BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 21820, 8 September 1934, Page 19

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

VERSES SONNET Once in a while, you know, on this old earth, There conies a day when all .seems fortunate, When in ourselves we read a happier fate, And in' the morning son a lovelier . mirth, _ . .When war's incredible, and death and birth Are like two innocent angels at the gate, And birds fly past, and children can* not wait, 'And the sky’s shot with azure, south and north. Early that morning, if you’re wise, you’ll go Out of your housekept self ’to find green, grass. Hill-road and rippling stream, and never stop Till the last town lies miles away below And nigh and neighbourly the white clouds pass Dipping their pennons to the mountain top., —Ernest Rhys, in the ‘Observer.’ “BALLAD OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS" “ Rare, fortune, bonnet, Lace, ramble, May- ‘ Glide, silky, sonnet, Fawn, starry, grey. ' Rime, milky, dell, Clear, coxcomb, light; Mist, cluster, bell, True, sparkle, bright. Pale, starling, vivid, Azure, laughter, mountain; Jade, sunset, livid. Glow, fruitful, fountain. Droll, abloom, musty, Cool, sacred, crypt— Agate, pleasure, lusty, Dream, sprightly, script.” —Betty Hilgadiack, in the ‘lndianapolis News.’ SHERLOCK HOLMES “LIFE" AS FOUND IN STORIES Admirers of the, Sherlock Holmes tales of Sir -Arthur Conon Doyle have di.verted. themselves in recent years by seeking in the stories evidence of other facts in the lives of the characters, and especially in that of Holmes himself. Several volumes of the kind have appeared. An entertaining book for those .who are acquainted with the stories is ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,’ by Vincent Starrett. Mi“ Starrett tells of Holmes’s ancestry and education, and gives a list of his monographs, including the treatise on many varieties of tobacco ash. There isv aosketch of; his -landlady,, and much is told about his friend I)r Watson. Parodies and burlesques of Sherlock Holmes are recalled, and there is a record of impersonations of Holmes on the stage. “ True as it may be that the model for 'the immortal detective was Dr Joseph Bell of Edinburgh,” Writes Mr Starrett, “ there can be little doubt that the real Holmes was Conan Doyle himself. ... He was ,always the private detective, the seeker after hidden truths, the fathomer of obscure mysteries. . . Sherrinford Holmes, it is recorded, .was the name of 'the detective as it was first jotted down by the author, and Dr Watson was to have been Ormond Sacker. . The changes were fortunate, Doyle’s liking for the eSsays of another physician, the American Oliver Wendell, Holmes, appeals to have suggested the surname of the detective. “ Never,” wrote Doyle at a later time, “ have 1 so known and loved a man whqpi. 1 had' never seen.” As to Sherlock—- “ Years ago I made'thirty runs against a howler by the name of. Sherlock, and I always, had a kindly feeling for that, name.” It is recalled that the youthful Doyle, as a medical student in Edinburgh, under Dr Bell, was made his out-patient clerk:— . The student herded the waiting patients into lino, made simple notes of their cases, and ushered them into the big room in which Bell sat in state. But it had been quickly evident to young Arthur Conan Doyle that Joseph Bell learned more about the patients at a glance jjhan he, the questioner, had learned, with all his questions. “ He’would sit in liis receiving room,” wrote Doyle, the novelist, later in life, “with a face like a Red Indian, and diagnose the people as they came in, before ihey oven opened their mouth. He would tell them of their (last life, and hardly ever would he make a mistake.” The results were often highly dramatic. To a civilian patient, on one occasion, he observed: “Well, my man, you’ve served in the army.” “ Aye, sir.” “Not long discharged?” “No; sir.” “A Highland regiment?” “Aye, sir.” “A non-com. officer?” “ Aye, sir.” “Stationed at Barbados?” • “ Aye, sir.” “You see, gentlemen,” explained the physician to bis surrounding students and dressers, “ the man was a respectful man, but did not remove his hat. They do not in the army; but he would have learned civilian ways if he had been long discharged. He has an air of authority, and lie is obviously Scottish. As to Barbados, his complaint' is elephantiasis, which is West Indian ami not British.” Out of his memories of Joseph Bell, hawk-faced and a trifle eerie for all his sardonic humour, the creator of Sherlock Holmes builded the outlines of bis great detective (adds Mr Starrett). But it was an outline only. It was the special genius of Conan Doyle himself that was to enable him to complete the picture. It was from the first, indeed, only the potentialities of a living Sherlock Holmes latent within his medical creator that made possible the gaunt detective’s entrance upon , the foggy stage of London's wickedness. Mr Thorne Smith, the American author of a number 'of lightly farcical novels, has died at the age’ of fortytwo years Several of h : a hcpl.-s have been pu.bhsl'cd in London, and arrangements had ticca made to issue others there.

