BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2630, 27 November 1915, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

i'*THE SONCSOF-A. SENTIMENTAL ] \ BLOKE." ] \ ; Oae of the moat amusing and, in its J curious way, most 'fascinating books ' offeree wo have had/'for some time 1 past;, from an Australian pen is "The J Songs of. .a Sentimental Bloke," by 0. • J. : Dennis (Angus and Robertson, per * Mr. J. P. Sharid). '.Tlte "Bloke" is a Melbourne "barrer-man," ii coster, i as j would call him, and the veraes, which chronicle the evolution : from the roughest'of city larrikins to ] a-, respectable young farmer, are written in that peculiar dialect affected by tlio denizens of Little Burke, and Little J ; Loasdale .Streets. " We ,are-introduced to Bill, the sentimental bloke, on a fine spring morning, when ho 'sings: , . I'm crook; me name is Mud; I've done r .' .i. :me dash; ' 1 ' 1 lie flamin' spirit's got the flamin' 'ump! arid when ho feels a craving for a 1 quieter, " 'igher" life than he has been used to: 1 ■ Me, that 'as done : me stretch far .-. stouchin' Johns, An' spen's me . leisure gittin.'.- on, the ■ ■ . ■ 'slack';' 1 . ■' An' 'an me'nights down , there, in . Little -Lon's.v- - • . • Wiv Ginger Mick; v Jist 'eadin' 'em,, and' doin' in me gilt. .Tough luck! I e'pose it's'ow a'man is s • built. s .'.' _ f ,• AVo come under'. the spell of . his " quaint ! \humour, humour wlyc'h often' endugh J fades: away,, to be /replaced by .-a 1 ■ '(sentiment," a pathos which ihas. no- 1 thing iriawkish 'about it. 1 ' 1 *'! — L —: / ' His first introduction to Doreen, j Doreen who, when the "Bloke" firßt ' knew her, J , Was pastin' labels in a pickle joint, A game that—any'ow, that ain't the • • point.' ( had!'her proper, pride, and 'resented being "courted on conventional lines, is' described with a-gay. humour which is • Iguite delightful: . .. .'Bp name's Doreen. , Well, spare ! . me bloomin' dayal .You Could'er knocked me down wiv. 'arf a brick; • ; ( Yes, me, that kids'meself I.know their ways, .' ; An' 'as a name for smoogin' ; in our ■ click!- V'; , I just lines up an' tips' tho saucy wink, 1 But strike! The' way 'she' piled on •: dawg! Yor'd think ' A bloke was givin'- back-chat to the Queen. .... 'Er-same's-Doreen. ' . Doreen has a mother, and for once Bill has his doubts whether matrimony be wise* for '."Mar" is an unpleasantly lachrymose, person,-and tho euitor hasa inomentary haunting fear:, . i Wot if Doreen, I thinks, should crow up to be A fat ole weepi'n' wilier like 'er Mar! But'the doubts and fears are disinissed, and in the . "Pilot Cove," the .wedding, oeremony is described. lie parson gives them goid advice: f'Young friend," 'e sez. An.' then *e magß Vlot. Of jooty an' the spiertchuil life, f-To; which I didn't tumhle'Vvofth a'jot. •'"l'm 'sure," 'e sez, "as you will 'ave a i '■'< • wife,- I "Oo'll 'ave a noble infl'ihce on'yer life." ] ; "Oo is 'er gardjin?" I sez. "Br ole, pot"— j ■ ■;... 'TToiing friend!" - ] "Young friend," 'e .sez. "Oh, fix, yer ' ' thorts .on.'igh!,. 1 ■ Orl, marridges.is registered up there! ! An' you. must cleave unto 'er till yer 1 '. • die, ' . An cherish 'er wiv love, an' tender .care, ] E'en in the days when she's, no longer fair, ~ - ''■ , '■ „ i She's still yer wife, e.sez.. Itiback, ■] ' sez I. "Yoiing friend !";'e.,6ez.. Mr.' Dennis is voryamusing in his aooount of Bill Doreen at the play, the "Sentimental Bloke - ' making. _ sundry comparisons .between 'romance/in. Yerona—and Little Lonsdale 5 Street. : This Romeo., 'e's lurkin' wiv a crew— A dead 'tough- crowd o' ■crooks— called Montague.. ~ ' "Ts cliner's push—wot's nicknamed Capu- ■ let-:* . : Tfiey 'as 'em set. ... narks they . are, just . like them T3ack-street. clicks, licep' They' fights wiv skewers 'stid o' bricks! !. •. ?ToPs in a name? Wot's in a string o' words? . Jhey _scraps in Ole Verona wiv' their swords, ■ . . ." An' never give a bloke - a stray dog's ; chance, An' that's Romance. ■But when they deals it out wiv bricks . an' boot 6 ' ■ ; , In. Little Lon', they're low, degraded ' bnoots. IWot's jist plain rtoiish. wiv' us, right 'ere to-day, Is "valler" if yer fur enough away. Sometime, sotne waster bloke will do the ■ trick | . ' f • Wiv' ' Ginger Mick Of Spadger's Lane. 'E'll be a Romeo When 'e's "bin dead five 'undred years or so. : ; The newly-married "bloke" falls away, alas,. from. grace,' and relapses only once, it is. true, into the baser joys of Little..Lonsdale StrO«t, ; being ' be- ' guiled by Ginger Miok to spend an ovening, " 'eading 'em;" at - Steeny Isaacs's. But Doreofa, good little soul, says never a word of reproach:— If she 'ad only *rj>used, I might 'a smiled. She jist seems 'urt.an'.crushed;,not even riled..' . ' ; • I turns away • ' 'Alt' yauks rao carkis out into tho yard like some whipped pup; ait' kicks meself reel 'ard. ... She heaps tho' symbolical coals of firo on his head in the concrete and comforting .form of "beef-tea." Beef tea! She treats'mo liko a hinvaleed! Me! that 'as caused 'er lovin' 'eart to bleed; It 'urfcs mo worse than maggin* fer a week! 'And never again does Bill offend. In time comes "the Kid," and Bill realises that a father is a mere nobody in his-house, and later on, an uncle, who .at first finds it difficult to believe in tho possible industry of a • "city bloke," but sets up tho hero as a fruit farmer, in which capaoity he prospers. The final set of verses, entitled ■'The Mooch 0' Life," are in a vein of: homely and happy, if somewhat puzzled philosophy : " Sittin' at ev'njn' in this strasct-land ,Wiv* 'er in all the World to. 'old me, and A son to bear' iho hamo 'when I am gone. livin' an' lovin'—so life mooches on. By all means -let my readers, make early acquaintance- with "Thei Sentimental Bioko" and his Doreen. Tho author provides a glossary which may bo useful to some readers, but tho il-lustrations^-'.'decorations",- as- they are quite mistakenly called—by Hal Gyo aro an intrusion. To picture Bill and Doreen, even' symbolically, as unpleasantly fat cherubs seems very . silly. (Price, . 3s. 6d.) A NEW ZEALAND POET. "Star Dust, and Sea Foam" is the title of a little book of verse by I. M. •Batten (Whitcombe and Tombs). The.

