BOOKS ON THE TABLE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25276, 30 August 1947, Page 7

BOOKS ON THE TABLE

From Secret Siberia By EMIL LENGYEL Robert Hale Ltd. 285 pp.

From Vague Vacation By JOAN GRANT* Arthur Barker Ltd. 190 pp.

Words Ancient and Modern By ERNEST WEEKLEY John Murray. 214 pp.

From Cricket on the Green By R. S. YOUNG Hollis and Carter. 140 pp.

SOME OPEN PAGES The Northern Sea Route may also become invaluable for the Soviet’s own domestic trade. The Trans-Siberian Railway now takes care of traffic between the two continents. Not only is the capacity of that railway limb ted but it is also too far removed from important points in the North. With the increasing value of Soviet Polar regions, new means of transportation, closer than the railway line, are needed. The great sea route is at their front door; it is the fastest and most expeditious road between the northern points of the Soviet Union. . Finally, the Arctic can be turned into the best all-the-year-round natural base. It is beyond . the en .*;P}y s reach, while the enemy is within range. During the summer, hydroplanes based here can use their pontoons in the vast gulfs and deltas

of the great Siberian’ rivers. In the winter, the pontoons can be replaced by skis. In the Arctic Ocean, beyond the reach of the Gulf Stream, the pilot can always count upon the assistance of winter’s friendly ice flows. They are sometimes natural runways, since a single floe may measure 20 miles in length. The Arctic has become Russia’s facade toward the great world, as Admiral Makarov predicted years ago that it would be. The sea may not have liked the Russians, as the proverb says, but that was because the Russians did not know how to use it. Now the sea has been made to change its attitude towards the Soviets and 1 as enabled them to add a new world to our globe. « ♦ The outside of the Cheval Blanc was much like any other small French, hotel, but in the bar-room it was too dark to read the notices on the wall. The wooden tables were set with bread and a single knife and plate at each place. Only bread and beer, the thin beer which is now all that the poorer people can afford, were being sold. About a dozen workmen delved into black oilcloth bag® or paper parcels to extract small bits of sausage or meat, tomatoes or cheese, which they ate with the sour bread: a sorry lunch even by English standards, and misery for the French. The restaurant was more cheerful, and we started with cognac to keep out the cold. We had a dish of sliced tomatoes, two slices of. salami and cold ham, a plate of fried potatoes,, salad and cheese, and a carafe of vin ordinaire. The bill was 700 francs, of which four hundred were for food. This was the type of restaurant where, before the war, one could have had a far better meal for less than a twentieth of the price. For us it meant

about thirty shillings, but how much more did it mean to a workman who was probably earning three hundred francs a day? In 1938 I dined in a hut patronised chiefly by lorry-drfvers: chicken soup with chives, a mound of wild asparagus, half a chicken cooked in cream, Brie cheese, unlimited butter and white bread; with it half a bottle of good local wine, and coffee. The cost was fifteen francs, at that time worth about eighteen pence. * Wiseacre The workings of folk-etymology are mysterious. It is natural that a foreign and unfamiliar word should be twisted into something that looks native and intelligible. Our greatgrandfathers were more familiar with “sparrowgrass” than with “asparagus”: “ ‘Sparrowgrass’ is so general that ‘asparagus’ has an air of stiffness and pedantry” (Walker’s Pronouncing Dictionary, 1791). But why the “-acre” of “wiseacre”? I can ony conjecture that it may have been suggested by the frequent occurrence of this word in familiar surnames, such as Goodacre, Greenacre, etc., and especially Blackacre and Whitacre, once stock names for fictitious litigants. “W’iseacre” came to us from obsolete Dutch “wijs-seggher,” as though “wise sayer”. ... The Dutch word is borrowed from German “weissager,” from. “Weissagen,” to prophesy. .. . ’ Ger. “weissager” is in sense equivalent to “wahrsager,” truth-sayer. The corresponding English word is “sootn-sayer,” from Anglo-Sax. “Soth,” true, which survives also in the archaic “forsooth.” Hence also the verb to “soothe,” which we now associate with