A LITERARY CORNER

BOSKS AND THE NEW GENERATION “ Literature is news' that remains always news.” Referring to this definition, Sir Charles Grant Robertson, of Birmingham University, in an address reported in the ‘ Bookseller,’ said: “ I have lived long enough, 1 won't say in my world, but in this world, to tcalK'O taat to-day there have teen three profound changes which affect the whole of the question of the production, the distribution, and consumption of books.

“ Wc have now got far away from the great Education Act of 1902. We have got a type of reader being trained in our secondary schools which did not exist thirty years ago. And I, if 1 know something—we have seen them in the university—know that these young people have got the real motive that underlies the happy life—an intense curiosity, a spirit of adventure. “ They have learnt that though yon cannot learn all about life out of books, von can learn very little about life without books. There is, indeed, a tremendous and inexhaustible opportunity for those who both produce and sell books. Think of it. They are living in a world in which the mechanical applications of the sciences arc endeavouring to secure an increasing amount of their time. “ Some of them already begin to feel it expanded by that and to feel that life does not consist of riding in an aeroplane, driving a motor car, ami so forth. They are really at present hungering for leisure, but they will not hunger for it unless they arc shown how To use it. „ , “ The period from 1920 to 1932 is finished. The -post-war world is done. The .young generation that is coming into our universities has nothing in common with the generation which came in between 1920 and 1932. They feel that they are right up against realities, and the answer will depend on whether the world in which they are going to live as men and women is going to be a world that is going to lead them to the high places where dwells the golden spirit of the dawn or whether it is going to be a steady downward movement into the abyss. “It is there where literature will come in, both, as an anodyne, a comforter, and a guide, and I submit to you and your association that never before, perhaps never again, if you miss your opportunity now, will you have a chance of fulfilling both a national duty and of being some profit to yourself. It was said of a great editor of the ‘ Manchester Guardian ’ that his greatest achievement was to make righteousness readable.

“ What we have to do to-day—l say wc. because yon will allow me to associate myself with your trade for this occasion—is to make literature sell. And in these great treasuries, whether they are written by the people of today or whether by those persons to whom Bishop Hamilton Baynes alluded and who wore writing possibly even before Homer, there is one great criticism. It was news to Tutankhamen and it was news to ns.' Plato’s ‘ Republic ’ was news with the Athenians. “ It is news for ns to-day, and that is what constitutes the claim of the book trade to function in the national mind and national activities, and the national future.” NEW BOOKS ‘ART IN AUSTRALIA’ The latest quarterly number of ‘ Art in Australia ’ is fortunate in its opening number. One ot the journal's editors, Mr Sydney Urc Smith, has been on his travels, and he gives his impressions of contemporary art in London. These cover the work of nearly a score of painters, from the best mown to others whose names will be new 4 o most readers on this side of the world. Of one, hailing from this part of the world, lie notes: “I saw an interesting collection of Frances Hodgkins’s water colours at the Lefevrc Galleries. Since her work was exhibited in Australia she lias become more advanced, and her water colours were riotous arrangements of colour, excellently designed, Her work possessed great strength and spontaneity.” Kenneth Wilkinson writes on Roland Wakclin, an Australian artist who lias continued to increase the number of his admirers, though too modern to be generally appreciated. No fewer than five illustrations of In's work, reproduced in.colour and in black and white, are given. Allcync Zander, once more with the aid of reproductions, discusses ‘ Two Modern Groups ’ whose work lias been shown in London recently; and Norman Garter lias a lengthy article on the Teachers’ College. Avmidale (N.S.W.). William Moore’s notes on artists and exhibitions “at homo and abroad ” make a now feature which deserves to he permanent; Howard Ashton writes on ‘ Will Ashton’s Art,’ with a reproduction in colours of one of his forthright landscapes; and the utilitarian side finds generous treatment in articles on shop interiors and restaurants. * General Decoration,’ Robert Bell Hamilton (architect), and ‘ Modern Movement in Design.’ Altogether there are nearly forty illustrations. Truly a varied number. Published by Art in Australia ’ Ltd.. Sydney. COMING OF THE MAORI

