LITERARY NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7179, 14 January 1892, Page 4

LITERARY NOTES.

» CHRISTMAS BOOKS. London, Nov. 27. Mr Barries " Little Minister " scarcely needed the now seemingly inevitable puff from Mr Gladstone. A Barrie " boom " is, as the P.M.Q. predicted, well under weigh, though many readers of this (in my humble opinion) somewhat over-praised book frankly confess the story is too Scotch for their taßte. Far the best of the magazine shilling annuals is Clark Bussell's " Tragedy of Ida Noble," though what induced Messrs Trischler to select this powerful but ghastly tale for the Christmas number of a girls' periodical like Atalanta I cannot imagine. Mr Gilbert's traditional damßel of fifteen will certainly have a fit when she reads it. Nevertheless, " Ida Noble " must be pronounced the strongest and most original tale the modern Marryat has written for yearß. From Btart to finish the story never flags (a very unusual circumstance with Mr Clark Russell's books) and the characters are naturally and yet boldly drawn. For the Christmas number of All the Tear Round, Miss Mary Angela Dickens has written a ladylike love story of the conventional Family Herald pattern. Ib is called an "Outstanding Debt," and describes the punishment of Bertha Brand for cruelly jilting Ealph Charteris, and her subsequent repentance and atonement. Of Mr Henty's sumptuously-bound and spiritedly illustrated contributions to this season's gift books, "A Dash for Khartoum " appears the most generally attractive. It iB, as the title indicates, a story of the Nile expedition and the melancholy abortive attempt to rescue Gordon. The narrative commences with the deliberate mixing up of a couple of babies by an abandoned wet-nurse, who informs her employer (a certain Captain Clinton's wife) one evening that she cannot discern which fine chubby hoy is her own and which Mrs Clinton's. The latter poor mother becomes equally perplexed, and ultimately perBuades her husband to solve the difficulty by looking upon both lads aa their sons. Tears afterwards, when Edgar Clinton is a lad of fifteen, he meets Nurse Humphreys. From baby-mixing the woman has taken to liquor, and in order to get money for drink she pretends Edgar ib her son. At first the boy is sceptical, but by birth-marks of a Box-and-Cox order she convinces him she speaks the truth. Intensely mortified by the revelation, Edgar runs away from home and enlists as a trumpeter in the First Hussars. The regiment is one of those ordered to Egypt, and Edgar goes with it, playing a gallant part at Abu Klea, Metemneh and ElTeb, and at Gubat coming across his pseudo-father, Sergeant Humphreys, badly wounded. Later the young trumpeter gets captured by Arabs, escapes disguised as one, meets his brother Rupert under romantic circumstanceß, and ends the campaign by being recommended for a V.C. Neealees to say, Nurse Humphrey's maternal yearnings for the young hero are shown to be a fraud, and the secret of which boy is which remains a secret always. The period of " Held Faßt for England" is about 1779. It relates the adventures of Master Bob Repton, who commences life with aome rather unusual school experiences, notably the capture of a gang of burglars by himself and two chums, whilst breaking bounds at night on a surreptitious rabbiting expedition. After leaving school Bob goes on a visit to Gibraltar, and is blockaded on the rock during part of the famous siege. He joins an English privateer, Antelope, and takes a prominent part in the stratagem whereby a silver laden Spanish merchantman f allß an easy prey to her. Altogether the tale brims with incident, even for a boy's book. By the way, on page 148 there occurs a stupid blunder. The date of the "taking of Gib" by the English was 1704, not 1800. Personally we much prefer Mr Manville Fenn'a style to Mr Henty's. He Btrikes us aB being more natural and less didactic. Mr Henty writes like a schoolmaster endeavouring to unbend, whilst Mr Fenn is bon camarade. " The Crystal Hunters " will certainly be one of the most popular boys' books of the winter. It ia intended for rather younger lads than Mr Henty's stories, and relates what befell Mr Richard Dale and his pupil Saxe during a delightful summer holiday in the higher Alps. Mr Dale, though a tutor, thoroughly enjoys wholesome adventure,

