BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2624, 20 November 1915, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

/BY libeb.)

V BOOKS OF THE lIAY. THE PLEASANT.BY-PATHS OF ' SCIENCE. _ Wars or no wars, a welcome is always justly duo to a volume in which tin mysteries of science aro explained in 5 chatty, agreeablo way for tlie benefit oi lion-expert, readers. Such a book is Sii Edwin Bay. Lankester's "Diversions of a . 'Naturalist!' (llcthnen and Co.), the various chapters in which have been selected \from the articles entitled "Science'from an Easy Chair," which havo been con trib.uted by > tho author for sp many ■years past to tho columns of- tho "London .Daily Telegraph." . Two previous volumes of selections havc_ appeared, and aro deservedly popular with that by avo means inconsiderable section of the public which takes an interest in scientific.matters.' As the author says in 'his'preface"There are' many who find a Jievcr-failiiig source' oi: happiness in an acquaintance with things belonging: to that vast area of Nature which is beyond and apart from human misery, an'area -unseen and unsuspected by most of' us, and yet teeming with things ot exquisite beauty; ■an area 1 capabk of yielding to man knowledge- of inestim> ablo value.".' In tho present volume many of the articles deal ;'with su@ jects taken from; natural history, tho range of topics being so agreeably wide in range as to include studies of sea worms and anemones, amber, barnrroies, and other crustaceans, the 'grouse' and other birds, the'groat grey «eal, sandhoppers. and daday-krng-legs ; and such very; different subjects as the blood and its circulation, science and; - dancing (between which two seemingly alien subjects there- is, the author shows us; a t.curious connection) courtship in'animals 'and man, and even divination and palmistry. The author 5 wisely eschews any excessive .use of technicalities and invests'his subjects, as far an possible, With a ivery- agreeable human interest, not despising; tho: introduction of • a quiet- humour which is decidedly welcome. The book contains a number of well executed illustrations. and dia- . gramej- a coloured reproduction of a 'corncr in a marine aquariumj from a painting' 'by Philip H. Gosso; F.R.S., making an attractive'frontispiece. (Prico .69.) - '. , , THE SCIENCE OFDAIRYINC. • A New Zealandor, Mr. W. A. 6. Peulington, M.A., science tutor at the 'Auckland Training College,, is the'au-: ,;thor-of a volum6 entitled "The Science of Dairying—A Text Book, for the Use of Secondary! and ; Technical Schools" (Macmillan and. Co., 35.). Tt.o greatly increased atention paid to tlie scientific side of dairying has led, eays the author, to a demand for a suitable class book for 'use in liiglr and ; technical schools'.'■■'•This'Mr. Perilingtoh:nbw provides, dealing seriatim and in some detail with' the various processes in dairying in which scientific, knowledge is necessary and-desirable. ' A special . chapter on ' 'Dairy Arithmetic'' has been added, the author remarking that the; question of'"making things pay" should always be kept in view, for is it not,.he says, the very raison; d'etre of dairy science. Indeed, it is,, well^fo.' re-; member that dairy science'is not- really a new science,,.'but only tho application of many'. wtablished sciences—physics, • chemistry ,*':zoologyy arid'-,others—-to. an. impdrtailt The information given iii,tlie -book;is of a strictly practical character, 'and-is further elucidated by a - large number of .'useful illustrations, .several-of; which are reproduced from : the .bulletins the New Zealand Department .of Agriculture. Mr. Penlingtbn's volume should' find a place' iii every high or technical school library, and especially deserves'-;the attention of dairy farmers.and factory managers and their employees. LIBER'S NOTE BOOK Held Over. Reviews of H. G. .Wells's latest novel, ."The Research Magnificent,". of A. G. Gardiner's "War Lords," and : other new books, are .held,-over-' imtil nost week. ; .