LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2959, 23 December 1916, Page 13

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Christmas Boohs for Young Folks,

Many and various are the presents so liberally provided in the shops this week for the entertainment of young people, but after all is said and done there is no gift better than an interesting and attractively illustrated book. And with a Cassells book one feels perfectly safe that the youthful recipient will bo well pleased. This y'iar the famous house of Cassells provides several specially attractive volumes, of some of which I have received copies. For'a boy no bettor Christmas present could possibly be imagined than the yearly volume of that "well-established favourite "Chums." As -n previous years, the new volume provides a rich feast of entertainment, plus, too, an appreciable but not too heavy n dose of instruction, conveyed in a 1 eadable and •interesting manner. Tho stories, of course, are tho main attraction, and with Captain Frank Sliaw, D. H. Parry, Maxwell-Scott, and othor old favourites to supply them, the fare is decidedly palatable. The. articles on' (■ports and games, ,011 bo.vs' hobbies, and !.'o forth, are many and varied in subject, and, of course, the war is not neglected. The coloured illustrations and half-tone drawings, are numerous and >\ell-oxe-cuted.' (Price 9s. 6d.) Another suitable gift for a boy is "The Boys' Book of Pioneers," by "Eric Wood (CasSell and Co.). The arihor has gone to considerable troub'e to get together the real stories cf famous pioneers from Livingstone down tu the present day, and has grouped tliom under special headings, such as ''Pioneers of the Air," "Opening up the Great Rivers of Australia," "The Bailwayman as Pioneer," "The Pioneers of Science," and so forth. In a very pleasant way the youthful reader" can here study 'the splendid achievement of men famous as travellers, scientists, and students of ratural history, etc. There are several excellent illustrations, and the volume is very attractively bound. (Prico 4s. 6d.) In the "Australasian Girls' An-

jwial" the house of Cassoll have put forth special efforts to make this, year's issue tho premier annual for girls. There is a most brilliant array of authors, articles being contributed by Mrs. Baillie Reynolds, Ill's. George <lo Home Vaizcy, Marjorie Bowen, Dorothea Moore, Helen Wallace, etc. The long complete story by Violet A I. Mothley is entitled "The Little Countess of the Revolution," and describes the advontures of a young girl caught in the whirlwind of the French Revolution. There are eight colour pictures and a profusion ■ of other illustrations, and the book can be strongly recommended as a tine girls' presentation volume. At sis shillings this is a wonderfully 'cheap production. Tho quite young folks, the wee tots, have not been forgotten. This year's volumo of Messrs Cassell's famous children's magazine, "Little is full of good things, literary and pictorial. There are numerous school and other short stories by popular children's writers, some kinema stories and topical articles, and a section for very little folks profusely illustrated in colours, whilst for the older boys and girls there aro tho Library Clubs, Hobby Pages, as well as two stories ljy 1). H. Parry, entitled "Gilbert the Outlaw," a talo of' Robia Hood and his times, and by Geoffrey H. White "The Adventures of. Madcap Guy." The book is full of illustrations, and will givo delightful hours of reading. Price, 4s. John Oxenham's Poetry. A delightful gift this Christmastido would bo a copy of tho now illustrated edition of Mr. John Oxenham's book of poems, "All's Well: Home Helpful Vorso in Those Dark Days of War" (Mothuen and Co.). Reviowed in these columns, in their original form, earlier in the year, these beautiful poems of Mr. Oxenham's should carry spiritual comfort to many, a bereaved

parent or relativo in theso dark days, when so many households mourn the absoiico of their loved ones. The illustrations, in colour, by Mary Bredall,

