The Bookshelf.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 15, 12 October 1910, Page 46

The Bookshelf.

By

DELTA.

BOOKSHELF FEUILLETON. The Victoria League's Prize Essays. INTERESTING as to subject, and meritorious as to quality, and decidedly encouraging to the promoters of the scheme, are the three Assays which have gained the first, second and third prizes offered by the Literature and Educational Committee of the Victoria League, and donated, respectively, by the “Herald,” A. M. Myers, M.P., and that well-known writer, Mrs Carr Rollett. It is interesting to note that over 70 essays were received in response to the League’s offer, some of which revealed a correct and a thoughtful knowledge of the subject indicated, and a facility of composition marked by a practical and patriotic sentiment as creditable to the youthful essayists and their teachers as it must have been surprising and gratifying to the judges appointed to adjudicate as to their merits. This section of the Literature and Educational Committee's work is, in our opinion, by far the most important of the many educative schemes that have been devised by this committee for the fostering ami, spreading of matters and sentiments Imperialistic. This is an age in which education and matters utilitarian take precedence above ail things, and this part of the League’s work, since these essays are to reappear in the columns of various English and colonial journals of Imperialistic views, must lead to an interchange of Home and intercolonial ideas, highly beneficial from a sentimental and an educative point of view. Of that section of this committee’s work which deals with country libraries, we take occasion to refer to the good work that has been done in forming the nuclei of at least six baekblock school libraries. In the selection of new books which formed the greater part of this nuclei, immense care was taken to include no book that had not attained the dignity of a classic, so that the youth of those fortunate schools who have availed themselves of the League's generous offer have been given the opportunity to acquire that taste for good literature which, when once acquired, is never lost. The child is father to the man. and we are such a believer in the educative and refining, and also the mischievous influence of books, that we usually gauge a man’s character by- the books he reads. A Dickens Stamp

The scheme mooted by the proprietors of the “Strand Magazine,” that the Charles Dickens centenary’ shall be celebrated by the issue of a "Dickens stamp,” will commend itself, not only to all Dickens’ lovers, but to all lovers of literature. For surely there must be thousands to-day- who can remember Dickens, as we can, and who must retain, as we dp, a warm corner in their hearts, sacred to.the memory of that magnetic personality which still survives in the atmosphere of his pages, and which is felt even by those of his readers who constitute themselves his critics. Those of our readers who keep themselves au courant with Home news will remember that some time ago a small civil pension was granted to Charles Dickens’ granddaughters, who had fallen upon evil times, and were living in a state of indigence that should not have been possible to Charles Dickens’ descendants had the law’ of copyright been as comparatively just as it is at the present day’. Various schemes have been mooted as to the form the Dickens centenary memorial should take. But a grand sculpture I memorial, a Dickens museum in London, or a rich endowment for charitable institutions in which he took a personal interest would be an insult to his memory now that it is known that his family has reverted to that condition of sordid, genteel poverty that made his own life the hell it is depicted in "David Copperfield” and other works, and the never-to-be-effaced memory of which sombrely coloured his outlook at times to the very end of his life. The scheme is an admirable one, and is simplicity itself. Indeed, it is so simple, IO inexpensive, and so widely inclusive In its reach, and promises such a magnificent return, that it is almost sure to be adopted. Seventeen of Dickens’ descendants are living, and we are sanguine •nough to hope that the result will place

them for all time beyond the reach of that poverty which embittered and dwarfed the master’s youthful outlook. Dickens in the Role of an Apostle, The Dickens lover will appreciate a wonderfully cheap edition of Edwin Pugh's exposition of the master and his works. “Charles Dickens: The Apostle of the People,” is issued by Mr. Frank Palmer at half-a-crown net. New Nelson Reprints. That very charming book, entitled "My Confidences,” by the late Mr. Frederick Locker Lampson has been issued in Messrs. Nelson’s shilling library. Written for his descendants, it consists of reminiscences of the literary giants of the mid-Victorian period. Anecdotes of Tennyson, Carlyle, George Eliot, Diekens, Trollope, and a host of others, with the writer's own estimate of many of them. Mr. Loeker-Lampson’s circle of acquaintances was a wide and distinguished one. “ The Life of Sir Frank Lockwood,” by Mr. Augustine Birrell, is

