MAETERLINCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27078, 12 May 1949, Page 10

MAETERLINCK

Written for the Daily Times By C. R. Allen

One wonders how many young folk who hear John Charles Thomas sing about the “Blue Bird of Happiness” know from what mind this idea first emanated. Peter Pan is J. M. Barrie’s creation, though Pan belongs to an earlier day; but the Blue Bird, as far as I know, is Maeterlinck’s very own. This great Belgian provides a happy contrast to the Ibsens, the Strindbergs of the Nordic countries. It. is true Professor Max Nordau in his doctrinaire work “ Degeneration,” puts him in the same category as Walt Whitman and the Pre-Raphaelites. According to the learned professor—whose book by the way, received a healthy slating at the hands of G. B. Shaw when G. B. S. was a comparatively young man— Whitman, Rossetti, Maeterlinck, provide an unholy alliance. One doubts, nevertheless, whether Max Nordau would put his finger or his thumb on the Blue Bird, for after all, it is a fairy story. He would, one supposes, have been more severe on “ Pelleas and Melisande,” especially the setting to Debussy’s music. The story of Mytel and Tytel, the wood-seller’s children who fraternise with anthropomorphic trees, lumps of sugar, loaves of bread, is full of chgrrn, whatever one may think of the philosophy. One doubts if- G. K. Chesterton approved of the Blue Bird. Maeterlinck himself is inclined to be doctrinaire in the matter of fairyland. In the “ Ethics of Elf-land,” Chesterton lays down no rules on his own behalf; but is willing to abide by the seeming arbitrariness of the fairy law—“ They must obey the fairy law.” the fairy queen sings in " loianthe ” but what precisely that law is—one says it is all reverie—God only knows. In the “ Treasure of the Humble ” Maeterlinck has left us a notable book, of essays, the four most memorable to me are one on “The Early Days of Motoring,” another “On a Dog,” another on “ Silence Between Men,” and the fourth, entitled " The Pre-des-tined,” is a quasi-mystical consideration of singular beauty.

The United States mint saves between 75,000 and 100,000 dollars' worth of gold and silver yearly by such measures as making workers take a bath each afternoon to wash gold dust from their bodies.