BOOK NOTICES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16003, 20 February 1914, Page 2

BOOK NOTICES.

"Hagar." By Mary Johnston. London: Constable and Co. (Cloth; 3s txk) Tiiiu is tho story of the evolution of a rebel, -of tlio woman ot thougnt and intellect born in tue last quarter oi tiiu ninetwmtn ceniuiy, and coin.ug to iu:r own at tlio in ginning oi the l\v,.ntit.th. 1,.K0 all At.sd ./u.iijo.on ,s woik, "'na-gar b,.aia tno man; oi uiuen lliougiit anu viiiuly ,ui ileip conuLJJLi'ation ami oarnt-fcC puijooL'. 'j_nu upoiuug cnaoters aro a series oi p.ctures ol Lno sum oi iiuud and oi society at Uio und oi tiie Victoruin period, not only in. Ureal britain, but in the equally conservative districts of ttie southern btatc-s ol America. In Colonel Asiiemlyno, ina wile, ana their unmarried uaugnter bereua, wo have tno epitomised prouuet of tho thought of tno ages concerning woman as an essentially inferior being by creation anu grace. 00-onoi Ashtndyno is a very line man of tho oldi school, courteous, reiuietr, gallant to women, capablo oven ol a sort of chivalry towards tnein, but only out of his groat generosity when, they humbly accept, and acknowlegue tnoir lower status, x'hty aro constitutionally unlit to itavo tho handling of money; Tho Married Woman's Property Act was a great mistake; tney aro unfit to arrango their own lives ana choose their own occupation; indeed, no occupation is open to them save domestic drudgery, unqualified teaching, or unprofessional nursing. Tho colonel's wife, '"Old Miss," as she is called by the negroes, out-liorods Herod in support of Her husband's theories. Sno preaches submission and rules her own Household with a rod of iron. Serena is tho typical younger woman of tho period, occupying herselt with useless fancy work, tho painting of china plaques, tho practising of simple •'pieces," leading a life of "elegant leisuro," and carefully " shutting her eyes " to everything she does not wish to see, condemning all unwelcome truths as " most improper." T'lioso who were born too late or navo forgotten this period—not so very far removed from tho present as actual years go, but a whole century behind it wo count the inarch of ideas and of publio opinion—will do well to read " Hagar " if only as a study of manners. Into this environment the girl is born of an elegantly selfish father, who has elected to leave his young wife and child in his ancestral home in Virginia, and betake himself and his small income to the pleasures of Europe Tho deserted wife, eating the grudged bread of dependence, is a rebel without power of resistence; ignorant, tied hand and foot by tradition; incapable of resenting or righting her wrongs, sullenly,, silently in revolt, dying because she has no wish to live. Such is Hagar Ashendyne's heredity. The mother's futile rebellion, the father's insouciant selfishness, the grandparent's iron-bound) conservatism, all find an echo in some part of her nature and help to make her what she ultimately becomes— a noble woman, capable of supporting herself in honour and dignity; sea-respecting, respecting others; a traveller, a thinker, a writer, a >powor in the land, and withal a dignified, beautiful, absolutely feminine woman, "nobly planned to guide, to succour, to command." All are hers. She has come to her own. She is no longer chained. She is free,—a rebel, confessed, avowed, approved by the eternal standard of success. Women like Hagar are fingeri posts who point the way; but, unlike fignerposts, they can remain where they aro. With a story planned on such lines, conceived and executed with such power, the mere narrative must be subordinate to the purpose. As in real life, the incidents are interesting and important. They show us, in a series of vivid moving pictures, 1 the play of mind upon mind, of character : upon character. They emphasise heredity ind environment. They ehow us the work- : ing out of cause and effect, and—in the ', present case —the relentless impulse of that j .aw in the silent push of the unseen up-, ward movement, of the growth of ever evolving public opinion. Hagar's life is full of •colour and incident, from her early years at Gilead Balm, tho old, conservative Virginian home, to tho strange circumstances whioh lead to her reunion with her father; the years of travel with him, her success as a writer; her recognition by the world of letters and of talent. Nor is the sentimental side of her nature untouched. We read with amusement of her school-girl episode with the good-looking teacher of English literature, and of her speedy disillusionment. More serious is the interest that she takes, as a child of 12, in the escaped convict, to whom she gives her luncheon, and for whose re-capture she weeps bitter tears of human sympathy and indignation, because of " the black and white strip'es, which must live in her memory for ever." Nine years later Hagar meets "the boy" again as a Socialist speaker, and later still she finds him as a well-known editor and the husband of a famous speaker and organiser. For a time Hagar is strongly drawn to this romantic personality. But it is not for nothing that she studied self-knowledge, self-reverence, self control. She treads the insidious passion under and becomes the true friend of husband and wife. Her own true mate appears later on. and she accepts him with an honest and whole-hearted devotion worthy of both.

"Hero Are Ladies." By James Stephens. London: Macmillan and Co. (3s 6d, 2s' 5d.) Among the younger writers of the day few have excited more interest and curiosity than Mr James Stephens, whose last book, " The Crock of Gold," was so remarkably successful. In hie new work, " Hero Are Ladies," Mr Stephens gives us a series of slight tales and sketches which, while in no way resembling "The Crock of Gold,' challenge attention for their striking originality and promise. Through them all there runs a touch of that quaint, essentially Irish humour which is so infectious and so undefinable. Sometimes, too, ho gives us a tiny touch of brogue," though rather perhaps "in the turn of a phrase, the twist of a thought, than in anything that could come under the head of dialect. Most of tho sketches consist of a single conversation or a single incident, but some are expanded into stories extending over months or years. In no case aro these continuous; rarely do the actors receive any proper name; they are, as a rule, mental flashlights,-piercing through bone and flesh to the true inner man or woman beneath, and revealing with startling, even terrifying, distinction the springs of life and action which are, as a rule, most carefully hidden. The character sketches are followed by some chanters which bear the general title of There is a Tavern in the Town," and in theso tho reader is given the opinions and reflections of a certain old gentleman (a frequenter of that place of public resort) on a variety of subjects, which are discussed very entertainingly. The whole vohime is full of clever passages, of which we quote a few: A wife in the house is a critic on the hearth. But of course every man knows that every woman is a fool, and a tolerant smile is the only recognition we allow to their whims, He had no knowledgo of those conversational arts whereby nouns and verbs aro amazingly transfigured into a gracious frolic or an intellectual pleasure. To snatch tho chatter from its holder, toss and keep it playing in the air until another snatched it from him; to pluck a theory hot from the stating, and expand it until it was as iridescent and perhaps as thin as a soap bubble—these things he could not do, and ho knew it. To say that two is company and three is a crowd is to make a very temporary statement. If there had. not been a serpent in the Garden of Eden it is likely that the bored inhabitants of Paradise would have been forced to import one to relax the tedium of a too-sustained duet. Thero is a back door to every mind, as to every house. ' There is no satisfaction in owning that which no one else envies. The too capable woman will always have a baby to nurse, and that baby will be her husband. The weakest things in the world aro, by a strange paradox, always the strongest ' Tho toughest 6tone will wear away under the dropping of water, a mushroom will lift, a rock on its delicate head, a child will maJce its father work for it. The new ignorance, known humorously as education. Dancing is not an art, but a pastime. Theology is an art, but religion is a pastime; wo leam the Collects only under compulsion, but wc sing anthems becauso it is pleasant.