FROM Bookstall and Study.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17525, 30 April 1925, Page 12

FROM Bookstall and Study.

KISSES. I FAMOUS IN LITERATURE. Kissing comes by nature, as Dogberry said about rending and writing, but it also goes by favour, and is the gift of fortune, writes " Tohn o' London’s WeeklvSir Hem- Curtis Bennett. K Ai 1* . will, no doubt. \y= able to tell us how near the mark this is. if over he gets* through his gallant and grateful undertaking to kiss every woman in his constituency. Other triumphs in political and diplomatic osculation have preceded his. The Duchess of Devonshire kissed a. butcher, in a famous instance, for his vote The Duchess of Gordon was perhaps, more patriotic although less exclusive when she promised to ki~ ever'- man who would loin the Gordon Highlanders. If our present-day du-'hessec find lif'* not o exciting. «i rna; be tha* i hey hat e •jnh themselves to flame. The most famous, and at the same time most infamous, kiss in bister'- was that to which Juris~ Iscariot betrayed bis Master, and if is no excuse foi Judas that in those days the kiss was an act of homage and respect rather ; than an expression of affection and j love. As a matter of fact, it is only in quite modern times • that the kih.i:* ! become the symbol of Cupid. I '' hen St Paul instituted the custom j of kissing between the sexes in the hist * hr'Stian community*. the silutati*m was rme merely of brotherliness, and, one mar assume, developed less warmth and rordialitv than one mav wish for Sir Henry Curtis Bennett in his Oscillatory Odyssey in Mid-Esses. In the Iliad there arc only three kisses, rone of them between lovers. Hector, in his famous farewell, kissed his son. but not. his. wife. The learned may discuss ponderously whether kissing is* an inherited tendenc'' at:i iug out of maternal fond ness. or. as Lombroso thinks, out of some kind of tribal need for mutual recognition and reassurance. The less | learned rriav be pleased to think that it war- apparently in England that the kiss first readied Us triumphant crown of love and passion. One may still see Frenchmen, on railway platforms and elsewhere, kissing each other on both cheeks--a ceremony of alula lion or farewell, but by Shakespeare's time the kiss in England had long surpassed this stage. Shakespeare makes Cc-riolanus kneel to his mother, but demand from his wife a kiss: “ Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge.” Everyone loves France, and therefore one may hope that that great country has made up its leeway since it, was visited, shortly after Shakespeare’s lime, by Dr Heylin. This learned English traveller, complained indignantly in his “ Surva.ye ’’ of the incivility of the French ladies in refusing proffered kisses, and declared, with insula.: patriotism. that “the chaste and innocent kiss of an English gentlewoman is more in Heaven than thoii best devotions.” And we would fain believe that this war, rot merely British prejudice, for Erasmus, visiting England al. about the samp time, wrote to his friend Dr F a u fit us : Tf thou knewest the adTantaces of Ensrlaud. thou wouldst run hither with winged feet, and if the eout would not suffer that, then wouldst irish thyself a. Paedalus. For . here are girls with divine counterenres. bland and courteous, and whom thou wouldst readily prefer to thy Muses. And besides, there is a custom which can i!f>T«r be sufficiently praised; for, if you visit am-where, you are dismissed with kisses: if you return. tbo«s thines are Train divided: wherever you eo. you are abundantly kissed. . Move which na-v you will, all things are full of de light. Ought the kiss to b e re.stic.tssd by Act of Parliament to lovers only* A good case might certainly be made out for this contention except, perhaps, liefore a. jury of matrons, but here it might be observed -hat although it comes naturally to a mother to smother her child with kisses, it does not come naturally to the child to be smothered. He has to be taught how to put up with if. and when you see a public ,-chool bov being kissed before his fel lows b’ a proud and admiring mother you is'll generally s«e a not le-<- shy and ernbariassed son The maternal kiss in anv case, will scarcely pa< - in'*o literarv immortah' hi- the aid J syr'iv - *■ erses - V. ho nn toward', m© when l f s u, W ho kissed the to make it well' Mr- mother And can anything favourable be said of the perfunctorv kiss given bv the chocolate-loving schoolgirl to' the elderly uncle from whom sh**- has g-eat importationsr Still less enthusiasm is aroused by those dreadful bhd-hke pecks practised in drawing-rooms by effusive. ladies, whose cordiality is often in inverse ratio 1 to their demonstrati •'*'•’no sr-. The kks? blown by the char-a-banc f fa«' t*:s the. nursemaid wheeling her

