BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 233, 26 June 1920, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

ith# IGreat War, 1914-1918!" ■ Bievet-ColonelJ.'s. C. Fuller] D.5.0., the-author of "Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918" (John Murray; per ,Whitcom l bo end Tombs), occupied'the'position, of General .Stalf Officer of .the British. Tank ..Corps from December,' 1916, to August, 1918. and i? therefore to be . accepted its an .exceptionally qualified authority on the.part playedby the tanks.. 1 He gives 6 detailed and most interesting account of the genesis. of the. tank. l and of tlw difficulties encountered at the War Off fico and elsewhere by the little band of /;• entbu3iastß_,who : first advocated the employment of so novel an> engine of war, • and describes at length the various steps in advance achieved in the .construction and 6tratdgic nse of.-the strange, new /Weapon. ■ Colonel ■ Fuller predicts that ;the '-tank has come to stay, and 1 avows bis firm/belief thatfrom "its clumsy en- • deavonrs iij the Groat War will arise .-a comparatively new direction in- the art of warfare itself." He holds that success' in tlie great wttrs'of the future will i,remain with the nations which put mecbanical mSans of. warfare to'the most, general and scientific use. Before the warJie was/. he tells us, 1 "a believer in conscription and in the Nation-in-Arms." ."1 was an' 1870 .soldier." . His sojourn in -i the'.Tank^ Corps hasi he say.?, these ideas." "To-day," ; he declares, "I. am ,a believeriinrwar, mebhanics; that is.; in an army which requires- few men and. powerful machines." In 1 his' final chapter. "A Forecast of What.Tanks May Do," hey foreshadows the .main factor in i-fjtinj#! warfare as. the '/replacing;bf;inanv jpwqr.i.by: machine-power.",' 'The war 'willnftdqubt be a : promiiifiht fignfe. but his worst deviltries can bo' met and _ surmounted by the 'devices of the -soldier-mechanicA

..: Is-man going to be controlled ""by - gas, .. human-destinies to be limited by "a ~ whiff of phonogene"? . "Certainly not,' ;i answers the soldier, mechanic. "It is true ..the-future ' may • produce* many: unknown eases which, asking, as they remain.un :Jincwn to tho.rpposinff side;'are unliltelj y 'to bo, rendered innocuous by means of 't •/respirator. I, however, will scrap thi ■ respirator and.place my m'en in gas-prool •,tanks, and,whenever iny indicator denote* impure.Bir,- the crews' will batten 'down their .'hatches, their- engines will run, oil ; accumulators, aid: they -'.themselves: 'wil: live on'oiygen or.compressed.air. I:wil . apply to iand warfare ritval luethods un dreamt-of before, I will produce a lane machine' which"-will," so '.to'.spea'-, sub "merge' itßelf-when the gas cloud an .T'roaohefl : |ust as a- submarine 'submerge! , '-in the: sea- when-a.destroyer'draws', near ''Colonel Puller pleads,:ill the final pas • -'Gages.of :a. book, which/has,it'is! underrstood. : created, 'widespread discussion .'ii v ...not-: . 0n1y... British butV-.-Cohtirieritn: v and /American- -military/circles, i .for the greater utilisation of brainpower and •.'. mechanical'; invention' by those charged ■with the greats and grai-e duty' of na- . -.tional: defence,' In- the chapters " de- ".-' \;vpted to,, the ..early history'of the-'tanli .' -A 9 '.Pays, tribute <.io\ the.' foresight "and courage of..Mr. Winston .Churchill; ;'-iii ,whoih. the tanks had, from.the 'first,"an ardent believer and warm, supporter. He . explains the failure of the tanks' ''ai .Ypresi by the. fact that they weref'scl a the first might'and ought to have been seen was impossible of /accomplishment. ;. Thd> ; part, -played by the. tanks.in various engagements is 6et, forth/in, detail,: much new and iriosf .-interesting Mforniation-.as-.to.itheir. share ..-.'..in-certain:bf the British-successes being here given'for the first.time/ 'The voi- ■■; , .pp.includes illustrations'" of\':,van<>us - , 'P.nks,'), < Vhd juan-y :'.iiite,res'tuig : >. diagrams/,.- --.Colonel.toller's .book should find a pla^in'every library, public-or private, which includes the most au-thoritative-works'on' the Great War "■.ana--latter-day warfare-generally/''- ' ■ i:l ■'■ - . ■- - - «■■■■' -. -, -. .-■■ < •'-■■;..■ "THe New, Teaching ■'Series. 11 ■■' ;",{;': '-'', '■'■■- j An, .interesting hew series of text-books S rW P- üblis ned by Messrs. Hodder - and. Stoughton, who 'forward;'-' through - ■ iM es A- iWliitcombo.Vand' Tombs, copies ,Of the first.three issues.: : The general title is "The New Teaching Series of Practical .'Text-Books,'f ; the:object of the '~editors,being to-"build up; : tho -new / /humanism;, on .the "basis of ,the student's /immediate economic interest" and.-• -en- ' .T-Tiroiunent."";. In" "Mathematics Of Bu.si- ■■*&> ■£^PS™ m ' i ?< :i> "': h r P::;K Cocks ■' ? n? ;• il G1 °V er . important '.feature ■ is that the instruction given in ■'boot .-keeping:.is. implicit,:, the manipulation , ; of, figures being always .applied to actual bookkeeping problems as weir'-ag: being '.of .the most practical: and serviceable character. ..The requirements ' of the - average student "in the .commercial ■; sec-:':tipn-.of,the English:.contrAiiaiiOii schools ';WT».. peen-,constantly, kept-iii'vieV. "'ln ;:the;preface toJiis.'^veiyday-:-Mathe-matics, Mr. Frank- -Sandon -remarks that_ when. 'shrikes :take place on '-a .-■ ...Question, of, .percentages.,'advertisement •' "' lit i -itif U ™i n blue .books i a fhew, talkof co-efficients, of increase i like; in siich t'mes a- trained -.1 mind-capable of criticising every -figure ..piiblished-whethervby K-sponsible' offioial or irresponsible .private personsis a necessity to every citizen/', Mr.'Snndon has brought his instruction down to the comprehension of ..the ordinary ...person by . illustrating./ the. solutions -*,-•■ "?¥ : problems - by' -examples \ drawn from everyday life. - For instance, • V>i» -8; the heading- "Interest and Allied v .-Problems, the examples deal "with post - office savings bank deposits, withdrawals', .: with interest-given at credit Bfores, with increment of'salary and-an- ....--. « nuities. - Mr. Sandori assumes h6' special or advanced knowledge of mathematics, Me problems and their solution only involving,the -four, rules of arithmetic the .common, tables'of weights and measures, - Eno - the. elementary* manipulations" <rof fractions, but it is astonishing how wide' .even with such limitation;•'• is the scope , of. has practical use. of .simple mathematics. This/particular l volume of the series could ■ be. very. t rofitably used "by / , ypung working men' unci; .others' having BO -knowledge of advanced mathomatics. ■ In the third volume of the series, "En»hsV Literature, Its Art and Craft," Mr. ...E. Downs, M.A;, aims at providing sound . foundations.;of a;power to enjoy and ap- ; preciate good literature.";'An - ; interesting --■ chapter m thtit entitled "The Technique • of the. Short Story." -Among other more or less famous examplo9. of .the short '■/ 'story Mr. Downs tnalvses: and shows the merits and defects of Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," Scott's "The Two Drovers" and Stevenson's: "The Merry ' Men"; the -exercises including a detailed »tudy of 0. Henry's "Eoads of Destiny," A brief but excellent-bibliography of each subject is a. very useful, feature.- Later volumes of a series Tvhich hae made such .-an excellent.start will deal,witli'"The Geography.of Commerce and Industry," .''An ; Introduction - to - World -History," 'Modern Industrial History,"- •"Pure Mathematics.'for the Engineer," "Citizenship," "Applied Botany," etc. Members of the Workers' Educational Association and students of technical'colleges ; ihould find the "New Teaching Series" very useful. . Fireside Poetry. Before her lamented late Miss' Bethom-Edwards' who lived so long in France, and who knew the , French people as it is, given. to few' English writers to knoV them, prepared for publication a. collection of metrical translations of simple French balladaand songs from the sixteenth, century down ' to present-day times.- The book has now .been published under the title "French ■ Fireside Poetry" (Allen and TJnwin), and can be warmly "commended to «H who share the lata Miss Betham-Edwards'B cnthusiastio admiration for-the simple, virtues of th'e French people, more particularly the peasant class, and the lural , dwellers. in Franca generally. "The i f.nslator. properly dwells upon .what is a very praiseworthy point with regard-to French domestio poetry, namely, "its robust morality, its' healthy acceptance of life as it is, rather than as it might bo made," in which "it affords a striking contrast to the morbidity and pessimism of tfie classical scho*/'/ What Miss

