LITERATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18825, 31 March 1923, Page 2

LITERATURE

RECOLLECTION AND RESURRECTION.* BOOKS FOR EASTERTIDE. By COHBTiNT Rbad«b. Easter is, or should be, a time of recollection and remembrance, of reflecting upon the lessons and experiences of the past. Nor should the survey be confined to one’s personal reminiscences. Tho field may profitably be widened to include what others remember, and such widening virtually amounts to a resurrection of the hopes and fears, the successes and failures, tho anticipations and realisations of tho men and women of bygone years. This is one reason why volumes of reminiscences exercise so great a fascination for numbers of readers, and the four recent books hereunder enumerated will go far to provide reading matter over tho entire Easter vacation, oven should—almost unthinkably—every day from Good Friday to Easter Monday be wet and stormy. Mrs Katharine Tynan Hinkson is not only a prolific poet but is also a borne raconteur. In “Twenty-five Years,” published in 1913, she gave interesting reminiscences of the Irish Renaissance movement, and she has brought literary history up to dale in tho “Middle YearS,” published in 1917, and in “Years of the Shadow,” published in 1919. In her latest volume, “The Wan- ’ tiering Years,” Mrs Hinkson details her experiences of people and things, commencing in rhe summer of 1918 right up to May. 1922. and although many of her wanderings were in England, Scotland, and Europe, yet reading between the lines it is evident that her heart was in Ireland all the time. In her last chapter, for instance, she tells of tho Truce in Ireland of June, 1921. “When the Truce was announced,” she writes, “it was as though the heart of Ireland had lifted under her green bosom. Tho loneliness passed from the late fields. The strange, pathetic air of suffering, patiently borne, which had Hid on the countryside; tho golden evening had been as though a smile shone on the face of the dead—was lifted. One only realised what tho country had borne by the enormous revulsion to joy. Why all that laughter? it: was because one must laugh or die.’ “Carnival Befell Dublin on Truce Night,” she writes, “and many nights after, as jfc befell London on Armistice Night.” This renders all the more poignant the following “after word” printed on the last page of the book : .Six months after this book was finished I take it up again in such amazing circumstance for Ireland, that I feel some revision of the happy anticipation upon which I ended unfortunately, necessary. I have thought it well to withdraw certain views and judgments which seemed well founded at that time, but now seem less w oil founded. This has entailed the withdrawal, or at least postponement, of certain chapters which dealt seriously with the phases of tho Irish struggle up to tho time of the Truce. They will bo morn in their place in another volume, perhaps, but' at the moment of writing (May, 1922) Ireland is more than ever in the melting-pot, and what is to emerge from it God only knows. I make this statement to anticipate the critic who might say that I jested while a dearer Romo was burning. The Irish always jest, even though they jest with tears Instead of ending at a happy moment, I end at the saddest; but Hope is at the bottom of the Pandora’s box of Irian troubles, and I believe proudly and firmly in the ultimate destinies of my country. While largely concerned and deeply sympathetic with the and misfortunes of Ireland, “The Wandering A ears is also interesting because of the glimpse it gives of interesting people. Mrs Hinkson includes in her acquaintance almost all the literary notabilities of her day; she has something to say about them all, and her reminiscences are full of humorous (ouches. The description of Greathain, the homo of the MeyiieU’s, will lie doubly cherished because of the recent death of Alice Moynell. “Greathain.” says Mrs Hinkson. “has liad many poems written to it by the various poets it, has received into its hospitality. It adds another literary association to the county of Belloc, Kipling and many another famous name: not to mention Francis Thompson, who sojourned at Storrington with the Franciscans. There was so much of Francis Thompson between Greatham and Storrington that one could not pick a daisy or a poppy hut, it was white and red with the memory of him.” Mrs Hinkson goes on to relate how, before the war, Wilfred Meynell secured a hundred acres in Sussex, mostly gorso woodland, on which was a farmhouse “olcf and beautiful.” various outbuildings, and a cottage. “The various outbuildings were converted. each one, into a habitation for a daughter, Viola wrote her novels in Shed Hall, which was once a. cow shed; Monica has her country cottage of something that miclu have been a washhouse; Madeline and her children have (he cottage in the wood. There the children, grown up', some of them with children of their own, are under the eves of the parents as they were in happy childhood.” Katharine Tynan, herself a poet, believes strongly in the influence of poetry, as witness the following charming picture: The Irish girls never arrived at the trousered and breeched ease of tho women war workers who were so much in evidence in England. Madeline Lucas, young and sad, remains in my mind as I saw her standing by the roadside