LETTERS FROM BUCK WATCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 87

LETTERS FROM BUCK WATCH.

Last week I had an interesting letter from Black Watch, and the week before one from' him -was received, by the. club. In these, two letters vh-e touches on several points of general -interest,- ani I propose,, therefore, to make orue or two extracts from them for the benefit of readers of- the page who are. not in direct ■^ommuriioation with him. The letters .ire ■written from the neighbourhood of D-anne-virke, ~but Blade W>»tch> tells me' he, does -not expect to ~be permanently there ; he hopes to be in th« South Island- again for the harvest. Speaking of th<e birds of the Ivorth Island, lie says: — "I am much interested in the birds hese* PJheasairts, quails, minahs, kingfishers, yellowhammers, etc., are all to be found. Can you tell me, Dot, how long it is since the minahs [frequented Dunedin,?" Now, I know the Hid vexy well in the North Island, but it is news to me that it ■yro3 ever known round Dunedin, -vrher-e I should think the climate is- too cold to suit it. Can any reader give Black Watch any inf©r<mation on, this subject? Then Black" Watch goes on to discuss t subject which will interest all D.L.F. — a page in another paper, similar to our own. He writes : — _ "Yesterday one of the mien engaged hertsent to- our camp three recent numbers of the Adelaide Observer. There is a column in it entitled 'The Bookshelf,' to ■which young people contributes, confining their remarks chiefly to books they have read. Some of the letexs are so very interesting and well written that I cannot xefiain from sending one or two of fliern to you in case you have not already sesn the paper. There is also another column for younger children conducted; by OJncle Harry,' who «7rlr*s that his column, started 14 years- «go, is *.« first . of its "kind in Australia. He says be believes there is a journal, in New Zealand ■with a page for chif3ren started- before his one ; and _I_ presume that hs is alluding to our defer old Witness. - We have cause to be proud of our -institution, have no-fe w»?" " .Of fh& extracts- Black Watch encloses I am publishing two this week, and will publish the other two next -week "so that you may see the style of letter sen* in to the page he -speaks of • *It is always interesting to knojjr -along", what lines' similar institutions to our own are working, and the publication of these four letters may inspire -come of my Little Folk to tell me about the literature they have been reading. It is a kind of lettex I am always glad to get. Here, then, ar.e two of them: — May 26. Dear Magpie, — Will you make room for another chick, please? Which perch do my 17 years entitle me to roost upon? Have jusfc finished. a collection of E. L. SteveDsonts.essayfe, and' must- tell someone how wonderful they axe; so breezy, so jolly, and so tender^ All the half-formed thoughts that have lain in the corners of the mind he puts into words, and one finds oneself j saying, despite Buskin. "Them's my sentiments." Later one exclaims in accord'anoe with Ruskin's "How to read and how not to read" maxim. "I did not think of cha.t before." How bravely and cheerily Stevenson -views life. So many of our great writers have only looked deep enough to see the sin and jvxetchedness of life. Stevenson sees these, but goes deper still and shows us the beauty and tenderness, too. Is not his "Crabbed Age and Youth" and "El dorado" splendid? As for the essay on English, Admirals — well, Kipling -was in my mind as I read it. Can a. Kipling lover give much higher praise than that? What a gospel of happiness ~B*- preaches in the "Apology for Idlers." "There is no duty we so underrate as the duty of being Jiappy. "A ha<ppy ru-an ■or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is ft ..radiating- focu3 of goodwill. We need not care- whether they could prove the foxty--seventh preposition; .they do a better thing than that — they practically demonstrate the great theorem of the Hve&blenessof life." The liveableness of .'life! Bi-ior to reading Stevenson I had been dividing my attention between Omar the Persian and "The Stcry of an African Farm." both of -which demonstrate the " unliveableness " of life. These last-named are old friends, but somehow l Stevenson, after these., seemed like a se*""breeze after >ne of our northern summer days. Have any of the other Sbelfitos read "The Sfory of an African Farm," and what do tliey think of -'t? Like Miles Franklin's "My Brilliant Career." it has no plot.:' there is no neat finish. This author also writes because she must. When quite a youngster I obtained possession cf this book by trading off a dozen Homer's penny stories for it to j a friend. Since then it has been read and reread; passages scored and reecored. It is too real, too grimly pathetic, for tears It is the sort of book one does not lend here. there, and everywhere, but only to a certain few — the few who "understand." — Youts sincerely, KASTYAKA. [Certainly, there is room for another You ■will perch, if you please, on Shelf 11. I like your letter very much ; you promise to be just the kind of new member Shelf II particularly wants. What you say of Steveneon is distinctly good, and* it is especially i •cheering to meet somiaone who is not afraid j of the very word essay. Please let me I have your next letter very soon, and in that give me your Aill name and address, so that you may be propei-ly entered in our roll.] Petersburg. May 27. Dear Magpie, — About a fortnight ago I started to write, but did cot finish; now I •will make another attempt. I#ately I have not progressed very jrell with Bacon. It Veins to tne that in reading the essays One --wants time to read them carefully with *- clear mind, for several times when I have, picked them up -with mind full of thoughts

