LETTERS ON BOORS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 3007, 19 December 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

LETTERS ON BOORS.

(No. 1(J.) WELLiMQTONj December IG. My Dear RofiiNsoiq— So rapidly do the novelists of the day produce story after story that it seems quite, a far cry back td the appeftrarice fif Mr J. 21. Barrie s delightful “ Little Minister," now at last succeeded by the long and eagerly awaited “ Sentimental Tommy’ 1 (1). But Mr Barrie is self-con-fessedly a slow worker, and he has been seriously ill—and he has married—and after all if he has made hia admirers suffer a “ wee bittie," ns a Thrums man would say, in the way of impatience, ho now gives us something most assuredly Well worth tho waiting for. “Sentimental Tommy" will charm all lyvnrfj series (the “Auld Licbt Idylls," “The Window in Thrums," and “The Little Minister") and it should gain for its author a yet larger host of new admirers. For it is in every way a most deliglitful book, this new story of Mr Barrio’s, tho best of all productions emanating from the clever Scots school to whom tho nickname of tho “Kailyard Crew" has been given,. It contains studies of two of tho most quaintly charming children to be met with In modern Action, Tommy and Elspeth Sandys* and tlieit friends and acquaintances, both old and young* are all fresh and bright creations. , lloitghly speaking, “Sentimental Tommy" is the history of the ot fine Tommy Saddys; \frhostr fiiother, a Thrums woman, dies in poverty in London. Mi’s Sandys though poor was “pridefu," and the deception she practises on her old Thrums friends when writing to them and depicturing herself and children as much more than merely comfortably off when in reality the demon Hunger is ever knocking at their door, has a* very pathetic ring about it. The earlier chapters of tho book deal with life in London, and Tommy is introduced to iis as a moot precocious and amusing tfanlin, full of mischief, bdt always true—even to the extent of flghtiitg for his faith—to the Sandys fanlily tradition lhai there is but one country in the world, to wit, Scotlafld, and ,ono town worth living in, to wit, Thrums. Here is ono little touch to exemplify tho strenuousnoss of Tommy’s faith;

This stair was nursery to all tho children whose homes OpeWsd on it, not so safe as tfiiraorieS ill the part Of boifdo-h that is chiefly inhabited liy b'dys in saildr suits, blit preferable its a centre of adventure,- ■ and hero bn an aftorrioo'ri sat tw6‘; They were very b'usy boasting, but only the smaller had imagination, and as h'e,Used.ft recklessly, their positions soon changed; sexless garments was now prone on a step, breeches sitting on him. Shovel, a man of seven, had said, " None on your lip. You weren’t never at Thrums yourself.’ * Tommy's reply was, “ Ain't my mother a Thrums woman V” Shovel, who had but one eye, and that bloodshot, fixed it on him threateningly, “ Tho Thames is in l.ondoil,” ho said. , “ ’CoS. they Wouldn’t not haVo It ill Thrums,” replied Tommy. “ ’ Aniatcifd ’ bath’s in London,! tell yor,-” Shovel said. ‘"The coniotory is in Thrum's,” said Tdirimy. There ain’t no queenS in Thrums, any-' how.” “ There’s tho auld licht minister.” “ Well, thou, if you jest Boo’d Trafalgar Square!!’ *• It you jest' see’d the Thrums townhouse I” “ St. Paul’s ain’t in Thrums.” “ It Would like to bo.” After reflecting, Shovel said in desperation; " Well; tlioii, Wy fathßf were once at ii flanging;” .... Tbmniy replied instantly, “It'Werd-my . father what was haiigod.” There whs rio possible answer to this save a knock-down blow, bat though Tommy was vanquished in body, his spirit remained stanch; he raised his head add gasped, ” Yon should see how they knock doWfl iff Thrums i” It was. then that hIIOTOI sat on Mini; , . ....