-' ' : Some Clft Books. This is the season when wo expect and welcome a class of story, primarily appealing to the tastes of youngreaders, >but ■ not unfrequently 'to .those of many'-, adults; Certainly both adults as well as boys and girls of the later teens class should find excellent entertainment) •in Ethel Turner's ; "The Cub," Mary Grant Bruce's "From Billabong to London" (Ward, Ix>ck and Co., per Whitcombe and TomDS), or, again, "The Isle of Palms," by Charles Bafrett (Melbourne, T. C. Lothian). Each of the first two stories possesses a''topical, -or war interest. Miss Turner's tale describes how an Australian joung lady, -at. school, at Liege when the war breaks out, rescues a little Bel'iiian gii-1 whose parents have been ruthlessly butchered ■by the Huns, . and induces her mother, to allow her. to take tho orphan with them, to - Australia. 'The young - Australian' whose nickname ■provides the title for ; the story is the youngest of two sons of a wealthy Australian lady, also returning homo on'tho same-'ship."The Cub" soon becomes a B\i'orri' chum of the two .girls." The lad's true character is quite misunderstood by his mother and relatives, and Miss Turner's account of how enlightenment comes, to them is very skilfully managed. Life on shipboard and ;in Sydney is agreeably described, and tho wholo story makes pleasant reading. ■The war is even more to the front in Mrs. Bruce's "From BillaJong to London 'j.and the interest is more varied. The owner of Billabong Station is suddenly called to London on business, and takes _ with him his son Jim, who is to: join Kitchener's Army, «ind his daughter Norah. The party sail on the Perseus, and soon a dramatic incident occurs in tho detection, by tho young Australian lassie, of a German spy, who is discovered by her in the act of signalling flash signals intended to teach the nvuoh-feared Eniden. The travellers go ashore at Durban, whero' Jim and a chum of his have some startling adventures, and after a call at Capo Town the liner heads for. Plymouth; A German armed mcrchantman'captures her, but up comes a British cruiser, and after a short but sharp fight the Hun vessel is sunk, and the Perseus, escorted by the oruiser, reaches, first. Las Palmas, and, later, Falmouth, in safety, t'he story closing with the two youug Australians leaving for the front. In the earlier chapters the station scenes are vigorously drawn, and Mrs. Bruce seems equally at home with life on board ship. "From Billabong to London" is quite a good story, and adults who may bo twnptcd to pick it up casually as a "young people's 'book" will not put.it down very readily. " Mr. Barrett's, "Isle of Palms" is a treasure-hunt story,. on. tho lines of "Treasure Island," but with-a South 6ea, instead of a West Indian, island as the background, and somo plucky young Australians as prototypes, of the Squire Doctor Livesey, and young Jim; Hawkins wo ■ ' all remember Bo 'well. Tliero is a mysterious chart, and the directions for finding tho treasure- hordo of tho - buccaneers, re-

Give a man a pipe he can smalt, ' ■' Give a man a book hereon read; And his home is bright ,with, a calm, delight. Though the room be poor indeed. —James Thomson

mind one of Stevenson's efforts in the same direction, but the rascals who for a time impede the treasure hunt of the , - young adventurers are somewhat inferior ; in daring and resource to ' 'Long John'" ; and his associates. All the same, Mr. i Barrett tolls a rattling good yarn. , Perhaps, by some youthful readers, the ' entomological tastes of one of t'he youths may seom to be'described in too much dotail, but a.s with the natural history padding of R. M. Ballantyne and the occasional moralising of the late G. M. Henty, these digressions from the purely dramatic interest can bo judiciously skipped. -. "The Isle of Palms" would be an-excellent Christmast {gift for a lad ■ whose literary tastes favour stories of adventures. Other books for young people will be. noticed next week. A Sailor Author. "Interned, and Other Sea Stories" (Whitcombe and Tombs), is tho title of a collection of a half-dozen short stories by the -well-known Union skipper, Captain W. Manning. A few years ago, under the title of "Below and Above the Water-line," Captain Manning wrote a 1 series of interesting sketches of the everyday economy of. a passenger steamer. To-day he deals -with happenings, or at least with ' incidents which, eveii if some of them may have