poems for the most part, are laudatory of the priceless worth of true and pure love, the duty of constancy, and the delight which' comes of ' honest passion. Many of tho verses reflect, too, the workings of a deeply religious, devotional spirit. Space is so limited this weok that I can only quoto a couple of versos from "The Country of Tender Things"'

'Twixt Friendship's calm lake and the Ocean of Love Lies the Country of Tender Things— A tempei-ato zone which burns not nor chills, The heart where sweet Sympathy sings. It is not too hot for the sweets of Romance, . Nor too cold for Love's roses of Ted, And there friends may linger and gaze on 1 the storms That Life's troubled sea will o'erspread.

'Tis a fair, lcvely land of Eternal Spring, Phis country of Tender Things; There you .climb not the heights, nor the depths do you sound, _ And yet tranquil pleasure it brings: For there you may journey with different mates, . 1 And often may linger therein; ' Love's Ocean is entered with- One and but once, ' There Love is sweetness and tortnre be-

gins. , : .The tastefully printed, little volume costs a modest half-orowii.

To that useful series, "Tho Daily Telegraph's War Books" (Hodder and Stoughton; per S. and W. Jlackay) has been, added "The Battles in Flanders, From Yprcs to Neiive Chapelle," by Edmund Dane. The. author gives a .connected and carefully detailed narrative of the strenuously contested struggles along tho British front-in Flanders, his record commencing with the first great battle of Ypres, in October, 1914, and closing with a dramatic description of the bloody clash of arms at Neuve Chapelle. The book is a valuable addition 'to the literature of the war. (Price, fifteenpence.) -

Under the heading, "In Memoriam, Chaplain-Major William Grant,',' there have been reprinted the letters written from tho front by one of the clemymen heroes'of-the war. Included in tie little volume, which is published'in Wellington by the N.Z. Bible and Tract Society, i are the. addresses given by the late Mr'. Grant, before leaving for the front, and his farewell letter to his congregation at . St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne, together with various in memoriam articles and addresses. The little volume is a most interesting tribute to the memory of a clergymansoldier who was. the idol of his comrades, as truly , noble'a patriot as lie was a devoted Christian minister/ (Price. Is.)