LITERARY COLUMN. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 102, 27 October 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

LITERARY COLUMN. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

Between ' Two Fires," by Harry Golding. Ward, Lock and Co., Melbourne. H. Bnillie and Co., Wellington. Mr. Golding has succeeded in producing a novel of the South African war which is far from seeming unreal in spite of its audacity. To outline* a plot of the capture of Cecil .Rhodes before the actual outbreak of war, and its frustration by an English girl, was bold enough ; bufc to make the same girl responsible, though unconsciously, for the disaster at Nicholson's Nek is th© author's crowning feat of daring. And 1 it is not too much to say that he hasr managed his plot convincingly. The novel deals with the events of the early part of the war, and traces the story of a young English girl who becomes involved in the military operations through her relationship to a Boer spy, and her affection for a British soldier. Fate seems to pursue her with a strange perversity, tutoring her acts of kindness into perils for her friends, &md making her, through her love for her sister and her sister's child, play the part of a traitor to her country. Needless to say, she wins through' in the end, and her little love romance is crowned with happi 1 ness. Tho war is_ perhaps too fresh in our minds to make such a story as acceptable as it would undoubtedly be later on, for we are too .sensible of real troubles to be patient with imaginary ones, or to feel pleasure in the weaving of romances with the grim horror of war ; bub it must be acknowledged that Mr. Golding has used his material well, and has given us an excellent and well-worked-out plot. "The Pianist's ABC Primer and Guide," by W. H. Webbe. Forsyth Bros., London and Manchester. Encouraged by the success which attended the publication of his "Jottings on Pianoforte Playing," the author, Mr. W. H. Webbe, of Auckland, hoo now produced in his "Primer and Guide" a larger and more portentious scheme for the use of pianoforte teachers and students. He styles it in his preface "a collection of Hints, Rudiments, Rules, Reminders, and References," and such it is, ,for the matter, though excellent in quality, i» somewhat disconnected in arrangement. Many important subjects, not always fully treated in elementary handbooks, receive considerable attention. Among others may be mentioned Touch and Tone-pro-duction, Motrical Accentuation^ Rhythm and Phrasing, Short accounts are given of Musical Forms, the construction of the pianoforte, and musical history. The book contains much tJhat cannot fail to be of deep interest and great use to all students and to many teachers.