in a blue smock and breeches, watching for the first sight of her children as they came from school. She seemed part of the Sussex landscape—like a girl who might have stepped out of a Hardy novel. The children had a delightful schoolmistress, who lived in the loneliest of cottages, surrounded bj- the woods, with another young teacher. The little room where we had tea with her was full of books, a great many of the latest volumes among (hem. I remembered that, room when later, a teacher in a secondary school in East Anglia asked my permission to use some verses in an anthology she vvai preparing for the use of Secondary schools. I learned that these children' in Ea-st Anglia - -the Bocotia of England—were being fed upon the noblest of English poetry including, amongst the moderns. Francis Thompson, Yeats, one own “A E.” Masefield, Chesterton, Rupert Brooke, the llousmans; in fact all who counted and wore willing to he represented. T Her syllabus made mo envious for the -irish children. Have they any such poetry book? And are they brought to poetry with such living zeal as this school teacher of East Anglin brought to her work? Tho things that told me—of the joy of the children in tho great and beautiful poetry, of how they carried it to their own hearth aides and made their parents listen to it:—seemed to me such joyful tidings (hat I went happy for days. Tho lady was a graduate of T. C. D. I hope there are more like her and that they will be available some day for tho Irish schools. The book, which was published by Messrs Sidgwick and Jackson, is called the “Daffodil Poetry Book.” It might edify some of my lively country people, with a poor opinion of English idealism or spirituality, to read it. For poetry is the ideal, and to love great and noble poetry is to uplift the heart and spirit. The fact that a second edition has been called for of Judge Rentoul’s “Stray Thoughts and Memories” is perhaps one of the strongest possible recommendations for the hook. James A. Rentoul, K.C., LL.D.. AV IS for many years a judge of the City of London Court and Commissioner of the Central Criminal Court, but before qualifying at tlie English Bar ho spent his boyhood and youth in Ireland. Judge Rentoul died in August, 1919, but during a long illness some years before his death he jotted down or dictated the “Memories” now preserved in volume form, but with no idea at the time of publication. Tin's was only subsequently decided upon, and Miss Rentoul, sister of the deceased judge, is responsible for their appearance in their present form. Judge Rentoul was a distinguished scholar, and so successful in his pursuit of the legal profession that he was able to lake silk in 11 years. Ho was appointed a judge within 17 years of his call to the Bar. He took a prominent part in municipal and parliamentary politics, and was returned unopposed three times consecutively as Cnionist 11101111101' for East Down. "As an after-dinner speaker.” says

his sister. “Iris popularity was unrivalled.” Judge Rentoul's career was in one respect well-nigh unique; ho was a parson before ho became a judge. Having taken his degree ho was called upon to choose a profession, and after rejecting Medicine, mo Army, and the Navy, he decided upon the Church in preference to the Bar. He had no special “call,” but was influenced by the fact that his father’s pulpit was vacant and that the congregation was waiting for him to be ordained. Ho therefore "drifted” into the clerical profession, completing his Divinity course in the Presuy terian College at Belfast. He says in thi* connection : After completing the long course of preparation required by the General' Assembly I was ordained foui'th in succession in the Church of the Second Ray, of which my great grandfather, Rev. Robert Reed, was first minister. . . . What would the churchgoers to-day think of Communion Services, lasting, as they did in my grandfather’s time, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. or Inter, or even of those in the days of his successor, which began at 10 a.m. and were never over before 4 in the afternoon. A diminished congregation naturally caused these services to grow shorter, and during my ministry they never exceeded five hours in length 1 The incredible patience displayed in the pew was no doubt due to the fact that dogma, which was then regarded as of vital importance in spiritual life, was elaborately discussed in the pulpit. . . It must also he remembered that books were few and; newspapers and magazines almost unknown in the country districts, so the sermons on Sunday formed very largely the intellectual food of the parish for the ensuing week. A short sermon would, therefore, have been considered a fraud on the people, and entirely discreditable to the preacher. It, was not in Ulster only that this was (ho case, for Canon Sheehan, of Doneraile, says the Easter sermon was expected to occupy at least an hour, and the curate who could preach for two hours was immortalised. From Ulster the Rov. J. A. Rentoul went to Woolwich as pastor of St. Andrew’s Pre» bytorian Church. This led him to remark the different characteristics of the Irish and the Scotch, but before long ho decided to resign from the Church, and he was called to the Bar. Lawyers have usually a huge stock of good stories and Judge Rentoul is no exception to the ride. He