BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 251, 17 July 1920, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(Br linn.)

■'■Give e man >"a booh hetan reed; .'And hit home it bright with a calm delight ■, Though the roem bo poor indeed. ;'■;"■' '■'■■■■'■•'.■. -Jiuia Tdomscb.

BOOKS OF THE DAY "The Adventures of Dunsterforce." In "The Adventures, cf Dunsterforce'' (London,-. -EdwarU Arnold). -• MajorGeneral -L: C. Dunsterville, C.8., C.5.1., recounts-the-doings of> a small- British force which in 1916 was detached from the main British army in, Mesopotamia and allotted the important arid arduous task of "countering" the Turkish onrush in Transcaucasia,,, The:.first, objective, Tiflis,- was -not;reached,' but : the expedition succeeded in reaching . Baku, the famouß oil port on the Caspian, which Dunstervilld held'for'some"three months,:

being eventually compelled -to evacuate .' his force owing to the immensely'superior strength ,of. the Turks, and the . femptible cowardice of Ms,' Armenian .-auxiliaries; :It is a stirring'story which .the author tell, !and 'he tells it • with all the' vigour and all. the humour- : which might be expected of a British soldier, who, 60 it is an open secret; was the, original -of that adventurous, fun- ■ loving youth, Mr. "luplinjf's Stalky. ; It was the toughest' of tough jobs which • the expedition - had to tackle .when, in January, 1918,-the mission fas it--'was officially entitled) occupied.-" in; all 41 motor-cars, and set. out from' Western Persia on its 800-mile journey to Baku, , but "British pluck and ■ the innate resourcefulness of Stalky were", responsible ••'.' for some very, remarkable results'.. <.' " ' ■ The idea--withi-which'the, mission was ; dispatched- was- to stiffen up- Armenian and Russian resistance to th£ German-

led Turks. . Unfortunately the Russians were torn asunder by political quarrels, :and the Armenians, !with.tbeir trick of referring every projected movement to the decision of "committees," and their. incurable Tiabit of bolting- for cover directly there was any suspicion of. danger, ;were worse than: useless." v i Early, in August the gallant .little.band of British soldiers had managed to make, theii way through a disturbed and, mainly, an unsympathetic Persia, and reached. Enzeli, on the Caspian. There Dunster•ville found a steamer, called The Kruge'r, flying the Russian flag. This-vessel he promptly commandeered despite the ob-j lections of the inevitable Bolsheviia committee," '.which', was ■ eventually) •placated by the Russian, flag being allow-! ed'to float on the steamer,'although up' side down, under the Union Jack.: As «• matter of fact- the so-called Russian, flag turned out' to be the Serbian national flag. .'That pur author possesses Stalky's appreciation 'of o "humorous situation is shown by his reference to this particular incident:

A British General on the Caspian, the only sea unploughed before by. British 'keels, on board a ship named after a South, African Dutch President and whilom enemy, sailing from a Persian port, under tho Serbian, Bag, to relievo from tho Turks a body of .Armenians in a revolutionary Russian town. Let the reader pick his way through that delirious tangle, and envy us our task who will.

Baku once' safely reached, 'the- stato of affairs' in the oil tpwri was found to be positively' chaotic/' The • Russians, with their Bolshevik ideas, and.' the cowardlv .: Armenians,: made... sorry material out of which- to organise :any- ' thing like a strong defence against tho Turks. "Of the Armenians, General .Dunsterville says ". . .-they dug very little in the way" of. trenches.' ... 'Why should we dig ourselves in?- We do not want 'to dig; cowards' do that; we want.to fight.'" " A most laudable declaration this,'but one, alas, whi6h'was sadly-discounted by. tho behaviour of these, herpes .when it'.came-. to. actual -fighting,.for the author tells us.:—"They . l'ked to'.line up: in a; row iustbehind .'.the'edge of;, the steep "cliff":- (a .oerfectly "safe :plac'e),' "and bang off their rifles at. the. ■ sky." Stime of thes.e worthies regaided their arms as . their.-. o'wn' ; per- ■ sonal property and not the property of "the Aimy, .The' author'tells, how.-,one 'British officer found a machine-gun miss • ing, an awkward gap being thus.left in ■ the belt .of cross-fire. -It was explained ■ tn' him: that the .'gun belonged to X— —. He had- gone off to spend the day in Baku in social relaxation, and had taken the gun with him;