both literal and figurative syrup. Its earlier sense was to calm irritation by acquiescence, to interject the emollient “yea, forsooth,” which preceded the contemporary “Just so,” “Quite right,” etc. Falstaff describes Master Dombledow the draper as a “whoreson Achitophel, a rascally yea-forsooth knave” (2 Henry IV, 1,2). This is sometimes explained by commentators as characterising the draper’s vulgar phraseology, but there is no evidence that either “yea” or “forsooth” ever bore the stamp of vulgarity. As a picture of the obsequious tradesman, washing his hands wit invisible soap and assenting to all his patron’s remarks, it is as effective as Mr Chucks’s impressionist sketch of a waiter: “A damned trencher-scraping, napkin-carrying, shilling-seeking, up-an-down-stairs son of a bitch.” The association with Achitophel confirms this view, for the latter was pre-eminently one of thoso who, accordin; to Lyly’s Euphues, “soothe young youths in all their sayings, uphold them in all their doings.’ * * I often think that bowlers are a hardier race than batsmen; they are better-tempered when their appeals for l.b.w. are not upheld than many batsmen are when the reverse occurs. As they grow old and lose their pace and accuracy, they still continue to play, content with lesser triumphs; whereas some batsmen despair as the years roll on and their grow dim. They resign and take to golf or (save us) bowls. This is a dreadful descent, almost a betrayal. One way of avoiding such an anti-climax is to cultivate while still young an all-round, active interest in the game. To field, to bowl, to bat: and, if need be. to score and to umpire. Many a man who started

purely as a batsman and who also fielded well developed into a useful bowler by dint of practice. Then his interest in the jjame never flagged, for if he failed with the bat he still had a chance with the ball, and always he could distinguish himself in the field. Perhaps he reversed 'the process by starting as a bowler: then as the years crept on his in-swingers gradually changed to medium-paced, and around 50 he altered his style to that of a slow bowler, full of subtlety, so that he could, if necessary, bowl as long at 60 as he did at 20. using less muscle but more brain! And whereas at 20 he went in last, he steadily developed as a batsman until as a veteran he opened the innings, being one of the steadiest batsmen on his side. Praise God for Wilfred Rhodes.

NOTES

Mr Lengyel’s first-hand knowledge of Siberia was gained when he was sent there in 1916 as a Hungarian prisoner of war. He expected to find it climatically unendurable but survived to write this enthusiastic report. He has been back, since, but does npt appear to have collected much material that cannot be found elsewhere. For that reason, though his summary chapters on the strategic and" industrial development of Siberia have their value as summaries,'the reader is likely to enjoy most Mr Lengyel’s treatment of the history of the vast area; from ancient times to those of the Tsars, the revolution, and the counterrevolutionary wars. There are terrible stories here, some of them already forgotten, others, probably, quite new to many. There are some excellent illustrations. Mrs Grant’s account of her post-war holiday with her husband, in France, includes many references to happier adventures in eating and drinking than that at the Cheval Blanc, and these are not the least pleasant of the light and elegant furnishings of the book. Charles, something of a scholar and philosopher and more of a wit, contributes much; the author’s ear and eye for the oddities and dramatic quality of their personal encounters account for most of the rest. The jacket and end-paper designs are gracefully in keeping with the character of a book of graceful trifles. Professor Weekley’s new book is based on selections from* his earlier one, of the same title, and from its sequel, “More Words ancient and Modern”; but all the selections have been revised- “sometimes pruned . . . sometimes slightly elaborated,” and some articles have been taken in from the press and learned journals. The first section deals largely with words, the history of which exhibits interesting shifts of meaning and, as it might be called, social status. The second deals with etymologies previously unexplained or, in the author’s opinion, explained wrongly. He is the most charmingly readable of philologers. Mr Young’s book on cricket—“for club and village cricketers and for boys”—is a very good, sound textbook on the elements of the game (and of the way to play it and enjoy it), but not at all like a textbook in manner. The description of a village game, with running comments, ana the discussion afterwards are very well done. Mr Webster Murray’s illustrations are happy; and the great C. B. Fry contributes a cordial prologue and a most profitable, advisory, epilogue.