Betham-Bdwards.has.to.say in her Introduction upon the prominent place given in. tho French popular school curriculum to the recitation of simple and wholesome, yet very graceful, verse deserves the attention of our educational authorities. .. Many of the poems carry with them a'fine savour of tho soi 1 .. TJiev eulogise the homely virtues, , nppWd true patriotism and inculcate, not in any .priggish : or- doctrinaire fashion, but simply and directly, a fine spirit of nllroupd ohnrity nnd sound morality. Amongst the authors represented in the col'-ections are JFlorian, Pierre Dupont (whose noble pastoral poehi "Les Boaufs" should be read by all who seek acquaintance with the best in French poetry), Alfred de Musset.;Victor Hugo, Gusta've Nadaul, Albert Delpit, Andre Theuriqt, [Paul- Deroulede, and other well-known writers. Of the more modern..patriotic ballads, Paul - Deroulede's pathetically beautiful "Le Bon' Gite" ("The Soldiers' Welcome" is the .title of the English version) seems specially to c. n H for quoi ration. A tired, weary poilu—"piou-piou" was the' favoured term in Deroulede's time—is received with specially hearty hospitality'by a good rustic dame:' ■ / .."Good dame, nils' not your loirs so bleh, Keep.them for winter store. . .' Mv rain-soaked carmenta now ere dry, ' ; I quake with cold no more.":. She shook her lead, and for my sake The bellows hard she plied.' "Hush, soldier, .hush, and comfort take," She 6aid K - "my hearth beside." ■ /.. • "Good dame, what means that new.-made < bed, Those sheets bo finely spun? • ■.■'■•.' Why, on the straw in yonder shed-" I'd snore-till rise'of sun." ■■■■■■■■ The kind soul hearkened not a word, Careful the pillows laid,' Smoothed,'the uoft Bheetß. well lavendered: "Best,' soldier, rest," she said.;■ At dawn I find my haversack.- % Full laden at.my feet... - "Good dame, your largesse- take back: Why thus' a, stranger treat? . ... But smiling, ever mum she kept,',. TJntU I turned'to go. '• .' ■ '■».--' "Why, soldier, why?" sho said, and went-, "My'boy'B a soldier, too." ' I regret that, ■'"the inelasticity of the newspaper column precludes more liberal quotation from a modest little volume whicb includes many beautiful poems, and from which .English readers may, -gain a.very good idea of some at least of the forces which were factors in the 6plendid stand made by' Franc* against her. invaders. ""'■■ : ' . •", . "' -.'*--.: '"-•. r * '