LITERARY NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13673, 15 August 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

LITERARY NOTES.

"The Handyman's Dnqime Within. Mating, Mending, Renovating," edited byPaul X". Hasluck—This new -noik -\\ ill do for the handyman whaj a -nell known and popular volume has done toi the housewiie. When jn difficulty about any htttle job in the house, he lias only to m qune. -within its pages to find just the in loi matron he needs. The arrangement is alphabetical, * with Mors references, where nece&sary, so disclosing at a glance the infruination, contained In attempting to give an idea of the scope and contents of the book, perhaps the beet course ife to mention a few subjects taken arbitrarily as the pages are turned over: Acetylene, how to prepare it, and how to clean 'and manage acetylene lamps; acids., how they are made and used; aluminium, how to clean at, -solder it, etc ; making and repairing bamboo furniture; barometer cleaning, adjusting, and repairing; simple book bmding; putting up clothes poles; ciicket-bat lepamng; cycle adjustment and tyie lepairs; the fixing of electric alarms and bells, and the making of bat tenes; ionntoin pen repairs; piepanng and "using glue; putting on a hinge; le pairing a lock and fitting a, key; hanging pictures and putting up picture rods and laite; sharpening and setting a ra?or* Uiing a saw; putting up a shelf: fixing tiles; umbrella repairing; cleaning and repaning a wringing machine. All these and tho}h*ands of other jobs of winch the above aie typical aie explained in I the " Handyman's Enquire Within"; and in every instance the information "supplied 16 plainly worded and thoroughly practical. (London: Caswell and Co ; Timam: P. W. Hntton and Co )

The great popularity of Allen Rime's BtoriCß has surprised no one more than their author She lived a quiet and retired bfe on the Cardiganshne coast, know irig arid hearing nothing of the news',of the literary world save through books and newspapers. But tributes to her work flow-in ironr all quarters of the world—from the Yukon territory to Jamaica—and from readers of every class and pidfesskvn. i

" The Spanish Jade," by Maurice Hewlett—Mr. Hewlett?, that "mediaevalised Meredith," as he lias been called, tells a tale of the Spam of 1860. "It belong* to Geoige Bairow's day,"' writes Mr. Hewlett, "this tale, when gentlemen rode ahorseback between town and town, anil followed the river-bed rather than the road." Contrasting the phlegmatic English with the pa%ionato Spanish temperament, tragedy of a nigh order is achifeved, and the end shows a renounciation complete, inevitable, yet not wholly ilnhappy. Manvere, an Engbsh squirt, , "riding through the land, comes upon a *;cene that revolts him, though common enough" in the country ha has chosen to travel. His English nature has just a touch of the Quixotic, and he inteifepps The result is, he finds himself left with a beautiful Spanish girl to take care< of, laying up for hirtiself stores of unknown hate' and'love. The ploti quickens, the characters grow 'in number and depth of passion. Manuela (the' Spanish Jade), Mariverls protegee, is pnven to murder in ■defence/ of her owti and her rescurer's life, and out of this murder emergeG a story which reminds us of "The Ring and the Book," write swift analysis of mot ires. It is told 1 With Mir. Hewlettfe accustomed power, the vigour and colour and opulence of Ins style, 3ns strong sense of character, race, and subtle feeling for the atmosphere "of the country of which he writes. (London : Cassell and' Co.; ' Timaru : P.'" W. Hutton and Co ) >'

Golfers will be interested in the statement that Mr. Janies Braid has fur over two years been engaged m writing a, work', entitled "Advanced- Golf." It is io "be fully illustrated, and will be published by- Messrs Methuen.