Poor Mrs Sandys, who had been Hooted out of her native town when she had jilted one Aaron Latta, a weaver, and married " into tho English,” could never bring herself to admit she was poor and in distress until her deathbed was reached, whereupon she wrote a certain letter wlndh had tho effect of bringing her old sweetheart up to London; when ho' took back khe ofphans Tommy find Elspeth to his humble honio In the North. Then we have Tommy’s school days, his adventures with; the Thrums' lads; hjs juvenile love episode with pretty Grizel, daughter of an unfortunate, half-cracked creature whom Thrums folks called “ Tho Painted Lady.” The scholastic episodes are quite delightful, and as for tho adventures of Tommy and his sturdy lieutenant in mischief, Oorp Shiach, well, they are largely those of our old friends Tom Sawyer and Huok Finn, the Scotch moors and glens taking the place of the Mississippi river and its bordering foresc. How Tommy and Corp Shiaoh, whose imaginative minds had been eager recipients of Sir Walter Soott’s romances (read in secret, for fear of tho “meenister”), planned and carried, out their famous “ Jacobite rising,” is surely one of the most genuinely humorous things in latter-day fiction, and he that cannot laugh, thereat must be accounted a humourless churl, one to bo pitied rather than Condemned. Also, there are a long series of charming character sketches i Cathro, the donlmie of the Hanky School; Aaron Latta, who encourages Tommy to educational exertions with threats to send him “a-herdiug” should he fail to secure the coveted "bursary” or scholarship; Miss Airlie, a village schoolmistress, a most delightful old maid who finds belated, but,’ we trust, permanent. bliss in matrimony with Mr McLean; the village doctor. Doctor McQueen, rough of speech but kind of heart; the eccentric, miserable “ Painted Lady,” and the ministers (several of them) are all so many fine etchings, each complete and without a flaw, portraits well worthy to be placed in the already well-pleniahed Thrums gallery, to which. Mr Barrio in his previous books has acted as so pleasant a cicerone. As for. Tommy (who doesn’t win tho bursary), we share the grief of poor Elspeth and tho faithful Grizel when he is sent “a herdin’,” but the grief is tempered by the certain 'knowledge that we shall meet him again in a sequel, and that his imaginative powers, (for scores of proofs of which turn to tho story, and laugh as heartily as I have done) will at last find a remunerative scope. There is a genuine pathos in tills book. Nothing more tragically beautiful has been written of late than the last scene in the strange eventful history of poor GrizeTs mother, but humour predominates all through, sometimes a quiet and sly humour which makes the reader 'quietly chuckle, and at' others a stronger, riotous fun; at which one must perforce guffaw' or choke.- Mr 'Barrie may remind us here and there of Mark Twain, but his Tommy and Shovel (a deliciously funny little Cockney street boy) his Corp Shiaoh and the rest of them have a much more serious, more deeper side to their character than had qur old. friends, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I had marked a list of passages for quotation but the plums are SO thick in this toothsome pudding which comes with such appropriate timeliness for our Christmas consumption that I must leave the book to speak for itself. Whatever book you buy for your holiday reading you must on no account omit “ Sentimental Tommy" from the list. If that quaint little Scots laddie doesn’t work his way into your heart and remain there as a treasured friend, then I shall be very much mistaken—trad very sorry for you.

"In tho Great Deep” (n.) (Methuen’s Colonial Library), by Mr John Arthur Barry, a name well known to readers of the Australasian and other colonial journals of standing, is a collection of capital sea stories, redolent of the brine, full of vigorous character drawing, of sensational incidents, and possessing that peculiar air of evident truthfulness which has done somuch to make Mr Clark Bussell’s novels popular. Mr Barry is evidently a born storyteller, and in the course of what has been au adventurous career, he has gathered together a stock of material which he dresses up with an artistic still. Whether be is describing life on a “ blockade runner ” during tho American Civil War, or taking tho reader an imaginary trip on ono of the famous tea-clippers, which, in the pre-steamer days, had an annual race with “ the first tea of the season” from Shanghai to the London Docks: whether he be treating us to the grim tragedy or riotous comedy of the sailorman’s life, he is always vivacious and picturesque. “ How Wo Lost tho Schoolboy Schooner” is a