aro gracefully drawn, and aro in excellent' keeping; with tho _ verses to which they refer. A dainty _ white binding invents the volume with an air of refinement specially appropriate to its contents. (N.Z. price, 4s. 6d.). Workmen's compensation. From tlio Wellington branch of Messrs. Butterworth and Co., the famous English law publishers, I havo received a copy of "The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906," _ with notes, rules, orders, and regulations, by \V. Addington Willis, LL.B., being tho sixteenth edition of Willis's Workmen's Compensation Acts. The now edition purports'to contain all cases (other than those relating solely to procedure in Scotland) decided by tho British appellate tribunals and reported down to Juno 1, 14)16. Tho editor directs particular attention to tho decisions of the House of Lords rotating to accidents sustained by boys "larking," and tho onus of proof on a workman who alleges that his employer has not been prejudiced in his defenco by the absence of notice of accident. The hook should bo useful to lawyers, secretaries of trades unions, and others specially interested in legislation affecting the relative position of workmen and employers with regard to industrial accidents. A Bundle of Light Literature. A bundle of light literature, specially suitable for railway or steamor read- I ing, during the holiday season, reaches me from Mr. John-Long. Two shilling reprints, ono of Marion Hill's graceful and humorous little idyll "Sunrise i Valley," the other a similarly priced new edition of an amusing study of feminine egotism and meanness, "The Girl "Who Wouldn't Work,'' by Gertie de.S. Wentworth James, will appeal to very different tastes. Yet another class of readers will welcomo a popular edition of ono of Nat Gould's most successful sporting yarns, "The Wizard of | the Turf," who is also represented by a sixpenny reprint of another of his most popular stones, "The Best of the Season." Mr. Long also sends sixpenny editions of "A Lostj Cause," by Guy Thorne, and "Tho Confessions of a Young Lady,'' by Richard Marsh. Both aro Well-written stories, in which the interest is ultra-sensational, Stray Leaves. The announcement that Mrs. Asquith has written her Reminiscences, which will be published early in the New Year by Smith, Elder and Co., is decidedly interesting. For the wife of the ex-Prime Minister is oredited with - being one of tho wittiest women in England —and one of the sharpest tongued. It is gcnorally understood that she was the original of Mr. Benson's famous heroine, Dodo,, and it was commonly rumoured that she is the lady whom , Mr. William Watson had in mind when i he wroto tho scathing verses entitled i "The Woman with the Serpent's - Tongue." Some of the matter in Mrs. Asquith's book has already appeared in ' the columns of the "Strand Magazine." [ A feature of the book will be the number of unpublished! letters it will con- : tain letters written by contemporaries to Mrs. Asquith when she was [ still Miss Margot Tennant.

Yet another volume of reminiscences is promised, so I read in O.K.S.'s always informative and pleas-antly-readable "Literary Latter" in the "Sphere," by the Irish poet and novelist, Miss Katherine Tynan. A feature of tho book will be a number of letters from Mr. "W. B. Yeats. Apropos to books of reminiscences, there aro many good things in Mr. John Howard Parnell's recently-pub-

lished Memoirs of his famous brother, the late Charles Stewart Parnell.

The great Irish leader was . notoriously given to snubbing his supporters, indeed, ho was publicly, terribly reserved, almost freozingly "stand off," in his manner. A curious instance of the cavalier way in which lie treated his followers is given by his brother. The Irish people, shocked at hearing that a mortgage had been foreclosed on. Parncll's estate of Avondale, and that he had filed a petition for sale, set on foot a subscription, to which'evory class in the country contributed. ;A sum of £37,011 17s. was collected. "His reception of this amount, large as it was, was characteristic. Ho was handed the cheque on December 11 (1882), just before a grand banquet was given in his honour. He put it in Ills pocket as if it were a matter of course, and neither then nor during hie subsequent speech did he make the slightest reference to it." ' / The incident is probably unique. Again, when ho appeared in tho House on tho conclusion of the wretchcd Pigott business, and the whole Liberal party and of the Tories rose to their feot and cheered, . . "Charley's attitude was characteristic. As he sat down, apparently unconcerned, though his pale face and- the twitching of his hands betrayed his deep emotion,, he remarked to the member next him: 'Why do you fellows stand up? It almost frightened me.'." . ' ' Vory shortly after the famous-Pigott incident came the O'Shea-Parnoll divorce case, which, for Parnell, was the beginning of the end. His brother writes of him as having Lten a very, bright and winning boy, making fun of everybody and everything, and very fond of mechanics. Curiously'enough, although in manhood he was very tall, 1,0 did not grow until late, and his juvenile nickname was Tom Thumb. I had imagined Miss Rho;la Brotighton to have been dead years ago, but she is still very much alive. Stanley Paul and Co. announce a new ' novel from her, "A Tiiorn in the Flesh." It must be a good forty years ago since "Liber" read her ( "Coming up as a Flower" anjcl "Red as a Rose was She." They wore! great favourites with the young ladies of my youth, hut I confess I found them too sentimental for my tasto as a youthful reader. The November "Bookman" (Hodcler and Stoughton) has a lengthy appreciation of the Canadian professor-humor-ist, Stephen Leacock. In the "Bookman Gallery" Katlierine Tynan gives an interesting pen sketch of that clever young novelist Miss Rose Macaulay. Another good article is that by Lawrence Binyon on the late Mr. AVatts Dunton's hook "Poetry nndtheßenasccnce of Wonder." Altogether a very good number.

That veteran journalist and playwright, Mr. Georgo 11. Sims, who for bo many years past has immensely popular Sunday paper "l'ho Reforee, lias written hiß reihinisccnces. The roßult should he a very lively and interesting volume, for G.H.S. in his day was almost lis notable a personage —in his own world — as that now sadly discredited luminary Cr.B.S. was tliree or four years ago. Mr. Sims should have many amusing stories to tell of the Victorian drama and journalism. Mr. Eveleigh Nasli will bo the publisher.