LITERARY COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 61, 9 September 1905, Page 11

LITERARY COLUMN.

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. "Patmos." By Kathleen Inglewood London : Gordon and Gotch. "Follow not] too closely on the heels of History, lest she rear up and smite thee on the teeth" was the' counsel of an old French writer. The clever story before us, the work of a New Zealand lady, has more than once reminded us of the admonition. The canons by which a work of history is tested differ greatly from those applying to fiction ; both classes of literature demand the imaginative faculty, no doubt, but under varying, conditions and limitations. A work like this, which can not be placed properly in either category, but perpetually ,oscillates between them, defies all the usual standards, and is not a fair test of fhs author's ability., The writer of "Patmos" has essayed a task of exceptional difficulty — one which would have taxed the powers even of that master of contemporary historic fiction, Charles Reade. ,It is difficult indeed for any one in New Zealand, acquainted with the social .history of the past ten or twelve years, (apiy one to whom the leading men in certain reform movements are known as living personages, to read with the requisite aloofness a story in which they figure prominently in a kind of semitransparent disguise. The portraits, too,, are composite, for he whom we recognise as A on one page becomes B on another., and yet again is the author's imaginary hero,- and unidentifiable. • The theme^ of "Patmos" 'is the Nolicense- campaign in New .Zealand, in ■\vhich there seems to be evidence that the writer has taken an active part in one particular field. The hero is one John Saxon, a native of Akaroa, whose life-history is set forth in detail. He is trained for the 'law, becomes a leading prohibitionist advocate, his -work lying chiefly in Sydenham; he is elected to Parliament; overtaxes himself in his devotion' to his life's work, is suddenly smitten with paralysis of certain bram centres, causing complete aphasia, so that he can no longer communicate either by speech or writing, though otherwise in full possession of bis faculties. While in this crippledi condition, it is suggested to him by Pemberton, a journalist friend, that 'by persistent concentration of • will he may .influence the thoughts and actions of other men. He acjs on the suggestion,, and the influence is brought to bear on. the brilliant journalist himself, whose work lies in a remote part of the colony. He is soon reduced almost to ,the condition of an automaton controlled by Saxon. In the press and on the platform he begins to advocate the cause ' with Saxon's gifts and his own combined. Saxon has a sewnd stroke and dies, leaving Pemberton temporarily without volition or initiative of his own.' In time, however, the Saxon influence returns with even greater compelling power, and the journalist realises that the same force is controlling him still 1 , presumably from a higher sphere. It would be invidious to enlarge upon the blemishes of a story' written with excellent purpose and with such ability — they seem to be inseparable from the method the author has chosen. The history is doubtless good enough for the reader at a distance, who will probably gather as vaguely correct an idea as j from a formal statement of facts ; but whe'ever the exigencies . of fiction required, facts have been modified. The account of the prohibition movement is out of proportion, the earliest workers and some twenty-fire years of hard preliminary work being ignored, the writer's acquaintance -with the subject apparently bejrinning with tie Sydenham campaign. Join Saxon in a certain year contests a Chrbtehurch seat. He is a strong Prohibitjonist and reputed "Pro-Boer," but i 3 nevertheless elected. The candidate possessing these characteristics was, as a matter of fact, defeated on that occasion. There has been but' one Premier

in -New Zealand, and had the author known more of the inner history of the liquor question she. would, we think, have dealt move fairly with him. As fiction, the book is too much encumbered ;wilh the details of > successive election campaigns. Only in John Saxon's pretty and" idyllic love-story, and in the less pleasant psychological fancy in the concluding chapters has she been able to give free rein to her imagination, displaying an artistic skill which gives promise of better work in time to come. The insistence of the 1 "purpose," and strong feeling on the part of an author are rarely conducive to literary success ; but the writer, drawing apparently from actual facts, has given some powerful sketches of the tyranny of the liquor habit, and a strong indictment, of "the traffic" ; and as one of the agencies of reform the story may, in its own ■way, do real service. ' "The Liquor Traffic: Is it beneficial to the Individual? Is it profitable to the State?" By "A Modeiate Drinker " This -pamphlet, -which is an unusually strong indictment of the liquor trade and plea for "no-license," is notable inasmuch as it is privately issued, and the author (whose name, Alf. C. Morton, is appended to the preface) states tU.t he is unconnected with any church or temperance organisation. "I have been," he writes, "in all the chief cities and towns of Australasia and South Africa; I have seen life in all its varied phases — in the city, in the country town, in the 'back-blocks,' in the Mjaori pa, and in the Kaffir kraal ; in the private house, in the public house, in the 'shanty,' and in the 'Chinese den 1 ; on the goldfield, on the gumfield, on the sea, and on the battlefield. I have moved in military circles as well as in the various circles of civil life, and have seen human nature in its best and in its worst forms." This experience, as well as the result of much study, he has turned to account in a. pamphlet which briefly but comprehensively deals -with the question in its economic, industrial, social, political, national, and' personal aspects. Scarcely 'a, point has been Overlooked, and this ninepenny brochure* ' is a valuable and suggestive contribution to the controversy. Facts, -.figures, and authorities, are freely quoted, and the "balancesheets" in the appendix are worthy of study. The writer has scarcely established his point that the Premier is a Prohibitionist, but hfe shows that Mr. Scddon's action has been more fa-rour-able to the movement than is generally recognised. It was an idea certainly (says the Daily Chronicle) to issue a book about cricket at lid— even if it be lid net. The volume came out yesterdav — the eleventh, mark you! — with Mr. Fisher Unwin, under the title, "Cricket on the Brain." It is in the, "wisdom, while you wait" vein, as, indeed, some lines of verse on the titlepagamight indicate: — Let the season be dry or bo wet, All minds on elevens are set ; So we don't ask a bob For this excellent job — It's price is elevenpence net. And there is an assortment of illustrations. Hard to be beaten is the epitaph on Susannah Barford, who died 1652, act. ten years and thirteen' weeks, "the nonsuch of the world for piety and vertue in soe tender yeares." JTho lines beneath the skull and crossbones on her monument are all delicious, but the concluding quatrain is perhaps the gem of the inscription : — Her stage was short, her thread was quickly «punn, Drawiie out and cutt, got heaven, her worke was done. This world to her was but a traged play, Shec came and law't, dislik't, and passed away. Ruskin's memory is to be kept alive at Venice by a memorial tablet on the wall of the old fashioned, unpretentions littlo inp that goes by the name of La Calcina. Here the prophet of Beauty stayed while polishing the Stones of Venice, occupying a room over the portico, and taking his meals under the shadow of a vine-clad pergola in a garden at the back of the house.