BOOK NOTICES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15033, 5 January 1911, Page 4

BOOK NOTICES.

"Barkers." By E. 11. Lacon Watson. London : John Murray. 'Diijucdaii :l K, J. Stark and Co. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.) "Barker's" is an old-fashioned publishing hoiiss in an old-fashioned part of London. Mr Lacon Watson's story tells of the failure of an attempt to modernise the business and remove it to a more lashionable district. Any, story based on an uncommon experience; on th-3 intimate private details of a particular business; or the arcana of any art or craft, is interesting to the outsider— the layman. Doubtless this desire for knowledge on points not generally known is at the root of much of the thirst for occultism, as well as of the smaller curiosity which delights in details concerning Tennyson's "black pipe" or Byron's "lame loot." Some people call this "sympathy"; others term it "impertinence." Both of these feelings come to the reader of "Barker's." It is a very intimate Sslory. Tho .author takes the leader entirely into his confidence. There is no mystery, nothing but that which is unknown in all lives—the denouement. It is' not tho. hero' that tells the story, but his chief friend; and under this tutelage wo'follow the evolution of John Clifford Fairfax, the amiable young man who." hunts " and "dreams," to "J. C. Fairfax, author, publisher and bookeelkr," and then back to the country and "other ainbitioiw." But before this is' done the chronicler himself, Henry lloscoe, is caught up into the whirl and attraction of brj-iness, torn flrom 'his qi.jiet, studious iroliluri-e, ii-nd actually hurled into the vortex of commercial life with all its unoeilainly and excitements, so that he learns more of true life and progress in a tew months than he had done in many previous years when he lived as a. cultured α-ethetic, eyeing his fellow-men with pity and good<iiatured contempt. If he did not succeed in " making Barker's, Barker's certainly made him":—"lt is liue I have changed a good deal within the last few months. 1 can understand many things that were, hidden from my eyes before 1 came into the firm of Barker's. 1 uted to wonder, years ago at. commercial dishonesty, at the numberless little meannesses so often encountered in trade, at the lack of a moral sense to often engendered by anxiety to make money. Now 1 look upon these things with an eye of pity rather than contempt. We tradesmen lie between the devil and the deep sea; we have to save and scrape to keep our heads above water; it is much if we escape the stain of actual sharp practice. We are figthing against the world : the hand of every man feels stealthily for our small change, is it surprising if we learn to suspect the honesty of all around us —il we end by even doubting our own?" The book is full of interesting details 'concerning the ways of publishers and of authors : the diliiculty of starting a new magazine and many similar projects. The reader understands why men find themselves "scheming half through the night"; and the strange fascination whicli makes them "add up huge columns of figures " in their dreams. Their desire to succeed, to "get on," to go "one better" than those who compete with them, this ie modern presentment ot the earliest of all instincts-self-preservation. Mr Lawn Watson's style has much distinction; il is virile and realistic; his characters are carefully individualised and contrasted. The women are as well done as the men. There ie nothing common-place about any of them, and yet they aic perfectly natural. The double love story which winds through, and gives unity to, the tangle is well done, and arouses intelligent sympathy, in short, "Barker's" is worth reading, and likely to 1 be remembered even in the modern rush and making of many books.

"The Missing Delora." By E. Phillips Oppenheim. London : Methnen and Co. Duneclin ;B. J. Stark and Co. 5s 6(1, 2s 6d.)

A thrilling mystery and an extremely clever impersonation are the key-notes of Mr Phillips Oppenhelni's last story, which takes us back to his earlier, rather than his later, methods. It must be confessed that Louis, the head waiter ol a firet-class . London restaurant, who, deeply involved in a nefarious plot, .changes his appearance like a quick-I'me artist, and does not disdain to drug and occasionally poison his clients, is a most melodramatic and unreal personage, almost 100 crude for tiio creation of a master-craftsman. But Delora himself, his niece Felicia, and her lover, Captain Rotherby, are well done'; the two former steeped in a mystery which constantly eludes the latter, and is not explained to the reader until the very last chapter. Rotherby meets Delora and his niece in a mystcroue cafe in Paris. He afterwards travels with them to London, and makes their acquaintance on the journey. When they reach Charing Cross Delora declares that he is ill, and asks Rolherby to look after the girl and the luggage, while he hurries to the hotel, seeing a chemist on. the way. When the young people rea-ch the hotel Delora is not there. Ho has completely disappeared. But he is not dead or really ill. Search is made with no result. From time to time he telephones to his niece; he is occasionally eeen ami followed; but he cannot be found. Rotherby's adventures in the search, his ever-growing astuteness as he again and again coimiers the schemes of the schemers, and hie loyol devotion to Felicia in of form

a romantic and amusing tale, in which the interest is sustained to the last page.

