NEW BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEW BOOKS.

" Great Heart of Papua "—by W. P. Nairn (Humphrey Milford, London).—"Great Heart" is the noted

missionary James Chalmers, who lost hts life in New Guinea. The author has written a very simple story of this intrepid man, treating of his boyhood as well as of Ins many adventures in the various Pacific lslandf. Net only those who are interested in missions will find reading matter in the book; it is valuable as a biography of a man who worked well in his chosen vocation. The pictures in the book are numerous and varied in subject.

"Telling the Truth!'— Wi'."-.ni Hewlett (Bell, Lonodn; Wildman ami Arey, Auckland).— Mr. Hewlett writes in such different strain from his namesake that unconsciously l:is readers must bo disappointed. For his work is as much of the world of towns and to-day as Maurice Hewlett's is of the more spiritual side of man and woman. Making allowance for this, lie writes a good story with a certain amount of cynicism and disillusion. His hero is, one has to admit, a conceited young prig, who leaps through life from journalism to the Mage, with sweethearts for the asking, and eventually a lady lor his prize- . And really there is nothing to suggest that lie deserves his good luck in this particular matter.

" Love on Smoky River" —by Theodore Goodridge Roberts (Long, London'i.—When Westley went to seek adventure at Smoky River, it was becauselie thought a young woman named Dorothy intended to marry another man. His work in and out of camp is told in a light but interesting novel, and when the misunderstanding is cleared by Dorothy and her brother taking a journey to find the errant lover, the- story grows exciting. A hold-up by a rogue, their escape and a canoe trip bring them safely into the arms of Westley and all goes merrily. The life of-men in-half-civilised places is told perhaps with melodramatic touches; but the characters of the factor, of Steve Canadian and of- David Westley, make up a readable tale. . "Tbi Spotted Panther"—by James Francis Dwyer (Doubleday -Page, New York; Robertson,' Melbourne), — truly fearsome tale with 'plenty of "mother-o-me" and jumping jigsbaws! as exclamations and as much treasure and fighting as the most bloodthirsty adventurer calls for. Three - adventurers ■' go forth into the heart' of the Malayan 'island to find something that is more rare still, a priceless swOrd : of Budda : with an emerald hilt, and much gold. They do eventually find this sword, sifter '-all .their bearers' heads have" beien chopped 1 off,-and after their discovery, of V. perfect'woman, descendant of ,the old Portuguese ■ navigator Enriquez de Gama,.and. • still speaking his language- after, three :hundred years. Bui how -. they got the sword i'&iti how they lost it again- had belter be told by Mr. Dwyer. ,_ ... ' '•': " T'e Irresistible • '■ Intruder "I— by William Canie ' • (Lane, '3 London).— There is a considerable-amount of -pleasure gained from the reading of books about children; and',. though Mr."Game's ~ book at first deceives , because one thinks-that it is to. be a . wholly humorous , story, ■whereas it really .turns out to fbe a .love story wjth the' small boy.'a most attractive person, it "is'a- happy effort.' •'Bill/ the bachelor, believing \ himself '; at forty-five most dreadfully old, considerably" annoyed at .'the. prospect of having to endure a schoolboy's visit,, finds that'he is young enough to be subjugated by the child. In an hour he is' offering' to teach' fly-fishing to the youth, arid' even gives him. a rod. Worse still for his beliefs, he.at once falls in love with the boy's , friend, a widow, after .making. a few .ridiculous mistakes about his friend who wants not the widow]; but the bachelor's '•, sister. "' Among- these ehoals, steersthe irresistible • intruder ''Pub-, lins, winning affection and remaining' a lovable child \ who■> cherishes a map "of i his imaginary kingdom—the Kingdom "of -Fans; When • his-; King Burigo' dies '.Pflblins,' at once appoints Uncle Bill as. successor. 'So with childish nonsense ;of this kind; and the troubles of Uncle Bill when the widow retreats, the book runs ' happily" ins. a pleasing easy style. ' .: . ' ' .',**,- " Charles - Dickens" — by , . G. /' K: Chesterton. (Methuen, „' London):—This is a reprint .'in', shilling-novel ; form of Mr Chesterton's'popular work. " It is written with all-his .originality .of opinion and his thoroughness of detail." Hsiis a warm defender of. Dickens. He not-s that "in this post-Carlylean period we have become fastidious about great men. We are hard to please and of little 'faith'. We can hardly believe that there. is such a thing as a great man. We are,always praying that our hearts may behold greatness instead of praying' that .'our. nearts may be filled with it—, Dickens was the voice of an earlier England, of a humane intoxication and , expansion, '• of' encouraging anybody to be anything. His work hat the great glory of the revolution, the bidding of every man to be himself; it has also the revolutionary deficiency, .it teems to think that the mere emancipation is enough . . '.. The disadvantage under which Dickens has fallen, :both us an artist and a moralist, is ' very plain! His misfortune is that neither of the two last movements in literary criticism has done him any good. He has suffered alike from his enemies and from the enemies of his enemies- When the world.first awoke from the mere hypnotism'of Dickens, from the direct tyranny of Dickens, there was of course, reaction. At the head of it came the realists. The shortest way' of expressing the more-recent neglect of Dickens is to say that for our time" and taste hi; exaggerates the -wrong thing."

" Black Silence "—by Marie C. Leighton (Ward Lock, Melbourne; Wildman and Arey, Auckland).— -the reader who seeks plot and counterplot, the doing of villainous deeds, and the Unmasking of villainy, the persecution of innocence arid the final overthrow of the ' scouadre] who is the prime mover of the mechanism of crime, there will be plenty of material in "Black Silence," for Lord Vanderon is a scoundrel of the deepest dye. He takes money from his bank to the tune of a million pounds' worth of securities, and then persuades his manager to write a confession saying that he is the culprit, Van' deron promising him as'reward, protection and comfort for his wife and children. Directly Hayter has ■fled, leaving the false confession in the bands, of Vanderon, the lord forgets, the protection and comfort, and, spends, his eflejgy in making love 'to Hayter's pretty daughter.{She 'has already n lover in Dick Waller, a naval - officer; and one day, she.' rescues from, drowning : a. man who - is ; recognised .by her and- by j Vanderon as/ her .father. Then * begins: her search and the; banker's hunfciforvHaytfih > He appears- and reappears With isudden. neW at,various.placed!/.He, steals«the confession and it. is. taken.', from .him, >;arid etolcu again., There is no dearth: of'happenings in the book..' Hayter ' haa. a insi' ness uuder the flame of. Newman.and. a new element is introduced. Vanderori has not only a divorced , wife, but an unexp<?ct»dly legal sou. Virtue triumphs after ' accidentally in Spain having- put a manV trouble*, and ihe criminal lord, dies great many people to serious inconveni«nce. ' .'•..•