A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10008, 27 June 1918, Page 2

A LITERARY CORNER

CR.A.L.)

•‘SERVICE DICTIONARY.” E. H. Vizetelly (editor). (Angus and Robertson, Sydney.) Here is a vocabulary of 10,000 terms, in English and French, designed for use in the military service in France. It is in alphabetical order; it contains very many familiar phrases; it reduces technical terms to ready use; and it carries the useful elements of a French grammar. Moreover, the phonetic arrangements for loading the reader to good pronunciation by which he will bo understood wherever ho goes i a the pleasant land of France are excellent. One of the most successful of the literary utilities of the war. “THE GREEN MIRROR.” Hugh Walpole. (Macmillan and Co., St. Martin’s street, London.) “A quiet story,” the author calls it. It certainly is the story of a quiet family which lives in one of the hackwaters of the great world, and therefore presents insuperable difficulties of narrow judgments and highly original meannesses of motive combined with total absence of any sense of proportion. One bright young damsel rises superior to these surroundings, her mother crystallises under them into a hard, repulsive, utterly hopeless faddist, and the story is powerfully worked round these two types. A clever study, and not an unpluasing book. "WITH GOLD AND STEEL.’’ Cecil Starr Johns. (John Lane, The Bodley Head, London.) Of the school of Dumas the elder, and being brightly and well done, this volume is most readable. It is rather bold of the author to take our old friend “Chicot” out of the Dumas repertory, and treat him like a genuine historic character. Of course Chicot is historic, and is the common property of all exponents of the historical nov el. The boldness of the author lies in his decision to get capital out of a figure which Dumas has treated so magnificently. At the same time, to be fair, we must say that Chioot in the author’s hands is a strong character, though, not carrying the high rank of Prize Man of Fiction which no carries with such swaggering splendour through the pages of Dumas. The spirit of repartee and the dry humour which presents men in thumbnail sketch arrestingly at every turn, and the creative faculty which sows the pages with incidents; novel and of compelling interest, are tile forces which make the strength of the book, in which are a few pleasant hours with Henry of Navarre and his Minister Sully. Of course, the course of true love runs through the story, and it does not run always smooth; it keeps to an original groove—a thing to be said of mighty few books ia these days of prodigal printing. “MY ERRATIC PAL.” A. Clark. N.Z.M.O. (John Lane, The Bodley Head, London.) Dedicated to Lieutenant-Colonel P. C. Fenwick, C.M.Q., “who, in spite of his excellent parts, his shrewd wit, and his sense of humour, is constitutionally quite unable to understand either selfishness or disloyalty, and was moreover invariably kind to my friend John (the “Erratic Pal”) this book tells its story by simple touches of verse. It begins where youth begins in the days of the mistress’s ©yebrov. As thus:— "Oh, Margaret! fairest of daisies. Compounded of sunshine and snow, fetop your ears lest you blush at my praises. Or list if my love you would know. Tour beauty a fellow abashes; You're an adept at smiles and at sighs. You look down to show your long lashes. You look up to show your blue eyes. For a smile I would hazard my fortune, For a kiss I would barter my soul; But my heart is too shy to importune My Queen for so precious a dole.” He jjets into the usual swing of hot and cold as thus:— “False as the Devil, but fair— Fair as a flower. Love for an hour but beware! Love for an hour. > Promise me kingship and crown— Crown of pure tin: Enthrone me and then put me down, I care not a pin!” He lives sane and bright nevertheless, as thus:— "For the faith and the love that I bear. New Zealand, for thee. For the magic and spell of tliy air. Thy earth and thy sea. Of words I would weave thee a crown Of blessing and player. With Love for its lair centre-stone, Pure, priceless and rare. May Wine for thy Heart be outpoured, Red wine for thy soul. Thy bread and thy oil be assured Whilst qentuirios roll. May thy sword in its scabbard be bright In battle be keen To champion thy God and His Right With heart and hand clean. So over brave, honest and wise, Thirioe crowned and thrice blest Shall the meed of the years bo thy prize. Love, Honour and Rest.” And so the life is told of the Erratic Pal by light touches which promise much for the future and pleasantly punctuate the story for the present.