NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

BT CRITIC-

For many months there seems to have been a foreshadowing of a great religious revival. From large rcountries than ours the ripples have broken. It began to insinuate itself into certain literary efforts in a noticeable fashion; but before its culmination, the material fact of war assailed all civilised peoples and occupied their attention. But since the human mind adjusts itself to all happenings, it has swayed back to sufficient normality for us io have become accustomed to talk almost casually of engagements, of munitions of war, and of losses. "" The spintu.il side of European nations may very possibly be uplifted and developed by the realisation oi the. uncertainty which war brings to life; and one of the direct results of the. conflict now raging may be a greater development of the religious life. It is certainly noticeable that an appreciable amount of religious literature is being published, side by side with that dealing with that most material subject—war.

" With the Bible in Bazil"— by F. C. Glass (Morgan, Scott, London)—To booklevers this title will recall George Borrow's famous " Bihl-3 in Spain." But what huge differences! Comparing very roughly, here is the distinction. Borrow's lascinating pen painted Spain as a. rambler saw it. Incidentally, Borrow sold Bibles ; actually he mightily enjoyed the free roving life. Borrow in Spain would have been a, truly appropriate title. Glass' book is emphatically the record of a seller of Bibles. He cannot wave a magician wand over the land to transport you into \t., bwti he van, and does show you the &\wit\k\\.\«s <s\. 3k «fi&swte\ix u\ tfveso seem- i bavag« y&T I .*. AcvasAW b<s, softs fc''.'6fes ; i and, incidentally—note the distinction be-1 tween the two authors—he gives you glimpses into the native life of Brazil, i with a sine sense that a European there i has rather a disagreeable time. |

His enthusiasm, and his devotion to religion are the only reasons why he endures such undoubted discomfort. He finds his "reward in the overcoming of difficulties and in the conversion of Protestantism of those who from ignorance or conviction formerly opposed him. His account of the sales amazes one who lias never seriously considered this side of mis-

sior; life; and while putting foremost the

story, of his colleague colporteurs, i.e., . those who sell the Scriptures, his book - traverses other interesting ground. With his zeai, he cannot be other than a most •valued missionary of the Protestant re-

-.."In the Vulgar Tongue" (the Bible House, London).— the world, this record of Bible-selling again astonishes -those who have not taken seriously the fact that the Bible is bein2~used~as one of the great civilising influences. It is really a popular report of the work of 'the British and Foreign Bible Society's ■work. It contains more than usually good reproductions of photographs, one of them being-a coaching scene in our own Dominion.

"The Chmtian Life in the Modern Woild"_by F. G. Peabody (Macmillan, London}.— is an extremely thought- '" ful •consideration of the ethical standard . or. the ' modem world by the. Plummex „ professor of Christian morals in Harvard University. It deals extensively and logic- . ally with, the many problems, such as •,; Christian life and the family, the modern business world, the making" and the uses of money. The author is earnest and sincere. This is his summary; " A . cleaner life in the family, "a more .'paternal world of business, the puri- • tying of money-making, and the moralising . of politics—all these are waiting for that ~ antecedent cleansing of the Church, which may make it an effective instrument of .- :the great salvation."

; "Dregs"— Mrs. Victor Rickard (Alston Rivers, London).— is one of the> most realistic stories of the irredeemable rolling-stone that lias been written. For, true to the artistic sense, the manhe is never a hero wanderer and

. vaster'to the end. Why do stories of ~. wasted lives seem so pitiable The men themselves never ask for pity. They are . .truly of the type that once would have ;,; been : mercenaries. There are probably L many of them absorbed in our present - war, still mercenaries but fighting on the ■ ■ Bide of their own country. We have heard ~ t of plenty of men of the typo of Felix Lan- .,.';, .caster,... unconventional, uncontrollable, spirits, who get somehow into soma corner' .of the ' earth to drink

and. gamble and fight Life. Lank caster's stay in Burma is very real. Such, one feels, "must be the life of so many exiled Britishers.' His desertion of his wife, bis slipping into the existence of a ~ crook in the gambling hells of the Continentall this is very consistent, however ~ sordid and pitiable it may be. The final „ .discovery of him by his wife, can be only temporary: Mercifully Mrs. Rickard hints . that death will be his next means of reJ_ lease. Her story is very moving and true; arid she . makes dramatic contrasts between the sheltered dignity of uie Eng- . : lish deanery and the ranshackle club of , Thanadon, where all gradually find de- . generation.

