BOOKS AMD WRITERS

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18806, 30 November 1932, Page 10

BOOKS AMD WRITERS

COMMENTS AND EXTRACTS

“Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of ages through which they have passed.’’

HIDING FROM A QUEEN. SOME PIQUANT STORIES. WHEN THE BISHOP WAS PLAYFUL Many piquant stories of celebrities are told by Doris Arthur Jones (Mrs Thorne), the daughter of Henry Arthur Jones, the famous playwright, in "What a Life!” As a child one of her dearest friends was Cissie Loftus, the gifted mimic, who told her how she once appeared at a supper party in honour ■of King Edward, then Prince of Wales:— “As she came into the room she noticed King Edward and Lord Randolph Churchill sitting in the middle of a row of people, and to one side a raised dais with some stout dowagers, upon which site half-turned her back in order lo face the guest of honour. “Sir Arthur Sullivan, who acted as accompanist, kept on making signs and whispering urgently, “Cissie, Cissie,” but it was not until she was half-way through that he managed to tell her she was turning her back on the Duchess of Teck, who was on the dais. “After two verses of her song the King started to applaud, so Cissie held up her little hand and said, ‘Wait a minute, I haven’t finished, there’s another verse.’ She then imitated Letty Lind, and as she was dancing her shoe flew off into King Edward’s lap, which occasioned a great deal of laughter.” Irving was very particular about planning his stage “business” in detail, and sometimes tested Ellen Terry’s patience severely. One day he had been unusually fussy: “He was up stage, and he said to Miss Terry, ‘Now I think I will come down to you after I’ve said that. Let me see, how do I get there.?’ She replied, ‘Oh take a cab, Henry, dear.’ ” Squashing a Romance

When he had conversed with the guests he noticed that no one was paying any attention to the tiny daughter of his” hostess, so he said that he would have a game with her. She made him lie down on a sofa, covered him with a small cover from a table, and told him to be good and go to sleep. Everyone smiled indulgently at this make-believe, but when in a minute she stole up to the bishop, slipped her little hand underneath his body, and said in piping tones: “As I expected, absolutely sopping,” they all burst out laughing. Miss- Jones has travelled widely, and met many famous people. Of both her travels and her friendships she writes wilh captivating vivaciousness and charm.

TURNING TO BOOKS.

PEOPLE IN DEPRESSION. A VALUABLE; DEVELOPMENT. Forced by the depression to economise, people in England have turned seriously during the last year or two to books and reading. Miss Nelle M. Scanlan, the New Zealand novelist, who has been in England for some years, regards -the development in several respects as a good and valuable one. She spoke -of it to the Wellington Dominion on her return Lo New Zealand by the Rangitane. , t One feature of the depression, she said, was that people had had to cut down their expenditure and eliminate costly luxuries. Book buying, however, had not decreased very much, and this, she thought, had been “almost a good thing in a way.” People, had turned to reading as a form of enjoyment. They no longer found it possible lo go to many dances, cabarets, or to spend their time in similar amusements, and instead of so doing they bought books or joined libraries. Many little shops—certainly one or more in any small shopping centre —kept a circulating library. The result 'was that there were libraries everywhere, and in the case of chains of shops a book could'be lvbrr,o\ved in one town and returned in the next, which was of advantage to travellers. Reading Great Deal More. People were consequently reading a great deal more, Miss Scanlan said, not only the new books, hut the old ones 100. “ In the last year or two,” she remarked, “many who 1 previously spent their time in a gay and frivolous fashion have found, through books, a new world to live in.” The general standard of writing was now very high, she continued, and (he very fact that more people were beginning to read kept it so. Although one might have thought that during the depression people would he apt io seek books of a light and friviious kind, there had in fact been a tremendous demand for biography, history and similar types of literature. Getting a Better Perspective. “I think it is a very good thing,” Miss Scanlan said. “It is only by reading of other countries- and oilier limes that people who feel that the present depression is making the world tumble lo pieces realise that, a hundred years ago the world was passing through the same sort of thing. People arc getting a better perspective by reading.” A DELIGHTFUL BOOK.

