A CERTAIN LIVELINESS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 297, 1 December 1928, Page 9

A CERTAIN LIVELINESS

By H. FLETCHER MOULTON. (Arrowsmith.)

This is the entertaining kind of story in which you know quite well that things could not have happened just so nicely and neatly, but in the reading of which you know that the author is equally well aware of the fact, as he deftly indicates by flashes of genuine humour. It is always a joy to read a yarn which the writer himself has enjoyed, and “A Certain Liveliness,” true to its title, is guaranteed to keep the interest of the reader all the way through. Captain Bill Anderson arrived in London from Nevada with a valuable mining concession in his possession; met Michelhan, a clever crook; was arrested on a false charge by the crook, who wished to possess himself of the concession while its owner languished in gaol. The charge, however, broke down as one of those “points of law” so dear to the hearts of lawyers, and Anderson, on the principle that attack is the best kind of defence, went tooth and nail for his enemies.

He had splendid assistance. There was his old batman; there was Bud Fisher, an American of great wealth who owed his life in former days to Anderson; and there was the financier’s cousin Esme, who so successfully “vamped” the villain that she brought about his final downfall. The crook, however, was not finish, ed. He kidnapped Esme. The reader can see the denouement a mile away, and it comes. Anderson rescued the lady, and the lady rewarded Anderson as rescued heroines always do in the case of rescuing heroes. A spirited and certainly Ively story.

BITS FROM BOOKS

A WOMAN’S WORK

There is another function of the home-maker which has its intellectual side, namely, the cultivation in children of the sense of beauty, and of the enjoyment of beautiful objects. In most families —ric hand poor alike —this function falls to the woman. In the poorest houses one often . in the southerly window some flowering plants raised in tin cans and broken pieces of crockery, but cultivated with remarkable success by the wife and mother. A single oleander brush will be tended a whole year by the old wife whose children have left home—with much labour in winter to protect it from frost, because the kitchen is the only tolerably warm room at night—just for the sake of its three weeks of flowers. It is generally the mother of the family who keeps flowers blooming in the village house lot, or in the grounds just about the solitary farmhouse.

How many people remember all their liveg peculiar fragrance of grandmother s garden, and the selection of flowers in which she delighted! In the scattered houses in the country it is the woman who buys of the travelling pedlar the illuminated text of Scripture and the chiomos of foreign scenery for the decoration of her walls. The houses of the rich are adorned with beautiful fabrics, etchings, paintings, china and glass provided by and for women. Thinking of such objects, and working for such ends, is an intellectual pleasure and a civilising influence for the household and neighbourhood. In every profession and occupation, whether ordinarily called intellectual or manual, there is a large moral element without which the mental training which the profession or occupation provides is hardly worth having. Indeed, many activities called intellectual are really whereas all intellectual achievement in the household or family is hk>. to be immddiately serviceable and productive.

Because 'of the sacredness of family like and its supreme importance for the progress of the race, the admixture of holy sentiments and aspirations with the labors of a mother seems more intimate and essential than with any other human labors; but the fact has no tendency to diminish the value of the intellectual part of that occupation. The value of any occupation, whether occupation of a million human being* or of one human being, is best judged by its product. If we apply this standard to the occupation of a normal woman who brings up four or five dutiful, thoughtful and loving children, shall we not conclude that her occupation is the most precious in the world, no matter how we settle the question whether heredity or environment is the more influential factor in determining the quality of each .generation? The woman exerts both these influences. This is as true for a million women as it is for one. It is a solid fact, which has been but imperfectly apprehended by mankind, that this most precious occupation is full of opportunities for training the reasoning powers through practice in observing, comparing, discriminating and choosing. This is the reason that we may fairly judge the real civilisation of any race by the way it has treated, and is treating, its women. This ig the reason that we always ask about any unusually serviceable man or woman—Who wa 8 the mother? This is the reason that the Christian nations of the world have made more rapid progress than the others toward public iustice and nublic happiness. They have a higher estimate than the other nations have of the intellectual and moral capacities of women, and of the dignity and informing r of their normal occupation From Charles W. Eliot’s “Talks to Parents and Young People.”