draws upon the experience of his early days in Ireland and of his years at the Bar and on the Bench. He devotes a chapter to the House of Commons and another to his memories of electioneering. The chapter on “Ireland, North and South,” alone makes the book worth reading, while the comments on “Ireland of l\>dav” will be found helpful in the light of tiie entanglements of the present time. “Stray Thoughts and Memories” makes racy reading, and the book is all the more enjoyable because it has a serious side, since Judge Rentoul, who felt, strongly on social and political questions, does not burke any issue, but says frankly and fearlessly exactly what lie thought. In “Days and Ways of An Old Bohemian,” Major Fitzroy Gardner covers a good deal or ground and draws noon the records of a considerable expanse of years. “My personal experiences of many spheres and phases of life,” he writes, “extend from a sensational murder case in 1860 to my demobilisation from the army in 1920—exactly sixty years —and, geographically, Horn (he United States in the West to Japan in the East with the European Continent and India en route.” In a word, Major Gardner eonstitues a. link between the old world and the new. One or two of his early recollections are worth reading:— My birth coincided with the more important episode of the Crimean War, also, it, happens, with, inter alia,, the first, use of photography in portraiture, the abolition ,of the Revenue Stamp on newspapers, and tho first issue of a London daily newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, at tho price of one penny. In those days the London Police woro tall hats, carried their truncheons slung from their bolts outside their tunics, and were not permitted to grow beards. ’ Fire engine stations were few and far between, and the only fire escapes were owned and managed by a philanthropic society-' Postmen were dressed in scarlet co.its, and there wore only two deliveries of letters daily. Milk was delivered at the door by a hefty woman carrying two cans suspended, one on each side, from a wooden yoke across her shoulders. I remember heintr taken bv my father in the ’sixties to sec (he making of the Thames Embankment cast of Westminster Bridge. ... / I travelled in the first Underground Railway two days after it was opened The entry of Queen Alexandra into London m March, 1565. made a deep impression on young, Gardner’s mind. Tho first military operation ho can recall was the Abyssinian Expedition under Napier of Magda la. He remembers the Hyde Park Riots in 1866 and (ho “garotting’’ epidemic of the same period. In short, when be was a boy. the foundation that was to make him a typical Londoner and a thorough man of the world, was well and truly laid. Education at Rugby and a visit to Germany alter the Franco-Pnisaian War added to his experiences. After this he was in succession on the Stock Exchange engaged m newspaper work, and interested in theatrical enterprise. In connection with the theatre he toured in India and China but he enlisted at the outbreak of the M'eat Mar- was appointed A.P.M. and after the armistice he was with the’ armv of occupation on tho Rhine. His latest work was on police service on the Polish frontier m Upper Silesia. Major Gardner describes himself as a rol mg stone.” Despite this, he has manAged to gather a good deal of moss in the shape of the material of which his memories are made up, memories of many men and things. In particular the chapter on “London Life” in the decade 1875-1885 makes good reading. Indeed, the entire volume is distinctly entertaining. “Fifty-one Years of Victorian Life,” by the Dowager Countess of Jersey, is a book of quite a different texture, and it goes still further hack, since the Countess was born in London in 1849 She visited Franco, Italy, India. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Far East, and the record touches the most prominent political and social personages of the day. It was in 1891 that the countess in company with Lady Galloway and her brother Rupert, visited New Zealand, spending a few days in Dunedin and in Invercargill before proceeding to the Sounds in the Hinemoa. The countess found Dunedin "a very interesting place.” and she pays a tribute to tho virulence of the New Zealand sandflies. Tho South Island, and in particular Lake Wakatipu, is “full of beauty.’ Before leaving Auckland she gives expression to her feelings;— Truly. Now Zealand must have waited while Providence bestowed gift s on many lands and have then received a special bounty from each store of blcssing. The strength of the mountain pass the plunge of the waterfall, the calm mirror of tho lake, the tone of the forest the glow of the flowers, the fertile pasture for (he flock-, the rich plains for the corn -gold, coal, and kauri gum, the marvels of her springs—all these’ and much more are given to her children, together with one of (he most perfect climates on the face of tho earth. She has hut one drawback—namely, that she is ringed round by some of the stormiest, oceans known to man. Perhaps, wore it not so too many eager pilgrims would seek this far-off paradise. This is a fair sample of the eulogistic fashion in which tho Countess treats the places or people she has visited. The hook, while it docs not impart much fresh information, is well written and makes pleasant reading.

