LITERARY CHAT

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 1 April 1903, Page 64

LITERARY CHAT

By "THE SAGE."

Two works by New Zealand writers have been forwarded for review by the publishers. " Out-trails/" 1 by J. P. Guy, published at the Budget Office, Dunedin, and " The Red West Road, and other Verses/ by Quilp.'N., published by Turnbull, Hickson and Gooder, Wellington.

In " Out-trails " the author gives in a crisp, readable manner, some curious experiences of his own. He lands in Wellington with a letter of introduction to one who had been a decent fellow, but has since degenerated into a confidence man. He soon sees quite enough of him, and goes up the Wairarapa as a cadet, .on a< station owned by two , Jews and managed by a Scotch- . man, by no means a promising combination. A swagging trip to the King, Country follows. Then, this born rover sets sail for Kristiania, and describes the voyage, A short ' description of life in Norway is given, and of the Norse discovery

of North America ill' the year A.D. 1 000, of which he says, " one may read in the " Matey Saga." in Snofro Sturlesen's Heimshringla. The original account of these voyages, now in the Copenhagen Museum, was complete in its present form about 200 years before Columbus, to whom the discovery of America was falsely attributed, was born." He met Nansen, the

Artie explorer. "Next we find him buying Lincoln rams in England, and taking them to Tiuenos Ayros. Losing his money at this spec after much travelling, generally steerage, he gets back to New Zealand, and tries his luck on the Northern gum fields. On arriving there, he remarks : " It is hard to define why the bush and the wilderness have such a fascination for the man who has once lived therein. Yet it is a very real attraction, and he seldom outgrows it." At the close of the book, he has decided to start a school for physical training at Dunedin, and the back cover is ornamented with his photo in the attire of an instructor in this noble science, which displays his powerful chest-development. The book is a good example of the wonderful amount of interesting matter that can be crowded into eighty-seven pages, especially when the author, as in this case, is a keen sportsman, and takes every opportunity that offers of having a crack at the particular sort of giame to be found in the country through which he is travelling 1 .

" The Red West Road and other Verses " is thej title of Quilo N/s first collection of Sea Verses, and it is not too much to say that

they will be read with great appreciation by those who admire vigorous, stirring verses depicting " life on the ocean wave." " Quilp N." has wisely resisted the temptation of publishing too large a collection, but has contented himself with selecting twenty-live of his best pieces. As signified on the title page, tlhev have appeared before in the " Bulletin/ " New Zealand Illustrated Magazine," and other periodicals. In selecting Kipling as his master, which it is evident this promising young poet has done, jie could scarcely have made a bettor choice considering the subjects he most affects. Some critics sneer at young writers who take the great Anglo-Indian as a model, but when, as in this case, the model is not slavishly and weakly followed, and considerable originality of thought and fancy is apparent, one fails to see the need of the sneer. Amongst so much that is good, one can only select haphazard. Here is a specimen verse from " Night Waves '':— The waves of the Dawn sweep creaming, Thrilled thro' with a golden song ; The waves of the Noon lie dreaming The shimmering coasts along ; And swift in the black Pelorus The tides thro' the rock-race flow : But wild is tho wailing chorus That sounds where the Night- Waves go. Here is another from " Tasman's Ships":The girls at home were hauling Upon your tow-lines then, And night would hear the bawling Of long-yeai's-absent men Shouting a wild sea- chorus, Till through a sea you swept That leapt, aboard uproarious, And drenched them as it leapt. Three hundred years have altered But little in their round Men's ways when, firmly haltered, Their ships are homeward bound. «. . The following essay gives in graphic words the experience of almost, if not quite, everyone who lias ever wielded a pen, and certainVot. VIIL-No. 1.-5

ly is not out of place in the Literary Chat colums : —