BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13501, 27 July 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

KosMOS: By George Woolnou>'(, 31.A. Robertson and Co., Ltd., Sydney.—Mr. George Wool no ugh, the well-known Australian journalist and writer, gives in this thoughtful volume some"-.," philosophic studies for lectures and private use on order and correlations in Nature, Mind, Art. and Theism." It is the fruit of 25 years* close study along lines to which his attention was directed by the history of the education of Laura Bridgm'an. As Mr. Woolnough points out: "Beside the astonishing fact that through the muscular organism and the sense of touch she acquired ideas- of concrete things in such a way that therefrom she was led on to forming abstract, moral, and religious ideas, it was notable that the order thus indicated, in which subjects were indicated and learned by her, was the reverse of the order implied by Comic, in his famous law of logical psychology, said by him to be true in all human experience."' Starting from this remarkable fact, which has generally escaped the observation of philosophers, Mr.' Woolnough builds lip a strong reputation of the Positivist argument, and an equally strong justification for the Christian conceptions and theories which have been so ably questioned by.the great French thinker. ■■■; '■■"'" Odd Lengths: By W. B. Maxwell. Metluien, London.—Mr. Maxwell rather re- | joices in the pessimistic, but he is some- | times cheerful and always interesting, | which is a great thing to say of short stories, the writing of which is a gift, not commonly : found in any marked degree. ' From many readable pages one which tells how the weariness of living can drive a well-to-do idler to suicide—gruesome, but illustrative of Mr. Maxwell's style, we make the following excerpt: — His brotherhis once loved younger brothercould have saved him. Far away, at his line house in Hampshire, no doubt, at this hour Jack was .sleeping by the side of his fat, rich wife, never stirring in his sleep, never muttering a cry of horror or grief because of this abominable tragedy. How cruel, how wickedly, inconceivably cruel. Jack would not weep for him. would say he was mad. Yet—heavens and earth —how deeply, in boyhood, in early manhood, he had loved Jack. But no love could hold this younger brother had changed beyond belief. He had married for money, become hard, practical, utterly devoid of sympathy. When the two mot, the younger spoke to the elder with scarcely concealed temper. '-Well, Goeff, old chap —slugging on as usual. I suppose? Crawling about town still? Good lord, man, what has come to you—why don't you rouse yourself?' That was the sort of way Jack talked —without the least understanding sympathy. Because he led an open-air life, was a country squire, a' .LP., a D.D.. a little local potentate, he thought all men—including his brother—contemptible who had other tastes and other aims. He was snobbish, even, in his wife-found prosperity seeming always to dread that Geoffrey, by defiance of convention, by an imprudent marriage, or by loss of money, would one clay bring disgrace upon him. He would talk to Geoffrey, with ridiculous deference, of 'the head of the family'the- cousinbaronet— the sentiments of this pompous ass. and reporting his anxious inquiries. Old Sir John spoke very strongly. Geoff.; He says that he hopes for the credit of the family'you will, look out for a suitable wife and settle down reputably,' and so on. ' Remember," said Jack, another time, 'there are only three, lives between us;' and the elder brother laughed inwardly. ' Four lives; Master Jack,' he said to himself— you don't mind counting mine. That- means that if Sir John and his sons would kindly go out in a boat and be drowned—and I dio childless—as I suppose I shall—you could plaster the red hand on my" lady's carriages." '"We'll." he said now. as' lie muddled about the room. .'"l'm doing -what I can for you, Jack". I am removing one of those four lives." '''■' • '"' " _ ' ' "Love could have saved himbut all the love was gone. And he thought with unutterable sadness and self-pity of what he had been—once. Gay, happy, facile in disposition—not in the' least •selfish then—in all things worthy of love. Women had cared for him—had been willing to give him all their love. Looking back, "he could hear their voices, ' see their eyes gazing at him. mournfullygracious, yielding forms, waiting with outstretched arms, standing in soft light with dark shadows behind them. < They were all love?' lv and love-impelling, in that gentle light the fading light of youth. Thinking of them, and turning again to his fixed point the cruel weapon of release—he shivered from head to foot. ' . ' ;:•■," How many! Very many, in twenty years—the women he had lost, insanely Jet go, pushed from him without regret, without one warning thought of his future need. Now,, any one of these women— she here —could save him from his doom. "Any woman might save him. "A longing for help came to him. Horror and revulsion seized him. Escapeeven now? He would go out into, the streets, pick up the first woman lie could find, and with her help ; fight against the insufferable cruelty of his doom. : . ■ "But. no, he cannot. Such an effort was impossible. He could only sit and think of it. Too late— should' have thought of that before. The short night was far advanced : the streets would be empty of life; all the house, all the great town was sleeping. The last sound of life- in the house had ceased just now. The faint rattle and clicking of the type-machine on the floor below had been the last sound." The PitiVATKBRs': .By H. B. Marriott Watson. Methuen, London.— popular novelist, or any writer who aims at popularity, is as sensitive to changes in public opinion as a barometer is to changes in atmospheric density. A little while ago it was the popular tiling to laud to the sky the American woman, the American man, and all American works. Now there is a disposition to regard all Chicago meat as condemnablc, and all Americans as beyond the human pale; the outbreak indicating how much sore and jealous feeling had been suppressed during the period of American social ascendancy. " The Privateers" is one of the floats that indicate the popular current. They arc American speculators, who having become aware that a "great railway magnate has left all his millions to an English niece, who does not know of his existence, come to England on business. bent. One of them wooes her and nearly weds, her. The other abducts the girl and carries her to Brittany in a yacht, imprisoning the bewildered girl—who' has not the remotest notion what it is all —with the object of compelling his rival to make terms as to railway-control.. An English naval lieutenant finally rescues and marries the girl, after a long series of amazing adventures, in which American contempt for all the laws of God and man. and for every consideration but self-interest, is kept well to the front. The story is well and pleasingly written and may well have many readers as long as the American reaction continues. Memoirs of a Person- of Quality':'. Edited by Ashton Villiers. W. Heinemann.This vivid reproduction of English life and romance in the later part of the eighteenth century, which has been already reviewed in "the New:H Zealand Herald, is now issued in Heinemaun's Colonial Library. It is deservedly anion" the largely-read books of the season. Rkddv: By H. N. Dickinson. William Heinemann,. London.—Stories dealing with English public school and collegiate life have always a measure of interest, for since they are invariably written by men who have been there they contain at least the impression the respective writers have received and retained. Mr. Dickinson does not appear to have received a very pleasant impression of Oxford. "Redely," the hero, is a soft sort of youth, who is battle.dorcd about between a fussy clergyman and "a worthless young fellow-student. The villain finally falls "into a breach of promise case, by introducing as his intended wife a girl with whom he is found by an equally objectionable ■ college don. There is very little which is really cheerful and whole- '• some in the book, but it has a decided air of ; realism, and may be a fair presentation of a 1 certain side of Oxford life. , •