BOOK NOTICE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11197, 20 August 1898, Page 6

BOOK NOTICE.

j "The Standard Bearer." By S. R. Crockett. London: Methuen's Colonial Library. Dunedin: J. G. Sawell (Wise and Co.). '..'''' j Who is for another jaunt in Galloway-—;; the ancient Free Province—with Mr Crockett for guide, philosopher, and friend? Some people think —so we have noticed— that the author of "The Stickit Minister" has been writing too much of late, and certainly his output has been sufficiently liberal; but the vein is still rich, and "The Standard Bearer" has given us keen pleasure. Galloway (unhappy that we are!) we never looked upon ; but—thanks to the loving skill of-its born seer—the ancient Province, with its pleasant places, its traditions, and its engaging folk of past and present, has become invested for us with a subtle and y*et, potent charm. . The wliaups are crying about the.graves of the martyrs in this- book,—crying as they cry through those poignant verses sent to Mr Crockett by Louis' Stevenson from Vailima. Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and the ' •;■ fain are flying,' ■;. '.■.- ■■ ■ . • • i Blows the wind .on : ,tlie moors, to-day* and.. I now, . . ';■•■■ •■• ■ . i j .."Where about, the graves of the martyrs the i i': ..wliaups'are. crying, '..'"....,.'.. '....'.,. . i .My heart re-nembeis hoy)! ~' ..-..--. i Grey recumbent tombs of.the dead in desert - ' places, ■ Standing stones on the vacant wine-red moor, Hills of sheep, and the homes of the silent vanished races, ' * : And winds, -austere and pure. IBe it granted me to behold'you again in'! dying, ' :'...'■.... • j Hills of home! and to hear again the call; i Hear about the graves of. the martyrs, the : j' ■ . peewees crying,- ,":. "' ~. . ; ' And hear no more at all.' • He hears no more at all:- "he lies asleep upon the hill of Vaea, over against Vailima, the hill that looks across the boundless Southern Sea" ■•„ and he may be forgiven his fine " conveyance" of that line of Browning's—"My heart remembers how." Did not Mr Crockett tempt him to the theft? Yes, the martyrs and' the whaups are " about this book, —which, by the way (for |we do not-mean to summarise and spoil the ' narrative), is the- story of Quintin. MacClellan, once upon a time minister of Bal--raaghie, Mr Crockett's native parish: •no that it can easily be 'cinder-stood that the telling has been a .labour of love. Obviousiy the book contains a good deal of .historical > and biographical fact, for the author, in a dedication to the people of Bal- . maghie, speaks', of " this rendering of strange I happenings .among their Forebears, of which ; : they .have' not' yet nuite iost'the Memory." : • But better" than tlw'historic matter'is the imaginative work1 :— imagination according • to love and'knowledge and a-master's liter- • '': a-ry craft,—and better,'I,'to 'many; a. f:wistful -. Scottish heart, will .be the -haunting :'savour : of kenned places, and;-"fine well-smacking. Scottish' words," and the shy, flowering beauty of many a bit 'of Scottish prosepoetry. Here is a specimen of "the broad and honourable-sounding speech oFtae province ": Nathan Gemmell, the leal old farmer, cheers the young1 minister of Bal- : maghie, after his expulsion, by the narrow ; presbytery (to whom his ahii-Erastianism is black - treasori, blank . defiance of, Qiieen Anne's authority), ahd'fires,to the memories of what he himself has seen in the old time. : ■". Come i.awa'," ■ cried Nathan Gemnfell . heartily,,from where he sat on the great outer bench- of luoss-oak by the .door-cheek, worn , smooth by generaticms of sitters; " come, awa', minister, and toll.^ls the news: Pfl,ith, it malted me young-like -again- to ? hear, there is ' still ii man : wha thinks'on the Covenants and.the blue banner wi' the.flenty white,cross. And though they forget the auld flag noo, I hae seen it ; gang stach.erin', doon the streets o''the toon o' EdinburgH ,wi' a', the folks cryin'.' XTp" wi' the Mrk an' doon wi'.the Kipg! ' till there wasria a red-coated sodjer-body,idare show his face,' nor a King's man to-be-, found between the ' castle atid the Holyrood; House. Hech-how- ■: aye! auld Dfumglasa has ■ seen that. And, eke, ■ in his unhallow < ed.y<Hith. Auld Nathan'.saw>.tHe lads that ,were. ; pitten'dooji; on the green Pent- - land slopes in the saxfcy-sax start frae. the ■, Cl.achan ,o' Saint Johh wi' hopes .that were ■ high,- sKarpenirig their: .'bits o' swords and ; ; scythes to withstand the guns o' Dalziell.;-And J but-fewoop'p them'oyer-wan back. , But'what'6' • : that? It's a. brav.e-gathering, there wad be '■ ~ about heaven's..gates -that,, dowie winter's > ) gloamin'—the, souls' o' the righteous, thrapging ' and "pressing against; the ( baris, whilk yiii ■wad ' ■ win' tHTough- first'amict 'Hip. rejoicing of a niultitudo that1 had'washed'their robes and made ,- them white in 'the'blood .'o'' the Lairtb; :Ow . ■ aye, ye wonder ; ;at meV'that am: a' carnal"man; ' speakin' that gate.;.. But-it is juist because I . am, a man wha has-been a sore sinner,-that at ' > the end-I .iwear. thae-things saeine,!ur ■ ;'; nvy.. ncart-." , \ '■•.' r'A^'-'''^ -i..:,- ■-~ ';■'■'■ ..,-\ : And;-;here •is.