There is a strong suggestion of oomio opera. _ about the doings, of these 'Armenian braves, and our author, with- his keen sense of the humorous, notes and describes many-, comical incidents. It must have been however, a sick and sorry business for the keen British . officers .to try and stiffen up such a mob of incompetents and shirkers, and eventually, after,a gallant but hopeless fight had been put up against the Turks by a .thin British line, which included companies of the North Sta fiords, Royal Warwicks, and W6rce?< fight which is deservedly described in glowing forms of praise for tho men by bur "author—Baku had to.be •evacuated. Had not the}' Armenians .failed at tho critical juncture, and had the-British force beon stronger, the result might havo been very different. Fortunately, General Dunsterville . had looked weil ahead, and a naval force, wis waiting to take away the mission in . safety.. Otherwise • Baku would; ■ have proved a second Kut for the British.' General Dunsteryille's book teems with vigorous, descriptions of - dramatic' incidents, nnd is certainly one of the most readable of war books we have' yet had from a British officer. Having read this book, it is impossible not to com« to the conclusion that the British Gov eminent has acted very wisely in not accepting the Armenian mandate. The • unspeakable Turk" has' his faults, but if' the average Armenian bp in. real life as ho. is described. in General Dhnsterville s narrative,' then he is better left to shift for himself. • ,He ti certainly not worth the spilling of good British blood, iiio illustrations are-numerous h'nd most interesting

"The New Germany," Mr. George Young,, tho author of "The New Germany" (Constable and Co.; per Australasian Co., and Whitcombe and Tombs), is a well-known.Eng-lish journalist who has specialised in the study of Continental political questions. He served at tho front during the:war, but in January last year', resigned Lis commission and proceeded to Berlin as special correspondent of the London "Daily News. .His object, as. he informs ns in his preface, was-twofold: first, to find out "to what'.extent wo had won-the'war-rin the only way it coulij be won—by forcing the German "p'eoplo into revolution," and, second, to "find out what to bo ofmaking a more or less permanent" peace' —in the only way it could be ; made—by establishing the ■ 'forces of reform' in Germany " Mr. Young has written a _ thought-provoking book, but many-of his readers may consider that ho' allows, his own personal political bias to colour,, unduly, the judgments he passes on.political happenings in • Germany since the armistice, and upon tho'conduct of the Allies towards tho defeated foe. Ho gives many sharply etched/ if often'very ■unflattering character sketches of prominent German parliamentarians of to-day. Erzburger, for described as .rotund, rubicund, ebullient, and emollient," aa looking "liko Winston Churchill turned Papal Legate"; and the author has evidently ■• scant respect for the National ■ -Assembly, whose selection'- of quiet little Weimar, Goethe's, home, was,, ho says, as if a conquered "• England were "to plaoato a victorious Ameripa by transferring Parliament to the Shakespeare _ Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon." This is all very. smart and witty, no doubt, but when Mr. Ypung describes tho state of turmoil in : 'Berlin, which brought about "a self-inflicted punishment of bombardment and bombings," ; it .is soarcely surprising that Erzburger and Co. should have considered tho air of Weironr : muoh healthior for tho new: Government.

Tho author soems to constitute himself. An apologist for "the men who carried the German arms from conquest to conquest 'until the catastrophe'' wiis.' complete": "These Spartnns'and their ideals will be heard of again unless' Gormnnv is given a square deal and n fair field." From what has ocourr«d at the Spa Con-

