LITERARY COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 132, 4 June 1904, Page 11

LITERARY COLUMN.

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. "Btclla Frege'.ius : A Talc of Three Destinies." By 11. Rider Haggard. London: Longmans nnd Co. Those who know the author of this book only by such popular romances as "King Solomon's Mines" and "Sho" will find that ho cun on occasion otriko a deeper note. We doubt whether in any of the previous twonty-iive books or so that ho has given to the world he ha* embodied more of his own innor thoughts and conclusions. Whether "Stella Frogelius" will attain anything like the voguo of his earlier work remains to bo secn — it is to bo hoped that it may ; but it ia not always when a writer gives of his host that ho finds most appreciation. Tho story is ouo with a purpose Tho author is impelled to deliver a message, ho chooses tho familiar medium of a story, and ho brings to lib task all his old equipment — tho power that can order tho sequence of events and shape the destinies of his characters, bkill in nature-painting, tho art of devising and dopioliug dramatic »ittiatioivs, and tho lore of the far North in which ho is so well vowed. From the opening chapter to tho tragic close tho purpose steadily unfolds — tho author's message is brought inexorably homo with over-increasing f mcc — the warning, ne\er moro urgently neoded than in our own day, of tho danger of striving to hold unlawful commerce with tho spirits of tho departed. Morris Monk, tho hero, a young inventor, who lives on the Devonshire, const, is a dreamer of dreams — dreams which, however, ore sometimes of a practical kind, for after years of toil and experiment he has almost perfected an "aerophone," or wirolcws telephone. (The story, by the way, was drafted when the idea of suoh an instrument was much less familiar than it is now.) Ho becomes engaged to his cousin Mary, a practical young lady of opposito temperament, who is deeply attached to him, but whoso womanly insight anticipate.^ evil from his "stnr-gazing." "Look out," eho says, "that you do not find whatever it is you seek. It's a horrible mistake to be so spiritual — at least in that kind of way." Tho illncsw oi her father take* Mary "to the Continent, and soon after a coasting hteamer strikos a reef in a midwinter fog five or six miles from the Devonshire coast. Tho foreign seamen cecape to land, bringing with them a clergyman, injured and unconscious, who is convoyed to Monk's dwelling. From tho invalid's wandering words Morris infers that his daughter Stella has been left behind. Ho puts off before dawn in ,% little bout,- steers to tho rocks, and | hears a woman singing a woird melody. D.iwn comes, tho fog lifts, and he sees the broken ship on the reef and Stella on deck. Supposing death to be at hand, she lias boon ginping a song traditional in her family, which. all the womenfolk have learned in infancy. Morris rescues her just beforo the wreck *!ips off tho rocks into deep water. Stella is very beautiful, very musical, and as mystical oa her i-escuer, and as her father am not be removed for &ome weeks sho takes up her quarters in the mansion of tho Monlw. Mary, with feminine insight, has already suggested an important improvement in his invention ; and Stella supplies the ono remaining" deficiency. She and Morris converse through the apparatus — ho in his workshop at tho miui»ion, she with the twin instrument in a ruined 'abbey on the sea-cliff."*. Soon tho ''elective affinities" begin to operate. The experimenters talk of tho possibility of communicating with the dead. Stella says she. once succeeded in perceiving the 'spirit of her departed twin sister, nnd, content with tho assuronco of immortality, mode no further attempt to pierce tho veil. With a belief in the invisible stronger than that of Morris, she warns him, even as Mary has done, against too