"At the Villa Rose." By A. E. W, Mason. London: Hotlder andStough' ton. Duncdin : K. J. Stark and Co,

(Cloth, 3s 6d.)

Mr Kicardo is a gentleman who has nothing to do but enjoy himself and kill time. His acquaintances envied him. "At the same time, however, they laughed at him, and with some justice, for he was an exaggerated person. . .

Everything in hie life was a trifle over- I done, from the fastidious arrangement of his neckties to the feminine nicety of his little dinner parties," Mr Eicardo was about 50 years of age, and a widower— "a state greatly to his liking, for he avoided at once the irksomeness of marriage and tho reproaches justly levelled at tho bachelor; finally, ho was rich, having amassed a fortune in Mincing Lane, which he had invested in profitable securities." Into this oDmfortable, easy, well-arranged life a terrible crime falls like a bolt from the blue. Kieardo is accustomed every year to visit the little town of Aix-ks-Bains, in Savoy, where the crowd of well-dressed and agreeable people, the rose-coloured life of the place, all made their appeal to him." In such a small place he soon learns to know most of the habitues by eight, if not by name, so that when a lady is found brutally murdered in her hired house, the Villa Rose, it is almost inevitable that he should take a hand in the detective work which follows. We must confess that we are disappointed to find Mr A. ]i. W. Mason trying to engage our interest in this Kind of thing. He can do better than write detective tales. Moreover, this particular detective tale is not really good or convincing. It is full of weak points and loose ends, and of many quite unnecessary horrors. There is an absence of motive and mows than a suspicion of ."padding" which cannot fail to annoy the seasoned reader. At the same time, tho 6tory is sufficiently adventurous to please the uncritical and while away .a spare hour. The point is that Mr Mason has done better, that he can do better, and that he ought to do better. "Uncle Polperro." By Alphonse Courlandcr. London :T. Fisher Unwin. (Zβ 6d, 2s 6d.) This is a light, lively, amusing book. Uncle Polperro, having retired from business, gote round among his relatives as an amiable despot, brimful of advice, generally backed up by practical assistance. To his nephew Charles, an impecunious young doctor, he says: "Go to the public and get money out of them instead of waiting for them to bring money to you. .That's the difference between a tradesman and a professional man." Spite or his sense, his inches, and his cash, Uncle Polperro has one weak point: he pines to be a great man—if possible, a King. To this end lie buys an island in the South Pacific—which we may incidentally remark is further from England than from New Zealand. The inference is plain. He buys a ship, engages a crew which includes—or there would be no story—two charming young ladies, one of whom ships as a .stowaway. The captatn is a relative, all tho crew are relatives, and most of them "dead beats," who find Uncle Polperro an inexhaustible source of income. Tho island is sighted, and the vessel duly wrecked. Modified Crusoe effects lollow. The fun is fast and furious. While the new King and his relatives are trying to civilise "the natives "on one side of the " desert" island, a goodly iwmber of British colonists with the proper officials are making themselves very much at home on the other. The two parties meet. The British Governor says: "What brings you here?" Uncle Polperro replies : "It is my island. I am its Kjng." Tableau! Mr. Courlander knows how to extract real fun out of small materials. Uncle Polperro is deI %htful. for ho has kept his child-heart j with its wonderful power of make-be-I lieve, and also the power of loving and I being loved. All men may laugh "with" him. he laughs the most gaily of all; but nuno may laugh "at" him, for he possesses a great gift—eternal youth.

"Alongshore." By Stephen Reynolds. London : Macmiilan ' and Co. (IllusIralions by Melvelle Mackay, 3s 6d, 2s 6d.)

