THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14730, 12 July 1911, Page 10

THINGS IN GENERAL.

SOME LITTLE BOOKS. A book-shop has a strong fascination for 'me always, but I can seldom allow the attraction to work effectively, because I have work to do, and food to buy. My money conies out more readily to buy books" than it does to pay rent, if it has the opportunity. It takes longer to buy a book than it does to pay a grocer s bill, too. So as a rule, Igo into a bookshop only when I can ask somebody point blank for a certain volume, and know that 1 can get away again at once. But the other day 1 drifted into a small shop that combines the business of selling now and second-hand books with a circulating library, and not wanting anything in particular, asked for a dictionary of a certain rare and rather useless sort, 1 hatis a device that keeps the attention of the salesman occupied while you make up your mind whether you really want anything or not. 1 found that I wanted a great deal more than I could afford, so 1 bought three books at a penny each, and no dictionary. They were "Sesame and Lilies," 'The Political Economy of •Vrt," and "Lays of Ancient Rome." Also they were new. Each has 'on its front corner & portrait of the author m halftone, with a coloured border; and on the back cover a complete advertisecnint of somebody's soothing powders. Now, who expects to find Kuskin and Lord Macauley done up in pennyworths? This is the day of cheap books, but such volumes are still a little surprising.

THE THIN END OF A WEDGE. The domestic fly, it is said, when mixed ap in a bun and palmed off on the unwary as a currant, dies happy-such » his deceitful nature. There are a many folks who gulp down large doses ot penny novels; scarcely tasting them, so practised are their gullets; and there is a chance that they may by misadventure take, a bite out of "Sesame" without thinking till th'fl unwonted taste makes them halt. And having thus commenced, it were a pity and a waste to toss the rest of the meal away without further trial, for does not one learn to enjoy tomatoes! Here and there we shall see some venturesome taster, having first screwed up his lips and had a doubt, gradually appreciating a new flavour; and then quietly settling down to a full enjoyment that shall end with a smacking of lips. The other may spit out his morsel' and turn again to the sapid fruit of the fiction-tree, bought at a shilling a dozen; but the tomoto-eater shall hurry off to the shop and buy other specimens, grown maybe, in a hothouse, and with a smoother skin, but a flavour no finer, except through understanding that one must discover newer shades of taste in a five shilling article than in a penny one. The cheap paper-covered essay is a'subtle wedge, and finds unsuspected likings in its chance readers. But this is its accidental" success, and it has one more direct, when it passes into the hands of men and women some matter that, they may have had to deny theselves, or when it reaches the reader who has feared to buy such stuff in case he will not like it. He knows that, if he buys Ruskin for a penny, and cannot enjoy him, he can Bet rid of the morsel without any qualm when even a sixpence for a bigger sample would have made him pause.

BOOK-SHELF , WHITE r ELEPHANTS.

Alongside the heap of little penny prints there stood a case of big volumes,, second-hand, with a card that said £15. The big publication has not been on the market" very long yet this was the second lot of the books that dealer had had sold to him by its first purchaser; and the set centred at once the supposition that a great many people buy expensive books that are of no use to them Clever devices are used by publishing firms to sell sets of 'books'on tha instalment system; and smart canvassers leave trails of fat volumes through the land. Histories of the world, encyclopaedias and en-uire-within-f or-every thing treasuries cumber small' rooms which they oppress with their severity ct garb and effectually lock up the purchaser's money. In a great number of instances almost the only return he gets is what the second-hand dealer can let him have for his insufficiently considered purchase. Mow for a man whose habits are studious, and whose thirst for knowledge is omnivorous, a bi" encyclopedia makes capital reading, but anyone else, unless he has more money than he needs, can be equally well served by the set in the public library. The book that meets ten thousand emergencies with appropriate recipes usually ■ finds a very neglected corner of the shelf ; for the work of this sort that is frequently taken about with a book of order forms often proves on close acquaintance to be very fallible, very badly written, and very out of date. The publisher finds it excellent business, of course, to persuade people to buy his wares whether they need them or not. He has his own good advice on the point, but the purchaser has often only the advice of the same publisher, which to the buyer may bo' very bad advice. As for myself, I should like much to have an encyclopaedia of the largest, most comprehensive, up-to-datest and most costly kind ; but while the library is round the corner and things are to be bought, it pavs me better to buy other hooks. As it "is. I can have many other books at homo and an encyclopaedia a little way off. If I had the encyclopaedia at home, I should, perhaps, have no other books.