f 3!!lbul3tO“ C»n the 311 '■! V ’- regarded as unworrh- of *ht> high theme, an -<ii • nothing which ha? li*t?e to commend it evc:-pl that «t «? bett-r than upon the cars b’ the blov ins of +?n trumpet? ai>d the rattling of bird-scarer* The Guardsman -was in a higher rank -when he frankly sa d that he always- kissed the child for the sake Actors may be • rcerlooked : they are experts at kissing. *t they do not really rut their hearts into » it. or. in most cases : certainly should * not do so. To enter the realms of true love, with its guerdon of the kiss., we must return, to the poets 3et us at least avoid * the economists and the sophists Ihe.-o people, instead of pi - ing the young Mr - Bunchs advice to those about to maxT". have the temerity to tell them that thev can live on bread-and cheese 3 and kisses e W.e <-an pat? through the portals under the guidance of Byron —- A Jrvn- long kiss cf youth and lore And beaut-; . all concentrating like rays. ! Into one fccus. kindled from above. I i. kieses a* belong to early da'?. b ™oveT Tt ;i ” rl and ? - nse - n ~ ncwt ' And the Moods lava and the pulse a blase .W<? rna ■ tyjske two be The moment ®t erna.l —.iuet that, and no •vi’?“ r %cr ."r The second i Truth, tha*'s brighter than g-em. Trust. that's purer than pearl In the kiss of one gr;r■ The kiss of romance is with T> rn\ natch Ihe stately ship;, meetiutr of the line"

The kiss of lament with Burns A* fond kiss, and then we eerer, A© farewell, alas! for ever! For the kiss of fragedy we must turn to Christina Rossetti, where in "The Round Tower at Jhansi,” the distraught husband, rather than leave his wife a prey to the victorious eae ay, shoots her: Close hife arm about her B«r, Close her cheek to his, Clos-o the pistol to. the broe God forgive them this. Eiss and kiss'; it i'g not pain Thu? to kiss and die. ‘One kifis more"—“And ret one again”— Good -bye’' Good-bye, The kiss of passion may be le r L to the last and the bays distributed bet v. een Swinburne— By the ravoncmg teeth that hare enutf**n Through the kisses that blossom and bud. Br flic lips intertwisted and bitten. Till the foam has a savour of blood., and Shakespeare' in "Venus •.Mid Adonis Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast. Tires -with her beak on feathers, flesh, and Shaking her wings. devouring nil in haste. Till either gorge be stuff'd, or prey be F.ren so she kiss d his brow, his cheek, his ''hin. And chore ah© end?, eho doth anew Y°l perjiaps.it -.voulrj be unfair to leave the lubjeet without a passing e b-renee to the theory, as well a? t *e

practice, of kissing. ' Stolen kis. c e< pj ys the proverb, ‘are sweetest.’ M; j ;• one not suppose 'hat ‘•his maxim, known to all the generations uf Man that burgeon an'rl fall like the leaves, is so universally accepted because it. has been found to be r-o universally A GERMAN POET, WALTER HASENCLEVER, Walter Ha sene'ever, one of tbs finest, if the least prolific of the poets of modern Gcrmanv. has been rent t.o Paris by a large Berlin newspaper to report on the plays current in the French metropolis, writes “ Books." His own play. "Jenseits." will be produced in New York this year by the Provincetown group. gularly interesting. II is ‘‘Die Men

srhen” is perhaps the. most perfect f theatrical vehicle which Germany Expressionism has produced, though its a texture is unfortunately too vague to permit its successful production before an American audience. “ Dcr Sohn ” is an anarchic assertion of the rights of youth, and “Gobsecd' is ’ an excellent melodrama All Herr Hasenclever's plays have a high poetic quality. * A verv definite mystical preoeeupa lion is observable in many of Herr t Hasenclever’s poems and plavp. especially in “Die Mensclien. in which

