SHORTER REVIEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 17756, 17 September 1927, Page 13

SHORTER REVIEWS.

“Green Forest.” By N. S. Colby. (Cape). Odd things may happen, and seem less odd, on board a ship. In spite of all modern efforts to make every liner like a hotel, Ave cannot get rid of the sense of separation made by the surrounding sea, or the even stranger sense of companionship Avitli the other passengers on the boat. Of this life, so unreal and yet so intense In its possibilities, Miss Colby Avrites in “Green Forest.” Mrs Challoner, recently widoAved from a husband she has long ceased to love, is travelling to Europe Avit’n her daughter who has broken off her engagement with Tony. Suzette is her father’s child, and Mrs Challoner cannot understand the values or the character of this Avorldly daughter of hers. Suzette resents her mother’s idealism, her friendship for the uncouth Dr Findley, and has snatched her from NeAV York to get even with this man as much as from any desire to pursue her lover to Paris. The other people on the boat are draAvn with skill rather than Avith understanding or sympathy—Mrs Morrell, Miss Joy, the unspeakable Arambaru, Mrs Piggott the vulgar courtesan, and Mr Piggott the Avorm who will turn. On all of these Miss Colby brings to bear an acid intelligence; but in her portrait of Dr Watkins there is something more than cleverness —there is imagination. “Green Forest” is Avritten a little too deliberately, a little too much in the

modern manner that makes the reader long for a slippered ease in style; but it is a brilliant, capable piece of work. “Lotus of the Dusk.” By Dorothy Graham. (Fisher Unwin). •Miss Graham’s story of modern Peking, of the Chinese woman who had a Russian mother, and of her American husband, has not much merit as a piece of literature, but it is a good vivicl description of life in the old houses of Peking, of the interminable plans and discussions of the students, and of the difficulties made by the intrusion of AVestern people and ideas into an older and alien civilisation. At the book’s beginning there is pathos and a note of drama in the account of Liane, the Russian Chinese; but Miss Graham cannot keep this up, and her hand- • ling of the problem of mixed blood is conventional and facile. “The Gay Tradition.” By Norman Venner. (Heinemann). Mr Venner’s new novel is as light as a meringue. He writes with high spirits from the moment at which he tells how the peer’s son, sitting by the roadside, is hit on the head by a fir-cone, thrown by a strange girl who sat on the wall. Such an incident, as ever reader of fiction knows, is hound to end in mutual love. Mr Venner does not disappoint us in this matter. The young man’s family are doing their utmost to force him into a marriage he dislikes, and the cone-throwing girl’s guardian is trying to force her. into marrying himself. In fact, she is virtually a prisoner. How she runs away, how the peer is infuriated by his son’s apparent treachery, how the lovers disguise themselves as servants in a country house, and how they get mixed up in a burglary —all these preliminaries to a happy ending are told with a vivacious dramatic sense. “Your Children.” By Muriel Wrinch. (AVilliams and Norgate). Few parents bring up their children in any but a haphazard fashion, and Mrs AVrinch’s little hook may be recommended to many as a provocation of thought, if not as an absolute guide, as, indeed, no hook of the kind can he. She discusses such ; questions as the part that toys play in a child’s life, the method of winning obedience, how children are misunderstood, and how they should he trained to take care of money. She advises that children should be taught to keep accounts, but she pro- 1 tests against putting money presents 1 lor small children into a hank or post ' office. “To put money in the bank or the post office,” she says, “can mean nothing to the child under 10, except that money legitimately theirs J is forcibly taken away from them.” 1