In this wo have a living picture of the Longshore, "where man and sea meet," and "where man and- sea face one another." The Longshore in all its conditions is powerful to mould men, because " to make a living there they must fit their whole livee to it, not merely their working hours, but their sleeping, their waking, their eating; their aims and watchfulness. We wait long and often there, the sea and the fish wait never. There, and there only, can be found the peculiar conditions which make longshoremen what /they are—a breed apart." It is to describe these conditions in general rather than to present certain special individuals that Mr Stephen lieynolds's book has been writ-, ten. It is not so .much a portrait of certain longshoremen, but of the -Longshore itself. The sketches are for the most part humourous, and bring out the poetry, pathos, and jollity of the life without sacrificing its realism. Tho effect is not merely that of a picturesque spectacle, it is a reproduction of tho intimate daily life' of real human beings. The author's work derives peculiar authenticity and impreseivencss from the fact that Mr Reynolds is mainly a longshoreman himself, to whom the things of which he writes arc-part of his everyday life and work as a " fisherman's mate."

"My Lady Rotha." By Stanley Weyman. London : Ward, Lock, and Co. DunE'din : E-. J. Stark and Co. (Cloth,

illustrated, 2s net.)

This is a new edition of one of Stanley Weyman's most delightful and successful tales. It deals with life and its conditions in various parts of Germany in the period which elapsed from the spring of 1632 lo the famous and' terrible battle of Lutzen, in which the King'of Sweden and his troops avenged the memory of the awful day of St. Bartholomew. The book is crammed full of fig-thing, a-dven-tni'B, and action; thrilling situations and honest love-making; and—like all Weyman's work—thoroughly historical and dependable.

" A Little Listener." By Amy Le Feavrc. London: Religious Tract Society. (Cloth, with coloured frontispiece and 50 drawings in the t-ext, 2s

This is a charming gift book for a little girl. It contains many admirable lessons, cleverly eet amid the adventures of a rather troublesome child, who, with Hans, her pet dog, gets into a good deal of mischief, from which she is finally rescued to her owji satisfaction and lasting benefit. The tale has the usual fault that it is a trifle too didactic. The author is not content with "pointing" a moral, but drives it home with a blunt weapon. " Orchids." By James O'Brien. London and Edinburgh : T. C. and E. C. Jack, This is another beautifully illustrated volume of the Present-day Gardening series, which, however, is not likely to command a ready sule in the Dominion, as the glowers of orchids here are but few in number, kit the few who do grow tlicee beautiful plants will find the little book of interest and value.

" MoJern Religious Problems." Edited by Ambrose White Vernon. London : Constable and Co.

This is the title of a series designed for " men who are sensitive to the prevaling atmosphere and desirous of eonnerving the great moral and religious values that have been wrought out by the Christian centuries and of partaking of that strength ami peace which are peculiar effects of Christian life" in spite of change.'! in orthodoxy and criticism and development. These books, which are published at one shilling, take advantage of the latest results of Biblical scholarship ami natural and psychological .science, an , .! make the essentials of Christianity clear to the atc-rago intelligent and religious man, This is cspeci-

ally the case in " Sin and its Forgiveness," by William tie Witt Hyde, which is one of the beet works published on the subject, and more than justifies the whole series. Every man reading it must, be the stronger and kinder Christian philanthropist. "Paul and Panliiiism," by James Moffatt, D.D., does for the great Apostle what no other work does in tracing his religious development and showing how that Paul is accounted for by the work of the Spirit, which to him meant the gracious power of God that evoked faith in Jesus as crucified and Tisen, ami then mediated'to the receptive obedient, life all that the Lord did and was for his people.i "The Gospel of Jesus," by G. W. Knox, is far better than most expensive lives of Christ, though we think the writer is in error in his ideas concerning the value of dogma enshrined in the Creeds. He lends us-iip to the point that Jesus is one who serves, and urges us to communion with Him by service. " The Earliest, Sources fov the Life of Jesus" is written with all the wonderful learning of F. Crawford Burkitt, and leads us back to Mark and a- Logia underlying Matthew and Luke as the source of Christ's life. ■ It ei'fect'ually proves the stability of the Gospel accounts, and gives us no hope of the spade finding any other source than what now is established as abovementioned.