had a parallel in real life, aro now accorded a fictional setting. The first story,-.''lnterned—a War-time Phantasy," deals with certain disagreeable, if, to the reader, very humorous experiences of a ship's captain, whose features emphatically-suggest Teutonic heredity. The humorous climax'is skilfully sudden and unexpected. A certain comic humour pervades "A Tolstoian Episode" and "An Evidence of Sobriety," ' whilst in "The Dreamer" . and "The Derelict," the interest is dominantly dramatic and pathetic. Each and all of the stories are eminently readable, and betray but little trace, of amateur literary craftsmanship. There is, perhaps, here and there, some evidence, of the Kipling influence, anil ill "The Dreamer" I seem to detect a suggestion of Conrad: But the author, is far from having played .what Stevensan' called "tlie. sedulous ape" to any. writer. His work is quite strong enough to stand upon, its own merits, and is full of promise of. even j better result in some larger and more sustained effort. (Prico, Is. 3d.) Maria Again. ~ Mrs. John [Lane has done wisely'and well in giving us another instalment of the good-natured satirical humour which first found expression in that 'clever book, "The Champagne- Standard." "Maria Again" (London: John Lane) is. a collection of new sketches of Londoii life, with the inimitable ' Slaria (of ■"According-to'Maria")-as the exponent of her pleasantly satirical social philosophy, Mrs. Lane acting, as before, as lier guide, philosopher, and friend. •Thackeray hiniself could have hardly bettered somo of the sketches. Whether Maria be discoursing upon wedding pre--, eats, on the kinematograph, on dinner; parties; on Shakespeare—for. 'her Tanee of subjects is astonishingly wide—"the duplicity : of the penny, stamp,''•, theproblem of rema'iiiing- ( ; " ! ' ! 'eternallyl.; I young," or on'that topic of perennial' feminine interest, "the sales," she is always \entortaining. Mrs, Lane is a born : humorist.' and, -...underlying her humour there is generally a broad and kindly philosophy -of life. A better , book to pick 'uii for a spare hour or two as. an antidote to tho depression which comes from an orgie of war news i could not well , bo found than "Maria Again." A New Zealand Doctor on the War. I 'lie! "Times" Literary Supplement (October 7) contains. a laudatory review' . of a book • by - ])r. Martin, of Palmerston, -just "publi,-shod by, Mr. Edward Arnold, London.' The- title is "A Surgeon in K'haki." Tho "Times's" critic describes Dr. Martin's book as "V straightforwaVd narrative of events sea-, soned with humour and unencumbered -. by flummery," and elsowhere alludes to it as "a considerable contribution to the .personal history of the.., war."! , "Dr. Martin," :'says. the scribe,; "viewed the passage of the Manie on the critical day of that battle, aid saw. Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien first go down to the bridge at Saccy during a hot moment of the battle: • .. ■ ■ :■! "When the devil's'din was'at its loudest another powerful Limousine coming from tho rear , pulled .up. opposite us. "Go en, go on," • shouted a voice from the'; inside, . and the car again sped' on; - Inside was. Field-Marshal,Sir John-French, poring over 'a map held out 'withboth hands over his knees.';.. . An hour elapsed. All of the batteries except one had ceased fire, the cracking of our rifles was still ■ heavy but irioro distant, and now • two cars were seen coming slowly towards us from out tho valley. In , the front car were, French and . Smith-Dorrien. We augured that all was well, for the car was proceeding slowly;, and die Field-Mar-shal was placidly smoking a cigar. , ■ Our augury'- was correct. We had forced the /passage -of the ■ "Marne. I hope, later on,-to be-able to give further details of 'Dr. Martin's book,' which'should prove specially interesting to New. Zealand readers. Concerning. Kuno Mayor. 