BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 298, 10 September 1921, Page 3

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(By

Liber.)

Give a man a pipe he can smoke. Give a man a book he can read And Kia home is bright with a calm delight \ Though the room be poor indeed. 1 — Jambs Thomson.

BOOKS 'OF THE DAY 'A Book for Golfers. Golf players will find in "Andra” Kirkaldy’s “Fifty Years of Golf: My Memories’' (T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd.), much that should interest and amuse them. Mr. Andrew, otherwise "Andra' 4 Kirfcildy, is the famous veteran professional of St. Andrews. ,■ Three times he has been runner-up for the open champioit■hip, and., he has beaten such famous players as James Braid, Abo Herd, and J. 11. Taylor. . ' In some prefatory verses, written by Mr. Hugh Bennett, secretary of St. Andrews University, "Andra" is eulogised as follows:

Andra sune cam’ to fame As a dab at the game: His swipe was. a swift daisy-cutter; But his best of a’ x Took your breath clean awa’— 'Twas the run up the green wi’ the putter; Rowing straight as a die. s At the rim it .would lie ; Just a tickle before disappearin'; Bune—"Plop"—it wad play And vanish away 1 In a burst o’ excitable cheerin'. / To Mr. Clyde Foster the veteran has pew given many interesting reminiscence* of the game as he has'played'it and Been it played, and of many’ famous golfers whom he has met on the worldfamous links of! St. Andrews. For in* stance, referring to Mr. Arthur Bal-, four, a fervent believer in the efficacy' of golf as a relief from the exacting '•train of political life, he gossips as follows:

A caddie who had beep out with »he •talesman said to hisjmates afterwards: "If I had his height and he had mv brains, we’d mak' a gran’ couple *n a foursome.” "Not very long ago,” says Andra. "I played a round at< St. Andrews with a gentleman from' North Berwick. He told me a story about Mr. Bhlfour, who plays e, lot on that course. .The gentlepian asked his caddie if he had carried clubs for any' famops meh "Lots o’ them,’ said the caddie. "After naming a fhw, he mentioned the name of Mr. BalWury and .said he had a very close acquaintanceship with that Statesman. The gentleman asked what he Bioant by a 'close acquaintanceship’ ‘Just this,’ spid tho caddie, pointing to his TegS. 'l’m wearing a pair of Mr, Balfour’s troosers.’”. , Amongst' other famous ( men whom "Andra” has met on the links are the Bishop of London and Field-Marshal Earl Haig. To the z former he is reported to have said, after the Bishop had made * good shot out of tho "You got out of,Hell very well, Bishop, When yo dee, mind and tak’ yer niblick wi’ ye.”

Earl'Haig he described as “the greatest man I. ever golfed wi.' ” On the links the famous soldier quite forgets his position and dignity—there’s nothing like sport to bring all classes together. Says "Andra": — "Playing the first hole, I put my second? •hot Into the Swilcaa Burn, where I had no business to pin it. I was a bit lame that day with tho rheumatism in my leg. “Seeing the ball in the burn, the FieldMarshal came over to me and said: 'Stop a minute, Andra, and I'll get it out for you.- You’re an old man, vou know.' 'Only twa year older than you, my lord,\ I said, and we both laughed. The Earl laXjH-flaW down oa the turf, and. leaning ‘over the bank of the burn, he fished cut my ball, without waiting for the caddies to do it>* ’ " ' - : Of the famous Scots litterateur, the late ' Andrew Lang, who loved to leave smoky London and get up to the bracing air qf tho “grey old city by the sea,” the author has much to say. Lang, used to say that golf should "make nien live longer and better lives.” "The great thing was to enjoy tho game, and not to go round the links in a -bad temper because you could not heat bogey. He said many, men so worried themselves that they were as much the worse of a "round of golf as they ought to have been the ■ better for it.”

There are several pages of caddy stories. Ij have space only fo&na description of “Trap-door” and “Hole in’s Pocket”: Two funny nicknames .were “Trap-door” I and- "Hole in ’s Pocket," "Trap-dpor”' pretended to have a short leg and a long one. Ho wore a boot with a deep sole i like a box, roomv enough to hold at least a dozen balls. There was a trap-door in the sole, and when a ball got among the whins or anywhere off the course, he would Work It through into his boot, and say ho -was very sorry he could not Und it. z "Hole in ’s Pocket” got his name because when the player he carried for lost his boll, he would drop one down hia trouser-leg and say, “Here it is; and no a »uoh a bad lie after all.” “That would only be when the caddies and players were betting on the mnten and "Hole in - s Pocket" had been promised perhaps a sovereign if his employer won. Otherwise thp. dropping of balls would have been too costly Besides being rich in good stories, tire book contains a vast amount of useful counsel to golfers. An excellent feature of the work is a long B series of illustrations, including portraits of famous pinyers, scenes on tho links and greens, etc.