jference it would 6eem that Mr. Lloyd | George and M. Millerand-to say nothin? of the yet more outspoken Fochhavo fully estimated the danger to the Allies unless "these Spartan/'' are disarmed.-, 'Mr.' Young dips 'his pen in characteristically "Daily-Newsian" gall' •( that poison gasbag" was Lloyd Georgo's description of that journal on. a cortain famous' occasion) when ho discusses tho Treaty of Versailles. "Tho Treaty," ho sayd, "has for a time Bobhevised Eastern Europe, Balkanised Central Europe and Botioniteyised Western Europe." The adjectives ."'smart" and "witty" again apply, but it is surely unfair to bflmo the -allies for insisting upon making peace with some Government which should be reasonably representative of the German people as a whole. Tho Soviet industrial rule. by which Mr. Young would apparently lain see the rule ■of the.Reichstag replaced, could not havo been brought into existence. According to Mr._ Young, "wo have missed the opportunity we had of making Germany a moral dependency, a natural' ally, looking at the world from our political point ofview, absorbing our ideas and associating itself with our. ideals" ' A very' pr»tty prospect indeed, .but one whic.k' in view of all-that happened since this book of Mr. 'Young's was written, what has happened at Spa' last week, is apt to make tho teader smile.

■Mr. Young would have the. Treaty' re-' vised, and what he calk "the material exploitation of Germany cease." But how about "the material exploitation" of France which was carried on so deliberately, 60 ruthlessly by the Huns during those four long years of occupation' of the industrial region of Northern France? Is that to be conveniently forgotten and magnanimously forgiven by the French, and is Great Britain basely to desert her, faithful ally when : the latter insists upon safeguards against future robbery and at the same German hands? Mr. Young's accounts of the Spdffaeus. revolt,-of the industrial troubles in 'Westphalia and elsewhere, and of other -happenings in New Germany, are most'interesting. He is a keen observer and he writes crisply and convincingly when he is describing the events ho witnessed. When, however, he attempts to analyse tho mottV'es of the Allies in decjding upon this, that or the.other course of action in Germany, when he labours so hard 'his general thesis that Parliamentary institutions have outlived their usefulness, both in Germany and England, and advocates government 'byi lWruetkal councils, he is far less convincing/ (N.Z price, lto. 6d.) .. ' ..>,- For Beekeepers.

Beekeepers will find much useful information in Henry Geary's littlo book, "The Beekeepers' Vade Medum" '(Stanley Paul and Co.). The, author emphasises the over-increasing value of apiculture in these days of limited nugar supplies, and explains his general object as having been the provision c-f thoroughly practical and reliable advice upon beekeeping on safe and sound lines.. Apiculture is, ho contends, admirably adapted as a-profitable pursuit for, women, v. ho, he says,.often make first-class apiaiists. "The pursuit calls for patience and care, as roughness is quite out of place with bees. Good systems are required expeditiously carried but,'but rush and bustle are inapplicable in an apiary." The book ■ deals in detail with every phase of beekeeping, and contains a largo number of illustrations, mainly of .apparatus employed in the industry. (New Zealand price, Bs. 6d.) ,

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK | Home papers of the first week in May record the death of- Lord Guthrie, a Scots law lord, who was greatly respected in Edinburgh. Lord Guthrie was greatly interested in tho life and works of Robert Louis Stevenson. ,A lew years ago he- purchased Swanston 'cottage, wiiere the Stevensons lived for some time, rind made it into a kind of Stevensou museum. Lord Guthrie was' the owner' of the Nerli portrait of the novelist which, painted at Samoa, -was brought to Wellington, by tho artist, and purchased by a Scots lady, who took it to- Edinburgh. It was offered, I believe, to the trustees'of the-Scottish National Portrait Gallery, but for some inconceivable .reason was reldsed. Later on it was purohased by Lord Guthrie, and now hangs in Swanston Cottago. Just before the war Lord Guthrie wrote and published an .interesting little booklet, entitled "Cummy," a tribute to the memory of Robert. Lonls Stevenson's nurse, Alison Ountfingham. It is a most interesting little book, but is now out of print, and difficult/to procure. Looking up my own copy, I find that Lord Guthrie records the fact that Stevenson's old nurse, 'whpmj he loved so well, and to'whom he wrote many interating letters from the South Seas, never liked the •Nerli portrait. Nor, for. that matter, aid Mrs.' Stevenson, wht> wrote to Lori Guthrie, saying: "It would have been.all right if Nerli had only been'content to paint ju6t- Louis, and had not insisted on representing instead the author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.'" On the other hand, persons whom "Liber" recently- met in Samoa, and.'who knew Stevenson intimately, declared that the likeness was a positively speaking one. John Drinkwater's play, "Abraham Lincoln," has had a great success in the United States, over 40,000 copies.having been sold up to April Inst. It is curious that what are acknowledged to be two of the best studies of "Old Abe"-ever written, Lord Charnwood'a "Lincoln," and Mr. Dririkwater'B play, aro the work of Englishmen. ■■Henri Barbusse, author of that remarkable war book, "Le Feu," is now the literary editor of a Parisian Social ist... paper, "Le Populaire," to which he is- contributing some very fine criticisms of latter-day French literature, .much in the style of Anatole France's famous us says which- were collected -under the title, "La Vie Littorairc." Barbusse's last-book "Clatte," has had an immense utile Id France. Last week I ailluded 'to the curious fact that, many English _ novels, when r<vpublisbcd-in America, are there issued under totally different titles. As a case in point I 'instanced the changing of tho hero's name from Peter . Jackson to Peter. Jamiesoh in the latest novel b/ Mr. Gilbert Frankau, "Peter Jackson, Cigar/Merchant." It now appears, from What I read in the "New York Times" Literary. Supplement that the change was decided upon by the American_publishers bocau'so they thought the bookbuying pubJio might think: the book was about Peter Jackson, the once famous, coloured pugilist. ,-G.K.C. on the divoroo problem:—