•n things I have in hand I have found myself -juat reading the words, and so took something lighter for the time being. As May DaTsrson says of Euskin, at times I find Bacon irritating. Tennyson, in some poems, had the same effect on rue, not in his ballads or lyrics, but in writing on the times. All these three lived on a plane above us poor ordinary mortals, and^Ud not fail to impress that fact on us. There is not the friendliness about them., nor the feeling that they know oux life as there is with some great writers — for instance, Oarlyle and Shakespeare. You asked my opinion re the Shakespeare-Bacon theory. Well, I know so little of Bacon that it is rather presumptuous on my part to express an opinion, but from what I have read, should say no, decidedly no. Shakespeare was far to cosmopolitan ; he knew life in all its phases, his study was the world, and not alone the books of the ancients. He believed in the future, and did not think all earth's greatest were dead; he did not stand on a pinnacle and declairr "I am Sir Oracle, when I open my mouth let no dog bark" (not sure if I- have the quotation perfectly correct) ; he knew what a potent factor in life love is; and, lastly, with him v.-omen. occupied a vastly different position in Uf-e than Bacon would assign to them. If Bacon could only step out of his grave at the present time I can imagine him standing dumb with .astonishment when he heard of women voting, women doctors, lawyeTP. etc.. etc., to say nothing of the works from the pens of women; while Shakespeare, under the same conditions, would just bridge ihe three hundred years' gap, pass off his astonishment with a joke, and start out to investigae. If he could send Portia out to play the lawyer why stand agape at the real thing? Puck could put a girdle round the earth in 40 minutes, I think it waa. so he knew all about wireless telegraphy. The question can bo discussed from so many points of view and volumes have been written on the subject; but I will not attempt to go any farther in my little say; 'twould take too long. With a few modifications I could more easily imagine Bacon the author of Tennyson's poems than Shakespeare's plays. In last week's journal you mentioned jne of Frank Bullen J s books. I had heaid so much about his style and good English, etc.. that I expected a treat when I opened a book of his. but was terribly disappointed, and! don't think I shall start another. It waa "With Chris* at Sea. ' First he writes an apology to impress one with his veracity, and in the first chaptei says he read "Paradiee Lost" surreptitiously at the age of four. I have come in contact with many children, but never such an infant phenomenon ; hi* brain should be worth a lot to specialists. From the first ohapter to the last the book •was a disappointment, and there dees not strike me to be much manliness or Christianity in a man marrying -a girl with no prospects of being able to support her, but just so that he might have a home to go to, and someone awaiting him at the end of his voyage. What a lot of American novels there axe circulating now! I have re-ad two or three lately. The novelist cannot seem to get on without a quaint old typical* character pervading the books; at least I suppose he is typical, though I have only met him in novels. -There axe David HaTutn, Eben Holden, Abner Daniel, in "The Georgians," and the Bishop in "The Bishop of Cottontow-n," to mention a few. "The Georgians" vas very good. It is about time I began to count; I must be near the limit. Blindest regards. — Yours sincerely. AGNES BEETEAM.

[It is, indeed, good to have a letter from 3 - ou again. I like particularly .vhati you say on the Shakespaare-Bacon question, and; your comparison) of the probable attitudes of the two in the present day. Don't I wish Shakespeare could come back and- draw us as we a/re — a rather fussy people just now, I am afraid .3

You will agree with me, I think, that these 1 letters are well worth a second publication. Now. I wonder if any among y*u will be inspired to write me a similar kind of letter — a thoughtful discussion of son» good book you have read? It is like sharing the good things that have fallen to one to pass oni news about good books to one's friends. Try what you can do. Appended I give the greater part of Black Watch's letter to the chib. suppressing only a few personal inquiries about old friends and some semi-private messages.