BOOK NOTICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12991, 4 June 1904, Page 6

BOOK NOTICES

."A Ladder of Tears: The Autobiography' of a Woman." By G. Cohnore. London.: Constable and Co. (3s 6d, 25.6 d.) It is rarely that- an author is fortunate enough to get a really suitable and yet attractive title. That Mrs Colmore, should have succeeded in overcoming this initial difficulty is an earnest of the excellent quality .of the-, faro which, she presents'to her readers... The heroine of the story is a New Thought Woman—(lie latest and best evolution of the New Woman,—and her tale of n woman's life, marked by few.' outward events in: Its even flow of everyday happenings, is intensely find avowedly feminine. It is the life of a good, pure,-, right-thinking woman carefully analysed from her own standpoint, but entirely free from the • morbid introspection which mars the pages o£ most autobiographies in: which the authors pose as .victims of an extreme and cruel fate, innocent sufferers from the " a'ings and arrows of outrageous fortune." Very early in her life Annie West recognises that there is no progress to bo made, without suffering in one form or another; and that a- life without trial—if such a life could be lived—would be useless for all purposes of spiritual evolution. "The Ladder of Tears" is but another illustration of the "stepping-stones of our dead selves" by which alone we'inay hope "to rise to higher tilings." .Throughout the ■book the author's presentment is sane, tolerant, and wise; and she makes one of her characters say at the end, "I am inclined to think that one is not wall}' tolerant iill one is tolerant- of intolerance!" In many respects " The Ladder of Tears" reminds us of n- book recently noticed in these columns, tjs "Stella Frogelius;'-of Eider Haggard; not that there'is the slightest plagiarism or resemblance in plot or characters, but each novel is - the' vehicle of two *■ definite lessons, and the lessons are the same —i.e.j the ; importance of individual effort and the certainty of reaping wbat is sown, together witii the nearness of the Unseen and the danger of tampering with it before the time. These two important lessons are ivpproacbctl from different sides, illustrated by .widely 'different circumstances and characters ;• still a very marked resemblancs may be traced between these, two lomnrkable" books, and in each the story is but the vehicle', the sugared pill,. t,he dainty tabloid. .Annie West's tale is of the simplest. Very tarly in life she marries a rich mam much"-older than herself, who surrounds her. with every comfort -and luxury, and she does 'her duty him for 22 years, always gratefully recognising his kindness and the many material-benefits which he'confers upon her. She.-adjusts herself to his middle-aged life and requirements, laying down her youthful hopes ana aspirations and striving to find satisfaction in the liumdram details of prosperous", middle-class mediocrity. The story '6f her home-coming and of her two terrible, stepsons is tbld with much sympathy, but no exaggeration of self-pity. These two—' boys at the beginning of the story and-men at the end—are " not .quite like other men," and Annie im her anguish of pity for.them, and for then , father ' enlists all our sympathies. Later, when her own child is to. beT'bqrn,. a terrible fear takes possession of her soul. She' cannot rest till it is satisfied in one way or another, and, seeking her hilsband in Ms study, she puts- the important question, "'Godfrey, why ,are Bertram and'Ellis Tas they aie?-'." The answer sets her mind at rest; for the moment, but it has placed her face fo face with tlie awful problem of heredity, and her child in his development and fate stirs her inmost being to a consideration of. the great questions of Life and Death—the Seen and the Unseen. To fo'low her through these would take more time than, is at oni disposal; but the story is well and strongly told, the incidents, though few, are sufficient, and the interest never (lass. Annie's wonderful dream and Us realisation raises a question! which the author does not' attempt to answer, though she considers that- an nnswc is possible ;—the same may be said of palmistry and palmistes. '"I might suggest that you come into the world with hands, as well as a face, not quite like those of anybody else. From the