Mrs “Pat”. Campbell’s biting sarcasm is well known. Once she did not approve of a romance that was developing between two members of her company. Opening a dressingroom door suddenly one night, she found that she had evidently interrupted a tender passage. She said in her deep, fluted voice: “ My dear young man, my dear young man, do you like kissing her with all that paint on her lips?" The young man was too abashed to reply, so my friend said firmly: “ Yes, lie does, very much." Whereupon Mrs Pat said: “Well, you won’t ho the first, young man who has died of painter’s colic.” When Miss 'Maud Allan first, appeared in London her Salome dance, in which she came on with the head of John the Baptist, caused a great sensal ion. During a matinee performance two old ladies were overheard saying:— “ Didn’t you think it was lovely?” " Oh, yes, my dear, very beautiful; I enjoyed it enormously.” “ Of course, it’s not quite the sort of tiling one’s used to.” “ No, but it’s most attractive, it peculiar; and I should like io know what she was doing with the little black poodle.” The Queen Bars David. Miss Jones’ moMier-Jn-law, whose husband. Dr. Thorne,' was Princess Christian's physician, was once shown round ihe private apartments at Windsor. Afterwards I lie Princess said lo her: — “ Did you notice the big table in (he schoolroom? Many and many limes 1 ami my brothers and sisters have hidden under it when we heard Mama coming.” 'Phe Princess also told Dr. Thorne that when she was a woman of over 50 she had often slood in her mother's presence for more than an hour, nor had she dared lo ask permission lo sit down —the Queen was such a martinet. Once Lady Soulhnmplon, one of her ladies-in-wailing. :|:id lo tho Queen: " Think, Ma’am, when we die and ■go to heaven, how beautiful it will bo nofonly In see our loved ones, but I be great figures of llio Bible. Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, and David, the sweet singer of the Lord.” There was a long pause, and 11 1 o Queen said (Irmly: “I will not meet David." Tho Kindly Bishop. One of Miss Jones’ best stories concerns a kindly bishop at a icaparty.

■GRANT R[GUARDS’ MEMORIES. “A perfectly delightful hook” is Max Heerbohm’s verdict in his introduction to Grant Richards’ “Memories of a Misspent Life.” Every reader will endorse that verdict. Mr Richards lolls the story of his life from his birth, in 187‘J, lo 181)G with (lie most engaging simplicity and spirit. He gives a wonderful picture of that vanished Victorian world of loiters and art in which during (hose years he- moved; and such famous people as Bernard Shaw, 11. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, Mrs Belloc.-Lowndes, and Will Rothonstein, appear in his pages with many others, once noted hut now almost forgotten. There, are glimpses of Ihe glorious Oxford of forty 'years ago, before that city had become an industrial

centre. Hut the scene is laid mainly in the London of a time when it was “impossible to go out without a top hat-,” when lively young men and women were in the habit of supping at “Jimmy’s," and when two unfurnished rooms could be had in a now fashionable street in Westminster for 7s a week. Mr Richards traduces himself by describing his early years as “misspent.” He came of a family which produced 'Oxford scholars of distinction, -and he worked hard for a -tiny salary, and won his way by sheer merit. He was not eighteen years old when he was chosen for a responsible position by W. T. Stead, who was regarded as perhaps the ablest journalist of his date. TOPICAL SIMILES, SOME WITTY LINES. Among the topical similes submitted by competitors in a recent “ Observer” competition were the following:— As rare as a golden wedding in Hollywood. As idle as a trouser-press in a nudist colony. As short-lived as a speen record. As unanswerable as a wireless announcer. As blunt as the edge of a Government axe. AS' hazardous as pedestrianism. As fragile as a modem engagement. As changeable as a traffic signal. MAKING OF BOOKS.

BIG OUTPUT IN BRITAIN. According to Miss Nelle iM. Scanlan, the New Zealand novelist, who returned to the Dominion last week, 80 novels and 60 general works are published in England each week at the height of the busiest season. It means an enormous output for.the -public and libraries to absorb, and the publishers

try by every means in their power to gauge the demand. But sometimes they make mistakes. Too many copies of a book may be printed, and a proportion of them find their way to the public as “publishers’ remainders,” sold at a shilling or two. Even famous authors, Miss Scanlan said, occasionally found their books being sold quite soon after publication as "remainders.” HOLIDAY READING. “ HIGH LIGHTS OF LIFE.” “ High Lights of Life,” a volume of jest in picture, prose and verse, by Ken Alexander, sparkles with originality and humour, the rhymes 'and black and white illustrations particularly revealing talent. The author, who has contributed to the New Zealand Artists’ Annual, is to be congratulated upon his latest venture. STRAY LEAVES. Erich Maria rtcmarque, author of “All Quiet” and the “The Road Back,” is away in Switzerland, working on his third book, the nature of which is as yet,/ a closely-guarded secret. V * * Early in ihc new year Philip Allan will publish the diaries kept by the Prince of Wales while big-game hunting in Africa a few years ago. Thin hook, it is said, will reveal the Prince not only as a sportsman, bait ‘as a naturalist and a keen observer. * ■» a » Among the 40 recipients of the Goethe gold medals bestowed by President Ilindenburg, in connection with the Goethe centenary celebrations, are Signor Mussolini, M. I-lerriot, and Mr J. L. Garvin. The Goethe Prize was presented to Herr Gerhardt Hauptmann, the great German literary figure. *** * . There is no such ithing as private judgment, simply because there is no completely private person; our judgments are to a great extent a reflection of the group to which we belong. —The Dean of Exeter.