ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1935, Page 14 (Supplement)

ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

MOUNTAINEERING JOYS F. S. SMYTHE RETURNS TO ALPS. INDUSTRY AND MEN OF THE CLYDE. i . • ■ The chief librarian of the .New Plymouth Public Library reports the following books in popular demand:— General Literature. “Gone Rambling,” Cecil Roberts. “The Spirit of .London,” Paul CohenPortheim. ‘ . • “Desert and Forest: Exploration in • Danakil ’ Abyssinia,” L. M. Nesbitt. “Peace With Honour,” A- A. Milne. “I Go Wandering,” Florence Riddell. “Journals and Letters; of. Reginald, Vis•Count.Esher Volumes 1 and 2,” Edited by Maurice V, Brett.; • -Fiction. • “The Camberwell' Beauty,” Louis Golding’. ' “Love in . Winter,” Storm Jameson. “Blandings Castle,” P. G. Wodehouse. • “Stars Look Down,’.’ A. J. Cronin. “The Little-WenCh,” Philip Lindsay. “Cat Across the Path,”. Ruth Feiner. The. following books haVe been added to tjte library recently:, ’ “An Alpine Journey,” by F. ' Si. Smythe. (.Victor Gollanqz, -London,); ' Mr. Smythe has written a very interesting. description of his experiences in' a journey, '“undertaken with the object of seeing as much as possible of Alpine Switzerland, its mountains, passes, alps, valleys, villages, towns and the ■ people, and of recapturing' something of the charm of mountain travel.” Even for the reader who knows nothing of such travel Mr. Smythe has succeeded in making his descriptions attractive, and he has supplemented the fetter-press with some admirable photographs.Of course it is the mountaineer who will appreciate this book most. He, as Mr. Smythe says, “has become something of- a specialist” and can therefore appreciate to the full the joys, the dangers and, the disappointments inseparable from a lonely journey through mountainous country. The reader who knows nothing of the technique does get a little of the thrill of accomplishment that gives climbing its devotees, and no higher praise can be given than that to Mr. Smythe’s story and his manner of telling it; ■

’ Whatever his appreciation of mountain scenery and the delights of a journey in which "the inconsequences and indecisions of travel could be indulged in to the heart's desire,” Mr. Smythe was a keen observer of the people he met on his travels and of their local amusements, methods of trading, and social habits.' ■ •

For example: “The celebration of Good Friday in the Montafon Valley is a festive affair. At every village groups' of children were beating drums and fwirling rattles with all the fervour of the adherents to d cup-tie football team. Dissatisfied with individual efforts in the way of noise, the inventive genius of- one village had constructed a machine, worked by. hand, by means of which a villainous row, the equivalent of about fifty ordinary rattles was produced. So much for the peace of man on the Day of Days.” " So much also for mankind at play. Mr. Smythe on the mountain top is more philosophical. Many people, he says, misapprehend the motives inherent in mountaineering. It is not the view from a summit reached that makes the effort worth while. ‘‘The summit , itself is riot, a reward in itself, it is a fitting culmination of endeavour.-' The true . hiOUiitainr eer does riot tread it in any spirit of vaingloriousness; he experiences nothing but a quiet satisfaction that the difficulties besetting his upward path have been surmounted. He will not yell and scream with unseemly triumph; ho Will respect that which has given him joy, and bp humbled by the prospect before his eyes ... His mind, released from physical considerations, seeks repose in the splendour about him; His vision sees, in the luminous breadths of far horizons, the delicate blending of colours, the bold pencilling of shadows, and the slow uprising and ordered march of the tall, deep-bosomed clouds, the artistry and craftsmanship of a divine hand; his ear is opened' to a strange harmony; he treads exalted the mystical deeps of the universe.” With such a reward it is no wonder that the' mountaineer makes light of the'troubles and dangers that must be overcome 4o win it. Mr. Smythe Writes cheerily of them, and of the people who take mountain climbing less seriously than himself. He has woven into this narrative experiences of ' other journeys and tales of happy companionship—another •of the rewards of the true mountaineer! , ' “The Shipbuilders,” by George Blake. (Faber & Faber Ltd., London.) - Many .books have been written about the industrial depression in Great Britain and the reactions to bitter circumstances shown by the people, most affected. It requires more than ordinary

