boy's outlook on !»*• will be said by critics that Mr Bretnerton's "Young Importance" is too mature in many respects—that the ideas which come with a man's experience have been "spatchcocked" into the essentially boyish reflections so vividly reproduced in'this book. No doubt it has its faults, but as a whole it is excellent. Itie opening scenes between the boy and his mother are wonderfully true to life. Ine moody sensitiveness with which so many schoolboys are afflicted, especially those who are overworked at school, is brought out in a very striking manner. The book is one which parents will nnd interesting, and it may help them tri understand better how best to deal with that most tender and precious thing a boy's mind and conscience. "Maxima debetur pueris reverentia is an adage which is rather apt to be lost sight of in the present day. (London: William Hcinemann, 65.) The "Garden of Allah" is decidedly the best thing that Mr Robert Hitchens has yet given us. The action is laid tor the most part in the desert of Sahara, and the author has excelled himself in his vivid and picturesque descriptions of scenery and people entirely new to most of us- Tho heroine, Domini Rens, is the daughter of an English peer, whose wife, a devout Roman Chthohc, eloped with a Hungarian musician when the girl was nineteen, and had just been presented at Court. The father, after this terrible experience, relapsed into agnosticism, but the daughter, whom Mr Hitchens makes out to be a very fine woman, of strong will, active and well-knit physically, remained faithful to the Church in which she had been brought up. When her father died she felt the need of change, and accompanied by her maid, went to Beni-Mora, an oasis in the desert of Sahara. Here she -met. an extraordinary Russian, named' Androvsky, whom she falls in love with and ultimately marries. He is perhaps the most striking character which Mr Hitchens has created, and it is round him and his "past" that the chief interest of the >book from the incident point of view is centred. The more thoughtful reader, however, as we have hinted, will appreciate it. for its fine descriptions of the desert and the desert life. (London : Methuen's Colonial. Library,. Christchurch: Whit-, combe and Tombs. 2s 6d.) There is no branch of scientific study more absorbing in interest than astronomy, and probably there is none regarding which so much ignoranoe and misconception prevail even among persons of average education. For this reason a useful little handbook which has just been published under the title of "Fireside Astronomy," by D. W. Homer, F.R. Met. Soc, M.8.A.A., is deserving of a wide circulation. It is a reprint of some articles which appeared in the "English Mechanic," arid, as the author explains, it is in no way intended as a test-book, but merely as an entertaining story of the various .branches of astronomy for the general reader. The explanations are given in very simple language, and can be easily understood by anyone of ordinary intelligence. We have no hesitation in saying that anyone who has mastered this little work will get an insight into the wonders of the heavens that will give him never-ending food for thought and admiration, especially if he takes the trouble to follow month by month tho interesting astronomical notes in "The Press," which indicate the most str—.ng celestial objects at the time when they are most favourably placed ~ior observation. (London; Wotherby and Co., 326 High Holborn, W.C. Is The "Daily Mail Year Book of Facts" has now reached its fifth year of issue, and the volume for 1905 shows a distinct improvement on its predecessors. It is in effect a combination of those two useful books of reference, " Whitaker's Almanac " and " Hazell," and the amount of information compressed into its 400 pages, or thereabouts, is really ♦marvellous. Several interesting special articles are contributed to the present i volume, among which we may mention " How We Stand," by Mr Frederick Greenwood; "The Inelasticity of the English," by Dr. Emil Reich; "Ideas which are Arriving," by Mr Harold Begbie; and "The Agricultural Outlook," by Professor James Long. The book throws some light on almost every .leading question of the day, and every newspaper reader would do well to invest in a copy. (London : The Amalgamated Press, Ltd. Is 6d net.) The " Daily Mail " proprietary, not content with the huge circulation of the London edition and of its offshoots throughout the British Isles, has now extended operations to the colonies with an " Overseas Edition." It is a remarkable example of newspaper enterprise, but .we are not sure that it has as yet correctly gauged the taste of colonial readers. It is printed on very thin paper, so as to come within the 2oz limit of weight, and covers an immense range of subjects. Wo fancy, however, that colonists would like it better, if it contented itself with, fewer branches and dealt with these a little more fully. The " snippety '* style* of newspaper is specially adapted fajr the railway traveller in England, but the colonist is able to pursue his reading a little more leisurely, and will find the maze of short paragraphs and black headings a little confusing, not to say irritating. Still, considering that it isa weekly paper sent post free for five shillings a year, including postage, it is a marvel of cheapness and journalistic enterprise. Mr Allen Upward is again to the fore, - this time with a sensational-looking

bearing the title "Treason!" in very large letters. He tells us how a Roman Catnolio Mary 111. was proclaimed (on the walls of St. James's Palace) Queen of Great Britain immediately on the death of Queen Victoria. Most people are aware that there is a small section of so-called "Legitimists" in England who still profess to believe in the Stewart succession and claim to have the "rightful heir" somewhere in readiness, but nobody has taken them at all seriously. Mr Upward tells us that he was consulted by ono of the movers in the "proclamation" referred to with a view to taking up his defence in case the police prosecuted him for treason. Two of his accomplices, according to the pamphlet, were frightened at what they had done in posting up the proclamation, and rushed off to Scotland Yard with a full confession in the hope of being admitted as King's evidence. The authorities, however, very wisely decided to treat the freak with contempt, and we fancy that Mr "Cpward's somewhat hysterical attempt to attach importance to the movement will fail to raise even a ripple on the surface of the placid indifference with which John Bull has hitherto treated the socalled movement. (London : The Tyndale Press, Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, 6d.) Two excellent sixpenny editions aro sent by Fountain Barber—Mr F. Anstey's inimitable story. "A Fallen Idol" (London: George Newnes, Ltd.) and "Lady Adela's Secret," by Mrs Henry Wood (London: MacLaren and Co.) "Knowledge" for January is fully up to the usually high standard of this popular science monthly. One'of the most interesting features is the first of what is apparently to he a series of articles on "Our Sun and 'Weather,'"' by William J. S. will be read with especial interest by all who have notioed the remarkable weather in New Zealand t his summer, and compared it with the prophecies made by Mr Clement Wragge, based on the sunspot theory.