LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3047, 7 April 1917, Page 13

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

/£. V. Lucas and,hls Books. , - New Zealand admirers of that versatile and ever entertaining writer, Mr. 35. V. I*ucas, should make a point of teading '. an excellent appreciation of that Author's work which appears in the S&b-rriary issuo of "The ■ Bookman." »li\ Lucas's first book was a collection <af jcricket verses, "Songs of the Bat." Himself descended froin. Sussex *'I?riends,"' Mr. ,'Lucas's first' real voltune (the "Songs of the Bat" is a pure booklet), was a record of "Bernard Barton and His Erierids," Barton was the Quaker banker-poet, ■■; who, it may be iremembered, was a much-cherished correspondent of Lamb, arid later in life a sreat friend of Edward FitzGerald, of Omar fame.: Mr. Lucases first journalistic Sivork was done,' it 'appears, for "The jGlobe." Nowadays he writes a'< great ideal for "Punch, and some, lively little essays of his are, I notice, appearing in "The Sphere." His magnum 'opus in literature is'his biography of Charles ->Ma'ny men have,written on Lambi put none has been in'closer sympathy ■ with - his subject than Mr. Lucas. Mr. Lucas's novels—"entertainments" he himself calls them —are well_ known, and-he has earned the gratitude ■ of; all desultory, readers by the long series: of oleverly-oompiled •anthologies which'"began with, "The 'Open: Road:" , ,Mri Sampsbh's -'article: hardly satisfies me as aqonflrmed and ■devoted Lucasian—its omissions afo so, many, but.with his.closing;Bentenceß.l ' am so heartily kacoord that I must sain quote them in.full:. ■.. Itead Lucas, then,''for ' pleasure and wonti There >is. plenty of' -him, and that plenty remarkably homogeneous. JiJirough all his books, various as they '■*j*>i runs the same happy' strain, delight'iT' and- unforcodv,:: Almost •the finest compliment wexahpay him is to say that .he is the last man we call- "clever';' or "Tinliiant," A. desoribing pile of; his'own character, can ,be applied .with' special ius:ace to;himself:'.. . ;.» ■-.....».....;. ■ . , - ;' 'fie seemed to see'.everything, and al■Xays.' to. find somotjiing that communi..cated a pleasure which :he,:in. .his turn ,-vnust communicate .to another. : That, {perhaps, was Uncle ; 'Bon's'rn'ost romark;aWe quality, the desire . : to share what- ' over he enjoyed," ; In this communication of enjoyment he ,;. oiffuses sanity, humour,.-. grace, manners and all/the pleasant wkolesomeriess of life—national assets nevermore valuable than-now. 'When in.'"the gloomiest of' tiroes you are trying.hard to be a philo-' sopher.tnr.ri to' Lucas; and Cheerfulness willcome'breaking'in,' '- :,-'•'; - v Broad Yorkshire. ■' Yorkshiremen are'-, plentiful in New Zealand; and as a rule I-have found fehat they are on "s.uch occasions,, for..iil'stanoe,; as, a Yorkshire Society dinherj' .of "indulging.'in their native dialeot.•; ■ .To.,'all' ■my';-..'fellow ■Tykes',?-'.'.,'(for._" Liber", himself 'haib- *^^*-'% e ' D^gest;;boh m estV and. best"? ■ of-, the counties,,T would-: re-.' i? 9™ m ex'pehditu're^"of .a 'modest' faalf-^rowh ;. (a ;,v,.paper-oov'ered.:;.- edition , opsts.: but eighteenpenee) .on-'a; littlo : volume. -entitled'V ..'f Yorkshire Dialect 1673-1915," 'and "Traditional Poems, compiled, with an historical introduction by P. W. Moorman (what a capital.name for a,"Yorlrie''), and published for the Dialept '.bociety by .Messrs.- Sidgii'ick "and Jack--lison.-;;;;;Referring-i'to--the--inn-umerable ■dialect verses from .time to time in-local papers and annuals,- a Reviewer in-the "Times" Literary Sup- -I element (Pehruary I) '•;■'.■ ~ Erpm these;little.provincial books and ■■ <B P?