Sinister Island"—by C. W. Camp -fDodds, Mead, New York).—The supernatural is the subject of Sinister Island. The visitor to this island finds his friend Anderson completely unnerved by certain ' ghostly happenings.. Still tke Andersons remain -in order to track down the reason of the blue flames and the deaths from mysterious serpents, the abrasions on wrists. Miller shortly opposes the idea of mystery. Quite enough happens to scare him; and he all but falls a victim to the devilish machinations of the island. There is a human explanation, but it would be most unfair to reveal it before the reading of such a nerve-curdling tale •if mystery and horror as this of Sinister Island.

" The Forest Maiden"—by Lee Robinet (Browne and Howell, Chicago; Robertson, Melbourne).—Another mystery. You will not be able to decide whether you are not back in the Stone Age, or ■whether a dream is the explanation. A man dressed in skins, with primitive weapons and unholy hypnotic influence, named Adam, acts the part of first man. His wife is Eve; and t!ne handmaiden is Lilifc. The latter is the lodestone which draws Kenmoro into the prehistoric life of the island. When the group escapes from Adam and the spell of their enchantment is broken yon find yourself in this century, and a certain amount of explanation in Adam's obsession. But how does be get that magic powder which keeps wild beasts from approaching human beings And how account for so ignorant a being's mesmeric influence and colossal power?

"An Unholy Alliance"— by Violet Twe<'dale (Loner, London).—This authoress his been tempted to follow the paths of those who write of Satanism and" the occult. Her story, the mystic side of it at least, does not cany conviction, though blio raises a formidable enough ogre in the canon, himself, a good study of a warped character. *■ t Another book of Long's shilling library ~,.1V Sonka ~ b y Vincent Hanoy •S»M<jiiH ~.. ,', , ' '• i ' "JSISi" W ""Motions in cheap

Two clever collections of French stories of military life are- to be found in "Lost Sheep" by. Vera Shortt "Under the Tricolour"—by Pierre Mille. (John Lane, London). The former is a forceful story of an English officer, who having gone through his fortuno leaves England, and enlists in the Foreign Legion. In Algeria lie has many experiences of men and of hardship. "The Legionary," the author informs us, " is the modern equivalent of the mercenary soldier of the Middle Ages in everything except pay, and he thrives on active service as he does on nothing else. Under its influence ' Capard' vanishes as if by magic, and men who in barracks are little better than monomaniacs become almost sane again, and with most of the men it disappears altogether." To judge from the scenes described as in barracks, resulting from the drunkenness of the legion soldiers, it is good news to hear this of them Til actual fighting trim. Heming, the subject of the story, finally wins through by being offered a commission of equivalent rank to that which he sacrificed in the Knglish Atmv.

The second volume " Under the Tricolour" contains powerful stories of military station life in Maruitius and elsewhere.

"The Times' History of the War""— Tho first volume of this work is now published, bound very tastefully, and comprising the events of the present war up to the battle of tho Marne. The volume, besides containing many interesting photographs of notable persons and places, gives a quantity ot discursive matter, which serves to enlighten the reader upon various military questions. The training and equipment of the.Russian Army is, for instance, very fully described. Another chapter deals with the atrocities committed by the Germans in Belgium. The " Armies of the Dominions" is another subject treated. With the freer information now forthcoming the second volume , should he oi added interest.