“Twentieth Century French Writers." ’ There is no hetteV authority upon / French literature than Madame Duclaux, . who, first as Mary Robinson and later as Madame Darmesteter, has written many interesting books upon French subjects. ' In her latest book. “Twentieth Century French Writers’’(Wm. Collins, Sons, and Co., per 'Whitcombe and Tombs), Madame Duclaux gives her readers it brilliant analysis of.the French literary genius of the present' day. Of Pierre Loti, Paul Bourget, and Anatole France, all hqppily still living, but more properly belonging i to the period which produced Daudet, ■ , Zola, Be Maupassant, and Edmond Rostand, she has nothing to say. Her task . is to introduce English readers to such strictly moderns ns Maurice Barres, Itomain Rolland, Paul Claudel, Henri Barbusse, and Georges Duhamel, together with certain lady writers, Mesdamea Tinayre and Colette, Mdlle. Marie Leneru. The younger men of whom Madame D’>- . claux .writes aro, she reminds us, French equivalents to our Wells and Galsworthy. Hewlett and Granville Barker, Synge, Yeats, Masefield find Conrad. This useful and' excellent »oqk _m®y be warmly commended to- an desire to understand the point.pt view Tina -appreciate,the rare literary talflAF exhibited by many of those whom the French call les jeunos. Specially interesting are the essays ‘on poor Charles Peguy, whose "Capjers de la Quinanine’’ achieved such an enormous popularity in Trance, but whoso work is still comparatively unknown to the average English student of French literature. Madame Duclaux quotes a noble poem-by Peguy, who, by the way, died the death of a hero nt Nantouillet. It was written before Framp engaged in that awful combat for her Very existence, which opened in July, 1911. Not being published until early last year, it was, of course, unknown to ■ tho English poet, Rupert Brooke. Yet, curiously enough, there is a distinct affinity of thought and metaphor in tho Frenchman's verses and the noble lines of Brookes’s poem.' “The Soldier " Both Henri Barbusse, whose “Le I'Vil” has had such a vogue in its English translation, and Georges Duhamel, whose "Civilisation” and “New Book of Martyrs” have been published in English by Heinemanns, are ranked very high by Madame Duclaux. Both, according to the English, critic, preach “the religion of human suffering.” Tn both, says Madame Duclaux, "it wells from a deep and loving nature, full of spiritual richness, and vet totally devoid of mysticism or piety." Peguy and Psichari were on the contrary, ardent Catholics. All four, each in his own way, represent the

unquenchable fire of French patriotism. Madame Duclaux’s fine, book will, I hope, bo bought and studied by they many young Now Zealanders who arc to-day, so I rejoice to know, taking so keen an interest in French literature. "The Enjoyment of Music.” "The Enjdyment of Music,” by Arthur W. Pollitt (Methuen and Co.) should, bo as welcome to many readers as was Mr. Kaine Smith’s "Looking at Pictures.” It is just as important that a task for the good and beautiful In music should be engendered and encouraged tho capacitjf'of discerning and appreciating art at its soundest and best. Dr. Pollitt, who is lecturer in mu&io in the University of London, tells us that his work is "simply an attempt to present, in (Compact form, the fundamental facts of music which concern the ordinary listener, and for those who desire further study, possible lines of research.” In ah interesting chapter entitled "Music and Culture,” he pleads for a place for music in the university curriculum, and follows this Up by pleading for "the cultivation of a more catholic taste iu art.”.-The' people who dislike "new music” also, he says, dislike old music; in 'fact, thiir sympathies are generally confined to the small group of composers 4 hat flourished during the early part of the nineteenth century." , As to the value of tolerance and breadth of view with regard to music, Dr.- Pollitt quotes Edmonston Duncan as follows: —