(specially good piece of work, affording some highly exciting pictures of the wild, adventurous life on board the South Sea “ labour vessels," and including, by the •Tidy, a striking little portrait of the famous “ Bully " Hayes. “My Mad mate " is another effective little little sketch, and-in “My First Voyage" the author has written a story than which (Here is nothing.more gruesomely powerful in the whole of Clark Russell’s novels. If you care for sea stories, you will please take my advice and add “In the Great Deep" to your collection. It is worthy a place alongside the best of Marryatt, of Michael Scott and Clark Russell. The mafiue technicalities are not overdone, and there is a briskness in the mere narration of the stories which is decidedly captivating.

Your young iiephews would hall you as a benefactor if you include a copy of “ Crown and Anchor; or. Under the Tennant" fiii.) (Bell’s Colonial Library) in their Christmas presents. Mr Hutcheson tells the story of a naval cadeFs adventures on the ocean and in Eastern seas, at , Singapord, Hongkong, and in China, in a ; highly agreeable manner. Ho doesn’t stop to moralise, and although his humour is here and there a trifle thin, young readers are not so exigeanis as are the oldsters in this direction. The story opens with a capital sketch of that brave old sea-dog Admiral Sir Charles Napier. Mr Hutcheson has readnnd digested hisMarryatt,itls time, but ho could not have studied from a better model. The story never lags, and is packed as full of stirring incidents as tho heart of a youngster could well desire. The later chapters deal with the Chinese war of 18G0, and the inarch of the naval contingent to Pekin is the subject of a capital description. A thoroughly wholesome, cheery, lively story is “ Crown and Anchor"—as good a boys’ book as one could wish to find.

Verily the children of to-day should be happier in the pursuit of knowledge than were those of the last generation, for • learning is now made an easy and a pleasant thing. BterC, for instance, is a Children's History of England (tv.), just published by Mr Fisher Unwin irt a . defies to’ inch is given the general title of “The Children’s Study.” Miss Frances E. Cooke is : the writer, and it would be difficult to find a difficult task more admirably performed .than has here been the case. Miss Cooke wisely follows tho example of tho late John Biohard Green in objecting to mere “drum and trumpet” history, and it is no discredit to her if she has, as I suspect, gone' to Green's " Short History of the English People" for the main idea which governs her modest b'dt excellent . little record of the growth of the gfeat nation from which wo spring. In her preface she day£, “While the principal events have been chronicled,less stress has been laid on the lives of kings and the battles they waged than on circumstances affecting more closely the interests of tho people; such as the growth of tlifl parliament, and tho graduil development of civilisation oh tho land. An attempt hits been made to awaken tbe enthusiasm of yotihg fOaders in the past Struggles for. freedom and efforts after great and Hoble .ends.” A big “Bravof” i cry to this, and, turning over the 250 1 odd pages of the handsome litHo volume,-1 am struck by tho thoroughness, the completeness of the way in which Miss Cooke recounts tho growth of English freedom and civilization, bytheadmirablesimplioity and lucidity of the style and the laudable absence of anything like partisan bias. Pleasant reading the pages of this little history afford, and appropriately pleasant is tile garb in which the book as a book is printed, Beautifully printed on rough, antique papier, each Chapter with an artistic letter head piece and initial letter With a fed and black title page, a photogravure frontispiece (“ Mediaeval London,” from ad old painting in the British Museum) and with a stout and handsome binding. “ England ” is, at its price, 2s Gd, one of the cheapest books I have happened across this many a long day. I strongly recommend this pretty and useful little volume to all country folks—and, indeed, all town folks too —who busy themselves with the home education of their children. For the lower forms of private and secondary schools it should also prove extremely valuable, —C. Wilson In the N.Z. Mail.