The Latest Books.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11671, 11 April 1916, Page 7

The Latest Books.

THE CRY OF THE LITTLE PEOPLES. To five an adequate review of Dr Setou-TVatson's latest hook, " The Balkans, Italy and the Adriatic," would involve a discussion, oi' the. whole tangled and intormeshed medley of problems which com prises tho Eastern question. Tho book' does not admit ol summarisation, for it is itself a very hrief, very lucid and very authoritative summary of an extraordinary complex .situation. Dr Scton-Watson wants to see tho Eastern question settled on the lines of justice to the little, peoples, not onlv- because justice is intrinsically desirable, but because that way, and that way alone, lies the permanent peace, of Europe. Unfortunately,, as Dr Soton-Watson demonstrates, the individuals who control the foreign policies of Austria, Germany, Italy and Russia are not particularly concerned either with justice or peace. They strive, according to their lights, for tho interests of their own nations, and in the case of Germany and Austria the degree of their enlightenment may bo gauged by tho fact that they have never hesitated to nso the forger's pen or tho assassin's knife to forward their aims. It appears strange to tho simple-minded man that while in domain of commerce there exists a world-wide codo of ethics as balding as tho laws of tho Medes and t,hp Persians, the official relations 1 of nation with nation and -government with government seam to be subject to no rule but that which decrees that any end justifies any means. The truth of tho matter is that evil flourishes in dark places, and that the "diplomacy" <o| a great and powerful nation is generally secret because it is too shameful to bear the light, and because it would never be sanctioned, in open day by the conscienco of the nation. There jinevitably comes a time, of course, when the secret places are laid bare, and then we get a glimpse' of the reason why the historian is seldom a horo-worshipper and the statesman generally a cynic. Tho way to peaoe lies _through the self-government of the nations. No nation can bo regarded as< self-governed whoso rulers keep an important-department of public affairs wrapped in a veil of secrecy. It may ho desirable under certain circumstances to keep one's affairs secret, from a hostile nation l , but recent history shows that the hostile nation finds out everything it wants to know in any case. The nation that 1 puts all its cards on the table and transacts its business "at the open window" to use Woodrow Wilson s famous phrase, is treading solid ground. To the credit of Britain it may be said that nothing has been revealed as tho result of the European explosion ,of August, 1914, which the people of the Empire might nofc have been told with a clear conscience at the time of the transaction. > But. vrculd Germany 'have made war had her people been possessed of all the facts and in control of their own Government? To leave an interesting digression and return to Dr Seton-Watson, it may bo said that his book is on© which ishould be neglected by no student of European aifairs, and which can be read with appreciation by all whoso interest in Eastern problems has. been whetted by thoso stiipendous events />f modem .times which have their genesis amongst those problems. "The Balkans, Italy and the Adriatic," by U. W. Seton-Watson, IX Litt., Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., Is 3d.) "—"Alpha.", "SOME STORIES OP THE FLEET. A semi-mystical quality, an almost Oeltio sense of 1 the supernatural and. the poetic, distinguishes some of tho stories in Mi- Oomford's " Lord High Admiral and Others." Mr Cdrnford is the naval-correspondent of the London " Morning Post," and ho has given the world some excellent pictures of the Royal Navy at work in his " Echoes from the Fleet." Homo of the impressions of life in the fighting ships have been bettered perhaps: by the clever author of "Naval Occasions," but. Mr Crawford's touch of the transcendental invests such sketches as "■ The Lord High Admiral" and "Tho Return of tho ' Blessed Endeavour ' "with a peculiar and special charm. The name sketch is the- story of a Naval Volunteer Reserve lad's hospital-bed hallucination, and itj like most of • the ' other ] articles, is tinged with a' poetic melancholy. Set in other days and other scenes, " The Return of the ' Blessed i Endeavour''.' describes tho anxious J waiting of a New England Settlement