LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 62

LITERATURE.

BOOK NOTICES. TWO BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 1. “The Stone Axe of Burkamurk.” By Mary Grant Brace. Illustrated by J. Macfarlane. Ward, Lock, and Co. London and Melbourne. 2. “Peggy the Pilot.” By Lilian Turner (Mrs F. Lindsay Thompson), author of “An Australian Lassie,” “The Girl from the Back-blocks,” etc. Ward, Lock and Co. (Illustrated.) The first of these two books is a collection of Australian legends written in a form suitable for young people. The author, in her foreword, explains her motive in the compilation of this volume. The black tribes are dying out, and their legends and beliefs will die with them. Their legends show how the world appeared to these primitive people, they tell of the powers of storm, flood‘d thunder, and magic, and the beings who, the blacks thought, con trolled, these powers of Nature and the lives of men and women. “Many of the old tales are savage enough, but through them runs a thread of feeling for the nobler side of life—the spirit of self-sacrifice is seen in them, and greed, selfishness, and cruelty are oftci punished as they deserve. We are apt to looK on the blacks as utter barbarians, but as we read their own old stories we see that they were boys and girls, men and women, not so unlike us in many ways, and that they could admire what we admire in each other, and condemn what we would condemn. The folk tales of a people are the story of its soul, and it would be a pity if the native races of our country were to vanish before we had collected enough of their legends to let their successors know what manner of people lived in Australia for thousands of vears before the white man came. In the hope of persuading all young Australians who have the opportunity to collect and preserve what they can of the ancient life and legends of Australia, I have put into modem English a few of the tales which may still be had from some old blackfellow or gin. It is to be hoped that the authoress’s book will have the result she aims at. Certainly the stories will please young readers/ Like the folk and fairy stories of the old world, they reveal a world of wonder and enchantment, of heroic adventure, and animals acting and thinking like human beings. The style is animated and pleasing, and the illustrations attractive. The artist, however, has claimed poetic license in representing “the maiden who found the moon” as a beauty of purest Caucasian type. 2. “Peggy the Pilot” is a story of a little girl’s troubles with an over-strict and harassed maiden aunt burdened with the charge of a brother’s family. Peggy is by and by sent in disgrace to the care of a great aunt, not a very alarming person, though somewhat eccentric. The authoress deals sympathetically with all her characters, and produces a very pleasant story. REPRINTS. 1. A new and annotated edition of Southey’s Life of Nelson has been published by Professor Callender, of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich (Dent, 6s net). Southey’s life of England’s great naval hero is a classic of English prose, and, through its subject, a - popular one. Southey’s prose is always admirable; but his lives of other British admirals and of Wesley and his “History of Brazil” are little read. Southey was of the opinion that many authors would write better if they wrote more naturally, with less effort after style. He adhered to three rules, which merit the attention of young writers : First, be quite clear in your own mind as to what you mean; secondly, write it out in the simplest and clearest manner you can; thirdly, notice the sound of your sentences, and make changes for euphony revising your work. 2. A new edition has been published of the-poetical works of Leigh Hunt (Oxford University Press, 7s net). Leigh Hunt remains one '-of the best-known of English men of letters of secondary rank in the early nineteenth century. His fame has gained through his close association with Shelley, Byron, and other men of more powerful genius than his own. He is remembered, too, for the reforming zeal of his early days and for the attack on the Prince Regent, which brought him a term of imprisonment in Surrey Gaol. Leigh Hunt belonged to the school of revolt against the poetical conventions of the eighteenth century. His earlier poems are characterised by exuberant fancy. His longer works have beeri little read since his day, but “Abou Ben Adhem” and a few other short pieces are popular classics. 3. An anthology of the prose and verse of Austin Dobson, with a foreword by Edmund Grove, has just appeared (Dent, 6s net). With a limited range of thought and emotion, Austin Dobson is a fine poetical artist, and he has a freshness and grace that never fail to charm. The eighteenth century specially attracted him. Most of his verse is light, but when he touches on the sadder things of life he attains a poignant pathos, as in the touchingly simple lines “Before Sedan.” 4. A poetical anthology has been published under the title “English Yerse, Old and New” (Cambridge University Press, 6s net). The editors, contrary to the usual practice, have given disproportionate space to living poets, and the volume will be very useful to those interested in contemporary developments in poetry. 5. It is over 40 years since William Watson’s first volume of verse containing “The Prince’s Quest” and shorter pieces attracted the attention of critics and poetry-lovers. Since then, though not a voluminous writer, he has given to the world many volumes of poetry characterised by fine thought and finished per fection of Style. So far as the nviewer

knows, only one volume of selections from his works has been published previous to the present time, and this is now out of print. Admirers of his poetry will welcome the appearance of a new selection, containing poems from 17 published volumes—-“A Hundred Poems by Sir William Watson” (Hodder and Stoughton, 10s 6d net). A writer who so consistently upholds the dignity of poetry as Sir William Watson has necessarily lost touch with the younger generation of writers and readers; but his elegies, his “Ode to Autumn,” and some other short poems are likely to outlive . much highly-praised Georgian poetry. 6. “The Golden Book of Modern English Poetry, 1870-1920,” is a comprehensive selection, containing poems by no fewer than 140 writers of the period. It is edited by Thomas Caldwell, and published by Dent (price 7s 6d net). 7. Two volumes of Bret Harte’s fiction are issued by Chatto and Windus at 3s 6d a volume—one “A First Family of Tasajara,” and another containing “The Luck of Roaring Camp” and other stories and sketches.