RAPID REVIEWS NUMBERS OF NEW NOVELS. Bt Constant Readeb. 1. “Tire Three Lovers,” by Frank Swinncrton (Methuen), is a great improvement on “Coquette,” yet it does not reflect the atmosphere of “Nocturne’’ or of "Shops and Houses"—stories which reveal Mr Swinnerton at his best. In “The Three I,overs” he has made a careful study of a modern girl in the person of Patricia 1 -uin, who, however, proves on closer acquaintance to be just a repetition of the old-fashioned girl who finds satisfaction in love and marriage and babies. The backf round of the hook is the London of (oay. with its semi-bohemian society occupied mainly with dancing and dinners in smart restaurants to the accompaniment, of cocktails and champagne, varied by riotous parties in fiats and private houses. Ail this description is clone to the life, and standing out from it all is Patricia with her three lovers—Harry Greenlees a society journalist, Montv Rosenberg, a Jewish dilettante, and Edgar Mayno, a respectable Englishman. Harry frankly desired only an affair and an adventure. ■Monty, though he proposed marriage and a honeymoon in the East, did not really mean it, and in the end Patricia takes refuge with Edgar and forsakes Bohemianism for a quiet, conventional life. The types of the men and women who flit through the pages of this story are cleverly drawn, but, while the book interests, it is scarcely convincing. The reader - -will put it down with the thought that, had Patricia not been hard up she might not have settled down so soon, and that her playing with fire might, have resulted differently. 2. “The Enchanted April,” by the author of “Elizabeth and Her German Garden” (Macmillan) reveals the Countess Russell m quite a new role, as far removed from the satire of “The Caravanners” and the unpleasantness of “Vera” as from the fantastical idea of “Christopher and Columbus.” In “The Enchanted April,” this talented novelist, selecting four familiar examples of Englishwomen—Mrs Wilkins, Mrs Arbnthnot. Lady Caroline, and Mrs Fisher, all fixed in their particular grooves and strong in their personal likes and dislikes—causes them to bo transplanted to a small mediaeval castle on the shores of the Mediterranean, Avhicli is advertised to bo let. for the month of April. No one of tho quartet is exactly happy; two have husbands, and two are without, hut the complete change of environment, with its peace and beauty, helps each woman to see herself with other eyes and to seek after better things. Amid much that is humorous, many home truths are plainly set forth with all this popular author’s point and smartrtess. The 'result is an amusing if quiet story with a capital moral, which will bo hailed with pleasure by the majority of novel readers. ~ , , , 3. "The Man Who Knew Too Much,’ by G. K, Chesterton (Cassell), like every other nook by the same author, is not only unlike any other book he has previously written, blit it is the sort of book that only he could have conceived. Mr Chesterton ha s written other stories which claim to be detective stories, but are unique in conception and in telling.- “The Man Who Knew Too Much” is also a detective story, but Horne Fisher, the amateur criminal investigator who solves tlie intricate and mysterious crimes which Mr Chesterton details Avith such a ivealth of imagination and resource, is as unlike “Father Brown” a s anv two men can possibly bo. The fact that the book is dedicated “To i Mob of Nephews and Nieces at Fernley. Maidenhead,” indicates its character. To repeat what has often been said before: those who like Mr Chesterton’s stylo will revel in ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much.” w-hile those AA T hom Mr Chesterton irritates and annoys will throiv the book aside in disgust. It contains passages which place the author high as a prose-stylist; it is full of poetry and paradox and reflects almost all Mr Chesterton’s pet, prejudices and familiar positions. Tho book is a further tribute to the versatility and everlasting youth of a man who represents a most wonderful phenomenon in modern English literature. HAPPY, THOUGH MARRIED.t SOLVING SEX DIFFICULTIES. When a book reaches a tenth edition, covering a circulation of over 200.000 copies, it may bo