LITERARY COLUMN. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 118, 20 May 1905, Page 11

LITERARY COLUMN. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

"The Oreon Kye of Qoona." By Arthur Morrison. London ; George Bell nnd 1 Soils. Mr. Morrwon, in hw Utest romance, lias mado effect ive use of a familiar tliemo — a stolen jewel. At the groat Durbur of 1902 nt Delhi, tho wonderful greon di.nnoiul which was two pndo of the Rajah of Uuoilv and tha envy of fnr more t-xalted prmcea, myf»toriou*ly dumppeared, .1 ,«la.ss iinihition being left in its place. Soon nfterwurds, ono Franz Ilnhn, a coiniuercial traveller, foitpung a touch of foyer, induces ono Harvey Crook to objig* him by conveying pernonnlly to London a ciiao conl. lining v dozen magnuniA of old Tokay, oighty youra in bottle, which ha has bcniffiit clte«p in Delhi nnd rxpecta to st'll in London for n hundred pounds. Or the homuwtird voy.*g» on American millionuiro, hearing of this rare win©, is very wnxions to posnCvS-s it, and in the end, by the offer of .1 tbousund dollars, doubln Halm's vnluiit.iori, securer the lot, Crook thinking he h;i« done very wmll for hia principal. Later on, however, ho renlisoa (but he hns wna mistnken, for Hnhn, ou lindmg that tho wine lias been sold, roceive.s a ternblo shock, and is de«pertitely unxioua to u-eovor it. Whereupon Crook, putting certain fuels together, feels grotty mucj thiil the "Kyo of lioonn" lies hidden in ono of the magnuinH, nnd that Ilnhn lium made him nn unconscious smuggler of stolen property. To circumvent hi« schemes, ho hiimclf undertakes n quest ;ifter the wine, nnd tho author lends tho ujivder nn exciting clinso. Mr. Mi-trick, the American buyer, bus opened one bottle on board, and shared tho contents with hia friends, but failing to npprecinte the liquor, fronds tho r«*t, ns soon ns it is bunted nt Southampton, to nn nuction room, whero tho eleven lots "would have guno for n .shilling or two n-piecc, were it not th.it Rumo of the passengers, who luul hoard of the speculation, turned up and bid for .1 holrle lioro and there ; and a w'iiip-niorchnnt's traveller of some enter prise took fonr '.ots nt. te.ll KhillmgA a lot. So thnt Mr. Meirick got hack nearly Hve pounds for his two hundred, whic-h, he T-iicl. would pny the duty, any way, and loave him with the eternal glory of hnving confiuned a bottle of win'p co.»iing nhio hundred nnd &evt-nly-five dollars. To trace the dispersed botrles turnn out (o bo no easy matter, nnd the jewel, which for hundreds of years lms been nwnointcd with plunder and murder, maintain* its evil reputation. Six persons come to 0 violent end in the course of the .«tory Four nre thieves, and the other two aro an eccentric old antiquary nnd his housekeeper. Interwoven with the story, but only as a subordinate feature, i» a' lovestory, nnd Dnisy Mcrrick; the American hoircs, in the end becomes Mrs. Crook Ihe «U>ry is well told, nnd the intureat never flags. "Tho New Zealnnd Nature-study Book : n Gnido to tho Xature-studv Section of the New Syllabus." By E. K. Mulgnn, M.A. ' Wellington : Whitcombo nnd Tombs, , Tjimited. This m^y, we think, be described ns one of the most useful fichoolbooka thnt h«s been produced in New Zealand. It is something more thnn a nchoo'.book. nnd should be a favourite with any intelligent boy or girl in the country. iv»pecwllT in tile remoter districts, to wliotn the phenomenn of bird, insect, nnd plant life nre continually prosenting problems which cannot be solved without nwistance. In about three hundred nnd thirty pagei, the young student i» conducted through the three kingdoms of nature; abstruse theories nnd unnecessary minutiio nre avoided, but the brond principle.* of form nnd structure, physiology, «nd habit, nro presented in clear nnd nttrnctive form. The object r>f tho author is not so much to storo the learner 1 * mind with fncts ns to tench him to observe nnd how to obKorve, allowing him to gather his fncts nnd fill in details by the right use of his own faculties of observation nnd rensonins powers. Twicherw, who have nnturo-study as ono