curious research. "If I die, search, and you shall see. No ; do not se'ivch — wait." 'J hoy agree to part linally, so far as the pret-enl life is eoucined, but outer into a btrau^o compact of unton which is to be valid for tho life, beyond. That night — a niuht of tempest — Morns bears her voito tailing throiign" th<> inMiumi'nt. She. is in the old tower on tho coast two miles away, ami tho soa is washing it away. The '•cone h finely realised when hho' bid-, him again finewell. Then he hoata otiec moro the notes of tho old Noiso drtith-Hong of triumph — Ming for tho la^t time, for she ia the last of her race — and then silence, as singer and instrument ulike aie swallowed by tho waves. , Morris and bis cousin are married, lie hides nothing from her ; but she does not realise till long afterwards how painfully her early misgivings are to be icalibed. With all the pleasant things that life can give — wealth, homo love, and little ones of his own — ho i« more and moro consumed by a morbid longing to communicate with tho departed, and in his saner moments is tortured with self-oondomnation. Ho seeks the society of Fregelius, who talks incessantly of Stella, and who ono doy gives him her diaries, which ho reads in secret till he has learned thorn by heart. At last Stella appears, but gives no sigu of re--cognition, and the vision tantalises him almost beyond endurance, yet ho seeks to lepcat the experience. Ilis wife, only half-suspecting the cause, sees him failing physically and mentally. The unwholesome repugnance to things material which the old ascotica counted for holiness possesses him. "In tho scent of the sweetest, ro&o at times Morris would discover something frightful, even tho guise of tender childhood ceased to bo lovely in his eyes, for now ho could see and feel the budding human bruto beneath. Worso still, his beautiful companion, Mary, fair and gracious as sho wus, becamo almost 'repulsive to him, so that he shrank from her." Tito author forbears to enter into details towards the close. One day tho anxious wife, seeking Morris, surprises him in an impassioned appeal to Stella, and, attracted by her cry of anguish, ho sees &ido hy sido tho two Women — tho elusive phantom, nnd Mary, tho mother of his children. "Whether in truth and spirit, or perchance in visions jonly," tho departed appear, the author docs not prett-nd to decide, and his book will havo equal interest, though different in kind, to tho sceptic and to the b?livcr in tho "occult," for he writes w ilh knowledge. 'If his latest story should have tho effect of warning tho unthinking from the fascinu-lini! but perilous conliucs of tho "Borderland," it will do good service. It is a book of unquestionable power and high merit. "John of Gerisau." By John Oxenhnm. London : George Bell and Sons. The historical novel as a tulo runs on tracks as well travelled us tho.se of tho groat ouean-routes, while va:-t regions Ho still untravcrsed by a keel. Mr. Oxenham has shown that Kuropean- hiotory of forty years ago mny # be made us attractive a* basis of a story as the incidents of any other period, and he has dealt ably and luminously with the epoch-mak ing events in Germany,, resulting in the reconstruction of ono grout Empire and the breaking of the of another. Tho hero is one bearing 'tho' name and titles of His Serene Highness John Ludwig Christian Ernest Victor, Hereditary Prince of Saxc-Alteii-Gimsberß-Gci'sssm, the only son of tho reigning Grand Duke and next in the succewion. John is v fine character from evory point of view, nnd the story tells of his ambitions, ltis i\dventuies in love and war, and ol" the discovery by which, through no fault of his own "his life was broken in two, nnd alt the brightness and joy of it wn» turned to bitter ashes." Incidentally, too, wo have iho life and love-story of Gilbert Leigh of Glyat, the supposed nurrator. To many readers, however, tho personal interest* of. tile romance will be secondary to its valuo as* a page of modern history. Tho author ha* an intimate knowledge of his subject, und his butllo-

