LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2558, 4 September 1915, Page 12

LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

General lan Hamilton—Poet. Few people are awaro that Gpneral lan Hamilton, now' in command of the British Forces at the Dardanelles, is a. poet as well as a soldier, He has only published one book'of verse, and that as far back- as .1887. The volume is now out' of print, . and copies are hot easy to obtain. The verses it contains were v'riten for the most part in India, where- tlie : General, as a young man, served ns A.D.C. to Roberts. Some of iliem chronicle hunting experiences. Writing of a boar bunt, .tn<S author philosophises thus when the animal turnsV And doiibt.no.more distressed my mind; In twenty years J'd. never, find Eucli tropliy .to my lance, For ■turninjf'ho had'let me'see . '•• . His tusks gigantic—shame 'twould be • If I'had lost" the chance. I- An English critic, remarks that the above stanza will serve the General's present enterprise aaginst Turkey.'. "A tropliv fronts his, lance now; the tusks; of' the Dardanelles give him_ a. mighty Cliauce. Good luck' ,to him!" In '.'Child Lire" thero is a note of curious contrast - with .' that of the sporting verses: — ■ . In illy ■ glad cilMiood nought of this Perturbed my Paradise of bliss; In . summer (lays each liugerius second Counted, an hour as grown folk reckoned, .And, .stretching, vast,'.my afternoon Contained at least an; old 'man's June: One ..''butterfly wns fortune more , That ton 3 on tons of richest ore;. And my white rabbit, pinky4jred, /'■ ; Gave me the charms of empire wide. From a poem 'entitled "The Lusty Sun" I quote the following quite fascinating bit of word-painting:— ! The lusty " sun, . ' ; Rcilling his :i -jolly facß above those..hills •Whicb irame : vast space with saffron window-sills, '. JTSses pale, earth wiWi flame-moustachioed. 1 lip.; She, .blushing'crimson, hastily. does.:strip Her sleeping, weeds of black and barren . : gloom, ... :. ..■■■■ The freer.' to. absorb his fervid ray; .Until ,in fond return, her teeming womb Bears purple grapes, gold corn, and olives • • grey. , iV. It is to be hoped that the poet-Gen-eral may give us, after the war, some stirring verses, inspired by the gallantry of tlio Now .Zealand soldiers whom he is. so proud to command. The "Djiily Mall" and K. or K. Lord NortJhcliffe's crusade against K. or K. seems to liavo aroifsed a-storm of wrath against the. newspaper speculator who has done so much to degrade British journalism by, commercialism. Someone once wittily_ said of. the "Daily lMdil"that it was written by office boys for the servants' hall," but Lord Northcliffe has now; so many newspapers (forty of one sort or., another, so it is said), imder his thumb that his reflected influence over the minds of the sensation-loving- snobocracy of which liis clientele is so largely composed, is a. very serious'.matter.in these times of] war. Northcliife's ambitions and methods, were, it may .be noted, cleverly ■ and sca/tchin§ly satirised y by. Arnold Bennett in, his' ; amusing little, comedy, ."What the- Public Wants,'! but it is plain that in attacking Kitchener as lie has .done iin the "Daily Mail," the great oiewsjraper magnate went a littlo too far. ' For once, at least, he has given, thei public what it did not. want, namely, some cheap and unmerited abuse of a man in whom the nation trusts. The atack called forth many eloquent rejoinders, but I have specially enjoyed 'some witty verses whicli appeared in a little publication called "Books of To-day and the Books of- Tomorrow." I reproduce them as folowi THE (DAILY) MAILED FIST, (OR NORTHOLIFFE'S NOTIONS) < "lis my duty to the Nation i To , provide it with sensation, :And 1 keep up my, circulation. This I find can best ba done By,'attacking everyone, And everything beneath .the sun, " ' If Kitohener with shells is slow. ; Then Kitchener must simply 'go Whether 'he likes the thought or no. i l , He was no doubt my nominee At first, but surely you'll agree 3 To change his mild a man is free. i Lord Haldane I attack with zest, I s. But when I'm on another quest, r I 'sometimes give Lord H. a rest. - ; The sort of stuff that always sells r Is "Winston and the Dardanelles: b /'An Expert's View, by H. G. Wells." y M'Kenna's i/nlike other folk, I, At him it's merely fun I poke; e M'Kcniia. has become a; joke, o ; . i- Some day perhaps that dream of mine r May come to pass —a. bold headline i- Amounting: "Asquith Must Resign!" s . o P.S.—On second thoughts I'd like to r say i- In-reference to ,K. of K.," That after all ho'd better stay. But all the' same when I say "Go!" He'll have to; this applies-also To Fisher, FreivOi, and Jellicoe.