Mr A. IT. Reed has published another of liis booklets. This one is entitled ‘ The Coming of the Maori to Ao-Tea-Roa.’ It is well illustrated, one of the pictures being a reproduction of C. F. Goldie and L. J, Steele’s wellknown painting ‘ Arrival of the Maori in New Zealand.’ now in the Auckland Art Gallery. Mr Reed first briefly tells the story of the coming of Kup’e and Ngahue about 950 A.n. Next the Moriuri (of Melanesian origin) arrived, and were soon exterminated or absorbed by the hardier Polynesians. After that many crossings and recrossings of the southern seas were made for about OQO years, but very little is known about them. Then the author gives a short and picturesque account of the great migration in 1050, when the Arawa and other famous canoes caiiic over from Hawaiki. Thus the real Maori settlement began, and proceeded undisturbed by events from outside till the advent of the pakeha to the Long White Cloud. These booklets are very attractive, and arc most suitable ns gifts to friends overseas.

‘HAPPY DISPATCHES’ Mr A. B. (“Banjo”) Paterson lias written his reminiscences, and most entertaining they are. As his readers know, he has a lively wit, and as he has travelled much and been in the thick of two wars it can he imagined tiiat he lias some stirring talcs to tell. His first adventure abroad was as a Press correspondent in the South Afn- | can War, where ho met such famous solIdicrs as Roberts, Kitchener, French, Haig, and Allcnby, and lie presents pen pictures of each, tic saw a good deal jof Winston Churchill, and met Lord Milner and Cecil Rhodes. Next he was in Manila interviewing General Cliatfey after the capture ot the Philippines by the United States. Mr Paterson went to China at the time of the Boxer rebellion, and had discussions with tiie famous “ Chinese ” Morrison. He came in contact with Lord Allcnby again in the course of the Palestine campaign in the Great War, during; which he was a major of remounts. He was an ambulance driver for Lady Dudley’s hospital in France during the war. Mr ]’atorson was the guest of Mr Rudyard Kipling cod of Phil May in England, and of “ Cob ” Kennedy, the breeder of The Tctrarch, in Ireland. The book is in no sense a serious work. Much of it contains thumb-nail sketches, but the writer’s shrewd and penetrating observation of incidents and persons associated with great events, added to Ins literary abilities, make it a book of ontstandino; interest. Our copy of ‘ Happy Dispatches ’ is from the publishers (Angus and Robertson Limited). ‘ CONFLICT OF THE AGES ' ‘The Conflict of the Ages,’ by Arno Clemens Gacbclem. Publication office, ‘ Our Hope.’ This book is a study in political revolution, and is written from the point of view of American “fundamentalist ” theology. Wc arc told that “ at the 1 close of the eighteenth century Satan arose in In's might and began his astounding activities in the conflict of the ages in which he aims at the destruction ot Governments, Divine and human laws, the family, and, above all, the destruction of the Truth qt God and the church.” Dr Gaebolein loves to make our flesh creep with dreadful talcs of what the Communists are doing and saying. True Christians, wc arc also told, do not .need to fear. The Bible forecasts the future,.' and fulfilled prophecy demonstrates the Bible as the Word of God. Christ’s visible personal and glorious manifestation will mean the complete defeat of His enemies, and the, end of Christian Science, Modernism, Unitariamsm, poverty, oppression, famine, ■ and pestilence. Meanwhile many so-called Christians arc coquetting with anti-Christ. “Bible Criticism, Modernistic Apostasy, Atheism, Socialism, Communism, Ruin—these words are the horrible steps taken by present-day leaders and educators, of Christendom.” ; ROSSftHSE-'AKp MYCTERY Thanks to a vivid imagination ami a versatile pen, Mr Henry St. John Cooper has managed to write a novel which should prove readable from two distinct viewpoints. Firstly, it constitutes a powerfully-written love story, and. .secondly, it contains all the elements of a puzzling murder mystery. The book, the title of which is ‘ As a Woman Wills,’ tells the story of Stephen Hcrriot, a fine type of Englishman whom an unkind Fate lias linked up Wii.li an unworthy woman—-one who utilises her malign influence to estrange him from the girl lie really loves. One night, while Hcrriot is absent from the flat of which he had just acquired the use a murder is committed on the premises, the circumstances being Mich that he and the real heroine of the story suspect each other of committing it. The semblance of justification for the act, however, as well as a mutual feeling of regard, lead them each to shield the other, and an absorbing sequence of events is then detailed in the author’s best vein. 'Messrs Sampson and Marston are the publishers. SERIOUS AND HUMAN STORY A deeply serious, human, and interesting stoiy, notable for tlie fine portraits drawn by the author of his principal characters—this is ‘ Duel,' by Ronald Fangcn, which has been translated from ’ the Norwegian by Paula Wilting. The “ duel ” is mainly an unconscious one between two friends wlio at the time of the story are near the age of sixty—-Klaus flallem, a fairly prosperous country doctor, and Professor Georg (loiter, a European celebrity. As is so often the case with people of brilliance, the professor requires someone as a mirror in which to gaze at the reflection of his own superiority, and Klims provides him with just that opportunity. The two men arc lifelong friends, hut below the surface. Hallcm lias always been troubled by a feeling of inferiority, A financial scandal in which (loiter is involved brings about the crisis of the story, which is made effective by the nuances of the psychological study that lias been embodied in the work. The unravelling of the tangled relations between the two men is heimlTtuliy done, and another beautiful study is that of Dr Hallem’s wife, who Joves her husband and sons with a love that is very far from being blind or selidcceptive. This is a novel of outstanding merit. Our copy conies from the publishers (Messrs Lovat and Dickson). EXOITIiIG STORY Sid Hedges is a writer of considerable skill, and although be does not take altogether a new theme in ‘ Plague Panic,’ all those who enjoy a dramatic and thrilling story well told, will find much to entertain them in this book of the struggles of scientists to overcome a dread disease which threatens the very existence of civilisation itself. A test tube containing a quantity or the real bacilli —germ of this terrible disease—is stolen and is used as a pistol to hold up the world. Through the courage of a young woman disaster is averted. Mr Hedges takes a not altogether novel theme, gives it a twist here and there, and makes a most readable and exciting story. Onr copy comes from I lie publishers (Messrs Her- I hert Jenkins Lid.).