" Woodcarving: Piactical Instruction*; and 'Examples.' edited' by Paul itf. Hasliick ■—A volume of piactical instruction's and ueaiitiful designs ■ revealing every phase of the ait and ciaft of woodearving An interesting introduction is followed by a description of the -woods used for carving; the information comprising just thcwe points upon which the wood carver requires special jnsttuction The illustrations given in this section consist of micfophotographs clearly portiaymg the, structure of the chief woods'. The next Section fully illustrates and descubes Woodcarvers' tools, and gives all necessary' mstiuchons on shoipenmg them and keeping them in working Older The succeeding sections describe m detail ,and with the help of photographic and other illustrations, the process of tracing, outlining, setting in, grounding, modelling, incifeed carving, pieiced carving, undercutting, Gothic carving, carving in the round, arid the finishing of carvings Another section gives the characteristics of the chfcf styles of carving, introduces a la)ge collection of designs, (with notes on their execution) for carving applied'to all kinds of furniture—brackets, boTOK, chests, bureaus, cabmets, frames, seats, tables, etc , etc The concluding feature is a full index, which contains a leference to every tool, process, and design merittoned m the vblume. (London:' Cassell arid Co ; Timaru: P/W. Huttoh. and Co)

"The Ki«s of Helen," by Chailcs Marriott —This might bo descubed as a story of sub conscious influence Paul Ticcarell, a boy of nineteen, meets Joan Kcvcmc, a girl visitor from London, in the Ornish villago where he is being prepared by the Vicar for Oxford v and the Ghurch On a second meeting, Paul nrtkes boyish lows to' Joan, who is several years older: than himself At first she 5& amused, then touched, and she, allows him to ktss her ;" bnt, u repenting, she leaves the village the

next- day. Paul finds wit ber address .in London and goes to Hie house, where ho makes a discovery that effectually cools his ardour. Years pass, ami Paul, who, failed 1.0 find-.a.-vocation; for 'the-' Church, ■ is now a rising .architect, and affianced, to another womah, -again meets JoaJiJ "and they become great friends. ' Bill, -.).'hrang(i' the meddling- of outsiders thtv Cornish • incident is dragged up;.'and also the'ttg]y. tfpisodo in .loan's history Which dhjnped Paul's youthful emotion. ThtV loads :ii. ■■line- last -moment to tho breaking of .hiss engagement. Paul finds that lie! does np't regret this as mucin as ho ought, : ' fciivli still docw' noli recognise, that his,".'pusaioii for Joan, had hot been killed, bill; onlyshocked, into abeyance. Tho lvmaihder of..the jioved tells how he' was m;ide":fc<* see.-that Joan was 1 lie only, 'woman m ttift world for him, and the. last chapter i«Uk the. unexpected "result" of revelation;. (London:Qeo. Bell and Sons:'' Titnafii: P. W. Hntfon and "Co.) ' ■ , .

The last syllable in * Khayyam' is. long, and 'Omar' (as it is Wrongly .spelt) should not bo pronounced .;is if' it wore Vocative ease of Ma. Some of the c Omar> ians' (or members of the Omar Khayyam Club) are either ignorant of these'.'i'act'A 6r ignore them.. Otherwise it is- difficult to believed that they could have acclaimed' the particularly atrocious ' limerick which, according to The Pall' Mall Gazefcle, was a 'choice contribution' at tlie annual dinner held last month in London. Here.is the precious thing : There was an old man of East Ham,, Who wanted to read the Khayvan, FitzQerald. said he, ""':' .Is the version', for me; . - : As for the other translations—oh——*! '

; Messrs. CaeeeU arid ■ Co. announce for immediate publication a further.' ten .volumes in their. "People's Library."'. The following are; the titles of the hew books: "It; is Never Too Late to Mend','".(bha'r- . les Headel); " Pilgrim's : Progress " (John . Bunyan)-; "Shirley" (Charlotte-Bronte); 'l' Tales. Poems, Sketches" (Bret Harte); "Hypritia"■' (Charles, Kingsley);. "Essays" (Thomas. H. Huxley); . .•'H'nndv Andy." (Samuel Lover) ; "Voyages of Discovery" (Qaptam Pook),- " Mr. Midshipmah Easy'' ■ (Captain Marryatj; "Heroes' and Hero • Worship and' Essays on -Goethe "' (Thomas Carlyle). The popularity, of this series; is undiminished and the sales Jhave reached upwards of. 600,000 copies, (tim'aru iv P. . Wi: Hiitton and-. ; C6.) • v.'

