Literary Notes.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13438, 9 November 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

Literary Notes.

"I wish," writes a Board School t:-acher, "that somebody would start a literary agency on new lines; I mean an agency to assist us teachers in choosing book prizes for children. It is the most difficultthing in the world to select such volumes, and, believe me, it is also a very thankless task. Children vary so in tastes and in mental capacity that it is almost impossible to get books t suit them all. What I suggest is that some enterprising person should establish a business for the selection of typical sets of presentation books. It would be a real help to teachers, and I am pretty certain that it would be profitable to whoever undertook the venture."

"Doctor Gordon," by Mary E. Wilkins. —The name of Miss Maiy *E. Wilkins is inevitably associated with* those quaintly humorous and pathetic, exquisitely artistis short storks, of New England life and character that have made her famous in her . own country and in ours. Readers who. know her only by that beautiful and individual work will find "Doctor Gordon" rather surprising, perhaps even a little disappointing. But those who have read that clever detective story of hers, "The Long Arm," willbe prepared for the difference, and, escaping the shock of it, will find this in its way a strong and absorbing romance of horror and mystery. It erids in grim tragedy; but the 'love" of- James Elliott, the doctor's assistant,''arid Clemency Ewing, the .doctor's winsome and much persecuted niece* runs like a thread of light and sweetness through all -the gloom and tangle of fear and eerie danger that gathers about it. Whether such a man as Dr ; Gordon would, in any circumstances, have allowed his neice to go so long'in peril of the insane and preposterous father who lurked in the neighbourhood haunting her covertly and persistently, a continual menace to and to the life of anyone who happened to be with her, is a question the reader may answer for himself . The plot is original and cunningly contrived, and the story is well and imaginatively written.—(London : Unwin and Co- ; Timaru: P. W r . Hutton and Co.).

"Amalia," by Graham Hope.—"Amalia" is a type of book that has been popular for some yeans, "The Prisoner' of Zenda" having set the fashion. "Amalia" deals with a small Continental kingdom not to be found on any map, and the plot consents itself with people in high places in that kingdom. It is called Montarvia, and a central incident is the marriags of its king with a daughter of "Their Transparent Highnesses, the Prince August von S'allieim - Schusselberg." The king's mode of wooing is original; he does nottrouble to visit ,Their Transparent Highnesses in order io riiake a. selection from the daughters of the house with which' for political ptiposes he wishes to effect an alliance; he orders photographs of the young ladies to be sent to him. Life in his capital is described with much zest and some humour, and there is a plot of considerable ingenuity. It is ■ not an important book, but it makes pleasant reading.—(London: G*io. Bell and Sons; Timaru: P. W. Hutton and Co.).

"Painted Rock," by Morley Roberts.— Assuredly the hand that wrote "A Western Avernus," and more recently gave us "Rachael Marr" —a novel that narrowly escaped being great—has not lost its cunning. "Painted Rock" is delieiously fresh and funny, and indication- abound that the author has enjoyed the making of it. • It purports to describe life in Texas, and, as one critic has remarked, if people in Texas behave in the way of the inhabitants of Painted Rock, life in Texas may presently be hard to find. On the slightest provocation —and without any provocation at all—the" light-hearted dwellers in Painted Rock produce their' "guns" and do deadly work. When ■ not employed with the "gun,' they are to be found at the' American House, consuming what, in their own engaging phraseology, is stj'.d "nose paint.'', Painnted Rock" is a collection of short stories, but they all deal with life (and death) in the township from which the book ..takes its title, and t certain of the characters figure in each' tale. It is a work that enables Mr Roberts to display his grim sense of humour and gives him occasion!'.to show his knowledge of the ruder side of Western Life. One of the most amusing of the stories tells of the experiences of a' man from Painted Rock who visited - London, arrayed himself in the "glad rags" of civilisation, and had wild times "up West." — (London : Unwin and Co. ; Timaru: P. W. Hutton.)

"The Coming of I«obell," by Helen Wallace.—ln her new novel the author of "To Pleasure Madame," turns from Cavalier times to modern days, and proves that every-day life of the twentieth century can furnish as exciting tales as "the days of old romance." The story opens with the sudden disappearance of 'a young girl on c the eve of her wedding. How she is found and brought home by her cousin and bride-groom-to-be, and the development of a highly-original plot, leading to the dramatic revelation of a hidden past, will liolcl the attention until at last, in an unlooked for fashion, love and loyalty .receive, their due reward.—(London : Cassell and Co. ; Timaru: P. W. Hutton and Co.).

Not inany novelists have bo many stories to their credit as Mrs Amelia E. Barr, who, though she has lived long in America, was born in our country. This autumn she is bringing out her fiftyfourth story which ; shows how industrious she has been while maintaining—and this can be fairly said-—a good qquality of work. Mrs Barr is now seventy-seven, but she is still hale and well, and we may hope for more storiees from her pen.

"Carette of Sark," by John Oxenham. — In "Carette of Sark," I John Oxenham opens to his readers a hitherto "undiscovered counptry" of romance—that tiny rock bound Norman isle into which you gain admittance by a tunnel through the rock, and having once entered never wish to leave again—where strange relics of feudal customs linger still,, and whose sturdy inhabitants, speaking French,-are yet British to the back-bone. The story is cast in the little island's days of high romance, when smuggling and privateering were the accepted commerce of those troubled seas, when men went with their lives in their hands and yet had timeand heart for . love-making and marryings, when Napoleon" was gathering himself for a spring at Britain, and Britain, singlehanded, .curbed him on every sea. It, is the life-story of a'strong,, true-hearted man of Sark and the maid he loved and won through many strange and startling happenings. It gives.an insight into the quaint customs of this quaintest of little lands, and shows in vivid contrast' the silver lining to the thunderous wai'-clouds. —(London: Hodder and Stoughton ; Timaru : P. W. Hutton and Co.).

"The Trampled Cross." —A young Englishman engaged in exploration in ■Palestine is captured by a fanatical horde of Arabs, and accused of desecrating one of their most sacred Mosques. He is offered the choice between death and trahrpling on the cross. Life is inore to him than a religion in which he does not believe, and lie places his heel where the two rude sticks cross eac bother and crushes them into the sand of the desert. Into the story of the consec]uences of this deed Joseph Hocking has flung all his ardour and his best workmanship. He is himself convinced that "The Trampled Cross" is one of the best stories, if not the -very

best, he has ever written. It strikes into new territory is daring and original, ard cnn-im the reader breathlessly along to a dramatic climax, '-.ine of the in-•(.'«. r.ts •which give colour r-r.d fcce to this moving story are indeed founded on fact, and have the grip of those, truths which are ctranger than fiction.—(London : Hodder and iStoughton .; Timaru : P. W. Hut ton and Co.).