in 1647 for the home-coming of thek long overdue ship from Old England and the miraculous vision of the foundered craft sailing up the sound on level keel in the teeth of the wind and suddenly dissolving into nothingness in a rose-red mist; it is a transcript of a ' legend, with some of the elements of the stories of Vanderdecken and "Tho Ancient Mariner." Of the moro matter-of-fact sketches "Peril of.Shipwreck " is a description of a common enough, but none the less moving impression of the misadventure incidental to tho merchant sailor's life in* these days of war, the landing of a crew whose ship was mined. Mr Cornford's style in descriptive narrative dealing with his beloved Fleet is sufficiently indicative by the excellent oneninnr passage from his .stoiy. "The Mate (E)": The destroyer, lying in tho harbour, a thing of speed' «nd fire brought to a. deep immobility th;vt yet hold «■ menace, loomed as , deau To tho brilliance oi the full moon ns if the vessel were close-covered with black velvet. Liahtless, sfco was merged in the darltnoii she cast, upon tho dim water. The lines and frames of her wireless kites made triangular patterns upon-tho scattered-stars fainting in the moonlight. Beyond the movins? space of sea, "leaning now bore and there with ripoles of dull silver, the. omquer gloom whelrainsr the town was pricked with a few isclatfvl "wrl ir»'lancholv lamps. Beyond t-ht> harbour, springing from a point invisible,. th> fraved white beam of n PWtrchlight, shone and waved with a svyift mechanical jerk and ws« steadv Tn the moonlit silence the chill wind made a little nnise like a sharp vrr.isper. continuously sibilant. "' One "Wav Home '' is a story of one of Britain's "humble heroes of the sea. an engine-room artificer, whose lot is hard and reward meagre, and whose outlook when discharged invalided is miserable in the extreme, doing little credit to the nation for whom he has o-ivou hi* heart's courage and all the Strength that is in him. ' Autumn Dawn"/' by way of contrast, is a nature sketch that reveals the author s acute delicht in the sidits and sounds of beautiful rural England. v "The Lord High Admiral and Others." by L. Cone Cornfnrd. author of " Echoes from the Fleet. ■ W ,'nd London Throurfi WhyfcoTObe ind Tombs. Ltd., Christchurch. Pri<?c;3s - -"Gamma." MORE MANUFACTURERS. ARNOLD BENNETT AT IT AGAIN. T looked up tho name of Arnold Bennett in a book about authors and other bad characters the other day and 1 road, "When he published The Old Wives' Tale' in IMS iit. was hailed as a masterpiece." The person who had collected the things about, the authors and other bad characters seemed to

Books still accomplish miracles ; they persuade men. (Carlyle)

have amassed a good deal of information for his book too. He said that I some of them were " making others bad "written virile war stuff, others, again, were "popular with certain classes." and n lot of tmngs. Also I learned from his book under the heading " Arnold Bennett," that tho subject's recreations are conveniently lumped ns ''various," not as "Who's Who" would place them., " ndmg, shooting, golf," or "cycling tural history," or "dodging work, orany other old thing. They are ''various" in Arnold':; case, and tho gentle art of spinning it* out must be" one of them. * For Arnold Bennett would, judging by his books, make the most delightlVrof scandalmongers at an afternoon tea party, where every bit of '■' meat" is chewed and chewed. That is what Arnold does, and in his latest book, "These Twain," he does it to perfectcion. ' Not tiiat I wish to bo harsh towards Arnold. Ho has a marvellous facility for writing reams of very cleverly done description about tho innermost lives of very ordinary people; reams of descriptions of their very o?dinary houses, their very ordinary thoughts and their extremely ordinary friends. It is a good axiom that the public slikes best to read about what it knows best, and Arnold, knowing Arnold, knows his' public. ' I have never been to the Towns, j and after reading somo of Arnold Bennett's books I can quite truthfully say that I never wish to go to them. So sadly uninteresting are his chapel-going leaden-minded manufacturers and their futile, aunts, cousins and brothers-in-law, so cheerfully does tho psychologically acute author devote whole chapters to their petty feuds, that any healthy New Zealander miist thank Heaven that- ho does not lire there. The married life of Edwin dayhahger described in "These Twain," contains