said to satisfy a need or, at least, to cater to a curiosity. In a preface to “Married Love,” described as “a new contribution to the solution of Sex Difficulties,” Dr Marie Stopes says: “More than ever to-day are happy homes needed. It. is my hope that this book may servo the State by adding to their number. Its object is to increase the joys of marriage and to show how much sorrow may be avoided.” She adds: This little book is less a record of a research than an attempt to present in easily understandable form the clarified and crystallised results of long and complex investigations. Its simple statements are based on a very largo number of firsthand observations, on confidences from men and women of all classes and types, and on facts gleaned from Avide reading. The whole is written simply and for the ordinary untrained reader, though it embodies some observations which will bo new even to those who have made scientific researches on the subject, of sex and human physiology. Tho motive and standpoint of the hookare stressed in the concluding paragraph of the preface where Dr Slopes writes: “In my first marriage I paid such a terrible price for sex-ignorance that I feel that knowledge gained at such a cost should be placed at the service of humanity. In this little book

average healthy mating creatures will find the key to the happiness whieh should bo the portion of each. It has already guided some to happiness, and I hope it may sai’o others years of heartache and blind questioning in the dark.” Although a doctor of so;ence and a doctor of philosophy, Dr Stopes is not a doctor 01 medicine. She lias therefore taken the precaution of buttressing her own opinions with those of Dr E. H. Starling, Professor of Physiology in the University of London, and Dr Jessie Murray, also a medical doctor. Professor Starling affirms the “need of such guidance” as is given in this hook and adds: “At the present tirne it is of vital importa6.ee that its marriages should be fruitful—in children, happiness, and efficiency (and all three areclosely connected).” Dr Murray contributes a more lengthy preface, at the close of which she says : Should we not welcome all that may help—as this book can—to make the living cradle of the next generation as full of beauty and harmony as love and mutual understanding can ? The age-long conflict between the “lower” and the “higher” impulses, between the primitive animal nature and the specifically human developments of an altruistic and ethical order, axe fought afresh in each soul and in every marriage. We need to recognise more clearly that the “lower” is never—ought never to be—eliminated but rather suh-sumed by the “higher.” No true harmony can be hoped for so long as one factor or the other is ignored or repressed. Prei'ious editions of this book have won approbation from authorities like the Lancet and tho British Medical Journal as well as from The Times and its appearance in a popular edition at a loav price will doubtless add largely to its circulation. It is dedicated to “young husbands and all those who are betrothed in love,” and dealing as it docs. very frankly with exceedingly intimate matters, the impression it produces will largely depend, into whose hands it may fall. This, however, is a danger which attends all books dealing with sex subjects, for while to the pure all things are pure, the reverse also obtains. The problem of sex determination has puzzled the physiologist, the biologist, and scientists in general. It has been left, for an Auckland lady, Mrs Rose A. Clements, to announce daringly that she has solved the secret, not by scientific research, but by personal experience. “I evolved this theory of Predetermination of Sex,” says Mrs Clements, “26 years ago, personally proving it correct, and it has stood a continuous test for 15 years by tho experience of my many friends to whom 7 have given the information herein contained.” “There has never been one failure as a. result of this knowledge.” declares Mrs Clements. “This is my challenge to the world.” The booklet only contains 40 pages and if Mrs Clements’s experience is to_ be trusted, parents may, by following the instruction given, determine tho sex of each child born to them.