BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3112, 16 June 1917, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

BOOKS OF THE DAY AN ADMIRAL'S WIFE I.N THE MAKING. All tvho enjoyed t.liat inlrrcetinK and certainly most, amusing book, "fircdllpotions of an Admiral's Wifo," publiaherl lush year, will velcomo a. second insla.l- - of Lady Pooro'a oijtertajnlng roiniscenoes, now to hand, in. her new book, "An Admiral's Wifo in the Making, 1860-1903" (London: Smith, Elder and Co.}. .In her first book Lady Pooro told of her experiences, is Australia, and elsewhere, us en admiral's irifo. She now gives us a- gracefully n-ritteD and most readable account of hm- giTlhoorl in Ireland—her father tras Dean Gmves, of Dublin, afterwards Bishop of Limerick, and her brother, Jtr. Alfred Grarce, is ( irall known as the a.uthor of "Father O'iTynn"—and then ta.kes us with, her through many varied ecenee in Ireland, England, .Italy, France, and Egypt, until, as a. captain's -wife,.she went k> Bermuda and Jamaica. Her pictures of Dublin in the eirties are sometimee very amusing:. On the day her father, was consecrated Bishop of Limerick, his close friend. Dr. Butoher, was oonseorated Bishop of Meath. The wife, the author tells we, made merry ovor the names Butcher and Graves, saying thai "tbe Crown had given the Protestants of Ireland a Butcher in Meath to kill them end Graves in. Limerick to bury them/" One of the Butcher rona married a daughter of Archbishop Trench. Lady Poore tells us of a humorous'but some■wKat disconcerting experience whioh befell that well-known poet and philologist when, as a new and inexperienced curate, he was officiating before a. small week-day congregation of almswomen. The worde "Her sons shall grow up aa the young planfa n.nd her daughters ag the polished oofnera of the temple," fell to young Trench's 6bare in. the Psalms. Half-way through the sentence a fervent "The Lord forbid" shocked aad startled him. The_ ejaculation had proceeded from aa ancient lady named Mrs. Plant, whose sons, without exception, had turned very badly! In another of Lady Poore's Dublin, stories the,name of an ex-New Zealand Governor crops ap in a humorous connection, Saya the author:— "In old days the majority of the sruosts at a castle ball ireTß of gentle birth and breeding, but in later regimes the door ■was opened to eo heterogeneous a crowd that many representativea of noble and ancient families absented themselves from the vice-regal solemnities and festivities. At any period, however, there were wonderful toilettes to be seon, and aniasing brogues and unconventional manners to be noted at a St. Patrick's ball. An. over-zealous mother has been 'known to run round the ballroom after a daughter all unskilled in the dance, crying, 'Sphriag to the captain, M'ria; shprin? now, I tell yo"; and on another occasion the mother of n protty ingenue replied to an A.D.C. who besought her daughter's hand ia 'tho waltz, "lndade, thin, she cann't bo daunoing now at all. ■ Amn*t I keepin* hor cool for the Errol of Eanfurrly." . Lady Pooro has a good deal to say about tho Land League, so. mischievously active in, tho eighties. Relative to the sad straits to which somo of the Irish, gentry—who depended for their livelihood on. rente—woro reduced, sho tells of a peculiarly pathetic incident at Limerick. Mrs. , far more trulyIrish by birth and heritage than many of her persecutors, was vory eld and nearly blind, and wae starving in, a wretched garret in Boherbui, a most unsavoury district of Limerick, when her name was sent to my cousin. Without loss of time, Helen went to call upon her, only to find sho had died of want that very day. Her faithful old servant had just received a letter from a daughter in. America, enclosing her a money order for two pounds. She told hor beloved mistress of the windfall, hurried out to buy food and firing, and roturnod to. find that the shock of bo unexpected a reprieve had killed the old lady she would bayo died to save." Admiral, then Lieutenant, Poore served, undor Kitchener in the Soudan, being in command of one of tho Nile steamers. Somo of the young officer's letters, here printed, are exceptionally interesting. After the relief of Khartoum, Lieutenant, now Commander, Pooro Tvna gazetted to H.M.S. Active, and long-postponed marriage took place. Tho young husband wcat off to the West Indies with his 6hip after a brief. honeymoon, and later on was appointed to the Eoyal yacht, the Victoria and Albert, his wife living at Cowes. In 1890, after > period of half-pay, Captain Pooro was appointed to H.M.S. Apollo, on th.o West Indian station. His wife, called upon to choose between remain, ing with her little eon. in. England or joining her husband at Bermuda, consulted an experienced friend, who delivered herself of tho following matrimonial precept:—Other, women may take ;\a good caro as, sometimes better care than, one can. oneself of ono'e children, but no woman wants another to take caro of hor hnsband for her, and this ia what "sometimes" happens when a man •is long separated from his wire Lady Pooro tells us that sho had no genuine misgivings on this head, but nevertheless she. could see tho wisdom of hor friend's reasoning. At Bermuda, and, Inter on, in Jamaica—whence sho mado a trip to Canada—eho qppcare to luivo enjoyed bcrseiJr immensely, lior strong niitural sense of humour enabling her lo overlook Uio wwontricitict) oi' "coloured ludtcs" who acted aa her cook, laundress, and housemaid, and concerning whom sho tolls some curious stories.