a still later addition to the same series. It has a speaking likeness of the famous witty K.C., as frontispiece. The biography was originally issued by Messps. Smith, Elder and Co., and this reprint is made with their eo-operation. Other editions to the same series are: Colonel Durand's “ The Making of a Frontier ” (with maps and pictures illustrating work and travel in the Himalayas); Boulger’s “Life of Gordon” (origin illy pubii.-h.d in 189(i); and Miss Wynne's stirring French romance, "For Faith and Navarre.” Three Modern Seers. There is no mistaking the cosmopolitan flavour of Mrs. Havelock Ellis’ taste From a trenchant satire on the strange experiences of furnished lodging-house keepers, she turns to a discussion of James Hinton, Nietzsche, and Edward Carpenter. Exactly which of those modern seers she favours is not dear from this bock of essays, whi h has been issued by Stanley Paul, at three and sixpence net. Each of these seers belong to differ-

ent schools of thought. Hinton was deeply devout, and his effort was always directed to combining certain new aspects of thought with orthodox belief; whereas Nietzsche eould see no hope for mankind save in an entire reversal of beliefs, moral, social and religious. Iconoclastic and anarchist by nature, the mere fact that by the common consent of mankind certain ideas had become accepted as fundamental was enough to make him regard them as wrong and dangerous. Sandwiched between Hinton and Carpenter, he seems utterly out of place, as they were men whose chief gospel was the value of beauty, and joy and simplicity in life, and the remedial efficacy of suffering. The book, says a writer in " The Literary World,” is out of proportion since if Nietzsche was to be introduced at all, his should have been the larger figure, since he is comparably the more original and powerful thinker of the three, and the only one whose teaching is likely to occupy a permanent place in the history of thought I “The more so since, while the doctrines of Hinton and Carpenter have, to a great extent been aecepte'd, Nietzsche will ever be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; but as such he will continue to exercise a stimulating and awakening, if not by any means a uniformly healthy influence.” Indeed, on this account his influence is greatly- to be dreaded for our generation; and no turning aside, as Mrs. Havelock Eilis does, to certain beautiful sayings on

side issues ought to be allowed to obscure this fact. Nietzsche’s doctrine, in short, unbalanced by a high morality is as destructive as dynamite. Mrs. Ellis’ failure to grasp the fundamental doctrines. together with her too easy assimilation of what may be termed the ornamental part of their work, makes her book both ill-proportioned and unreliable as to the exact value of the place each thinker should with benefit occupy in the thinking world. The Modern Puritan. Every age has the Puritan it deserves, and the scientific one of to-day is ten degrees worse than the sour-visaged, longhaired Knave in the Grey Jerkin with his sword of the Lord, and a swinging prayer to back it up. with. Nowadays the little finger of the scientist is thicker than the loin of the theologian, and the physical science that cuts living animals to pieces is matched by the political science that makes it difficult for man to sleep o’ night's, for dreams

of the outcasts who ought to have Ml bed, and of the eider-ducks who ought t« wear his quilt. Some Pett Ridge Humour. Some amusement was caused at th® annual dinner of the Associated Booksellers at Birmingham by some of Mr. Pett Ridge’s remarks in his humorous speech. Mr Max Pemberton, who had preceded Mr Pett Ridge, had referred to his own first visit to Birmingham in terms somewhat cryptic, but intended to imply that he was born in that town. Mr Pett Ridge, while deeply regretting that he eould not claim to have been born in Birmingham, said that he threw' no doubt on the statement of Mr Max Pemberton; he ought to believe it for he had heard him make tTie same sort of statement in many provincial towns where his books were selling well. We have not heard that any writ for libel has yet been served on Mr Pett Ridge, and probably as a chartered humorist he doesn’t expect one. Mr. A. C. Benson on Paucity of Plot. Mr A. C. Benson, in the introduction to "The Thread of Gold” (of which Mr Murray has just issued a popular edition), tells us that “one of the difficulties under which literary art seems to labour is that it feels bound to run in certain channels, to adopt stereotyped and conventional media of expression.” He asks if anything more conventional can be found than the average play or the average novel, and he further boldly declares that "life as a rule has no plot and very few dramatic situations.” Whatever we may think of the average play or novel, this view of life is not our experience. May it not be that Mr Benson, like Mr A. J. Balfour, has no leisure to read daily papers—especially the half-penny ones? To us. who have to read them, modern life presents a plethora of plots and numberless dramatic situations. What, for instance, eould be more sensational than the manwoman romance, the mystery of the double identities of Harry Lloyd and Marie Le Roy, of Enfield, of which the editor of “Lloyd’s News” has just made a journalistic scoop? Here. then, is an unconventional plot ready to the' hand of the novelist, for we cannot recall any previous case in fiction of the “manwoman” romance.