^iNathin'"in. a!1 more worldly | I- moqd : Quin.tin.is eipecting.his u call .to,the 3 Mate'd-Ministry,1 oi'B.aimagh^ie, and it is his I hope that the peoplejwill be of one mind.; "Of one mind?" '/exclaimed -fpie\ * old im'an, taking srivifE more:'.freelyyth'an". ever. ",f<lYe are dootless a maist learned and collegebred young lad, with rowth o' lean and lashin's 6' grace," "but ye dinna ken this ; pairish o' ,;.Balmagb,ie ■' ;.if ,ye think that. yejeanveyer h|e;the iolk o'. wanrmind.• Laddie,, tke;' tKing'.s no .tTfiere,'si tas mony ■ minds'in'Balmaghie as there's folk in it. And' a mair unruly, camsteerie pairish there's no between liirkmaidenjahd the wild Hieland bor- . • dsr. But auld Drurnmie1' can guide them, — .' ow, aye, auld D'rummio;car) .work them cannily. :- Ho can turn them, that ow<fs him. siller round. ■ his finger," and they can . leaven the hale con-; giegation!. -Hear ye that) young man?" ",If the;people of-this'parish desire me for ; thoir ministerj they will send me the call," answered I, pointedly. r For these things, as I, .. have ever believed, are in a Higher Hand. ; "Doubtless,. doubtless," ■ quoth auld Drummie, "but the Balmaghie. folk are. none the. worse o' a bit spurl in-their flank like'a'reestypowny that winna gang:.-NThey mind a. minute's jag frae the law,mair nor the hale grace o' God. . for a month, and'mind'.ye that! . Gin ye come; aniang us, lad, I'll Ipain ye a trick ortwa aboot tho folk o' Balmaghie- that ye will.be the wiser; ;o'!. Mind. I hae.been here a' my. life,- and an' elaer o' the'kirk for-thirty, year I," . , An "unruly," camsteerie !pairish " —how good it is—tlie''phrase,-not the thing!•—and better still the elder's.contempt (for)On this; occasion'he is full of the Old Adam) for/the ; folk..:of ,the Kellij: ," A puirj feckless lot they.; i are in the Kells! JTae spirit -in. their, drinfc. j' ;■ Nae power, or,-variety in their oaths and. cursings." Yet Nathan (as we, have seen) < . can speak, not : seemly? eloquence, ■ of the, brave gathering about heaven's gates' and the blood-washed multitude of the rej deemed. ' .'-■•..'..... . ..'■ I There is plenty of capital characterisation in " The Standard Bearer." Quintin himself, the shy, indomitable, quaintly simple, nobly fervid, and utterly unworldly soul, who can hardly believe that his pure love for the proud, winsome, saucy, highborn maiden, Mary Gordon, is . not. carnal and wicked, and yet manages to be found in the farmer's kitchen with another maiden in his arms ; Quintin, who (according to his faithful brother and caretaker, Hob) lacked only, the saving salt of humour, and who in his turn wrote of Hob that he was "slow, j placid, self-contained, with little humour in him" ;,—Quintin, we<say, is a splendid and heroic figure. 'Hob, the matter-ofrfact, sensible Hob, is excellent in his way, with his whole-hearted but keen-sighted devotion to his minister-brother, , though he thought little- of "divinity students in general. ; " Quintin, what think ye o' a mission to the 1 heathen divinity 'lads—to set the fire o' hell 'to their tails. '. ?"'..'Hob knows (what j Quintin does not).how to woo a girl, and he | went the right way about it with that for- : midable young person with. the more for- ' midable Christian name—Alexander-Jonita! Thus does Hob annotate the story of his brother's avowal, to Mary Gordon: "Lord! Lord!..was there ever ..a more bungled, affair —a more humiliating confession!. Our poor Quintin —great, as he was at the preaching, ' aii.apostle indeed, ;none in broad Scotland tp come within miles of him in the pulpit— j with a lass was simply fair, useless. I must | c'en t'eHin'a word how mine own wooing sped, that I may prove there was some art and spunk left among' the MacClellans." Then there is Mary' Gordon, whose qualities have already been hinted at, and poor, morbid, passionate, "doomed- Jean 'Gemmell, whose hopeless, naif-insane love "for Quintin furnishes an episode "which, with all its elemental power, is. almost too painfully , tragic. Truth to tell, Jean's avowals would jbe intolerable,but for the fact'that she spits blood as she makes them.- "Quintin, it was foolish from'the first, was it not, lad o' ; my love? Did you ever say a sweet thing to me of your own accord, like one that comes courting a lass in the gloaming? Say one: now to me, will you not—just one ? " The reader frowns, but the tears are in his eyes. Without telling the tale we have quoted. enough to show that this is no ordinary novel, : but a book with making of which genius has had something to do. For Scots folk it should provide a genuine treat, and as for the southron reader—well, we can only say that we ourselves are not Scottish;; yet ! have we appreciated " The Standard Bearer" with immense satisfaction, and without be- ' ing even momentarily tempted to chatter in superfine fashion anent "Kailyard litera-

| ture." We think not of the kailyard,— ! though there be worse things than that, — but of " the kirkyard, near by where the | martyrs lie snug and bieldy at the gable i end.' ~—>'-;'<>-.., —>'-;'<>-..