. The. obvious effect of frivolous divorce will bo' frivolous marriage, If people can be. separated for no reason' they will feol it all tho easier to be united for no reason. Thoro seems no particular reason why a man should not elaborately calculate that ho could stand a particular •lady-'s■ toinner for ton months; or reckon that no would have enjoyed and exhausted her roportoire of drawing-room songs in two years. The old joke about choosing the wifo to fit tlio furniture or tho fashions might quito logically return, not as an old joke, but as a now solemnity: indeed, it will be found that a new religion is generally the return of an old .juke. A, man ..might quite ■ consistently see a woman as Bultcd to the period of the hobblo skirt, and as los.s Bulled to tho threatened recurrences of \ao crinolino —"The Superstition of Divorce," by O. K. Ohestorton,

That clever yonng novelist and essayist, Mr. S. P. B. Mais, tripped badly tho_ other day when, in the courso of on article in a London weekly entitled "Why wo should read Lamb," ho stated that ••' Mary Lamb had killed "hor father;" As a matter of faot it w.as her mother who, in one of her periodical tits of insanity, poor Mary Lamb fatally stabbed..' She wounded W fathor at tho same timii but ho recovered. Apropos- to- )lr. Mais's slip, a correspondent of tho journal in which tho blunder *ent In the following ekvex • lines s—

• n h! Mr. S. P;B."Mais" Mary Lamb killed her "father," you say; You deserve to be shook as, Lot's eay, E. V. Lucas Would shako you-kcop out of his way.

Mr. E. V. Lucas is tho great latter-day authority on tho Lambs.

In a recent number of the- "Nineteenth Century" tho late clork in the House of Lords, Mr. • Alfred Harrison, gives some very interesting memories of his official lii'o. Alluding to tho well-known rule (a rulo followed in the New Zealand House of Representatives) that one member mu6t not refer to another by name, Mr. Harrison says' that the same rule used to obtain in the House of Lords and that there was great difficulty in following it. Ha quotes the following extract from a speech which displayed considerable in. genuity in the observance of the unwritten law to which he refers:

My. lords, it is unfortunate that the .noble viscount who spoke last but one before the House adjourned.list night is unavoidably prevented from being nere this, owning. In his absence I will endeavour to remove the false impression produced in the mind of the noble earl who has.just sat down by tho remarks which were, made by that noble viscount with refcronce to the speeoh mado on Tuesday evening by my noble relative sitting on the bench behind me. . . ,

It is curious to find the American novelist-Henry James (in one of hi 6 recently published letters) violently objecting to George Meredith's faults of style. As thus:

I have closod with a final furious' bang the urspea-kablo "Lord Ormont," wh/h I have been reading at the maximum rate of ton pages-ten insufferable and unprofitable pages-a day.. It .fills me with a critical.: rage, an artistic fury, utterly blighting in me tho indispensable principle of respect. I havo finished, at this rate, but the first volume—whereof I am moved to declare JJwt I doubt if .any eqUal quantity 6t ' extravagant verbiage, of airs and graces, of phrases and attitudes of obsourities and alembications, ever started less .their subject, evor. contributed. less of a sta,tement-told the reader less of what the reader wants to know. . >

To many readers of certain of James's own novels the above diatribe may recall the mote and the beam, for James him. self, on .occasion, could be almost-as i tangled in his word-spinning and as obscure in his meaning as could the author of 'Lord Ormont and his Arauunta."