REVIEWS. Marri'd and Other Poems : By Mary Gilmore. (Melbourne: George Robertson and Co. New Zealand: All booksellers. Price 3/6.) There is something curious in the fact that while Australasia has produced so few prose writers of great merit, she has been unusually prolific in writers of meritorious verse. Of these, Mrs. Gilmore, whose book of verse entitled “Marri'd,” has just reached us from George Robertson and Co., is a notable and a felicitous example. With few exceptions, which could be read with equal pleasure by both sexes alike, Mrs. Gilmore’s veree is essentially feminine, and shows her keenly observant, sympathetically tender, and strongly niaternal in her attitude towards her own sex in every phase of domestic life, and, indeed, in anything affecting the happiness of femininity—an altitude highly to be commended in an era which, hast earned the reproach of being almost destitute of home life, and all that it stands for. In dubbing 'Mrs. Gilmore’s work as pure womanly, we do not mean to infer that her work lacks strength or depth, for it extides both, coupled with grace, high sentiment, and a beauty and a facility and a sincerity, of thought, style and expression that should place her high in the list of household poets. In the poem entitled “Marri’d” is compressed with rare understanding the meaning of marriage. Though limited a* to space, we cannot forbear quoting it in full. Here it is: — “MARRI'D.” It's singin’ in an’ out, An' feelin’ full of grace, Here 'n there, up an’ down, An’ round about th’ place. It’s rollin’ up your sleeves, An’ whit’nin’ up the hearth, An’ scrubbin’ out th’ floors, An’ sweepin’ down the path.

It’s bakin’ tarts and pies, An’ shinin’ up th’ knives, An' feelin’ ’s if some days Was worth a thousand lives. It’s watchin’ out' th’ door, An’ watchin’ by th’ gate, !An* watchin’ down th’ road, An’ wonderin’ why he’s late. An’ feelin’ anxious like For fear there’s somethin’ wrong; An’ wonderin’ why he's kep’, An’ why he takes so long. It’s cornin’ back inside An’ sittin’ down a spell, To sort o’ make believe You’re thinkin’ things is well. It’s gettin’ up again An’ wand’rin’ in an’ out; An’ feelin’ wistful like, No knowin’ what’s about; An’ flushin' all at once, An smilin’ just so sweet, An’ feelin’ real proud The place is fresh an’ neat. An’ feelin’ awful glad, Like them that watch'd Silo’m An’ everything because A man is cornin' Home! Could the sum of marital anxiety and happiness be more subtly, or more simply or clearly expressed 1

Here is the condensation of a masculine appreciation of the “one woman,” as conceived by this author, which is tender, ardent, and apposite:— Oh! the voice of her, and the face of her, The heart of her, and the grace of her, And the throat of her, and the mouth of her—’And my heart a-thirst for drouth of her. And the ways of her, and the pride of her, and the clinging hands beside of her— But, Oh! the love, the love of So far surpassing all. Here is a charming scrap descriptive of the mother worship of the baby:— Kissin’, kissin’, kissin’! Lordy! ain't he sweet! Rosy roun’ d’ mouf, Rosy roun’ d’ feet. I Jes’ tuk out of water, Fresher ’n d’ rose— Kiss him little fis’s. Kiss him little toes. Ain’t no babby like him— Couldn’t nebber be— Him dat all is mine, Him dat’s kissing me! Though our space is exhausted, our keen desire to quote still further from this delectable book of poems, which describes woman in every possible relation pf life as regards love, marriage, and maternity, is by no means exhausted, and

»e hope in a future issue to give a further selection from this dainty volume, which ought to find a place on the bookshelves of every lover of poetry throughout the poetical world of Australasia.