face much can be iold, from the shape c\ the head, the position of the cars, the moulding of the-chin, the set and formation of the mouth. It seems to ms conceivable that the hand as well as the face may beat signs for those who can read them.'" Again, m reference to the vexed question of frea will: " 'Though you arc launched in- a boat., you are free to guide tlic helm. Say that there is so much pain in your portion: you cannot avoid the pain, but out of it you cru bring patience or impatience, win fortitude or clog your sou] with bitterness. Hay that you are bom jioor and destined! ! to*wealth: you may attain that wealth by fair means or foul. If you are doomed to a violent death, you may suffer it as a felon a hero, or a foil. . . , You may have been destined to be married twice, but nob I necessarily to the particular men who became your husbands.. Or it may have 'been inevitable that you should-be thrown into close relations with the men you married, but not inevitable that you should marry 6ne;or both of them. The complexities of what might or might not have been are incalculable.'" The.book ends in calmness and peace. We earnestly commend it to all thinkers on what is called . New cr Higher Thought Sines. T?or the. final tesfcir mony is one that all would desire, to realise, though perhaps Annie West's method of attainment may not 'suit others, since each individual treads of necessity a different path: "' As time goes on' I lead, ever more surely, the inner life of the ■spirit; yet, while the outer life becomes ever less important and real, I am content; to live as long as need be in this world. The longing to pass out of it—nay,tho sense of emptiness, is gone; for I know that now. while I am in the physical body, is the time for growth, for gathering of expstience—the day duriiiL, , ■which I must work. Sorrows, my. own and those I see and.hear of around me, I can bear now ivitlir.it bitterness; also vice, crime, and pain, since man is not a pawn.:of- the Deity but potential God, treading -in many selves a winding way back to Himself; since sin is not deCniieo of the good, but a slow wearing out of the grosser nature, the passing through the bondage of which is necessary to. omniscience; since the ladder that most quickly scales the heights and leads most; directly to l-lie supreme transformation is a ladder of tears; since the voice of life as I hear it to-day is, in its ultimate sound, not discord but harmony—not ft cry, but a song.'"

" The Yellort' Diamond." By Adeline Ser- . geinl. London: Metlmen and Co. Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.) Miss Sergeant's new book is an amusing detective story, not, perhaps,■ nuite up to the mark of Sherlock Holmes, but distinctly in that style, a mysterious crime and an amateur detective being the most prominent features. The crime is as mysterious and as horrible as the most sensational .reader could desire: and the " methods'' of. the amateur are framed on the best' received models. We must, however, venture to take exception to Mr Julius Qunyle on one important point; we cannot think that even an amateur police officer is justified in .suborning a man's sen-ants and entering a private house after midnight, and then proceeding to ransack the, owner's desk and private papers, and this when there is only a faint suspicipn against the said owner. The spy system of France and Russia, could not go further, and we are surprised that Miss Sergeant should consider such an action not only meritorious, but possible, for. a man of honour such as the hero undoubtedly is, being both iv barrister and n. gentleman. With this exception the story is - well worked out to a sensational and unexpected climax, and from first to last the reader's attention is held and focused in the required direction, every incident having a direct bearing on the subject of !tlie murder and its detection. Tho story opens with the escape of a prisoner from Dartmoor Prison arid his unintentional theft of the yellow diamond, which proves from the first ft stone of evil destiny and .the cause of many crimes. But this is a story without a moral, and we cannot be expected to furnish one.

"Evelina." By Fanny Bumey. London:' George.Eell and Sons. (Cloth, gilt top ; ■.2s.net.) . . ~ . ■ Miss .Burney's famous story is here presented to us in Messrs Bell's; new series "The York Library." A small, handy volume, excellently got up, clearly printed on thin, fine, but not transparent paper, and of tt size to be easily carried in the pocket. The merits of "Evelina" are tto well known to need further notice at our hands—the first edition was published anonymously in 1778. .The present edition, with introduction and notes by Annie Raine Kllis (editor of tho " Early Diary of Fanny Bumey"), was published in Bonn's Novelist's Library in 1881, and is now reissued in the original form, with introduction, epv logue, and notes.