ENTHRALLING MYSTERY STORY ‘ Mu filer Musk,’ ■ by Garstin Begbie (Herbert Jenkins) is an enthralling mystery story, ingeniously told, with the plot well evolved, and an unusual turn of events here and there just to keep the reader guessing. The story opens with the finding by Ossie Dean, a sneak thief, ol a cloakroom ticket which he presents to obtain from the railway authorities a trunk in return. His horror and amazement may bo imagined when he skilfully forced the lock and found inside, in most grotesque attitude, a corpse. The author weaves round this opening a story that for thrills and excitement will satisfy the most blase reader. The story is not without love interest, and the author’s characterisations of his Scotland Yard officers is well done, inspector Quan is a typical police officer, but Sergeant Jeremiah Urbill is of an unusual type, and his methods of deduction should prove of interest to all who enjoy detective fiction. This is both a good " thriller " and clever detective story. Our copy comes from the publishers. A GERALD FAIRLIE THRILLER In his latest achievement, ‘ Copper at Sea,’ Mr Gerald Fairlie gives lovers of sensational and adventurous fiction an entertainment which they arc certain to appreciate. The author, whose main characters are very well drawn, presents Detective-inspector Bruce on the trail of a sinister organisation which is running a school for young criminals. From England the scene changes swiftly to the sea, Bruce taking a passage on a ship, one or more of whoso officers are suspected of knowing more than they should about the manufacture of counterfeit currency and various other offences against civilisation. One most interesting rogue is 'the captain himself, whose habit of studying ‘ Alice in Wonderland ’ is ultimately accounted for by the fact that the famous fantasy is being used in connection with the interpretation of a secret code. In the unravelling of the events on the mystery ship the Scotland Yard man is helped by a girl, who, as may readily lie guessed, is the other figure in the romance which springs up. Our copy comes from the publishers, Messrs Plodder and Stoughton. NOTES Miss Pamela Frankau, daughter of Mr Gilbert Frankau, has written her autobiography. The first chapter tells of her life at the ago of twenty-six, and the book ends with her childhood. Lord David Cecil, who has written books on Cowper and Scott, is preparing a biography of Lord Melbourne, the British Prime Minister alter whom the capital of Victoria was named. Shaw's Puritanism has served him badly; for never having sinned, he has no sense of sin. a sense which gave Banyan, whom he so much admires, such power over his readers.—Mr Bonamy Dobrce. Among English novels lately translated into French are Mary Webb’s ‘Gone to, Earth’ (‘La Penarde’). Charles Morgan’s ‘ The Fountain (‘Fontaine’), and Maurice Baring’s ‘ Comfortless Memory ’ (‘ L’Anguissant Souvenir’). Miss Stella Gibbous has been awarded the Femina Vie Hem-sure prize'for her satirical novel ‘ Cold Comfort Farm.’ The prize, worth £4O, is given each year by a French magazine to an English author whose work is thought to have received insufficient recognition. Zola’s descendants have complained that ‘ Nana,’ in the movie version, is not at all the same thing as their illustrious ancestor’s story. American novelists whose works have been translated to tho screen are said to regard the complaint as quaint, remarks tho ‘ Christian Science Monitor..' There have been murmurs by novelists that their public; is being lured away by biographers who bring fiction into real lives. ‘ The Times ’ recommends that the novelists should meet the competition by bringing more real life into their fiction. “ When I first started my work on the Bench,” wrote Sir Henry Dickens in his ‘ Recollectipns,' “I was strongly impressed with the view that a judge was not there merely to condemn, but to save; and I have always attempted to keep, that aspect of the case dearly in my mind.” When the volume on the ‘ War Office ’ in Putnam’s Whitehall senes was originally announced, the late Sir Reginald Brado had undertaken the work of writing it. Now Mr Hampden Gordon, assistant secretary to the War Office since 1924, has started the hook afresh and it will appear early in 1935. The title of Captain James Barker’s ‘ Log of a Limejuiccr,’ one of Putnam’s autumn books, may need some explaining in this ago of steam. All British ships were dubbed Limejuicers by foreign seamen after the passing of the Parliamentary Act, which obliged afi ships Hying the Red Ensign to -fortify their crews against scurvy with weekly rations of lemon or limejuice. Hans Fallada's novel ‘ Little Man, What Now • has been published in twelve countries. It'is interesting to note that, at a lime when more and more importance is being attached to authors’ international reputations, arrangements have already been made in those same countries for his new book, ‘ Who Once Eats Out of the Tinhowl.’ The English edition will come from Putnam’s.