NOTES. Hilaire Belloc has been closely engaged upon his history of England, and the third volume is to be published by Methuen next spring. Mr Belloc’s main object is to emphasise what he regards as an historical truth, that the chief social and political phenomena of national history are religious, not matters! of race. The two volumes already ! published have brought the chronicle up to the fourteenth century and ha will pass in review all the critical epochs which lie between then and now, closing with the South African AVar. A facsimile reprint of the “Kilmarnock Burns,” which, as a Scotsman, Mr Werner Laurie has lovingly prepared will, says a writer in the “Daily Telegraph,” be at the disposal of tho public in a short time. The original edition i saw the light at Kilmarnock in the year 1786, and its full title was “Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.” On tho title-page with the word “anonymous” under them were the lines, now so familiar: (The Simple Bal’d, unbroke by rules of Art He pours the wild effusions of the heart; And if inspired, ’tis Nature’s powers inspire ; Hers all the melting thrill and hers tho kindling fire. Tho volume so proclaimed was then worth three shillings, whilo to-day a copy fetches anything over £ISOO. There are signs according to a writer in the British AVeekly, that a real revival of the historical novel is under way. Mr Alfred Tresidder Sheppard, who began his career as a historical novelist and made a popular success with “The Red Cravat” and“ Running Horse Inn,” has after an interval devoted to realistic stories of modern life, come back to history with “Bfave Earth,” published a year or two ago, and has now completed another historical romance, “Here Comes an Old Sailor.” The story, a blend of history and legend, is steeped in a mediaeval atmosphere of witchcraft and superstition and covers the years between the martyrdom of Bcekct and the crowning of the young King. Henry lIL

“Ralph Connor,” who in private life is the Rev. Dr Gordon, of Winnipeg, has written a scries of ami imaginative studies of great New Testament figures. ! Air L. J. Garvin, editor of the “Ob- | server,” has cancelled all his public cnj gagemonts for the next five months in i older that ho may complete his “Life of Joseph Chamberlain” by the. autumn. Two long letters, 1871-72, written by Sir Henry Stanley to James Gordon Bennett, dealing with the oxpidilion to find Livingstone, and its siicces-iiil issue, brought £9O at Christie’s Air Basil Blackwell, the Oxford publisher, compares authors, publishers, and booksellers to “uneasy bedfellows, ever tugging against each other for a bigger share of a blanket which is not large enough to keep all three warm at once.” “71 Dueo” has come into fiction at last, and will soon be on the film, ile is the hero of “The Shadow of Mussolini,” a. melodramatic tale of political intrigue, by Airs Wilfred AVard, the. widow of a distinguished Roman Catholic journalist Airs Sheila MacDonald, author of ‘■’Sally in Rhodesia,” lias writon another bool,, “.Martin and Others in Rhodesia.” it is in every wav as delightful as her previous, work, radialling light heartedness and laughter irum beginning to end. A discovery made by Sir James Barrie when a youth at Dumfries was that Burns and Carlyle made love across the same stile by the- riverside at that Scottish town. “I know, ami you know,” said Sir James Barrie, when receiving the freedom of Dumfries recently, “which of thorn did the best.”Tlie author of “The Alyslerv ot the AM low Room.” Gaston Loroux, died at Xi'’o the ntlmr flay. lie began bis career as a journalist and achieved tame mid fortune through his lamous “best seller.” .He bad a. genius for arresting titles. “The Secret of the Night." and “The. Perfume of the Lady in Black,” arc two examples. Bibliophiles in general, remarks a writer in the "Sunday Times.” and Air John Galsworthy's admirers will welcome tlia new “Grove” edilion which Heinemann is now publishing. The edilion, which takes its name from tho author's Hampstead house, is definitely l’or the pocket. It. will run for 20 volumes and both in form and typography will delight the booklover.