X.;tdy Poore's always livoly and interesting narrative is punctuated by amusing anecdotes, and notables of all dotTeos, from tho kto Qucou Victoria and tlio Jvaiecriu down to Kipling, make appearanuo in lier pleasant chapters. Sho seems to have inherited wit and humour from both licr parents, and her mother-in-law was evidently a lady of considerable dullness and presence ot mind. 'Lady Pooro tells lion - this lady attended a. bull under tho wing of Lady jUlsa, wliose crinolini<, as sho was leaving-, Khpped down on Ibo doorstop before the assembled footmen. Tier companion, following- her, snatched tho hoops from the ground, hid then; under her loiigoloak, and slopped swiftly into her carriage. "Thank you, my deur, that was nobly done," said tho chanerou. . It, wcmlil bo «Bsy, as assuredly it. is most tempting, 10 no on quoting from La'Hy Toorc's cnlertainiDg Uudgnt of Hneodotcs and interesting recollections of travel. But spam forbids. 1 wflvmly commend Hit* book U> tho nUenlion of my readers. (N.7i. price %■). "False Wilncss." To (he now alreit'ly lonp lisl of bookr<, by neulr.il writers which establish the utter falsity of (lie Gorman claim that the Allir? mp In hbinic for (ho war unci that Germany ha? courluctP'l tho «trucgle in accordance with intornot.iona] law and the rules of oivilipod .warfare, must now be added a volumo entitled "Falso Witness" (Hodder and Slonehton, per Whikombn and Tombe). Thin iti an au(horiseii English translation of .lohfl-nnes ,Forgpns:on'e mucii-diecufced book. 'Klokke. Roland.' The author its a, distinguished Banish literary man, who before tlie war wan. well acquainted with both nermann and Belgium. His book Is one of the best-reasoned, rao.M. eloquent, ano most damning indictmnntfi nf (ho rrimn Germany han committed against. Christianity, civilisation, and common humanity thai; has yet; Been print. Tho title of the book, in. its English version, is derived from thn notorious declaration solemnly draitn up anrl stened by ninety-three leading German philosophers, [scientists, theologians, and literary men, and cent forth broadcast under the title, "An AppeaT to the Civilised World: It. is Not True!" Professor Jorgenson examinee, one by one, the six separata defences or denialn set forth in this pamphlet, and eubjecta them to searching and criticism, quoting copiously from official records to mow how fihamelessly tne

(By Liber.) Give a men n pipe he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read; And his home is bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. —James Thomson.

Run, when on his defence, can misrepresent well-known facts, invent utterly falso charges and indulge in. downright, mendacity, ail after the bow notorious German precedents. Tho author' inslauces a largo number of cbscs of studied find positively rnvolt.ing cruelty to priests and nuns of which Gtrm&n officers and soldiers have been guilty, and argues that with a very largo proportion of Germans this is looked upon as a war against tho Roman. Catholics. Ho quoles from the many statements mado by that dovotod Belgian, Cardinal Mercier, also from Dutch and other neutral ncooimls, «t tho fiendish atrocities of the Huns at Malinee and elsewhere .Many of tho worst crimes committed by the Germane were officially excused on the ground that thn Bclfjian pneots actively co-operated in tho fighting, acted as spies, and bo forth. Professor Jorgenson examines in detail several, instances of aliened troachory by Frenoh and Belgian priests, and proves them to flia-ve been pure fabrications. The book is dedicated to "His Eminence tho Archbishop of. Malinee, Primate of a Martyred Land." The reforencee to Cardinal Mercier'e heroic defiance of his country's foes aro many and most interesting. (Price is. fid.) "A Surgeon in Khaki." Many ■ New Zealanders will welcome a new and. cheaper edition of tho late X>r. A, A. Martin's memorable book "A Surgeon in Khaki," which has now been published by Mr. Edwoid Arnold (N.Z. price 33. 6d.) Save that somo of the illustrations in the first and more costly edition have been omitted, the now and c.heacer edition, is practically tho same as its predecessor. This excellent work, in which so many interesting picture) are given of the fighting- in France and Slanders in the early stages of the war. should now reach a now and much wider circle of readers.