bis protagonist Alexander; and this quality has led him by a devious route again to the foot of the. Croi'3 For the past, four • years. through ; period of great financial hardship, h has been at work on a sort of com mental* v on Emmanuel Swedenborg' " Heaven and Its Wonders, and Hell? 'I. fancy in the manner of the dial date targum which Unkelos wrote tc the Hebrew scriptures. This h ill be illustrated by Oskar Kokoschka am: j probably will be published this year. , - BOOKS REVIEWED. THE RUSSET JACKET, i Co unteas Rarcyuska. > 'Hurst and Blackett. Ltd > A terrible problem is. set. for 1 h< heroine of The Russet Jacket.” Sh is a. resident art teacher at a sylioo for girls, and one morning she find that a stud, of racehorses has beet bequeath el to her. The question is. what can she possibly do with them Her father, a parson, is not of mu cl assistance to her. for he is strong!; prejudiced against the turf. *"d there fore knows nothing about racing. Th problem is solved in the end by frivolous girl of sixteen, and the rtcrwhich explains how she does it is. t ■>!, in a sparkling manner. (Copy from Simpson, and d lams » * i * * BACKBONE.” AND- A MESS AG j TO GARCIA

(Cornsfalk Publishing Compsny > " Backbone " is said + o he straight ahead cure for +he grouch, The disease is more interest mg th<i the medicine (Copy from the publisher:- > * * *- • T H E A MAZING G! F. A T ' (Gilbert Watson 1 (Cassell and Co, Ltd 1 Imagine a mystic. Pan-like strange, with emerald-green eyes and a smile, of inhni+e beguilement who. -'lad m an old velveteen -jacket. i? dining at the most exclusive West Fnd restaurant and there, in full view of the guests, insisted upon shaking hands wish a member of the orchestra who has particularly charmed him Imagine. him again, attracted by the flower hi <■- lace of •"> little girl selling violets in Piccadi!)--. nicking h«*r up bodilv and giving her a- resounding kiss, afterwards purchasing her whole stock, which h«* proceed* to distribute to the passers VCapricious, unfettered ly accepted •.<andavds this «r *he amazing guest who is introduced mv- a quiet country house in Scotland Hosts, guests aril servants—all, in fact, who encounter “ the fairy-man are drawn irresistible- within his strange intangible -pell. It. is a tribute <o the- atmosphere with which the author has surrounded the fam-man thaf. however dubiously', the reader cannot but join Pam. th® '■harming little, daughter of the- house in losing him One- feels that -v* th die perfect intuition of childhood sh® ’? able to pierce beneath hi? mresponsibiiit-- to some god endowed sweetness and of sou) that ha: come tr.i him from 1 lie hcari of Mother Nature Tierself. There is a quality of whimricajitv. f rather wistful tenderriew, perhaps , more than all, a delicate in’ sti■-i —m, i "The Amazing Guest." that, should a lire it, a permanent place ••n iiiuh ' THE MASTER REVENGE (By H. A. Cody A After suffering twelve years' wron I’u! ijTiprisimnicnt. Ned Preston did n seek out • the - man whose crime he suffered for with the object of wrep ing a terrible rwigeanm on him i ad op* ted another wav. the Master R venge Ned Preston p:?id for hi n

