BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 13

BOOKS OF THE DAY

r : «len, Women, and Cuns. ; The fine dramatic touch, the delightful humour, and the occasional note of a pathos wliioh rings clear and true . and has nothingof the theatrical about it, which contributed to make "Sapper's" earlier stories, "Sergeant-Major Cassidy, V.C.," and "The Lieutenant and Others,' 1 so popular, aro again present in ,! Heia, Women, and Guns" (Hodder and Stoughton). The first ppt of "Sapper's" new volume contains eight, separate stories or' sketches. More than one of these stories deal with the psychological side' of war, more especially with the vexed problems of fear and real or alleged cowardice. There is one very terrible story, "The Fatal Second," in which figure two men and a girl. One man lis engaged to the other's sister. The second man, in a moment of grave danger, gives way to fear, wavers, and turns. The moment is crucial. _ If the deader "funks it" the new position will Jje lost. "The wavering was spreading. I knew that, too. So I shot him (through the heart from, behind, at point-blank range." Yes,- the other (man had shot Jack Delawnay, the . [brother of his betrothed wife. The Colonel writes to the father that Jack had died gallantly leading a counterattack to recover lost trenches, and the other man, God help, him, came home . in due course and told the same story. Then he said farewell to his betrothed and went baok to France to seek death, land found it, for the Colonel ,soon .wrote thai the poor fellow had literally "chucked his life away saving a wounded man." And poor Pat, his sweetheart, never knew the truth as to . her brother's end. Then there. is the story of "Spud Trevor, of the Bed Hussars," a story,' by the way, from which, with an altered denouement, a very fine play, might foe made. This again is said to be a story founded on fact. Trevor was the model of what a regimental officer should be, an English gentleman, 'the soul of honour—the so-called "white man" looked dirty-grey in comparison. 'And yet there came a day when he was cut in his club, and, resigning his commission, sank his identity. under an assumed name, and'became a private in a Canadian force. All through a woman 1 The woman was the wife of his best friend, "Ginger" Bathurst, of the . Idiplomatio service, and she was a Ger- . man spy! Trevor discovers this fact when he is on a "spccial intelligence" mission to New York, and is in a quandary what to do. Bathurst is a highlyplaced man; and through him the spywife had undoubtedly got hold of much dangerously • valuable i information. Trevor can't bear, to think of his chum's agony of mind should he learn the truth. On the other, hand, the woman must' be prevented-from doing further mischief, fho question of what to do and how to do it. is still agitating his mind when he..finds' himself on board the same Atlantic liner as : the fair criminal. The Astoria hits an iceberg in the niiddle of the night, and founders in about twenty minutes. Officer and spy . are on' deck, face to face, whilst from a boat below comes the shout, "Boom for . one more ..only." . JFor; .-or two Trevor is in an agony of indecision. Shall he hold back and allow the woman, the spy, to go in safety to work further harm, or- shall ho jump into the boat himself, leaving her to perish, whilst he, if he is saved, will bo able to communicate with the - Ad- - miralty and War Office, and undo some ai least of the mischief. his friend's treacherous wife has done? Ho decides that whatever happens England must not suffer. Without further thought I pushed by -her, and stepped_ into tho boat, which was actually being lowered into the , water. Tiro minutes later 'the.' Astoria sank, and she went down with her. . ... •" That is what occurred that night in mid-Atlantic. I make no excuses, I offer no palliation; 1 merely stato facts. . . When you read these lines I. shall be dead; they will come to you us a voiue from the/dead. And as a man who faces his Maker, I tell you, • with a calm oertanty, that I an not deceiving myself, that that night there'was no trace of ..cowardice in my mind. It was not a "desire to save my own lifo that actuated ma; it was the fear of danger to England. An error of judgment possibly; an act of cowardice—no. That much I state, .-and that much I demand you, believe. The story of the poor fellow's misery when the story leaks out, and his frieiids cut him dead in the club and tho strcots, makes painful reading. He could not justify himself by telling "Ginger" that his wife, tho mother of his children, was a German spy. So ho confides the true story to the Colonel, resigns, and disappears, ' to dio a glorious death at Loos, as a private in a Canadian regiment. The stories aro not all of officers or : officers' wives and sweethearts. " Ono of the most convincingly realistic of the sketches is that of "Private Mey. rick, Company Idiot." Meyrick is no favourite with his' non-coms. Ho is late in falling-in, is slovenly in his dress, is absent-minded at drill. Ho is always in trouble, this gentlemannered, soft-spoken Cockney oxwarehouse lad. ' Going up to the trenchcs it was always Jfeyrick who got lost, Meyrick who fell in shell holes and lost his riilo or the jam for his section; Jloyi-ick who forgot to lie down when a flare went up, but stood vacantly gazing at it until partially stunned by his noxt-door neighbour. Periodically messages would come through from the next regiment asking if they'd lost the regimental pet, and that he was It was always Meyrick. .'. "I can't do nothing with 'im, sir." It'was the company sergeant-major speaking to Seymour. "'E seems soft-like in the 'ead. Whenever 'e does do anything and doesn't forget, 'e does it wrong." 'E's always dreaming and half barmy.'-' "He's not a flier, I know, sergeantmajor, but we've got to put up with all sorts nowadays," returned the officer diplomatically. "Send him-to me, and let me have a good look at him." "Very well, sir, but 'o '11 let us down badly one of these days." So Private Meyrick, the Company Idiot, is solemnly taken" to task. Why had he been late in falling-in? "I was a-reading Killing, sir." It is explained to him that reading Kipling shouldn't prevent him from helping the cook's mate until it was time for him to go on parade. Meyrick endeavours to explain,that Kipling sort of gets 'old of me like, makes me want to do things—and. then I can't. I've always been slow and awkward-like, and I gots a bit flustered at times. But I do try "arcl, sir. I ceo as 'ow I was wrong. But—l dreams sometimes as 'ow I'm like them he talks about, when 'e says as 'ow they lifted 'em through the charge as won the day. And than tho dream's over, and I know as 'of. I'm not." The good-natured and discerning officer sees some good in the man, and reprimands him firmly, but kindly. Because I think that at the back of your head somewhere you've got the right Ideas; because I think i£s natural to vera to "be" a bit slow and awkward, and that your failure isn't due to laziness k slw&aees, I'm not wing to punish FW thlq time for breaking the rules.

If you do it again it will be a different matter." When the private had gone the major said, "He'll make good, that man. He 11 make good." But to the sergeant Private lleyriclc ts a "mere pcrisher." The story of how the poor Idiot does "make good," and proves himself no "perisher, ' but a true hero, is 0110 of the most stirring of "Sapper's" chapters. There are, 110 doubt, Meyricks by the dozens at the front. They only want their opportunity, and whan it comes they can rise to it. There is not a dull page in "Sapper's" book, in which we get the true atmosphere and colour of war presented in a convincing and fascinating manner, such as is given to few writers to achieve. "Men, Women, and Guns" is a book which is not only of topical interest,' but of permanent literary value. By no means should it be missed.