LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Ghosts and "Ghostesses." Ghosts and "ghostesses," second sight, haunted houses, evil-bringing curios, and, gsyohio phenomena of various kinds "are the weirdly fascinating subjects dealt with by Miss Jessie Adelaide Middleton,- in two volumes, entitled, respectively, ''The Grey Ghost Book" and "Another Grey Ghost Book" (London, Eveleigh Nash). Miss Middleton certainly provides a rich store of entertainment for those who findpleasure in ghost stories. She'tells anew many of the. older stories,' but a 'fair proportion of, each book is taken, up with accounts of -, ghostly -appearances within quite recent times, appearances, solemnly vouched for by persons still living; Some of these "stones certainly describe : occurrences' unaccountable, by natural and accepted influences; and : in some of them the evidence seems almost unassailable. ' In others, Miss Middleton, so it appears to me, ignores the possibility of the alleged, ghostly visitations or exemplifications of occult influences being capable of mundane and quite simple explanation. The author scouts, I notice, the theory that only "persons of a: certain type are permitted to experience psychic phenomena." "My -investigations,", she says, "led me to see my error.' " All kinds of most unlikely people see ghosts —not the weak and credulous, but the fdownright unbelievers; the' hard-headed business man 1 and the, matter-of-fact woman. That spirits of the departed, j do' appear to mankind, I have amply : proved, to my own satisfaction. The evidence we have is too strong to be gainsaid." Of course, - much depends upon the exact construction placed on the term "evidence;" Mr. Justice Stareleigh, of "Bardell versus Pickwick" celebrity, declared, it may be remembered, that "what the 6oldier said was not evidence," and in "not a few of Miss Middleton's decidedly "creepy" yarns there is not a little of the "Mrs. A told Mr. B, and Mr. B's brother told.< me" ' style of corroboration. Third-hand information is apt to be somewhat wiconrincing; Nevertheless, it'must'be, admitted that many of the eerie-incidents set forth in these two' "Ghost Books" -are vouched for by eminently sane and responsible persons, , and the older one grows the greater one's respect foi Hamlet's famous remark to Horatio as to the limitations of human, philosophy. Be they true,. be they but mere fictions of disordered brains, or phantom-blind-ed eyes, these stories of Miss Middleton's make, it must be confessed, even by those ' who, like myself, are mighty sceptical as to ghostly happenings, uncommonly good reading, although perhaps they may not be unreservedly commended for midnight perusal by the nervously inclined. Miss Middlet-on gives many old friends, such as the "Screaming Skull of Burton Agnes," a peculiarly ' weird Yorkshire ghost story which I can-well remember having heard as a boy: the much-dis- : cussed "Mystery ; of - Glamis Castle" (which, by the ' way; " such .an; investigator of, the occult as';, the late Andrew Lang utterly ■ scouted) ■ the "White Lady .of the Lytteltoiis" ; and "The Ghost Bird" (a still well credited Devonshire legend). ' But many of her best,. that . is to say, most . curious stories, relate to allegedly occult manifestations of quite recent occurrence. There is more than one South Africa story, and even New Zealand is a-contributor to the rich budget of weird incidents which Miss Middleton describes so skilfully. To all who are interested in the supernatural, "The Grey Ghost Book" and "Another Grey Ghost Book" should make a strong appeal. The author has, it is clear, set about her task of collecting family legends and ghost lore generally in a systematic and conscientious way, and quite apart from their truth or falsity, the gruesome and mysterious stories she tells aro well worth reading as stories, being vastly more thrilling than a good round dozen of the most exciting novels of the day. (N.Z. price, 'la. 6d. per volume.) "All's Well." To many New Zealand readers, Mr. John Oxenham is known only as the writer of many well told and wholesome novels, but there are others, an over increasing number, if what tho ' booksellers tell me is correct, who specially rejoice hi his little volume of and very beautiful verse some of it is, entitled "Bees in Amber." Like so many other English writers, Mr. Oxenham has been greatly moved by tho great drama—tragedy would perhaps be the better term—now being enacted On the world's stage. To him this war,. this "red horror" as li 9 calls it, is to bo preferred "to the utter crushing out of liberty and civilisation under the heel of Prussia or any other militarism." Mr. Oxenham now sends forth a 'political message, of hope and cheer to all those who, like his own son, have responded to the Call. "All's Well" is the titlo of his daintily printed little volume of ' verse.(published by Methuen, N.Z. price. Is. 6d.) ; Many of the poems are instinct with a deeply reverential religious faith, and reflect the prayerful confidence of their author that the causo of Right and Truth, of Justice and Honesty, tho cause of a real Christianity, will ultimately triumph oyer that of organised duplicity, ot a willing return to barbarism, and a- cruelty almost demoniacal in its studied deliberation. In such poems as ".Wher.e are You Sleep.-