endure. The story is well-conceived and. well told, and should please even the most, exacting reader. b''c>p v from the publishers, IJodder and t?i ought on. London. T? 6d >. * * x * " THE RED MASS " (V alentine Williams.! One has come to expect a tale t u i( e.f thrills when the name of "'.'alentine Wil hams appears as author, and in his latest.- novel, the creator ->f d’lubfoot and the Okewood brothei-.?, ha ; once again proved his complet? rnasterv of the art of telling a sensational storv. The Red Mass” deals with the French Revolution and owes its title to a. quotation from the Mcrnoire.-. of Fenar, where Youlland likens the. guillotine of*the Rlace'de la Revolution to a high altar updn which a red Mass ir* celebrated. To Mr Williams the Reign of Terror, in Pori . where rh-re were ' : pies hi the street, spies in the political clubfc spie in the Convention -‘pic? in' the prison? and spies '•> t-p 'i|"in. spies.” prov ides both materia! and a background for a iv vci v. !,:-h i? rr-r tainlv oiic ..f the mo-: stirring storiewritten within rec-ent times The tale opens' in London,’ where the reader i ; in < rod un d i o He*, ter F o theri ngga y. a ? oun,g lieutenant. o£ liis Majesty's Third Foot Guards. Although times ore 50 stirring on- the Continent, where, in Paris. Robespierre, Couth on, FouquierTi'm iUe and their follower? are glutting their appetites for blood and destruction'. and whilst in Flanders the Duke •■•f York is at the head of the British troops. Fotheringav. to satisfv tlie cpv-ri.-p of his beautiful ,-oubii. p.-tt--Mar- hmont. remain? in Ei lgland. One night, liowei-er. the light mention of her name in a gaining house cause® Fotheringav to dash the contents c>f his gla.-: into the faec of the offendei The dead silence which ensues is broken bv a drunken i*oice rvhicli say * ; Gari! IP- soused, the Prince!’’ Immediatelv placed under arrest, the you fig lieutenant' becomes- an outcast from societv and accepts from Pitt a desperate mission which, carries him directly into the- centre of regicide France. There • thrill upon thrill, as Fotheringgy almost immediately Tinas himself involved in a series- of intrigues, whieh centre about the revqiut ; onarv leaders. He now meets two women. J.'ji'-on and Zouzou. who hai-c a <:< n?ideraV*le influence upon his character, and who. in consequence, arc of important* in the- development of the plot. It would be unfair to the reader to comment further upon the exciting adventures and the. comp-Fc.ations which surround Fotheringa -in the iiilfihnent «'.*f his mission, but one can safely r-j- Tin* this is indeed a work **»f extraord-n-'r'’ fascination and one which the read r will find hard to put down bet'ere I n has reached the final page, b opv from publishers, IT odder and Stoughton. London. .*• * * * » • ‘ G O\ 'ERNMEX i' HO V >E." (Alice -Perrin.) In her new novel, Gc’ernmn't Mouse,” Miss Alice Perrin ha? again given us -a • story in- an Anglo-Indian i .setting. The-plot is reiativeb' uninter- ' est.ing. being-merely-a repetition of the “eternal - triangle.” although the auth oress has-in this case departed from precedent, to- the extent of expanding her 1 hree-sided figure into a or perhaps .hexagon. -The trdc, howcv.t, - is hand led. skilful!-- an 1 there is nothing in the plot to. offend the morals of a puritan. .The heroine of the 1 .An nabel. Heath, although born and cducated in Tndia. spent nine year? England previous ..to returning her liirthpla.ee as govern*?? u: t •”••• u?' - ’ hold of William Cards I®. a Government official Bijapur. From Mt;. -n Iti adventurer- resoli’e flwm-'-lvw into a. 1 c.r ? i*ier. of amordii?’ tangl*-.- : A “hich a*;-m. Mb- dirp'-rr-ed ny a v holer-ale luuyhte. of inconvenient husband? ami vr •?. which is r.emip.iPoent e.f . the I-- rt ene in " Hairdei ' Although not •'•'-.’•.-.•mcim? v-- a .--f.-.rv Mis 3 Perrin - n-v--; i : i-..‘c>. ! rr-ting a Hnd> of offV-ial l.b in 1-’ dia. The minor character? -vl hfe who dwell in the smiles ot Fv-- .<o*l nor and hi? lad'- , are well pecMa'ed nd shov that the writer oar- -m >' :, iii r-tm knowledge of the life sh* br -. :ih*r (rv.pv from publisher:'-. ! a:‘ci and PH A X TOM S OF TH E DA ’ X (Yiolf* Tword-dr.i ; T. Phantoms of th« Da « n L e Violet Tweedale deal? " ,f h ’ derc*' 1 r.t psychic phenomena and n • r » v hether one ••• a Vjeliei er in the occult , .-.t no* iher* •-an be -I -übt '--a' M TweedaH'? mak* «n > i-eresting reading V ■ crditv ' ' 1 : , foreword by Sir Vthui 1 oran Do M-? T w»cd»lr has ' rare and ?v<v.ler( „ v.'th br- l ”' : r ' rlic-ior. a-d oourr' 1 :! ’ descriptive talent. " a tu-.-j- sin . or ji y irx her writings The present \ bool ir in ? *me deere® -t •-on 1 ruation of her "bbo't: T Hex' bn* > 4 differ? from trr previous • 'T.urrw *n T fr>.-« that the philosophic «.id** of occuh - .cn re/ru o. ampler treatment ' , J e jUr. d(M3ls with the OU-H1 -n -f f h* subconsciou? mind and ,t: r*lettor.s *•: «he trij? ps'' - hT -tat* m * w‘ " r h’* n ■' appeals to the reader On? ma-.- not agree with the. conclu n r-ion? which Mrs Tv/eedale draw- from her evidence, but no one ca.: fad _tv appreciate the kindly manner in which -he put? forward her argument? or to recognise +he wealth of reading and illustration with which the-. enp ported (Cop; from the publisher: John Long London >