pieces nvo BHjwi'b ; but lo our mind the main interest of Iho book lieu deeper still. Never have wo vseen j?o ekaily i-el forth tho mighty coal lo Iho ficiman people at which their unification amis effected — not on I v in tho dejilliioll in haulfought fleklN, but in tho lelentless ctus,h-inq-out of Slato patnolixin--ot national patiiotic aspirations and local iii.stituliun.s which had slod tho tost of ayes, and of which I lio people weio justly proud. It was at lirst tlio >lrifc of Oennan with German, and only tho pies&ure of the jcnloua foe on tho hordum completed the union for which .so much had to bo sacrificed. The dominance of Prussia, was accepted us tho lesser of two evils. ( It is on the eve of Weissenbcrg. " Here," BiLvs the author, "weie llew-ians and lladeners and Bavniians and Piu.^ians and Saxons and (ho men of Gcris.iu, and of every other Stale in Germany— the links were closed, and every blow Fiance stiuck would but weld them (he closer. Germany was, indeed, mightily the gainer befoio ever a shot was fired. Whether tho new-forgod links would havo stood the strain of defeat it if. hard to say." Exception may be taken to the improbability of the incident on which tint plot of the story turns ; bul if it be a blemish, it is a very small one in a novel of moro than ordinary merit. "Tho Daily Mail Year-book for 1904." Edited by Percy U Parker. Fourth year of issue. liondon, E.C. : The Amalgamated Picas, Limited. This cighteenpeuny handbook claims to contain twenty thousand facia of the day. We lmvo not checked tho figures, but think it probable that the round number given is under, rather than over the niiiik. Admirably arranged, thoroughly up to date, minutely indexed, and illustrated with maps aud diagrams, there is scarcely a matter of national, social, or political interest belonging to tho year 1903 which cannot be turned up at a moment's notice, and precise a,nd accurate figures and other dßta. found. "A New Treatment of Consumption nnd Other Chronic Chest Diseases." By Duncan Turner, M.K.C.S., Eng. Robertson and Co., Sydney and Melbourne. It would seem from Dr. Turner's own showing that tho treatment his booklet is published lo proclaim is no .senso of tho word now, but simply a revival of something which was practised in all lands in the oarlv history of Iho world. liiielly put, ho states that inunction of oil is almost a specific euro for consumption. He will, wo think, find few of his professional brethren willing to accept this statement. Fiom "time immemoiial moUiciM have rubbed their weakly children with cod-liver oil, and sometimes with benefit to tho patient ; but the suggestion that in this rubbing lies the most powerful antidote to consumption — far even above fresh air, though he advocates treatment in dinntoiin na well — is not in accord with gem-r.il experience. The book is ovidently rntendod for the general public, and yet it!l through the author appealb to the medical mau. The treatment in simple and is certainly deseiving of a more extended tiial ■ but it would be unwUe to lot tho statement go out to the worjd unchallenged that another absolute cure for consumption him been found. THE TIMES AND ITS ADVERTISEMENTS. Those- who, o» a, matter of course, immediately ita arrival in Now Zealand wn« announced, subscribed for tho new Encyclapfl'din. Biitannica, in expressing their satisfaction with their Jiow possession, sometimes also express surprise, that The Times should consider mo many advertisements needful, " Tho work now brought so Bjilcndidly up to date," they iirguo, " U its own best recoinmcnda. tion." No ono believes that more than The Timct, which in nil it« ndvciti*;cment* aska only that tho reador familiaridO himself thoroughly with the work, and to thin end offers, in tliu 22U pages of the sample hook, Mich full menus of examination a» havo probably nover been provided in tho cujfo of any other abject offered for sale. The Miperlntive merits of tlio Encyo'opaedia liiitannicn are known nnd acknowledged in cveiy country from one end of the wot Id to tho other. Rut certainly no ono nin prnv» hihrfaith in tho incalculable value of the woik fo everybody more e'.eaijy than The Tiinca, which, iv undertaking tie distribution of the great book iv v small price, staked its teputation for forc^i^ht upon tho success of the enterprise, nguinNt tho opinion of till whose comments, oxprc«*ed bluntly, enmo lo tins, that flic book wu.s too good except for the few well-to-do jiersoiii, who could afford lo pay the umuil price for it. The book is indeed its own recommendation, and The Times sends into eyery homo in tho country whence an enquiry comes a means of examination that is bettor even than a visit of inspection — although, through the courtesy of its contemporaries in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, The Time* io able to offer this facility' nUo. The Times is content if only all tlio.'e who aie likely to caic cun bo put in the way of learning what the Encyclopedia Britannica if?, and except for certain new cunsidoi-ilioiw aiising from its recrn'l completion up to date, or from its illness to me<'t needs especially churncterislic of our day, The Tunes leave. 1 ? tho book to advertise itself. It is something quite ditferent that The Timc-i has advertised day by day for tho pnst month, nnd will continue to ndverti.so until tho lust dny — which i» now closo at, hand. What The Times plnccs beforo the public with such urgency is something that does not advertij-e itself, namely, the particular plan of sale, in virtue of which alone Tlio Times is enabled to offer the recently-completed 1 book nt a price which all can afford. What The Time* hns to eny is, " Acquaint yourself with the book now, at once, to-day if possible, bccnu.so tho price nud terms you enn afford are temporary, becnuse the prico must very soon be moro thnn doubled." The fact thiil tho temporary nntuic of tho offer, nnd tho imminent rise in pric*, cannot bo reiterated often enough was proved up to tho hilt when the offer now open In New Zcnlnud was Ho^ed in London, and it is being proved daily, iv this country also, by letters which nirivc by every mail from cnrresnoudpnls wJio •write that they aro not buying Hip book just now, but that thoy probably will a lit tio Inter. Cerlainlv'thoFO to whom it does not mutter whether they pay the present price, in small instalments, or moro thnn double tho presont prico in « lump mud, may with impunity please them^-elvcs n.s to whether they '•will fret iho book now or n little Inter on. Uut llio fact that such letters can be written «how;« clearly cnotiirh that while the book may be If ft to advertise itself, the plan of salo entailing so great a mo in sc nhort a time, is too unusual to bo generally renlifccd «xcept by constant repetition.

"Thero isn't very much to cat," snic tho Kikimo hostess, na sho hnndlcd i candle to each guest, "just light refresh merits." "Consider Iho porous plaster, my son, 1 remarked the philosopher, "nnd don" eel dUoomugpil Everybody turns hi lrfirk on it, yel it lianas an and oven tuallv achieves success by close apniiea tion " Chapplnj' — "Aw — what natural wit po'srsi J '„i( f i oiu mv niolher "' Mil '('ut' --' j!i, i-oiiie. don't talk lh.it «n about your motljcj;,"