The great things of the part are al-, ways within reach wWn wanted. Music has become more couacious of her powers. And although wo do not make the mistake of supposing that because the language is developing and changing, that therefore modirn masters tire greater than their predecessors, let it clearly be asserted that their work is worthy oi our. best/sympathies The ’ultra-modernists are unveiling a new vision before our eves. If all we see does not please us, that is only in conformity with life and experience. I.et us then travel in this new country, striving after the good, the true, and the beautiful. _ In successive chapters, Dr. Pollitt expounds what may be called the "art of listening," and'the relationship of mel•ody and harmony. He then describes the salient features of such musical forms as. the suite, the fugue, the rondo, the sonata, the symphony, and concludes with an examination of' the bratorio and of chamber music. A 'careful study of this unpretentious but most useful little work cannot fail to be of advantage in the .creation of a better understanding of mu?ic as an intellectual as well as an emotional pleasure. An interesting preface is contributed by Professor S. I. Campagnac, who, whilst rejoicing that music is now- being accorded a larger space in the programme of the English schools, warmly supports Div Polliit’s claim for its inclusion in the university cufriculum. , LIBER’S NOTE BOOK "Mackays.” A small host of local book-lovers will, I feel sure, join with "Liber” in’ regretting the coming disappearance of what has been, these forty odd years, a veritable landlnark for Wellington bookmen, the well-known bookshop of Messrs. S. and W. Mackay on Lambton Quay. It was always a shop where the bookman felt at home. "Browsing” was wisely encouraged, and "Libqr” bas spent more time than perhaps he cares to remember in ransacking Messrs. Mackays’ well* stocked shelves for some interesting addition to his own modest collection. Mr. ■ Samuel? Mackay’s death last year was greatly deplored by the customers of this well-known establishment, and nor,- the business is to be merged; into* that ojnnother firm, anti “Mackays,” as a separate ..entityTn the Wellington book trade,

will disappear. Mr. William Mackay, the surviving partner, has always been a very popular figure in the local bookselling world, as he has been, and I trust, long continue to be in tho world of chess. He knows and loves books as well as selling them, and his courtesy is unfailing. That ho may be spared for many years ip enjoy the rest fro pi business cares he has so well earned is a hope in which many of mJ readers will cordially join. \ The Late Austin Dobson. , Tho cables this week report the death of Austin Dobson, the veteran English poet and essayist. •,‘Dobson was for many years employed at the Board of Trade 'one of his fellow-officials being Mr Edmund Gosse. Tho life-long friendship between the two waiters has-been productive of more than one very interesting dedication. Dobson wrote, in his day, some very delightful poetry, of the verso de societe kind. His ‘ Old Mona Idylls,”‘"At the Sign of the Lyre, and "The Ballad of Beau Brocade will always hove their admiring readers, ■ the touch is so pleasantly light, the humour so good-natured and wholesome. It is, however, as an authority on eighteenth century literature that he mH be beet remembered. In the three volumes of his "Eighteenth Century Vignettes, m “Sidewalk Studies," and "At.- Pnor Park,” and other works, ho reconstructed the literary society and thought of liis favourite period as no otjjer writer has done. No one has given us such life-like portraits of Swift, Addison, 'Prior, Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, Gray. Fielding, and Smollett as has Dobson. He wrote right up to the end. His "Bookman’s Budget,” published during the war.’is a delightful collection of literary odds and ends; biography in little, scraps of verse, extracts from a long and intelligently-kept common-place book, and so on. I quote a portion of a poem which lie wrote as a preface to one of the "Vignettes” series. It exhibits at once Dobson’s literary methods and his command of graceful, telling lines

Not mine the wars of Bumrxrilcincl. • "The furious troops in battle joined , Not mine the march, the counter-march. Thf> t-rumnets, the triumphal aren. For detail, detail, most I care e qje superflu. si ncccssa-ire I); \ r cultivate a private bent For episode, for incident; ( I'.take a page of Some One His quarrel with his fripnrb Ins wife. His good or evil hap at Court. _ “His habit as he lived, h>s “PO't. The book’ he read, the trees he planted. The dinners that he ate-or wanted! < Ab much, in sfiort. r.strfno may hope To cover with a microscope. I don’t taboo a touch of scandal If Gray or Walpole hold the candle; Nor do I iiee a lofty tone Where faults are weaknesses alone.

To sum the matter then: My aim Ts modest. This is all I claim: To paint a, part end not the whole, Th© tVappiusja rather than the soul. The Evolution of the Time, ' 1 The silent F.orces fighting Crime, The Fetishes that fail, and P'P’’" The struggle betwedh Class and Clae’. The Wealth still adding land to lands. The Crown that falls, >the Faith that if 'stands. All this I leave to abler hands. Hall Caine’s New Novel. Supplies of Sir,William Hall Caine’s new story, "The Master of Man, are expected to arrive in Melbourne very soon, and copies should reach the New Zealand bookshops before the end of the month. The story has had nn extraordinary success as a serial in leading English and American magasines, and i« being translated into no fewer than twelve foreign languages. Tho firsfr English. edition consists of 100,000 copies. Thecentral subject of the story is the strong conflict between public duty or religioqs principle dhd private interest, a motif used by some of the foremost as in the cases of Sir . Walter Scott (The Heart of Midlothian”), Hawthprn ( 'The Scarlet Letter"), Lytton ("Paul Clifford ), Stevenson ("Weir of Hermiston ), Tolstov ("Resurrection”), and others. It will be interesting to see how Sir»Hall Came handles this theme.