Liteiatnie has sustained ]<yjs by the deaths of the lnllowmg. (1) Sii Auckland Colvin (70), a tetired Indian Ciohan, whtf, besides writing in 1895, for the 'Rulers of India' beries. a life ol • father. John Russel Colvin (Lieutenant Coventor of tlie. Agia Presidency in 1857), published in 1906 'The making of Modern. Kgypt,' a work on the same lines as Lord Cromer's "lecently issued 'Modem Egypt'; > (2) J. Fitzgerald Mollify (50), whose literary, out put, ohiefly historical, was convdArable, commencing with ' Court Life Helow (Stains' in 1882, and followed by,a Record bertce in 1883, with a long list,tip to 'Sir 'Joshua and his Circle' in 1906, and a 4if& of the late Queen, entitled ' Victoria Regma, Her Court and Subjacts,' which in now in the Press, and announced tor publication this iSpnng; and (3) Major Griffiths. (70), *\v3ir> achieved distinction as i a soldier, a journalist, an author, Atid J an expert m the management of ,prison 4 and in ciime generally. With his Inlimdte knowledge of criminals Majoi fliifutjlifii combined a notable capacity for storytelhng, rising Tiath to advantage in the pioduction of the numerous lomances of I cnme that have made Ins name' famou,S. He was at one time editor of The Fortnightly Review and, later, of The WorTd.

"An Amateur Adventuiess," , by F. Fiankfort Moore—-Thofcc who lake pleasure in reading the. doings of adtfentuioifc. women rull appreciate Mr Frankfort Mofiro's story of Kate Orayson, an orphan who, discontented with the humdrum 'life of a, village In England and ( the tyranny of the vioar and his family, 'sells out liall? of capital in order to live "fop a year or -so on tha Continent as an heiress. In this role Mis? Grayfon obtains some amusement and ultimately a husband, but in the meantime,' by'tine of , those, rare pieces of luck that. occur in hovels, ..some supposed worthless tehnW-B inherited by her turn out to be exceedv ' ingly valuable, so that she- is an heirfess after all. There is, much brilliant writing in .the. tale, and it) is thoroughly iii> , teresting. London : Hutchison and Co: ; Timaru: P. W. Huttdn and Co.)

DEATH OF' "ALLENi RAINF." The death of Allen Raine (Mrs. Beynon Puddicombe) will 'be sincerely mourned throughout Wales, v of which she hao become the'most popular novelisft. She ed away on Sunday, June 21, in her fiftyeighYh year, after a long and painful illness, at her home, Brorimor, on the 1 Cftrdi- , gaiishirci coast, where'two years ago her husband-caejle-Emlyn, the eldest daughter of Benjamin Evans, who, like hie cousin, tha J ate Rev. JJavjd Davis, of Evesham, was , grandson' of David of " CaHllfi HoVeir"(]^;B27) y for 'many year* \U , leading "Unitarian mmibter jn (Wdlngan*,' shire, a notable schoolmaster and' a po«t. Ho translated ,Gray\s elegy 'into WekH; and by'many people hi l ? version is considered equal to the orignal. His great grand daughter found in novel writing n 601n06 in her much tried life, and laUedly an ample source of income. > Her father ttaß " a solicitor in the same town. " For tell years after her marriage to Mr. Beyriott Puddicombe (who wa*v a bank official In London) she was an invalid, and 1 "afte* her own restoration to health he became incurably afflicted, so that all the caret of "tlie household' rested upon her. Sho 1 had always been <a delightful and in 1894) a Welsh tale of hers gained A prize iat the National' Eistieddfod l . lit 1897 her first novel, "A'Welsh Singer," appeared, and had an extraordinary isucco«3. It is said to have had it circulation of over a million copies." She*loved her native country and its people, and was! familiar with ty* traditions, legends, n'nd folk-lore. iHer stories dro genuine ivrid; human throughout. The London "Times," in an obituary nohce, s{at&d*: All her'subseqnemV novels ifynlfc with nncidnt. --nr modern Welsh life; and,f quiet and • ortfen grave, though they were, •they achieved very wide popularity, which (it is pcrharii worth while to mention) certainly owed; nothing' to' self-advertisement on< thfe- part of the author. Her work, indeed, 1 owed) some of'its attractiveness to the author's complete disseverance from * literary London cliques, and in its close fiFßOoiatiolis with'the' silent spirit of hsr njitive country, ' '