BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 16263, 4 November 1916, Page 3

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

'The Songs of a, Sentimental Bloke' \ pocket edition for the ta-enches). By .0. J. Dennis. 'The Moods of Ginger Mick.' By C. J. Dennis. Sydney : Angus and Robertson, Ltd. One can understand, and rejoice in the success of so excellent a pieco of original work as 'The Songs of the Sentimental Bloke.' It was and is one of those simple, unpremeditated products of a something which, for want of a better term, we caO genius, and which, once read and smiled, and laughed, and grown "sentimental" over, one instinctively feels is the real thing, and must (if anything can) "catch on." But the very qualities and .the manner of their expression, that made ' The Sentimental Bloke' the unique success it has been, contained possibilities of danger. There was left a fear that Mr Dennis might attempt to repeat himself, and the language and sentiment of "the Bloke" will not bear repeating. Yet ' The Moods of Ginger Mick' are merely a variation of the mood and terms in which ' The Sentimental Bloke' is written, minus much of its purely human appeal. The publishers deny that 'The Moods' are a repetition of the songs, and roundly, declare that the rew work can stand and will live on its own merits. Wo .ore- not disposed to agree, but wo content ourselves with the opinion that wo do not think so. The piiblie, wo are afraid, will weary of verso written in the argot of the slums, even by so clever a, master-as Mr Dennis. 'Tho Australian and Other Verses.' By Will H. Ogilvie. Sydney; Angus and Robertson, Ltd. We confess wo prefer the war verses of Mr Ogilvie to those of Mr Dennis. In our judgment there is no comparison between such a verso as the following: The bugles of the Motherland Rang ceaselessly across the 6ea, To call him and his lean brown band To shape Imperial destiny. He went, by youth's grave purpose willed, The goal unknown, the cosV unweighed, The promise of his blood fulfilled ; "The bravest thing Ge-d ever made"— and this from 'The Moods': So Ginger Mick 'e's mizzled to tho war, Joy in 'is 'eart an' wild dreams in 'is brain; Gawd 'elp the foe that 'o goes gunin' for, If tales is true they tell in Spadger's La tic — Tales _that ud fairly freeze, the gentle 'earts Uv them 'oo knits 'is socks—tho Calenercd Tarts. Rut comparisons are odious. All wo would infer is that when we wish for songs of war and battle, and Empire wo prefer to have them written after the manner of Mr Ogilvie rather than of Mr Dennis. The former gives us many stirring verses, maintaining tliroughout Ins 170 odd pages ] a consistently high standard. Wo have quoted from his first, and we now quote from his last poem. These sufficiently express the quality of his work; Gallant, gallant dead of England! To ! tho wandering winds that knew them, j | Let us Haunt our Flag afar. On the hills that guar<l our heroes, on i the fencckss seas below them, It is ours to hold the Empire that'they left us, ours to show'them "We shall not forget the homage and the j honor that we owe them ■ j Who have made us what we are! 'The New Breed.' By Andrew Firth. Loudon: T. Fisher Unwin. j Andrew Firth's novel, ' The New Breed,' is a. story of to-day. Its main interest lie's in tho effect of modern war conditions on the temperaments of a naval omccr and his wife. The latter, an Australian, voung, beautiful, and headstrong, finds' herself forced into unimagined circumstances and restrictions in her new homo as a member of an English country family of established position. Her husband,'too, a man to whom his country's .service comes first, has to pass througn deep waters before he arrives at complete understanding with Ins wife. The. scene is laid in a° quiet i English countryside, but even iie.ro emblems of war—aeroplane depots—come to stay, and, following these, tho poison of treachery and espionage creeus in. Onlv after exasperating complications and through the discipline of suffering llm \ work do husband and wife reach a rolu- I j lion of their difficulties. 'THE WIDOW OF WINDSOR,' 'Ave you 'card o' the Widow at Windsor, With a hairy gold crown on 'er 'cad? It is said that Rudyard Kipling lost the "official" Laureateship through referring to the late Queen Victoria by the above phrase. If that be so it argues a lack of humor hard to reconcile with her capacity for wit. The author of ' The Widowhood of Queen Victoria' (Clare Jerrold) admits that a certain Teutonic heaviness did not preclude the Queen's enjoyment of a joke. She was dining one evening between Canon Teignmouth Shore and another Canon of the Church Militant, and the former asked her if she were not alarmed with Canon to right of her, Canon to left of her, otc. To which the Queen replied that it was the " first time she had been classed with the Light Brigade." And talking of brigades one is reminded of the story of her youth in which 6he declined to review the troops unless she could ride on horseback. This was forbidden, but the following year she won her way. I. It is a gossipy book. There is grim gossip, such as the suggestion, supported by the medical Press, that the Prince Consort died through the defective drainage of Windsor Castle; and lighter tales, such as this : It is notorious that the Princo of Wales was brought up as a mug-wump; that when he had reached years of discretion ho had to smoke in his bedroom, lying down on his back and puffing up the chimney. And hero wo have a delicious tale of how he cut bounds at Oxford and came up to town. Tho "crime" was discovered, and two urn formed officials met him at Paddington, and asked him where he was goin>?. "Only to Exeter Hall," was the reply. Long live tho memory of King Edward ! The poor Prince was not oven allowed to read Scott's novels at an ago when most boys aro free to choose their own fare. The Queen once went to Sir Noel Pat-on *s studio to see how his picture, 'The Bereaved Family,' was progressing. The artist's little boy was there, and the Queen asked him to kiss her. " No," he said. "You aro the Queen of England, ami you killed Queen Marv, so I don't love you." This pleased the Queen, as she loved the Scots and cared little for Queen Elizabeth! 11. Sir Charles Hallo told a tale of a veritable fight between Her Majesty and the nasty little boy who now is Kaisor Wilhelm. The Queen told her grandchild to salute the musician, but he declined. This was followed by a spanking, in which, despite his struggles, the Hohenzollern was vanquished and had to obey. I he little beast on another occasion was w tf » to get under the table as he would not behave at luncheon. This he did, only to emerge later stark naked. [This story has been told by ■ES P '? Sent J F lsg . and "rot-hex.—Ed, It is difficult to understand the Queen's championship of Germany. She was in f w ,f * « fcro ag Prussia, and, against the will of the people, allowed theTState to enslave Poland, despoil Denmark of fcchleswrg-Holstein, to cripple Austria, and finally to assault and batter France. Imder the Duke of Cambridge (the soldwr of th* nmbwll*) th* Amy bUn» m «•* that it u tud that we eould only have put 20 000 men on the Continent. It w recorded of the Duke, by the way, that he once sentenced a young officer to wear his uniform for a year, thus makirwit appear that the Queen's uniform was convict dress instead of the proudest r orm £" lrß that a man ««i P«b on. in 1852 Bismarck, visited London to announce to the Queen and her Ministers his intention u> strengthen tho Prussian

