The Library Comer

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19858, 4 June 1927, Page 13 (Supplement)

The Library Comer

By

“Bibliophile"

“Snna are to be tasted, others to be wallowed, and mom few to be chewed and digested.”—Bacon.

“BRACKEN AND THISTLEDOWN” [By R. W. McKENNA: John Murray, London.] The burr of guid auld Scots speech pervades this collection of short stories of Scottish life and character. There are fifteen tales in all, which touch the lives, not of the upper ten, but of the people, the good old homely typos. The author knows his subject and not only docs he impart an air of verisimilitude to his writing, but he enlivens it with a generous measure of that dry, pawky humour for whch the Scots are justly famous. Each story is well constructed and the collection makes one which can be read with enjoyment. “THE BROKEN BOW” [By L. ALLEN HARKER: John Murray, London.] This is a pleasant tale of English town and country life, beginning with the heroine’s school days and ending with her marriage. Between these two periods run a series of events which, though not adventures in the usual sense of the term, arc at the same time, such things as might happen during anybody’s early-life experience. This, gives the story a human touch which adds interest to the recital of incidents] and bears out the publisher’s note that! the author has the gift of “weaving] the little things of life into a delicate and fascinating pattern.” “PAYING THE PIPER” [By SOPHIE COLE: Mills and Boon. London, per Sands and McDougall, London.] Miss Cole has achieved some distinction as a writer of stories about London folk, and in “Paying the Piper’’ she is quite at her best. She does not aim at the sensational, nor does she specialise in scenes of violence, or even of stir ring adventure. Her subjects are the humble folk of the poorer suburbs, and in the tale under notice she relates the fortunes of a family which might ' be any one of the hundreds of thousands of similar households of the great city. But, let it be remarked that there is nothing commonplace in her treatment. She shows how even in lhe most ordinary circumstances, these may be, I not only throbbing human emotion, but real romance, and “Paying the Piper” makes an appeal to the reader that can not be denied. THE MAGAZINES Everylady’s Magazine for May has the third instalment of tho scries of articles on the authentic life-story of Queen Mary, and very interesting it is. Mrs Philip Lydig, the New York society leader, continues her articles on the futility of fashionable life and hero again is good reading. Admirers of Allan Wilkie, the Shakespearean actor, will also find interest in the account of how his company’s wardrobe was refurnished after his recent disastrous fire experience. Other short stories and articles, more especially those of the latter dealing with subjects dear to the feminine heart, fully sustain the reputation of this well-known lady’s journal. The Sunday at Home for April has some really excellent articles, all splendidly illustrated, on a variety of subjects. One arresting story is “The Maid of Emmaus.” Articles on China, with special reference to Hankow and Shanghai; diamond-hunting in Brazil; “Schooldays of the Great,” with photographic illustrations of famous English public schools; “The Pageantry of docks,” an illustrated article on celebrated cathedral time-pieces, and other reading matter on subjects of interest make this a very acceptable issue. The Best Story Magazine for April presents a budget of short stories by several able writers. The names of Gilbert Frankau, Berta Ruck and H. Seton Merriman are sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the stories for which they are responsible; and others who have supplied welcome contributions arc W. L. George, E. Temple Thurston, Sax Rohmer, Peter Traill, St. John Ervinc and other well-known short story writers. It is an excellent number for a railway journey, or for a half-hour spell. DISRAELI. “Disraeli,” by D. L. Murray (Lonjdon: Ernest Benn), belongs to the same Iseries of political portraits as Guedalla’s I Palmerston and Shane Leslie's George IV. Himself of mixed English and Jewish descent, Mr Murray has a sympathetic, but a critical and detached interest in Disraeli’s amazing temperament. Some of his verdicts are rather surprising. He gives Disraeli credit for a naivete and simplicity of mind very different from the subtlety usually attributed to him. Toward the Eastern question Disraeli’s only thought was that Turkey was the bulwark of tho British Empire, the main security for its line of communications. Salisbury's outlook was more realistic, more morally dignified, and far-sighted. The defects of Disraeli’s disposition were political weaknesses of a serious kind. He was callous. He could not appreciate the tide of humanitarianism which Lord Shaftesbury released, nor the flood of moral indignation roused by Gladstone’s Midlothian speeches, until they actually struck him. Of Gladstone’s extraordinary sensitiveness to public opinion Disraeil had not a trace. His hardness included a cun-

