"AT THE TURN OF THE YEAR"

Evening Star, Issue 15065, 23 December 1912, Page 4

"AT THE TURN OF THE YEAR"

The above is the title given to ' A Christmas' Booklet' containing three articles by Dr Rutherford Waddell which were originally published in this journal. We are not surprised to notice that the copy we hav© before us is one of a third edition. The articles which for some years have appeared in the Saturday issue of the ' Evening Star' have gained for their author a reputation far beyond the bounds of our regular circulation. So excellent a judge as the late Mr A. R. Barclay once wrote in warm terms of admiration of what ho regarded as 'essays whoso literary merits 'were deserving of a more abiding form than the necessarily ephemeral pages of a daily paper. And what Mr Barclay believed has been said by others. We question whether articles are to be found in any other English newspaper such as have, with few exceptions, appeared regularly for a, good many years, of a similarly high tone and lucidity of expression, of apt quotation gleaned from the best works of the past and present, pathos, humor, sustained interest, and outstanding literary ditsinction, But their chief charm, perhaps, is that each and all have both soul and body. There is something in them that touches and appeals to the heart of the wayfarer and casual reader as well as the student. We have had callers who, after introducing themselves as having formerly lived in Otago, then gone back to Scotland, and subsequently returned, have concluded by asking: "Is it possible for me to obtain a copy of your Saturday's paper containing an article by Dr Waddell on , published about four years ago?"- As a rule it is not possible, and so the opportunity of obtaining three of them in clear type and prettily bound together, at a nominal figure, has been ea.gerly taken. The selected essays ('The Flag of Christmas,' 'Broken Resolutions and How to Mend Them,' and 'A New Year') are timely, and a fair representation of the writer's" craft. We commend the booklet to all and sundry.