ill tlio Miltjucts of tin' new syllabus, should find iho book lit Ipful nnd Miggestivo. 'Hie author hni givat f.ulh in tlio oduc.itivo value of n n hool gnrdrn, nnd strongly recommends the fnimntnui of (school museum*, to whirh the cluldien should bo encouuiged to coiitiibutn. He wonld nlno h.ivo tho erhnlara di.<«, according to thoir ability, tho foims of tho objects they ni-e Mndying. As ho justly remarks: "The importance of drawing in connection with nature-study enn bnrdly be over-estimated. Drawing Is n mode ol nxpreming thongfat and of recording oh served facts, nnd demands both occur icy of observation nnd attention to details, which must make for the formation of habits of the grentest value to tho child in after-years. When and whero poseible, the objects under review should be drawn. The sketches mny b« rough, diagrammatic, and but crude representations <rf bhe original, hut even the."«« will le*ivo behind a clearer and more lasting impr»ASioii of what hns been seen nnd lenrnt than if the l«smonn were unaccompanied by such aids." A commendnblo feature of the book 10 tho lnrge uso that js made of native fnuna nnd flora for pnrposes of il-lustration-—tho phormium for tho rhizome or underground stem, the burro of the piripiri aa n typical exnmplo of the use of booked spines to secure the dispersnl of sewlv ot«. Tho work is fully illustrated, containing about two hundred and fifty ongrnvings. a lnrge ]iroiiorliun specially drawn by Mr. R. Ciur.

Young Men's Macrazino for Nfny is n "specinl camp number," and tho proceedings at tho Caster Camp, including two important papers rand at tho meeting;, occupy a good deal of itssoace. The illustrations nre good, and tho literary portion — 'always a loading feature of tho magazine — is not allowed to bo overshadowed oy the central subject. There is a pleasant little short story, "Deli nd a ami tho Judge," by E. M. Dnnlop, .flrncil, and Mr. W. Prnncis Chambers, Wellington, contributes a pevm, "Tho Battlefield." Steele Kudo s Magazine (Brisbane) for April is just '0 hand. In an apologetic note the uiitor •Apuuiis tiul tnu oiunv stiff, literary and inodiamtal, has bwii prostrated with d ngu<- fever, nnd ovorything has gono into arrears. His own contribution, nnother instilment of "Sandy's Selection, " tells of tlie sickness and divith of "Uncle," ami ia one of iho best of the "Section" sMrh»s, showing that ho enn tr-i: of ihe deeper lU'perieiico-; of lif> without llijnnncy or weak sentimentality. Mr. G. Taylor's two chapters on "Caricature nnd iW History" are do.oted lo \inerico: 1 . .vmW Aus trnlian dovelopnien's : bir h.TO .is elsewhere w« do not find him rory illumin sting. If» »»ems to have littl", ipprociation for tho satiric art of Knglind, wh.ich has -an originality and a quality of grftafnt'sx iafking >h n. i.>re. Aiiierienn political carical'wo is largely bnsed on fierman models-— in fin, many of tho moat noted carica nr t sts .ire fS*»rinans, nnd Aus:ral:an carKa'urr, n^ Mr. Taylor is obliged to rniifiww, iniitat<>s rlie American. Pr?«unnnlv, Mr. 'luylor'- illustrations show wlhl ho convder.s the best and most typical work ; but we think ho fails to exhibit either American or Australian nrtistn nt thoir bait — hn givos too much petiy and ephemeral work of the "Sirnwwolpoter" type, which h;n njver found favmir with ftnglish artists or lingiish roaders. "Fetch ing^ the Cows" is tho title ol .1 character itlic poem by JRrxUric Qunin. -\monK the illustrations two anonynmns prams of 7>ntni.-»l lit- d-acr> o t»r> m] no tice and high comnwidat on — i- w g d" — nn iinfonunat'C cow in a swamx, the head and ridge of th« back a^o-V the surfnee, nnd "Her Last l)r "k," whero a girl is holding a p,vil of \va'~r to the mouth of n dying cow." ,Vr. Mvt«ton, of Bnsbaiio, posiibly (lie bMt nuth'»rity on tho Hubject, contributtm n v.iluable article on "'Die Evolution of tho Boomerang," illustrated by n photogrnm of oiulileen types, urrniigwl in the supposed order of progn-osivo dovelopmont. Of tho finest and most h'gnly spiMul.tt cd typo, he siys : — "'in* trne, reiurn boomerang v.iries in weight from tho smnll minimum of four ounces up to a maximum of twelve, tho average being

m>wii or ci'/ht ounces, and evi>n that bi/.o ii<i|inifA a violent mii'iculnr effort to Ibinw it prupt'rly." Thcrn is the usual nn-.wll.iiiy of light Auglrali.in sketLbrs, some of uliu'h would h.ivo benetitwl .i little by tlw bluo pencil; but on tbi< wholf, the number is ono of th<! best lhat h'i.s Appeared Mr. A. f!. (Stephen, tlin litornry critic of the nulletiu, is eng.igod on an antholcic;y of Austr.iluin \<tso, and invites asnistauco from (lioso who may know of worthy bpocim-ns that aro not generally known and may have escaped Ins attention.