0. N. O'Leary writes as follows from Waterfalls, Ekotahuna:—Dear Liber,— Iu a note iu The Dominion of November 6, you speak of Dr. Kuno Moyer as "admittedly ono of the best authorities on Irish folk lore.". This may be true in a sense. He has edited some very old Gaelic texts in 'an able manner, and if these texts be regarded as folk lore ho is undoubtedly a folk lorist. But on this principle the editor of Chaucer might conceivably be called a lolk lorist, and tho' editor of an edition of (say) the "Song of Roland" or of tile "Nicbelungen Lied" would undoubtedly bo callcd one. . Using tho word, however, in the sen/so of one who goes amongst the old people and collects old talcs, proverbs, verses, traditions, or, as Dr. Hyde, Canon O'Leary, Patrick O'Leary, and others have done, l)r Meyer is not a folklorist. He has never spent much time in Ireland. i<iko many of the great Continental Ccltista ho has confined his attention to the older forms of tho Irish language to ba found in M'.S.S. preserved in tho great 1 libraries of the United Kingdom and tho Continent. The "Gaelic Journal," which, during the period of its exist ence, contained a good deal of folk lore, never published any of this kind of matter from Kuno Meyer's p°n, though ho contributed a valnablo series of anecdotes from Irish M.S.S. Though Dr. - Meyer has. only a Teutonic seiise of gratitude for tno hospitality . ctived during the many years he taught at tho University Collego, Liverpool, yet lot lis give this particular German iiis duo. Ho is beyond all doubt a fine' Gaelic (and, I believe, Welsh) scholar, and it was to his attainments in these -languages that. his -appointment to the impcrE-ant professorship of Celtic in the University of Berlin sorno years ago, was due. P.S.—I think it was Bacon who'said Jkfl Jwdsot at a to .who always put tho

most important matter to bo communicated in a lott-or in the postscriptum, and wo all know ths old chestnut about i, 'lady's letter 1 I have often been thinking of writing to toll you how much 1 admire your column "Books and Authors," and poor old I(. M. lias Riven me an opportunity of doing so. I have been reading your articles for ' several years. I do not always agree with your views—which I freely allow may bo (and probably are) quite right. This non-agreement does me a world of good, for it usually 6tirs me up to write to you. I compose the letter in my head, but as I am ait intellectual hobo, the letter never gets into script. I'leaso accept this incohe.rency as a l.ote of thanks for a great deal of pleasure and guidanco gained.—C.N.O'L.

SOME RECENT FICTION BY ANTHONY HOPE, New novelists may arise in dozens, but Anthony Hope still holds his own remarkably well as a novelist of society, and somehow or other, Whilst ho himself would be the las* -to call himself a realist, his characters strike me as being much mora true to lifo than do those of so many of the younger men who aro avowed followers of Flaubert or the Russians. The hero of his latest story, "A Young Man's Year" (Methuen; per Whitcombe and Tombs), is far from being-a heroic figure. Ho is indeed in some ways a very weak and colourless young man. But no doubi; he is true to type, to the type of thousands of young Englishmen of his time —the time before the war—and as Mr. Hopo proves, a very good novel can be written with even a weak man as principal figure. The story relates the experiences at the bar —and in a certain disastrous theatrical speculation—of a young man of good family, but small private mean®. Also, and it would not bo an Anthony Hopo story were it not so, the hero's relations with the fair sex bulk largely in 'the narrative. Arthur Lisle, struggling barrister, philanders with one young lady, and then becomes the devoted slave of a second— a * married lady this timo— who plays. _ with him in a cat-like fashion, and then deserts both the hero aiid. her husband—the latter the very personification of human futility—to run away with a middle-aged baronet. _ Mr. Hope, however, is very kind to his hero, for we leave him with briefs pouring in, with the promise of £ to be left him by a friendly Judge, and, if we read aright the promise.of the last chapter, "6oon to find consolation for the lost Marie and Bernadette in the lovo of a good sensible girl, who should make him an excellent wife. The hero may not altogether deserve his good luck, but in real lifo it is not always the deserving who come off the best. The story is: very brightly written, and contains well-drawn minor characters. Ino legal scenes are admirable.