London ‘ Punch ’ lias this rhyme of ‘ Rivals ’ : Aubrey Plied her with quail and strawberry 5 Harnish Adored hut grew tarnish; Simon She spent no time on; She was not gone On John ; Neville Moved on a different level Mentually; f So that eventually 11 was Sam Who pushed the pram, A fifteenth-ccntury manuscript version of Malory’s ‘ Morte d’Arthur ’ lias been discovered in the library of Winchester College. This manuscript is thought to bo of an earlier date than Caxton’s printed text of 1485. the earliest copy of. the hook hitherto known. Tt is not divided into chapters, as (laxton’s version is. and differs to some extent in'the text. Tho discovery was made by Mr W K. Oakeshott, tho librarian, in the course of arranging an exhibition of manuscripts in the new library buil! In ilio fourteenth century brewery of William of Wykclir.ni, founder of the college.

The heroine of a new novel is described’ as being pretty, economical, good at needlework, an excellent cook, and not talkative. The author is careful to state in a foreword that no reference to any living person is intended The sale of Mr Augustine Bin-ell's library does not include his twenlyfour morocco-hound volumes of Miss Hannah Mpre (says the ‘Observer’). It js over twenty years ago that he confessed that, lest lie should be a party to disseminating their incredible dullness, lie had buried thetn in the garden amid the cheers pf his family, 'they may have had their agricultural uses, though one could find 'some modern novels even better adapted for tho purpose. From time to time readers of popular magazines are invited to send in lists of the hooks they would dioo.se to have with them if they were marooned on a desert island. Miss Helen Cruickshank, author of ‘ Up the Noran Water,’ a new volume in the Gateway scries of young poets, won a competition of this sort, and without mentioning either Boswell or a dictionary. Her selection for a tramping holiday included Watford Davies’s ‘ Soiigbpok.’ a collection of ballads, Shakespeare’s songs, Carpenter's ‘ Towards Democracy,’ and a hook ou wild flowers. The writings of Robert Bridges, the late Poet Laureate, form the .subject of a bibliography by Mr Gorge M'Kay, which has been published by the Oxford University Press. Bridges, who was born in 1844, published his first hook of verse in 1873. He was tliep in the medical 'profession, which he left lor poetry in 1881. Three of his other books of verso had been issued beiore that time. Among the interests qf Bridges, in addition to the writing of poetry and poetic plays, were literary criticism, the improvement of hymns, and the reform of spelling. He iunnded the Society for Pure Fntrhsh. One of his late work's. ‘ The l estament of Beauty,’ exemplified his ideas both on prosody, to which he .cave close slndv and ou spelling relorili, ' "