THE READER'S COLUMN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 282, 21 April 1913, Page 6

THE READER'S COLUMN

NOTES.

(Conducted by Jamefc tVortley)

On Saturday week this column will contain a review of Colonel Railton's life of General Booth. Th<; work is already attaining an enormous sale in tlie Old Country.

Theodore* Roosevelt is Contributing an introduction to wliat promises to be a most interesting book on wild life by Cherry Kearton. The book is to deal with hunting expeditions in all parts of the world, and will probably have for a title, an exchange informs us, "Wild Life at Close Quarters."

The first impression of Mr. A. C. Benson's now work, "Along the Road" (James Nisbett and C i.. 7s fid) is already sold out, and a teeond is well on its way to completion. The- publishers report being quite out of Kipling's complete poems, a limited edition of which lias just been issued by Messrs Hodder and Stoughton. The British Weekly reports that "A Happy Warrior," by A. S. M. Hutchinson, is the pronounced success of the year in the fiction world of America. Last Saturday's Dominion contains a capital review by Liber. History is getting considerably mixed up by the recent happenings in Mexico, and the thread of the narrative is difficult to follow from the telegrams received. A good book to study just now is Mrs. Alex. Tweedie's "Mexico as I saw it." It can be had at almost any bookshop in Nelson's splendid series for (ifteenpence. Mrs. Tweedie writes easily, and has had exceptional opportunities for studying tha Mexican, be he statesman or peasant. I am in receipt of a capital bateli of sixpenny editions from 'he Gordon and' Gotch proprietary, Wellington. The following titles, many jf which have been noticed as new books in this column, speak for themselves:—"The Imprudence of Prue," by Sophie Fisfter; "The Girl and the Bill," by Bannister Merwin; "The Man Oritside," by Wyndham Martyn; "The Port of Missing Men," by Meredith Nicholson; "Die Danger Trail,'' by J. 0. Cm-wood; "Hilma," by W. Eldridge.

The same firm also forward' twa wellknown and popular works published by them for Australasia at. Is net. The first of these is "Ziska," by Marie Corelli, which bears the imprint of the famous Bristol publisher, Arrowsmith. The other is Cynthia. Stoekjey's great South African story, "Poppy." The March Bookman'is a Henry James number. The biographical sketch is ably written by Dixon Scott. In the same number F. K. (treen contributes an appreciative review of. "The Life and Letters of fobbed." by Lewis Melville; and several capital reproductions are made from photos of places made notable by Cobbett's writings. I shall return to the subject of Cobbett on a future occasion.

Now that technical education is so much to the fore the appearance of "Work" manuals, edited by Paul N. Haslnck, is timely. Several of these reach me from the B.K. From the laige number of titles they appear to cover every phase of industry from elementary carpentry to the most abstruse engineering problems. The student may find here just the technical subject he wants epitomised in a handy and well printed volume. Taul N. Hasluek is an acknowledged authority, and the editor for many years of Work. Thoroughness is what may be safely looked for in any treatises that pass through his hands.

*AX AUSTRALIAN DOOLEi'.

Hie }»cw South Wales Bookstall Company introduces a new humorist, in the person of Mr. A. G. Stephens. We have heard of Mr Stephens as a journalist and critic, but l»s : book, "Bill's Idec's " reveals still another side to this versatile writer. The dialect is that o! the true Australian larrikin. Bill's idee of himself is "a bloke with a quiet wife and ii quiet dog with a quiet name." In chapter nine "Bill" gives us his "idee* 1 land " „ Ik « a place "not; e the 1-ijis. No brown tarts on the beach, lik e that. All moral and relig.ous. Wl.en a bloke wants <v nvnr n i a ' S a Pa^[ n ' Bteamcr and trots o uto Sydney 'That' is a fair petunia of a place. But once a Waggonooey *mi y got with us. There were seven brothers who each hit Sydney in turn, these brothers wore so alike that their T'! '"°, ther ''""'''"'t tell them apart. b Lit X T'! 1 Stand ono fol> once, carrrin- t,10u " ,lt > tlle same one c.urjing on seven times over, so the fast man caught it hot and strong om very imperfect acquaintance with type! y porUa - val °f the

SOME RECENT FICTION,

t"A Master of Deception," by Richard March. (Loudon and Melbourne: Cassell and Company).

This is the story of a man who, as a lad, did not have it in him to run straight. Clever, gifted witli good looks and easy manners, he goes for years unsuspected and undetected, from small deceptions to startling crime. Cornered at last, he covers his retreat from an impossible position by murdering his uncle, who appears to stand between him and wealth. For the moment circumstances favor him, as they have done so often 011 previous occasions, but he finally has to flee from the avenging hand of the law, and, in company with his friend's liancee, leaving behind him no fewer than four girls whom he has promised to marry. The book is not entertaining, and it can serve little good purpose .to portray a character so devoid of humanity. Ilis very badness is not of the heroic type. The story is an apt illustration of the saying of the psalmist—''The way of the wicked he tumeth upside down."

t''Ray ton: A Backwoods Mystery,". by Theodore Goodridge Roberts. (Boston: L. C. Page and (Jo; 11)12).

This is an absorbing storv based upon an old family legend about two mysterious red crosses upon the ace of spades. I An eccentric old sea captain who is in possession of the tale about the strange marks makes considerable commotion in a timber-milling settlement of New Brunswick. In an easy, natural manner we are introduced to the various representative characters to be found in such a settlement. Kayton is a "haw-haw" neivchum Englishman, and a good fellow to boot. Dick (loodine, the I'rench trapper, and David Marsh, the stolid colonial, as well as liuyton, are all in love with Nell Harley, a charming girl indeed, but whom, according to the legend of the crosses, it is unsafe to love. But the genial and hearty New Yorker, llarcey P. Banks, comes up lo the woods for some sport, gets scent of the mystery, and runs the culprit to earth. *1 n the telling we get a splendid picture of the manliness and womanliness of the t •» the bracing atmosphere of this North American coast.

■ ("') tteceived from: the. XXW. Bookstall Co., Sydney; (f) from Gordon and C.olch Proprietary, Wellington; ($) from the B.K. Bookshop, Devon street. ,