A CHAT ON BOOKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 41

A CHAT ON BOOKS.

You will find ". Master and Man," by Count Tolstoi, an excellent shilling's worth. The little volume is daintily got up in paper cover, with clear small print, and wide margins. We all know the high and selfless ideal of life which Count Tolstoi strives to inculcate in his books, and practically illnatrates in his inner life. Some months ago, when Count Tolstoi's life and writings formed the character sketch in the Review of Reviews, copious extracts were given from 11 Master and Man." This being so, I shall only mention the book briefly, and ohiefly for the purpose of recommending you to send for it. lam cure you would r enjoy the marvellous picture of Russian life here presented, and in handing over the pathetic little tketch to the young folks, you will feel that nothing could give them a more graphic idea of the climatic and social conditions of the Russian peatant's and small farmer's life. The dreary snowy wastes which He between the silent ice-bound villages, ths patient suffering animal life, the unconscious courage and heroism of human life, are all described so simply that they have the force and intensity of truth itself. The description of the final sacrifice of the erstwhile grovelling sordid horse-dealer Vasili, who surrenders bis own life in saving his faithful servant Nikita, is perfect In its austere simplicity. I feel tempted to give you extracts, but since the book is so cheap I am sure you will Bend for it. In " Barrabas : A Dream of the World's Tragedy," we have a book of an extremely opposite type. It is no longer a very new book, having come out I think last year, but as it has had a great sale you may like to hear something of It. For those of yon who know Marie Corelli's style I need not say how excollent is the word-painting ; how fluent and masterly the treatment — up to a certain point— the point of attempting to describe the Crucifixion of Christ with all its inconceivably solemn and tragic «urroundinga. I may be wrong, but I confess it seems to ma the height of folly for any writer to imagine that the finest writing or the most masterly elaboration could add to the sublime pathos, the simple dignity ol the Bible carrative. All the personage! moßt intimately connected with the life oi Christ exist in the pages of " Barrabas " aa well-drawn types of Eastern character, at well aa others purely mythical yet essential to the conversion of the World's Tiagedj into a romance. Notably there is the beau* tiful, detestable Judith, the mistress o( Caiaphas, and the sister of Judas Iscariofc, This ia how Marie Oorelli describes the Imperious wanton beauty she has created;— "The supple form of Judith Iscariot, wrapped in her flame-coloured mantle, and looking like a tall poppy flower blossoming in the sun." Judith's one redeeming quality U her passionate love for her brother Judas, and the traitor's wretched end, following on the horrors of the Crucifixion, completely wreck her reason. Through the agony of the last hoar, through the black darkness that shrouded the horror-stricken city, past the ghastly figure of the suicide Judas on to the giorioug morning of tho resurrection ; on again to \m

room, the table being beautifully decorated with spring flowerß.

