THE LATEST LEACOCK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19460, 16 October 1926, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE LATEST LEACOCK.

SIGNS OF STRAIN. As Stephen Leacock is lost without an alliterative title and as ho has now worked down to " W " in " Winnowed Wisdom " (The Bodley Head), are we to suppose that two more volumes (assuming " X " to be to much of a hurdle for even a Professor of Political Economy), will see the end of Mr. Leacock's activities? Frankly, we fear not, yet signs are not wanting that the stream of his humour is running dry. The best part of this book is the preface, which is entitled "An Appeal to the Average Man." " The average man is not by statistics a great traveller. The poor fellow has been only sixty-two miles away from his own home. He owns nine-tenths of a Ford car, punctures a tyre once every twenty-two days, and spends, in the course of Lis whole life, a month and ahalf underneath his car. ... I would like ever so much to start a movement for getting above the average. Surely if we all try hard, we can all lift ourselves high above the average. It looks a little difficult mathematically, but that's nothing." In " The Everlastirg Angler " the author groups all fish-stories under four heads as. follows: (1) "The Story of the Fish That was Lost;" (2) " Story of the Extraordinary Bait;" (3) "Story of What was Found in the Fish." (4) "Beginner's Luck or the Wonderful Catch Made by the Narrator's Wife's Lad}' Friend." " I may say with truth that I have heard this particular story told, not only about a girl from Dayton, Ohio, bat about a girl from Kansas, a young lady first out "from England, about a girl fresh from Paris, and about another girl, not fresh —the daughter of a minister. In fact, if I wished to make sure of a real catch, I would select a girl fresh from Paris or New York and cut off some of my buttons, or hers, and start fish."

These stories should be particularly welcome at the opening of the summer fishim; season, though as Air. Leacock points out, " the true time to tell them is round the winter fire, at a time when statements cannot be checked, when weights and measures must not be challenged and when fish grow to their full size and their true beauty." On the whole, however, the book is rather poor stuff.