“The letters of George' Gissing,” arranged by A. and E. Hissing, contained iho following:—Mrs Proctor told me a story about Browning. He had dined with her, and after going away found lie had taken the wrong hat. and returned. In the meantime a man who had also been dining (a guardsman), was just saying to A.lr Proctor: “By the way, who is this Air Browning?” And at that moment Robert put bis head in at the door. Some biographers and critics of the Duke of AVellington have called him a hard and heartless man. but his correspondence with Lord Salisbury, which has been edited by Lady Burghelero and will be published hv Air Alu'-i-'v. should, it is said, dispel this belief for ever. The letters written during ISY)1852 are interesting for the vivid picture they afford of tho “Great Duke in his last days. The volume opens with a biographical sketch of Lady .Salisbury. Literary friendships are often of short- duration, hut one which has stood the test of time is that between Mr Hilaire Belloc and Air G. K. Chesterton. Mr Chesterton and Air Belloc have been friends for many years, and have collaborated in many amusing tales, Air Belloc contributing the text and Air Chesterton the drawings. Another of these “Choster-Bollocs” —as they aro known —is shortly to be published. The title has not yet been decided upon. A forthcoming publication which is sure of a wide reading public in New Zealand, as in other parts of the Empire, is “The Royal Tour of T.R.lithe Duke and Duchess of _ York” (Edward Arnold). The book is from the pen of Air Taylor Derbyshire, who accompanied Their Royal Highnesses throughout their whole tour. The publishers assure us that “while nothing of import is omitted, the reader is never repelled by ‘official’ accounts of functions and festivities.”The recent silence of G. 8.5., says a Avriter in the Loudon “Observer,” has been a general Avonder. Noav Ave may toll Avhy. He has been engaged on a considerable Avork of argument. He has just finished it and it Avill lie published by Constable’s next season under the title of “The Intelligent Woman’s Guido to Socialism.” Begun as a letter to a friend, it greAV of itself under Mr Sliuav’s hand and became a book likely to RAvake a thousand echoes of agreement and retort. The Oxford Press have planned a series of little books describing the story of ilie earth and of mankind before) tho dawn of recorded history. It is designed for the entertainment and instruction of tho ordinary intelligent man and Avonmn, and Avill be known as tho “Corridors of Time Series.” There aro two editors, Professor Peake, Avlio is President of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and Professor Fluere, of the University of AYalos. So far, four volumes are under Avay Avitli tho titles, “Apes and Alen,” “Hunters and Artists,” “Peasants and Potters,” and “Priests and Kings.” Other works of an allied interest to be published by the same press arc “Environment and Race,” by Griffith Taylor, and “Jxingship,” by A. M. Hocart.

Though its high place in the list of examination requirements attests tho importance of literature in the eyes of American professors, writes Lucie .Simpson in “Where State Education Fails,” the subject is one that is too often “crammed” so that tho results are frequently disappointing. AVliile many teachers, the Avriter remarks, possess the most comprehensive knowledge of choir subject, they often fail through some unexpected limitation, to discriminate as to Avliat qualities it is most necessary to instil. For instance, as a momentary spur to attention it may be of interest to learn Avliat Dr Johnson Avas accustomed to ha\ r e for breakfast, or Avhero Pope bought his Avaistcoats or Mi’s Ilemans her lace caps. But these del.oils are worthless if they are- an end in themselves and fail to throw light on the personality of tho- people discussed.

'J'ho old-established publishing house of Cassell’s lias been purchased by Mr Newman Floavcl’ from .Sir William and Mr J. Gomev Berry. For twenty-on© years Mr Flower has been in charge of tile literary activities of the business. John Cassell, the founder of the firm, was a young carpenter of poor education, when Avont to- London from Manchester in 18:j6 as a temperance speaker. In order to further the cause of temperance, ho bought tea and Avas the first to scIL it in packets. To print his tea labels lie bought a printing machine, and in the evenings employed it in printing a small paper called “The ’Working Man’s Friend.” Out of those tea labels came the publishing house. Cassell, Avlio soon became a noted publisher of good litoraturo for tho masses, died of over Avork, at the age of fortyeight, on the same day in, 1865 as his friend Cobden. His tAvo partners, Bettor and Galpin, continued the firm, and three years after his death they put into operation a. scheme Avliich lie had originated—namely, the issue of tho first halfpenny evening paper, the Echo.