return of the penitent Peter, of whom it is Baid : " And hath he grown so suddßn bold 1 Even so doth he make late atonement I He hath a wondrous destiny, for half the world •will grasp the weed devised by him who did betray his Master." These are the scenes through which we follow Barrabas. There is power and pathos in the book, which has been spoken of by many critics as a work of amazing genius. "A Daughter of the King," by "Alien" (whom you all knew as " Alice " in the Wines*), can now bo had in a cheap edition. The book has been already criticised in the most exhaustive manner by our daily papers, therefore I do not propose to say anything about it. You will have read the oritiolsms, and can now verify them by pending for the book. The cheap edition is very nic»ly got up, exoellent print and nice paper, and only coßts 3» Qd. It is a great Kity that through some stupid bungling the ook was not obtainable in Danodin at the time that the natural interest in it as a new book by a local writer was keenest. The Btyle ana purpose of "A Daughter of tbe King," however, are not of mer« fleeting interest, and it is by no means too late to BDJoy reading the book. Let ub have eomethicg useful now, in the shape of a capital little book entitled " Tasty Dishes, and More Tasty Dishes." Perhaps some of you possess the original book, which was issued at Is undor the title of " Tasty Dlshe?." The additions to the new edition are sufficiently numerous to double the sizs of the book, and correspondingly add to its value and usefulness. As the publisher's preface informs us, the object of the book is to answer that oft-repeated question, " What shall we have ? " in such a varied yet simple and economical manner as to relieve some of the worries so familiar to the housekeeper. I often hear my married friends enlarging on the difficulties of catering suooessfully for the family breakfast, dinner, and tea, especially when one servant always suggests II Sausages," acd another "'Am an' eggs," no matter what the season of the year or the priefc of eggs. I really think, in advertising parlance, this little book will supply "* muen-felt want." A special feature of the addition to the original volume is the number of recipes for invalid cookery. I almost forgot to mention that the recipe for pr«*«rviDg egg« in lime water is given, and from the experience of country friends I know it to be an excellent one. Now for another useful book — a most handy little companion to those who have not a great command of language in writing. The title is "Just the Word Wanted: A Handbook of Er.giish Sjnonyms," and I oan heartily recommend it as well worth the shilling it costs. I think wo have time for a few moments' ohat on another new novel before we finish. Let it be one by Dr Arabella Kenealy, the talented daughter of that brilliant Dr Kenealy so closely associated with our memories of the Tichhorne trial— was it in 'SS ? " Some M<in Are Such Gentlemen " 'is fehe quaint title of the book, which is obtainable in a cheap paper cover edition as ■well as the one in stiff covers. Tnere is humour, good character drawing, and delicate inßight in the writing, but against these merits you muat set the faults of exaggerated description and improbability of plot. The scene is laid in one of the BnpHcb counties, and the vicar of Qu«hleigb, an Anglican cleric muoh concerned in the burning of altar candles and the attendance of the " county families," Ib tho first person to whom we are introduced. Reginald Jessop, a handsome idle scapegrace, is tbe vicar's eldest son, upon whose pranks and follies hidges the pl^t of the book. Quite the most noticei'b.^ place in Qashlt-igh vHUege is the weather-beaten, time worn, neglected ruin known as " The Manor House." This once beautiful estate has passed into Chancery, and the Btately building is totally abandoned to rats, mice, and spiders, save the three or four rooms habited by an old crone and a young girl, her greatgranddaughter. Age ban a trick of being unlovely, bnt I really do not tbiak any old lady could be quite so selfish, greedy, and repulsive as this old Mrs Clinton, who is served so faithfully ' and devotedly, with huoh admirable patience and infinite troule, by her great-grand-daughter, Lnir. Of course you will know without my telliog yon that Lois, thin, gaunt, and ill-clad, has wonderful eyes and the promise of beauty to come. Meantime the wild, untaught girl varies the dulness of her servile drudgery — for she is cook, housemaid, gardener, and maid to her aged relative — by masquerading about the lonely grounds in tbe faded moth-paten brocades and velvets of dead and gone Clintonß. No wondtr all the ghostly legends pertaining to the place, all the family traditions of sin, sorrow, and remorse, all the instances of supernatural phenomena are kept alive by Miss Lois Clinton's vagaries. No servants are kept, and Lnie knows no companionship save that of the selfish old hag, for whose sake she almost starves hernelf. At laet, in the desperate hope of stilling Mm Clinton's perpetual grumbling, Lois takes to midnight maraudings, and lightens the pantries of wealthier neighbours in the interests of " gran." It is thus that ehe is first Been by Dr Thornton, the man to whom the title of the book clearly belongs — all honourable, brave, chivalrous-hearted man who fulfils every requisite of the word •' gentleman." Between the night that Doctor Thornton paw the girl Lois masquerading on her plundering expedition and the day that he Bees her again, a beautiful young woman, five years elapse, and the role Bhe fills now is that of nurse to the querulous, dying grandmother. Of course they love each other, Lois Clinton a»d Dr Thornton ; but while he knows ifc from the very first, she has no idea of her own feeling. Meantime Reginald Jetsop, <whose vagrant fancy has lit upon the solitary, my6terious beauty of the haunted Manor H"us<\ eUboraUs a pcberae by which he may not only get to know her, tml may actually live under the same roof with her. Tbe scheme is only too sacoessfal, for the handsome scapegrace, presenting himself at night, torn, dishevelled, and exhausted as vritb long flight and peril escaped, tells Lois a plautible, pathetic tale of wrongful suspicion, of pursuit, of honourable illßno^ kept for a friend, and implores shelter and safety, tola, who Ib utterly ignorant of the world,

chivalrously hides him, and takes upon herself the burden of another mouth to feed — another person to wait on. Yon can imagine the situation (which is not, however, devoid of humour), and though I have put the story so briefly before you, I am sure you will rejoice that in thi3 inatanoe virtue triumphs over villainy, and, diapite passionate jealousy and complicated misuuderstanding, Thornton and Lois are reconciled in the last scene. It is always helpful to know where to send for a book, so I may mention that all the books I bavo noticed this week are to be obtained- at Hore burgh's, Gaorge street.