stitutional incapacity for being aware of the spiritual element in religion, and this, though he took an active part in the theological controversies of the time “on the side of the angels,” caused mistakes, with heavy consequences. His cynicism appears as weakness throughout Mr Murray’s sketch. On the uther hand, Mr Murray represents him as more of a political philosopher and less of an opportunist than he is usually regarded. He firmly believed in the “organic” view of national life, as against the atomic, individualism of the Whigs. That the past can and must be preserved in progress was his important contribution to political thought. “Dishing the Whigs” by anticipating their reform proposals was consistent with his political philosophy. He flattered Victoria, but was so great an actor as to sink himself so completely in the part that he became sincere. His dauntless courage in private and public affairs, his brilliant ferocity in debate, his personal magnanimity towards a colleague who heartily disliked him, and the eccentric dress and behaviour which with bankruptcy and prejudice so hampered his early career, receive the picturesque treatment they demand. A BOOK OF THE THEATRE SOME GOOD STORIES Sonic more good stories of the wit of Sir 11. Beerbohm Tree, the great actor, are told in Mr H. Chance Newham’s new book, “Cues and Curtain Calls.” Here is one in which Sir Hall Caine appears:—Hall Caine wrote for Tree The Eternal City. . . It was in connection with this play that Caine wanted Tree lo drag the heroine Roma (enacted by that powerful actress, Constance Colder) round by the hair and bash her head on the stage! “Yes, yes, my dear Caine, I seem to remember that incident being worked in another famous tragedy.” “Good gracious, Tree,” cried Caine, aghast, “whatever play was that?” “It was,” said Tree, after meditating a moment; “yes, it was called Punch and Judy.” Here is another of Air Newham's recollections with (this time) the famous Jew novelist Zangwill. as the man with the last word. Israel Zangwill’s drama, I’he War God, created a good deal of trouble when Tree put it into rehearsal because he (Tree) could not memorise some of the long speeches. This drove the author into line frenzy, which even Tree and Mr Arthur Bourchier, between them, could not calm. Eventually Tree exclaimed:— “We have had greater plays than The War God in this theatre. Some of them were by Shakespeare. And, 1 thank God, that author's dead, and can’t come and show his temper off like you!’* (t J.f Shakespeare is dead,” retorted Zangwill, “that doesn’t prevent him being murdered by you in this theatre every evening you play him—and twice on Saturdays.” NOTES A sheaf of memories, both grave and gay, collected by Estelle Blyth, daughter of the late Bishop Blyth, who was for 27 years Bishop of Jerusalem, is to be published by John Murray, London, under the title “When We Lived in Jerusalem.” The volume is widely planned; political, religious and racial points of the thorny I’alestine problem are treated as well as much that is lighter and of personal interest. The book’s chief interest lies in the clear, accurate, and authoritative picture it conveys of life and affairs in pre-war Palestine, Some biographers and critics of the Duke of Wellington have called him a hard and heartless man, but his correspondence with Lady Salisbury, which fas been edited by Lady Burghclero and is to be published very shortly, should dispel this legend. The letters written during 1850-1852 are remarkable for the vivid picture they afford of the “Great Duke” in his last days, the charming friend, the shrewd and wise /counsellor. The volume opens with a biographical sketch of Lady Salisbury. “Neither Socialists nor Conservatives can tind any direct support for their political opinions in the Gospels. Christ was a prophet and teacher, not a legislator, and the conditions in Palestine at that time were so utterly different from those which prevail in a modern industrial community that no sketch of social reforms, suited to Europe in the twentieth century, could have been thought of.”—Dean Inge, in the London Evening Standard. Loneliness is the lot of some. They are in specially isolated positions, and if they are sensitive they feel their [isolation keenly. For consolation a Mr !P. B. M. Allan has written and Messrs Philip Allan and Co. have published, “A Little Book of Loneliness, For Those Who Arc Wont to be Alone.” The editor of “John o’ London's Weekly” thinks well of this lexicon of loneliness, and a recent issue concludes an appreciative notice thus:—“The spiritual salvation of man lies, where it has always laid, in his will and ability to be alone. There also lie his inspirations in literature, art, and in science. The get together slogan is good so far as it goes, but where are you in the end? For, indeed, in the last resort every man, ’however voluble or widely heard, however humble, is enthroned within himself as the Regent of God, and all that can come to him from without is the counsel of a friend who is himself alone, and the whisperings of satraps, and the wind borne incoherences of the mob.”