qualities in a writer who would create fresh interest in such conditions and in regard to those who were forced to accept them. ..In “The Shipbuilders” Mr. Blake_ has proved his possession of those qualities. He demonstrates as his story progresses how the fog of economic troubles left masters and men not only bewildered but full of resentment. He shows, With rare sympathy, how the pride of the employer was lacerated and the comfort of the wage earner reduced. Neither of them gave in without a fight, and fof some of them the fight was bitterer in the home than in the workshop or the employer’s office. The “shipbuilders” were the principals, father, and son, of the old-established firm of Pagan with, shipyards on the river Clyde. There is no likelihood of material discomfort for Leslie Pagan or his father. Their hurt was that the firm that had held an honoured position in the shipbuilding industry for nearly a century /should have to own itself defeated, and because of its defeat be no longer able to accord a livelihood for the wage earners who had helped to build up the firm’s prestige. Besides the lack of orders, Leslie had to contend with his wife’s dislike of Glasgow and of her husband’s close attention to the shipyard.. To her, the necessity of closing the works was a deliverance. She intended to return to England.'and with all her affection for her husband ; found it impossible to understand his attitude towards the business and towards the city of Glasgow. The struggle between husband and wife is a long one and Mr. Blake shows considerable skill in his analysis of the 'two strong' personalities. “' “Danny Shield" a riveter at “Pagan’s,” who had ’been Leslie’s' soldier servant When he was on active service, is' a decent, hardworking wage-earner who asked of life little more than a steady job, and a wage large enough to keep his family in comfort and leave him a few shillings to spend each week on his amusements. Because of war- associations Danny receives special consideration from his employer when the shipyard is closed. Nevertheless the gall of being no longer employed as a skilled craftsman brings bitterness into Danny's homo, where already the fact that his eldest son was Unemployed had led to friction with his wife. ■ The' description of their hdpie life and

of the atmosphere in which the children of the unemployed spend their impressionable years is poignant and vivid. Danny was no saint, and Agnes had some cause for the bitterness she felt towards hOr husband and some of his friends.

The effect of “living on the dole” is shown by the career of Danny’s' eldest ' son Peter. Having no occupation Peter drifts into bad company and it is not until he is arrested with some boon companions on a charge of manslaughter that Peter shows any sense of responsibility. Soon after tha. grim experience Peter obtains employment and Danny loses his. "Very soon he '-was to discover that Agnes was not standing for any criticism of Peter, that Agnes would even use the example of Peter to sneer at him. . . It was enough to drive a man daft, at least to drink, but he kept himself to the strict letter of his new code. He drew the dole, handed the most of it over to Agnes. In the house he kept as quiet as he could; silent if Agnes was stirred out of her resentment to look at him, grimly tolerant of Peter’s new largeness of manner.” Out of that “largeness of manner” Peter brought a wife to share his father’s home. Dariny had no great objection to Rita, but she arid Agnes, were hostile from the day of the wedding. The breakup of the Shield’s home followed in due course, although there is no straining after melodrama in the way of catastrophe and all that sur--I‘OUnded it is described. Danny’s fight with hardship did not end with the breakup of his home. .He had, however, the loyalty of his Second son Billy and his idyll with Jess Stirling, widow of an army pal. to comfort him in the latter days. Danny “finds himself” again, and when the temptation to .run away from the fight is offered he is able to spurn the weakness. The struggle had overcome his former employer. Leslie Pagan had accepted the easy road but whether it will lead to contentment is left to conjecture. “The Shipbuilders” is not a pretty story. A good deal of it is sordid, but it has power, vitality and creates absorbing interest in the men and women of whom Mr. Blake writes with such earnestness and sympathy.-'" ‘ ;