PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IX, Issue 172, 7 July 1919, Page 7

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

THE MUD LARKS AGAIN.

To those who cherish pleasant memories of “The Mud Larks,” by | Lieutenant C’rosbie Garstin, “The I Mud Larks Again” will need no re- ! commendation. Lieutenant Gari stin's high spirits are quite unabated by campaigning; age cannot wither ; m>r custom stale the infinite variety of Ins humour or its spontaneity. He , is the architype of the happy warrior i who can see fun in everything an:l extract comedy out of the most tin promising material. These cheerful tales a#e as amusing and irresponsible as ever, and the fact that the Blankshires are transferred to the Italian front provfdes additional j scope for Lieutenant Garstin’s keen sense of the ludicrous. Here we have the same irascible colonels, volatile subalterns, philosophical batmen, and preternaturally intelligent regimental pots. Would you hear of Eustace the pigeon who walked i home, or of the harriers who were tbemkelves harried ? Then turn to Mr. Garstiiths hilarious pages. Or of the properties of gas as expoundeo to an enthusiastic audience of ‘ Tommies by a Bachelor of Science ] disguised as a second lieutenant-- ’ ’“Second on our list is mustard gas. 'so called because it smells like garlic. Everything that smells like garlie. however, Js not mustard gas. as a certain British division which went into tbe line alongside some of onr brave Southern Allies reeretfnllv discovered after they had sweltering : n their masks for 36 long hours.” Tf. as has been said, the essence of humour is incongruity. Mr. Garstin’s. airy irrelevance make* him an admirable exponent. We nnnte another example taken at random: “The balloon attached to onr detachment is verv tame. Fre’v morning its keepers lead it forth from ita abode by strings, tie ; t to a longer s tri rm and let. it go. All day ; t remains aloft t.’V”ring gentlv at. “ leash, and keeping an eye on the war. Tn the evening the keeners annear once more, haul it down, and lead it home for the night. Tt reminds me for all the world of a huae elenhanedveing bossed about bv the mahout's infant familv. T alwavs f ocl like giving the gentle creature a bun. Sometimes the Boche birds com ( . over disguised a« clouds, and suit mouthfuls of red-bpt trace' bullets at it. and t.’’en the observer; bon nut. One of them hopned nut Into mv horse lines last, week : tho* Is tn snv. h’s parachute caught in a t-cc .and he hung swinging like a gigantic n"nd>di’m n' or mv barira until wo lifted him down. This wax the sixth plunge he had done : n ten dav«. he told ns. Sometimes he nlnneed into the most ernbarassing situations. On one eccaslnn ho dmnnod clean through a roof : nto a hot. bath containing a colonel, —i o punched h’m with a sponrm and t.i’rew soan at h'm. On another ho ■wme fluttering down from the blue Into the' midst of a labour com•wnv of Chinese oeolios. who imn’epiafel.- fo 1 ) on their faces worshinpir><r him as sown hnnvenlv being anJ later oqf off all his buttons n< ’■olv rel’cs. An eventful life ” an i Robertson). —Hall and 9..U5. Wr.ctipgS.

“Explorations in Civilization” is t' c tit’e of a new honk bv Randolph Be lford (published by Angus and Robertson. Ltd., Sydney). The writer is a thorough Australian and his writings will appeal strongly to Australians and New Zealanders, who are possessed of the not altogether to be despised native con ceit which makes them see no good in the slower moving old part of the world, leaving the impression that t’eir new world is a place where there arc no rogues or fools, and no poverty or suffering. However the author admits this shortcoming to a d gree in his preface wherein he states that “The chief value of travel stories is lost if they be not writ-t-m in the first flush of tho experience . . . ami though the book e.; Ties the ’imperfections of its some-1 tiim s hasty conditions it also carries the sincerity of its observation.” .Some of his descriptive writing is particularly good aad as an interesting travel study the Look is well worth reading.