' Lord Grey, of Palloden, better known under his former title, Sir Edward Gray, hw written a short bcok on "Recreation" which Constables-aro publishing. , Like so many other English public men, Lord urey is an enthusiastic angler. Also ho is a keen'bookman, in that respect resombling Mr. Arthur Balfour, who lias a specially fine private library. o St John G. D., Ervine, . the Irish novelist who gave us that grim but clever story, "Mrs. Martin's Man," and has since- achieved a certain fame ea a playwright, has written a new story with the enticing title, "The Foolish Lovers." Ervino is an Ulster man who served during the war in the Guards.

SOME RECENT FICTION "The Underworld.". Mr. Herbert Jenkins, th'o publisher of The Underworld,' the story of Sober!. Smolair, Miner," by Joseph C.. Welsh (Whitcombe and Tomb 3), is evidently no believer in the ■ theory" that. it is ini, possible to publish a first novel at a reasonable price and mako it pay. Welsh's novel was issued l in England at half a crown net (3s. Od. in New Zealand), and 20,000 copies of the first edition were printed. Evidently Mr. Jenkins's pluck has been rewarded, for recent English papora record that the first issue was promptly sold out. .Mr. Welsh's story describes tho life of the North'Coiintrj coal' miners. The author has himself worked in a mine since he was a wee laddie of twelve, until he attained the position of check weigher. Ostensibly do- , scribing the life, both in the pit and in his leisure hours,, of a working' coal miner; tho story deals indirectly with many important phases of the great coal problem, indeed/althoughits first scenes take place in the days of the great depression which succeeded the Glasgow Bank - failure, its later chapters bring the reader into touch with the coal question,as it existed just before tho • war, Robert Smillie and Keir Hardio (of both of whom the author—is a fervent admirer) figuring in the story. The hardships and perils of the miner's life are graphically depicted, and there is a pathetically ; beautiful love story. The novel has for its villain a drunken, lustful under-manager. Black Jock, who reminds me not a little of one <f the characters in Zola's great mining story "Germinal," with which, in niore ways than one, Mr. Welsh's story lias not a little in common. But whereas Zola wrote from second-hand knowledge, and his "documents" may bo suspect of overelaboration, this simply direct study of a British miner's life is given us by'ona who has himself wielded ilio pick and writes of his own personal experiences. "The Underworld" in in many vays a 1 very remarkable etory, one which stands right out of the nick of latter-day fiction dealing with industrial life.' "Sisters."

In "Sisters" (John Murray, per Whitcombo and Tombs) that clever American novelist, Kathleen Norris, tells the life story of two very charming Californian girls. The plot turns upon the initial mistake made by, Cherry Strickland, the ■youngest of the two giiis, in marrying in haste a dull and rather selfish young mining engineer. Later on, she discovers 6he loves a young neighbour, Peter Joyce, but by, this time .Petor ;has taken to himself as wife Cherry's eistor He. still loves Cherry, and' tho .two' indulge in a flirtation which ends with a plan of elopement, with divorce proceedings to follow. • Alix, however, discovers .the'truth and tho rest is tragedy. 'For Peter's wife heroically determines to remove the principal obstacle to her sister's happiness and-de-liberately drives her car over a steep embankment. Alix is killed and Cherry's husband crippled. The now repentant

woman determines to devote her life to her unworthy husband, of whoso marital infidelity sbo had had proof, and poor Peter Joyce goes forth to travel round the world a broken-hearted man. Tho pathetic and tragic note is predominant in the 6tory, but tho pictures of Californian liifo, especially tho country life, are very oharming. The characters of the two sisters a,nd tjeir cousiu Anne, who lives with thorn in their pretty home amongst tho pinowoods, aro carefully and cleverly drawn, but with the men. Miss Norris is much less successful. '