army, and " to seize a pretext to declare war on Austria, reduce "the small States, and give Germany national unity unckr Prussia." Through' the supine folly of all concerned the cynical Prussian" was allowed to mature his plans, the results of which we know to-day. The reader may ak'o discover for himself what a crowd ci imneennious Germans were introduced 'into England, among them Prince Louis of Battenber"-' who, however, to his credit, served the British Navy well. in. The Queen essayed authorship in a popular book, 'Leaves From the Journal of Our Life m the Hishlands.' which IrouHit in move than £30.000. 'But we are Informed that Mr Arthur Helps did more than " help" in this m-dter, for tin Queen " wrote late at night, suffering from headache and exhaustion, in dread' tul haste, and not for publication," and it was his business to make it easy reading. In view of tho popularity tl'iat followed the Diamond Jubilee, it'is difficult to recollect the indignation that the public felt at tho favors bestowed on a Scottish gillie, one John Brown, whom satirists accused of having an eve on the vacant throne. And nowadays, 'when nuite cxer.ivtioiial good-will exists between the Monarch and his people, ono is astoundrd r-t the tnonght that Republicanism should nave been debated more than once in the House of Commons, while votes for the reduction of Royal allowances we>- c frequent. In this Sir Charles Dilko. whose lather had received a baronetcy for his share m tho Great Exhibition'of 1851 took the lead. The Queen is reported to have said : " I have had him on my lap! I have stroked his hair. I suppose I stroked it the wrong way." IV. The author attacks Disraeli, who was a favorite with the Queen, on the cround of Ins so-called Jingoism: and Drakes Gladstone, whom she cordially disliked r-s a great , statesman, whose" attitude,' even in the belated relief expedition to Gordon is capable of defence. There is a good tale of, Disraeli, and how his wife said to a friend: "Dizzy has the most wonderful moral courage in the world, but no physical courage. When lie has a shower-bath I have to null (he strain-'" A visitor once said to Mrs GladTtono, referring to tho woes of poor old Ireland : there is One above- who will set all right. "Oh, vps," said. Mrs Gladstone; "he'll be down direct Iv." The Queen had not King Edward's wonderful tact. Happening to meet Browning shortly after tho publication of his ma*tci? and tho Book -' about which al tne literary world was talking she asked naively : " Have you beep wr£ ing anything lately?" v