BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 182, 4 July 1931, Page 4

BOOK NOTES

THE MOULD OF FASHION. : M. Paul Poiret. s ** «ntatne* tit £ j ,f d g £ ares - \ears. is g* o« of * Q€S3£3ie;s .n Pans grf". . - The : arbkers of the s 4S 5 r-atror.iiec s>y p v ,- - ante or ji, df»k.« |rft|-fnt r the eoroßauoa oi ja-i-e- -“““L. j av= and in the pre-revolutionary - p-rircesses and gran-.-nucuess-.j* _ - fVecuent visitors to his ■ One Russian princess arrived - a huge cigar. M. Poiret ij> y _ “ s tear of tire arts ana f.:: assianoa* col ? lector. He Has the xreedom oi ■ ytf * cosrsor-olitan article circles - 1 ' and kaovrs everyone t|o is anyo - i the upper zone oi Bocetnia- /“ere '• are anecdotes about Hejanc- : Gnilberx. Isadora Duncan. ana_ m«“._ other celebrities. He entmaiM 5 ■ friends at revues of Lucullan spJenl dour, he ar.d his guests assuming me roles, of the deities or ancient Greece ■'and Rente. On one occasion ge ..a_ nntvittsnglv responsible icr stirring_nu a hornets' nest, in London. During . ' the tarn reform controversy, vroen. : Mr Asquith was Prime Minister. Jl. Poiret.'at Mrs Asquith's request. lte.a a mannecum parade -at V°' r ?i? ar 1 Street. attended. by a large ana ansto--1 ; cratic gathering. Mr Asquitb :l in for a moment and Trent to ’ strict, “his demeanour ratner graver. . Well’ it might be. Political capital T.ig made out of the exhibition, ana ' questions Trere asked in the HouseMr Asquith, though he had hau : ;rg to do vrith tiie sho«r. was accused of poshing foreign trade_ at the ex- • tense of British and using fojy tn e ! paruose the residence that ban _oeen f i-tid for by the nation. M. Poiret s : vivacious chronicle makes excellent, i reading.

GREECE IX THE TTAR.

' j Mr Compton Mackenzie s “hhra*. s Athenian Memories’’ lakes _up tee : ia!e of bis war-time experiences at ■ \ the point where his "Gallipoli Mem- * cries" lefx c-5. The author was at- ' 1 1 ached to a branch of "Intelligence I in Athens, and we are soon on xamiliar , ‘ground. During recent years he has j published a series of novels, the cen- j cral figure of which was an Enciish \ onicer engaged in intelligence work in ] that city, and now we meet the ori~ 1 gin als of many of the characters m | those books. Thus there are the : agents. a curiously-assorted crew. each; with a "nom-de-gnerre" which is ' usually most unsuitable: the Englisn : archaeologist, who. dying of constimp-; tion. gives up the researches cn the j completion of which his heart was set I in order to slave at a card-index in the | centre espionage bureau: the corpu- | lent but indefatigable Tucker, and sev- \ era!- ethers. Mr Mackenzie criticises ; British policy in the Balkans during - the war. It was. he says, tactless. J * vacillatin2 and blundering. Mr Mao I

j kenzie Its? come to the conclusion that | practically all intelligence work —apan ; from that of an army in the field —is f a waste of time, money and energy. | "While he was in Athens his health was \ poor, he was often in pain, arid the ! strain of long hours was severe. Xat- \ urally he is disappointed that these j labours should have yielded so little, j Hundreds of chies were followed to no j purpose: hundreds of mare's nests ' were discovered. But not all these investigations were futile. Occasionally. on Ms own showing, they led to : the interception of important documents or to the arrest and internment .of spies. Moreover, the centre espionages service had negative results that 1 were useful. It made the enemy agents walk warily. In its absence these could have gone about their business with impunity, and neutral i Greece would have become a clearing • ' house for the transmission to the Central Powers of information about Bri- ; tain’s military and naval dispositions ; in the eastern Mediterranean.

‘•OUTSIDE EDEX.” BY G. U. ELLIS. j Mr Ellis has been looking into the ' lives of the vounger generation, and the result of his friendly inquiry is. on the whole, satisfactory The young people of •'Outside Eden” are as irresponsible, sanguine, and revolutionary as one would expect them to he. delighting in candour for its own sake, or for the sake of its shattering effect upon their seniors. They are | generous to a fault, and their seeming 1 unconventionality has_ not prevented Mr Ellis from perceiving the value of their rules of conduct. Those people who have not tired of reading about the exultations and agonies of modern youth will enjov this story for its spontaneous gaiety, as well as for the youthful characters whose fortunes are outlined. The case of Christopher Barrvmore is not uncommon. He was orphaned at 19, and faced the world with a pittance. His love for a girl named “Babe” spurred him on to get what work he could selling complete editions of standard authors from door to door, and acting as agent on commission for a vacuum cleaner company. Christopher. Babe, and their irrepressibly cheerful friends were all as poor as they could be. but rich in optimism and the qualities which

{make for romance. T..' ' -ores and their gambo:I jnc reading, and tne. defender in Mr E.h~.. ■ ■ - <- L-al unfortunate Jaimes - - f tzlitT in the course or tr,e - •the freshness and humon- - » Sine a-"* compensating fide Eden” is not, howerer. •same class as tee , • pork, "The Bondwoman.