MARY RINEHEART'S LATEST. In the past I have known Miss Mary Robert Rineheart mainly as a writer of .sensational fiction; .novels of . the socalled "detective" type. ' In "K" (Houghton, Miiflin and Co., per-S. and " ■ .MSckay), the popular. Ameerican author lias broken what is for . her entirely - new ground, for interest is now psychological and sentimental. Tho ™o, K. Le Moyne, has been, though still only a little over thirty, a famous surgeon. He "loses" two cases—one through the criminal rascality of a jealous nurse—and comes to live in a little town, taking a. position , as clerk in a' gas company's office, foreswearing forever, so ho thinks,' the practice of his profession. He plays the. part of . gooa. aiigel _.to the neighbourhood, interestlrig specially in Sydney f sge, a girl who becomes a nurse, and <£W«ty. attracts the of ;l handsome aiid brilliant, though morally weak,- young surgeon. As. the story proceeds the girl falls under tho fascination of Dr. Max;' it. is- his old .acquaintance, Dr. Edwards ; how known as Le Moyne, who steps 111 and rescues her from more than one peril. The position'is complicated by jealousy Jn two quarters, for a young "working, man is passionately attached to Sydney, and hates both Le Moyne and Doctor Max' accordingly, whilst a young niiree (of -semi-Spanish descent), 'having herself designs on the handsome young dootor, pursues the heroine, .with almost deadly animosity. The hospital scenes are very realistic, but to most readers the chief interest'of the story will lie ■in the effectively-drawn pictures of life, the much-varied life of "the street" wherein so many of the characters reside, -and whorein the- mysterious Le Moyne can'ips on his good" work. Need- 1 less- to: say, his professional reputation is vindicated! and lie wins the girl, of ■bus heart. : '. No other ending could possibly .satisfy ;those who mike the acquaintance, imaginary though it may be, of so charming a heroine ais Sydney. Page. "TURMOIL." Mr. . Booth Tarkiiigfcon ' must be credited _ with a special and' striking success in his latest novel, "Turmoil (Hodder and Stought-on; per S. and W. Mackay). A more .wholesome and interesting story has not come from. America this many a long day. Seldom does, an American novelist create such a- singularly original and fascinating character as Bibbs' Sheridan, the youngest son of a master of millions, a man whose one and only idea is Work—Work which will spell substantial financial reward. Bibbs, a young fellow of weak physique, idealist, a dreamer—an idler, so his father quite wrongly appraises him—is the butt of the family. -Sheridan pere ruthlessly sacrifices everything to business, but his' eldest son is killed by an accident, 'his second son becomes, for a time, a drunkard, a.nd it is finally to Bibbs, Bibbs the boy of "no-account" to whom the old man has to turn for assistance in his--groat enterprises. How Bibbs rises to the occasion, how in the long run he sees he need not sacrifice his ideals although becoming a celebrity in the business world, is set forth in a very convincing way. But it is in the love story of the young fellow that most readers will find tho dominant interest of the story. Into tihe details of Bibbs's romance I cannot go, but suffice it to state tho opinion that in few recent novels can olio meet a more charming heroine than Mary Vertrees, a heroine very far removed.from the spoilt and selfish young woman who figures as such in so many American novels. By all means read. turmoil. ' Amongst tho. everyday rack of American fiction it shines out a-s a nice deed in a naughty world." THE DRIVINC FORCE, Mr. George. Acorn has followed np lis grimly realistic study of Londou tu' 10 le Multitude*" by another story, the principal Scenes in which are again laid in the East Liul. Tho title, "The Driving Force" (London, John Long), is suggested, no doubt by the indomitable will with which a slum-bom London boy, Dick Bonnerdale, fights against a long succession 'of adverse influences, and emerges victorious from a struggle 'in which many less strong-natured men would have succumbed. Dick's romantic attachment to Margaret Angel,' a girl whoso heredity is sadly against her, provides a sentimental interest, i.omc of the minor characters, notably the dissipated Mrs. Angel and her actress friend, Poppy Vcriuder, aro well •drawn, and sowo good low .comedy -is piovjdcd by th© wife—and fortunehunting Mr. Bring. Tho story is hardly up to the high standard of its' predecossor, but it is well worth reading. TWO RE-ISSUES. There is a bewildering clioico of good reading offered nowadays to patrons of cheap reprints aud re-issues. Many -Will b<s £]< W > U ljt A Jq\ m MM,

Ethel Dell's highly successful story, "The Way of an Eagle," in its now and cheaper form (Fisher, Umvin, Is. 3(1.), and at the same price, Mr. A. G. Hale's lively production, "M'Glusky, the Reformer," also rc-issucd, by the same publisher, should find a host of new readers. , • THE DUAL IDENTITY. Mr. C. Guise Mitford's novel, ''The Dual Identity" (John Long) is a highly sensational, but well planned and well told story, the interest in which centres round a mysterious miniature portrait, the exact meaning and possession, of Which is of the greatest importance to Lord Boraston, and to his long-lost twin brother. The story opens with a murder, of which, for some time,, an amiable young gentleman, of artistic tastes, named Linfield, is suspected. Mr. Mitford supplies a really first-class mystery in the solving of the crime, and his readers will soon. become as keenly interested as are the detectives who take up the oajse. Thrill-lovers should greatly enjoy "The Dual Identity."