somo clever character drawing, and. the author has shown a fine distinction of types in limning Edwin and his arch "hate," a Methodist--'parson. The latter is a really good piece of work, and tho schoming women of (the hook are ; all well done. Edwin's wife, who had had an adventure earlier with a bigamist, is a very good character. The story is never beyond tho bounds of probability, and makes'a good sequel to "' Clayhanger." To those, and they are many, who admire Arnold Bennett's work, the book will prove undoubtedly enjoyable, for the author has lost none of his facility of description of the people who inhabit the Five Towns. But I must really admit that to me the inhabitants of those towns axe distinctly not interesting. So let those who don't like Arnold's priggishness. and those who do, take notice that he has*written a new book. . "These Twain," by Arnold Bennett. \M!ethueu's. per Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 3s 6d. - —"Zeta." DIFFERENT STRATA. PLUMBER.'S DESCENT TO A 'BARONETCY. W r hen in the first few pages you find the daughter of a London builder of cottages proposing to a plumber who has been called, in to remedy some leaky pipe, or rather leading this serious workman to the brook so that he has every opportunity and every invitation to drink, the reader naturally suspects that ho is in for an excursion among thb diill under-middle class life, „with occasional flashes of farce. But the plumber, owing to the convenient death of a few relatives, becomes a baronet, -with an estate in Scotland, and at once the tale shifts to the un-der-upper class. In this fashion is " The .Kaleidoscope " started on its interesting career by the Hon Mrs Dowda.ll. Mrs Dowdall abandoned what promised to be an excellent opportunity for a Shavian-like 'satire when she took train to Scotland and developed a story which' is interesting but conventional. "The Book of Martha" is, of course, an excellent recommendation to the writings of Mrs Dowdall, and " The Kaleidoscope" will- find a host of admiring readers among those people who delight in little incongruities presented and pricked out with sly touches of humour, and unified by a series of studies in proposals of marriage and marriage. " The Kaleidoscope actually drops the baronet-plumber into the background after it is well established in the land" of haggis and other strange pastimes, but seems to use his sister-in-law as tho chief character. From the purely conventional point of view she is the more interesting, but Sir George., tho ex-plmnber, is drawn with greater care, and seems to really exist. "Mrs Dowaall's characters certainly have that advantage in general, but Sir George stands out in excellent company. Taken wholly, " The Kaleidoscope " is a book which can increase the speeding of the hours, and offers excellent recreation which is well worth the fee that is charged. "The Kaleidoscope," by the Hon Mrs Dowdall. Messrs Duckworth and Co.; Christehurch: Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, 3s Gd. —" Delta." A BREAM. "The Eiid of 'The Day,'" is the title of a little book by Maud Goodenough Bruce, in which the writer tells again a most remarkable dream which she had towards the end of February, 1913. and which was repeated about a fortnight, afterwards in every detail. Her impression in the, dream was that f she was gazing across the of , Europe after a series of appalling battles, and that, spread out over the countries lay a gigantic eagle, broken and crushed. The whole thing is described exactly as the writer recalls the dream, and it. seems to constitute a most, extraordinary prophecy of tho Avar. The fact that it occurred in tl e year before trouble was hinted hi is strange enough, but not the least remarkable thing about thft dream, ns the writer says, is that she knew tl.en that the trouble was to come- m ihtmonth of August and in the near •future. .Miss Bruce make? no claim to being a "seer" or anything of that sort, and has simply set flown what she dreamt; the proceeds of the sale of her little book going to the Red Cross Fund. Several responsible residents of the Dominion testify at the conclusion of the book that the dream, as printed, was told them in 1013. There is no reason to doubt Miss Bruee's bona fides in any way. and students of psychological subjects will find here an interesting matter, besides helping the Red Cross by the purchase of the booklet, which is neatly printed by the " Timaru Herald " Company. —"Zeta."