THE BOOKMAN'S HARVEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19221, 9 January 1926, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE BOOKMAN'S HARVEST.

GLEANINGS IN THE FIELD. Many famous writers have exercised their skill and revealed their filial affection in the portrayal of their parents' lives and characters. To this band which includes Barrie (in "Margaret Ogilvy,") is now added E. F. Benson, who in "Mother" most delicately and lovingly depicts tho life of Mrs. Benson. Married at eighteen to tho future she brought to tho task of strengthening and supporting him in his constant labours an intensity which mado of it a second religion. Her austerity was mitigated by a sense of humour which made her, for instance, add to her suggestion of an " Association for Women over Sixty-fivo" tho sub-titlo "The League for tho Utilisation of Waste Products." * 9 e t « In a country such as England where circulating libraries are an ancient and honourable institution it seems, strange to read of the intense opposition aroused by their establishment in France, To the French authors, says a writer in a London weekly, it speins intolerable that a copy which has only paid one author's fee should bo read by a dozen people or more. Some demand that a fee bo paid by each reader. . . Others suggest a law forbidding circulating libraries to issue new books till after a year from their publication, »**»»• Dean Inge in a speech at a recent school prize-giving reminded tho boys of tho Prime Minister's words in Edinburgh when he told the students that British education was directed toward two objects: one was the acquisition of knowledge and the other was the habit of truthfulness. The Beau laid stress upon the importance of learning to express oneself in plain accurate flnglish. No one, ho said, wno possessed a thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin prose could dcceivo his neighbour, except wilfully. Lovers of Stevenson will welcome A Cadger's Creel," the book of the Stevenson Club Bazaar. Tho contributors to the miscellany include John Drink-water, lan Hay, Will Ogilvie and Violet Jacob. In "A letter to -R.L.S." Hugh Walpole imagines Stevenson, returned to earth, exclaiming after looking over a pile of prominent novels of the moment, ' But where aro the stories!" " You will recognise," the letter continues, " the names of Haggard, Crockott and Weyman; but tho editions of those books aro cheap and nasty, whereas the latest psycho-analytical novel will have its fine limited edition on kpecial paper bound in handsome boards. • » . » » St. John Ervine, the well-known dramatist and dramatic critic recently made a dashing attack upon the " Oxford voice" which ho considers ought to be relegated, to the oblivion that has overtaken the Oxford trousers. Tho controversy naturally aroused by Mr. Ervine'e pontifical pronouncements revives tho insoluble problem of an authoritative standard of pronunciation. As one infuriated opponent of Mr. Ervine puts it: "I don't really see why English modesty should continue to allow the question of English pronunciation to bo exclusively dictated about by Mr. Ervine, who comes from Belfast, and Mr. Bernard Shaw, who hails from Dublin, though I don't say that , either of them pronounce English at all badly for foreigners who have deserted their Celtic native wood notes wild." Tho early and immature work of writers who have become''famous in later life possesses as a rule more interest for the psychologist than for tho student of literature. Byron's " Hours of Idleness" ior instance, gives- at all events to the layman no indication of tho fiei.'v genius which blazed out in " English 'Bards and Scotch Reviowers." So the recently-pub-lished volume " The Twelve Adventurers and Other Stories," written by Charlotte Bronto between the ages of twelve and twenty, shows so little of the authentic Bonte touch that, as one reviower remarks, had he been askeci to name the author he would have said, not Charlotte Bronto

but the beloved Ouida.