ing To-night, My Lad?" "Tiie Empty Ohair," and "The Nameless Graves," Mr. Oxenham strikes a note of real and convincing pathos which will find a responsive chord in many a New Zealand heart. My space is limited, and where the good things are in such plenty, selection is difficult. I choosc tor quotation the hymn "To the Men at the Front," which seems to me, at least, to enshrine some peculiarly noble thoughts, expressed with much verbal felicity and beauty: Lord God of .Hosts, -whose mighty hand Dominion holds on sea and land, In Peace and War Thy Will wo sea, Shaping .the larger liberty. Nations may rleo and nations fall, Thy Changeless Purpose rules them flll. When Death flies swift on wave or field. Be Thou a sure .defence and Bhield! Console and succour those who fall, And help and hearten eaoh and all I 0 hear a people's prayers for those ' Who fearless face their country's foc«! For those who weak and broken lie, In weariness and agony. Great Healer, to their beds oi p».iu, Come, touch, and' make them whole again I 0 hear a people's prayer, and bless • Thy servants in their hour of 6trces. For. those to whom'the call 6haJl come We pray Thy tender weloomo home. The tuil, the bitterness all past, We trußt them to Thy love at last. 0 hear a jeoplo's prayers for all Who, nobly striving, nobly fall. Pour million copies, it is stated, of this beautiful hymn have already been sold, and ■ the profits given to the various funds for the wounded. No fewer than 5u,000 copies of '"All's Well" had bean, I read, sold in England when the last roailleft. London. I warmly-commend Mr. Oxenham's poems to my. readers. (N.Z. price, Is. Gd.) "The Bookman." To "The Bookman" for February (Hodder and Stoughton) the popular American novelist, Sirs. Gene Stratton Porter, contributes an eight-page article, entitled "My Work and My Critics," preced-ad by a two-pago "Appreciation, fro another pen, of Mrs. Porter's work. Much of what Mrs. Porter says of her own work.is very interesting, and no .doubt jjuite true, but the article does not suffer from any excess of modesty, and it may well be questioned whether .twelve out of a total of twenty-eight pages in the number be dot a', somewhat extravagant, amount of space to be devoted to the work of a writer who, after all, neither in America nor England, could justly be deemed to be in the front rank of novelists. The explanation no doubt lies in the fact, duly mentioned by Mrs. Porter herself, that she "is coming before a liew audience, and presenting eleven books at one time." "The Bookman" al6o. contains an interesting account (illustrated) of the depositing in the tomb of' the' late Robert Louis Stevenson of a casket containing the ashes of the late Mrs. li. L. Stevenson. An illuminating appreciation of the Irish poet (A.E.) (Mr. George Russell) by Lawrence Binyon' and a long and excellent article on devoted friend Swinburne's Theodore "Watts-Dimton, are also welcome. features. : 1 Stray Leaves. ' ■ C.N.O'L. and W.F.—Thanks for cuttings, which are most but have no space to spare, I Notice: by/, a: Home v paper . that Stella Benson, the author of-that clever and most original story "I Pose," is a niece of Miss. Mary Cholmondely, the well known novelist. If Miss Benson's future work fulfils the promise of her first novel, she should be heard of. to some purpose later on.

Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, whose "Good Old Anna" is, such 'ail excellent study of the German 6py, system in England, has written another war story, "The Bed Cross • Barge/' to be published very shortly.

From Robert Sherrard's recently published book "The Real Oscar Wilde," I gather that Wilde's eldest son, Cyril, f<3ll fighting for his country in Flanders on May 9, 1915, at tho age of 29. The younger brother, Vivian Holland, is at the front\with the Royal Field- Artillery. 1

In these dark and dreary times of war a new collection of Mr. Pett Ridge's amusing stories of Cockney life-is very welcome. "On Toast" is the title, Methuen's the publishers.

There have been many lives of Lord 1 Clive, but it is claimed that a forthcoming biography of the great Indian General and statesman, which has been written by Sir George Forrest, Director of Eecords for the Indian Government, will contain much new and important matter. Cassells will. . publish the book. , The great-G.K.C. has written "A Short History of England." It is pretty certairi to be on very different | tines from those of Green's famous work, hut it. is hound to he interesting, although. I must confess that Mr. Chesterton's-: excessive affection for paradox and epigram becomes at times, to me at least, just a little irritating. That prolific but generally very entertaining writer, Mr. E. F. Benson, has just completed a story of public school life, which Hodder and Stoughton will publish'. Mr: Benson's father was a headmaster of Wellington, and bis brother. A: C. Benson, was formerly a master at Eton. ' We are to have an entirely new life of Francois Villon, the famous 15th century French poet, of whom Swinburne sang-as "Our bad, sad, glad mad brother," and to whom Kobert Loun Stevenson devoted one of his earliost and best essays: "Francois Villon, Student, Poet, Housebreaker." -The author of the new biography is Mr. H. De Vere Stacpoole, who a year or two ago published a collection of translations, highly Bowdlerised—from the wicked but tuneful Francois.' I have not read a Paul Bourget novel this many a long day, but I have not forgotten that remarkable story "Cruelle Enigme," in its own way almost a classic. M. Bourget has written a war story, "Le Sens de la Mort." An English translation - by Frederick Lees will shortly be published.