“ Australia — The Making of a Nation.” John Foster Fraser. (Cassell and Co., Ltd., London and Melbourne.) - ■ • John Foster Fraser has written an interesting book about the social and industrial aspects of Australia. and though he finds much to admire, he does not hesitate to point out frankly many shortcomings, and this boldness on the part of a mere visitor has roused the ire of some people in Australia. The author expresses very forcibly his opinion—by no means a novel or strange one —that the crying need of Australia is population, and that without a greatly-increased population. Australia, with its vast undeveloped resources, and its position so close to the mainland of Asia, must fall a prey to some Asiatic horde, or some great world Power, or combination of Powers, strong enough to hold the British Navy at bay. The hostility of the Labour party and of the working class generally to immigration is suicidal, and, added to this are the facts that a large proportion of the population in each Aus-

tralian State is centred in a large city where the influences that bling about race degeneration are already in (evidence, and, last, but not least, the disquieting state of the birth-rate. The Australian colonies may have to fight for life -against invaders, and from such a great struggle a nation may arise great >and noble, disciplined, and self-reliant. If Australia is to continue in her march of triumphal material progress, so that the people become more and more engrossed in the pursuit of wealth and pleasure, it may be that her sons will come to think “the meat is more than life, and the raiment than the body, will look to tlnearth as a stable, and to its fruit as fodder, hewers of wood and drawers of water, who think that it is to give theih wood to hew and water to draw that the pine-forests cover the'mountains like the shadow of God, and the great rivers move like His eternity.” Even the question of coloured labour may yet divide North from South, for in the South it is unpopular, whereas in Queensland it is absolutely necessary if the sugar industry □s -to hold its own. Foster Fraser admires the Australians for the strenuous efforts they have put forth for the education of the race and the facilities they have provided to enable the poorest to pass from primary school, through the secondary pchool, to the university. He deplores the neglect of the teaching of history nnd geography in primary schools, and lie

partly attributes to this the fact that Australians in speaking of foreign countries often display an absurd want of proportion, and even a overwhelming conceit of themselves. Adelaide struck Mr. Fraser as not only the most charming of Australian cities, but the best educated city he had ever visited* This is surely high praise for such a new city from one who has visited so inqny cities of the Old World. One of the most interesting chapters in the book is that in which the author depicts the work of Sir John Forrest, that sturdy pioneer and explorer, in bringing a water supply to Kalgoorlie and the surrounding district from Berth, 400 miles away. An equally striking example of Australian energy and determination is the subjugation of the Mallee country and its conversion into a vast wheat growing area. A feature of the book is the abundance of good photographs, n.-any of them supplied by the various provincial authorities.

The Affair of the Envelope : By Eirene Wigram. (London: Methuen and Co. Auckland: Wildman and Arey. 2/6, 3/6.) The political novel, once so much in evidence, is getting to be something of a rarity. And so we welcome "The Affair of the Envelope," which has evi-

dently been written by a writer who is perfectly at home in diplomatic circles, and is perfectly acquainted with the recent trend of Turkish affairs. “The Affair of the Envelope" tells of the leakage of the terms of an unsigned treaty submittetl by England to Turkey for final consideration and ratification. It describes also that this leakage came about by desire of woman on the part of the most capable and efficient military member of the diplomatic corps attached to the British Embassy in Constantinople, who became so infatuated by a Delilah, half Irish and half Bulgarian, who, ostensibly holding the position of governess in the family of the late Sultan's nerr, was a spy in the pay of both Turkey and Germany. The story Is a forceful, and a fascinating, as well as a strong argument in favour of Rudyard Kipling’s asseveration that—- “ East is East, and West is West, And never the twain shall meet, Till earth and sky stand presently At God’s great judgment seat.” That’s as may be, but we cheerfully concede their appositeness in this case, and cordially recommend “The Affair of the Envelope” as a novel above the average merit and furnishing extraordinarily interesting reading. We have received this novel through the courtesy of Methuen and Co.