consequently itscaroely needs the -entreaties of Saxe, and of their Swiss guide, Melchior Staffed to induce him to join the latter in a search for a wondrous cave of rock crystals known to exist in the adjacent mountains. How, after much perilous climbing "P and glissading down the trio discover the cave, how they load themselves with crystals, how this treasure is stolen from them at night by a ghostly visitor, how they are overtaken by an avalanche and all but smothered, and how, eventually* the robbers are discovered and the plunder recovered, Mr Fenn tells vivaciously, supplementing the narrative i with an abundance of detail and local information. The author is well backed up by theartist, whoße illustrations picture excising incidents eminently calculated to arouse curiosity, and convert casual inspection into a desire for permanent possession. If Mrs Ross Church's novels (epecially her more recent efforts) were as fresh, harmless, and wholesome as " The Little Marine," her name would never have fallen into comparative disrepute at the circulating libraries. " The Little Marine " is the story of a small bugler who was attached to a regiment of " Jollies " during the brief campaign of 18G4 in Japan. The leading events are founded on tact, being copied (Miss Marryat tells us) from the diary of a Royal Marine officer, written on the spot during the Simono-aeki war. In reality, &s in the story, the little bugler's life was saved by the fortunate incident of his carrying a Japanese helmet in his havereaek, and in tact as in fiction, the regiment adopted a Japanese baby found on the field of battle clinging to her dead father's body. Miss Marryat has, however, invented a fanciful conclusion to the story of this little waif, christened by the small bugler the Japanese Lily. The success which attended Messrs Hutchinßon's "Fifty-two Stories for Boys" lasc year has encouraged this enterprising firm to repeat the experiment, and before us lies another obese volume, resplendent in green and gold binding, the cover decorated with a couple of aggressivelooking white bears anathematising space, and emblazoned with tho legend. " Fiftytwo Further Stories for Boys." It is surely sufficient to say that this new volume seems in every way equal to its predecessor. The familiar names loved by fin de siecle youth are all there, flanked by several fresh ones, and every conceivable sort of taste — from adventure yarns and school experiences to ghost Btories — has been carefully catered for. Mr Alfred H. Miles again acts the judicious editor. To one part of the " Arabian Nights " add two parts of Jules Verne, a dash of science, some indifferent verse and a flowery style, and you have Dr Gordon Stables' " wild, weird and wonderful " " Cruise of the Crystal Boat." We never as a boy much cared ourselves for the artful author who endeavours to sneak in instruction with entertainment. Perhaps this prejudice has blinded us to the real merits of Dr Stables' work. The illustrations at anyrate are excellent. The serial in Chambers' for 1892 will be by Mr Walter Besant. Meanwhile a short tale by Maclaren Cobban, entitled " A Soldier and a Gentleman," has been commenced. Atalanta's programme for next year includes " Maisie Derrick," a three-volume story by Katharine Macquoid, and " A Battle and a Boy," by Blanche Willis Howard, author of *• One Summer." The English Illustrated will rely for its fiction on Clark Russell, whose new Btory, " A Strange Elopement," commenced last month. The Christmas number of periodical is a capital shilling's-wo '- Finer characteristic sketches than M;Couldery's for Sala's article " Dumbledowndeary Come to Life Again " we have seldom seen. There is also an exquisitely illustrated fairy tale, by Mrs Adrian Hope (n(c Ada Trowbridge), who is more successful even than Walter Crane as a line artist. When I wrote you last week concerning boys' books, I had not come across Cassell's superbly got up " Robinson Crusoe." Mr Walter Paget's illustrations are incomparably the finest one remembers to have seen to Defoe's masterpiece. Even Stothard's famous plates appear insipid beside these spirited drawings. George R. Sima says that for nine months of the year he has to write 20,000 words a week, but during the quarter preceding Christmas his average rises to 30,000. Short stories for newspaper syndicates are generally fixed at 5000 words; stories for the lighter periodicals at 4000 words ; and for the illustrated magazines at 3000 words. A three-volume novel for serial publication should run to not less than 60,000 to 83,000 words ; and if by " Dagonet "is worth, perhaps, £1000. Mr Sims reckons Miss Braddon makes .£SOOO out of a novel before it reaches the two-shilling stage. Mr Sims and Mise Braddon have, ever since they scored successes, been abnormally paid, but it is not safe to judge by thorn. I know one popular authoress who slaves night and day and gets through a prodigious amount of work in a twelvemonth. Her books, however, are not sensational. For the serial rights of a (presumably) 60,000 word novel this lady, the other day, accepted as little as .£SO. I could hardly believe it when I heard. On the other hand Barrie and Kipling can, at the present moment, command even bigger prices than G. E. Sims. " The New Rector," by Stanley Weyman, ia a capitally told story of the troubles arising out of the blunder of Lord Dynmore, who presents the Rev Reginald Lindo, cetat 25, to a fat living under the delusion that he is giving it to the young man's deceased uncle, who also, of course, bore the same name. Lord Dynmore being away, the mistake does not come out fo;- more than a year.