"Oscar Montague—Paranoic," Kegnrded as a story pure and simple, Dr. George Lincoln Walton's novel, '•Oscar Montague-Paranoic" (Lippincotts: per Whitconibe and Tombs), is a somewhat crude and unsatisfactory effort. The author, an American authority on nervous disoases, no doubt planned his story as a semi-medical study, and ag' 6iich it is not without a certain 'interest of its own. "A paranoic," explains Dr. Walton, Is a person, who is badly out of joint, with bis surroundings. Ho cannot find his place in the' band, but wants to'play-trombone on the drum. He can play trombone fluently, but not in "tune, 60 he thinks the others are making discords to annoy hira. If ho cannot right these wrongs by going to law, it is a toss up whether, ho shoots the bandmaster or the drummer." .The paranoic of the story is a decidedly unpleasant ,7 0W S man, who ends up as n criminal lunatic. His sister, a perfectly normal and quite delightful young lady, has- a trying time with her brother and her eccentric parents, but needless to say is duly made happy in the last chapter. The Amerij can novel-reading public has no "time 1 for an unhappy ending.

Shorter Notices. Amongst other notable additions to tho ever-growing bulk of reprints of novels of proved popularity are the following: "The Half-Hearted" by John Buchan (Hodder and Stoughton),- an early and powerful story by the author of 'Green mantle." The scene is laid first in tho Highlands, and later on the North-West Indian frontier; the hero being a gallant Highland gentleman whom Fate might, Have treated more kindly.: (N.Z. price 3s. Cd.) To the new edition of- Archibald MarBh'all's exeeMent stories of English countv socioty which Hodder and Stoughton nre publishing has been added "The Honour of tho Clintons, the third of the four novels in wluch Mr. Marshall describes the life-history of Squire Clinton, of Kencpte, and his delightful family. The Marshall ! novels aro having an immeriso sale.in America, and in this new and pleasantly-produced edition should find many new readers in this country. (N.Z. price Ss. 6d.) "Cappy Ricks," Peter B. Eynos most amusing story of seafaring ana shipBroking, with San Francisco as a background, should reach a new and wider public now that it is available in this ■ cheaper edition, issued by Hodder and Stoughton. The author of "The Valley of the Giants" never drew a more manly, likeable hero than the young 'downEaster," Matt Peasley, nor a., droller character than the eccentric old 'Frisco shipbroker, a compaot of worldly shrewdness and kindly, homely philosophy. -(N.Z. price Bs. 6d.) . . ''Miss Haroun Al Kaschid,-" by Jessie Douglas Kerruish (Hodder and Stoughton), made ft big hit when it won the first prize in a thousand-guinea novel competition,' and its reappearance in, cheaper form is very welcome. It is an exciting and wittily-told story, which describes a young Englishwoman s, adventures in Mesopotamia, the Mesopotamia, of course, of pre-war days. Tent-life in Kurdistan, and in the "land of the two great rivere" js-productive' of some very dramatic and romantio happenings, and tho story hns a most engaging entrain. (N.Z. price 3s. 6d.) ■ „ , (Review copies of all tha above, per Whitcombe and Tombs.) From Messrs. Stanley, Paul and Co. come reprints of four stories, each in its own way well deserving of notice by lovers of good fiction. "Dr. Phillips, by the late Flunk Danby (Mrs. Julia Frankan) made quite a ■ sensation when first published, now a good many years ago. It is a penetrating study of certain phases of Jewish life in London, and is written with all the spaykle and wit which its author displayed in "Baccarat," "Pigs In Clover," and other of her later novels. Dolf Wyllardo's "The Riding Master," and Ehoda Brouglitona "Concerning a Vow," are also old favourites which may bo remembered.. Both are'very readable stories of life in tie later Victorian days. Lovers of tho ultra-sentimental should find Cecil Adair's story, "Gabriel's GaTden," eminently tc their taste. All these reprints are well printed aria neatly bound, and their handy size renders them specially suitable for railway or steamer reading. (N.Z. price 2s. 6d. each.)