A PROPHET ; WITHOUT HONOUR, Professor Bickerton is making a big fight in Great Britain for his rights. He is seeking recognition as the originator of a striking theory of cosmic evolution, worked out upon a very reasonable basis that assumes the impact upon each other of stars, and the reconversion of the energy of motion into the energy of life and heat, establishing a new life among the bodies concerned. He is a remarkable figure, who has worked out his ideas among many discouragements. He was a • professor at Canterbury College, but his advanced notions brought the displeasure of tho authorities upon him, and he had to retire to bis homo outside the city. His extensive grounds were made to minister to his needs. He converted them into a pleasure garden, using the meretricious appurtenances of a wonderland to attract the loliday-maker, and wrapping up in a bait of swings, automatic machines and fireworks many a little pill of scientific instruction. Wainoni Park quickly bicame a show-place, and though it was never glorious, but generally wore an air rather of poverty and incompleteness, it had and still has a great interest, partly on account of the ''paper houses" in which the colony he established lived, and partly as the homo of a clever man always ready and willing to welcome discussion and to enlarge for himself upon any of the many subjects that interested him. Kow the park, where pyrotechnic displays "ivare made with home-made explosives >nd fireworks, has a factory that turns out > good quantity of rockets and squibs for )ther peopb to burn their fingers and Mow themselves up with, and the processor is in England. His big theory, about ; which he has written much, has met with a wide acceptance, but he, as its originator, has not had the honour attached to _ it. Gradually, it seems, his campaign has worn down some of the opposition in the homes of science, but there is much inertia there, and the people he approaches have many other things to think about. But the professor has spread his publications far and wide, and he has been given help both financially and by the' elucidation r-l' in more simplo form of matters which he himself usually presented rather for the fully-equipped scientist than for the >. people. It is apparently admitted now that he is the original formulator of the . theory of partial . impact—an admission which, he was most anxious to obtain— and if he .wara panted tho official recoeV

nition by the big scientific societies to which he feels entitled to complete his honour, lie would probably feel that his whole mission had been accomplished. THE BICYCLE AND THE HILLS. One of the conditions that Auckland imposes upon her people is that most of them shall not ride bicycles. Contrariwise, she says also that most of them 1 shall ride in trams. This is the penalty for living in a city set upon hills. In Hatter towns, where streets run level or with trifling slopes in all directions, and roads run smoothly and evenly into the country-side, the cycle is in every home. It even takes the courage of the pack, and standing boldly forth in the marketplace, assures the electric trams that it will not stand any of their nonsense. lint in a hilly place the cycle is for the athlete, and not for every business man and every other office-girl and shop assistant. Where the cycle is übiquitous, as it is in Christchurch, it has shown itself no fairweather friend, but a very dependable vehicle, able to transport its owner safely and cleanly even in very bad weather, so long as the road is smooth and bard under its sloppiness. The advent of good roads about the city of Auckland, however, may do something to make cycling more popular here when the summer comes, even though the steepness of some of the hills is a handicap. When the charm of cycling once gets a larger grip, there is no room for doubt that the pleasant expanses-of the country districts outside the city will claim many new friendships. The craze for " touring" of years ago is dead, and will never, perhaps, revive again. But if cyclists in hundreds do not pour out. of the city gates to popular rendezvous to enjoy a distant dinner, the pleasant run into country lanes has lost none of its charm ; and there is no real reason why cycling as a pastime should not be very favoured in Auckland, even if the machine cannot obtain such a footing among the utilities as it has been able to do in other places. The General.