™e.ral-puiWioationß,,,;and' from -the :workß.also: rf'Uving:writefs"'(siiice7''as he states, .dialect-writing has never been, so , I«>pular, and so widely practised as it is to-day), Professor Moorman has made a remarkable collection of poems whioh, with their humour end direct speech! their realism, and ■ homely pathos, give a very vivid, picture of Yorkshire life,: both in rountry and town. Here we find the tricky horse-dealers and scolding wives of that vigorous ■' population, the bleak_ climate, the storms and black winter nights,' the hard labour and rich fare ' ■ and', the festivities.-of the moorland farms,- the secret trysts of rustio lovers, the glory of fine. olothes : arid of the local fairs,-and the.drinking and "the dancm' an' feightin' for ever" that make the joy ■ and excitement of these great rustio occasions, ■~ ■;; . '■''. '; ';'!_-. - lYorkshire may »not: have produced a Robert Burns or. even a WilKam-Barneß,'. hut it possesses probably more dialeot ■poets of merit|than. any other part'of .•■ England."The'"Times" reviewer gives several interesting extracts from the book, whioh.,is dedicated to the.York-, shttemen-'serving iheir country .'in '.the. present war, to whom a little -"broad iYorkshiro," with all its loved assooia-' tions, will ho welcome in thei faT-off and unfamiliar countries where, they are : now fighting. >How 'the. thoughts of these men turn homewards his been beautifully expressed'by Mr. Austin Hyde in, some verses printed recently bj thef^society :—.'•'•': :'. : \ Bods is singin'upo'd bushes, Lavrocka up i'd,sides, • Laatle oaraves i'd cauf-hooso nealin', Laatle pigs i'd styes; Praise the Lord! ah knaw, their language Even over here. L4'n' my thowts gans back ti Yorkslier, Land ah' ''luv si dear. Whea drahves Depper, Beaut an Farmer ? Diz ee dea'em weel? Te lis pleughin' sthrite as mahn was? Can he show his heel Tiv all d'wags fra Kelk ta Cowlam' On a pleughin* day? Diz he sav, "A. rotten meal-spot! Ah sail run away?" !4h suppoase its Sundaay mornin'-. Wiv'em ower there..:. - , 'XH can ommost hear oor choch" boll. See 'em Imeel i'- prayer. iAud foais, bairns, an'- wives, on' mothx era, Prayin' God above, ; Ti send hack fra Erahce an' Elaritkefs - Driffil lads they love. The poem just quoted is written, I need hardly say (to Yorkshire readers) in East Yorkshire dialect. "Wags" stands for wagoners,-and "Driffil'' for Driffieldj a market town in the East "Riding. The West Riding dialect, the homely speech of Leeds and Sheffield, IB very different, but.l have no space to quote speoimen verses. ' ft Bishop on Plumbers. In' a second, instalment of his reminiscences, "Further Pages of My Life," Bishop Boyd Carpenter has a word or two to say concerning plumbers, a' class of workmen apt to be held, I am afraid,' in combined horror and derision by a very big proportion of ihouseholders. The. Bishep had, it appears, the misfortune to have six of' Jus ohildren laid low with scarlet fever, the result of pareless plumbing. work. He^says: l -- !■■.:'' :..'.- . "People have often speculated about men's callings, and wondered which, profession or business ' affords the' greater chance of heaven, or elsewhere.' I iave no. doubt that every calling las; its dangers; I have still less doubt that j plumbers-have, of all trades, the least ehancoiof heaven. Their trade offers, them suoh an ea6y path for fraud, and here, if anywhere, the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Their wickednesses are, hidden, if not'in the'deptlis of. their; heart),-yefi in the lower places pf pur- homei It- is a-marvel to me that

people lave eo long borne the bloodguiltiness of this business. ... -Had the apostle lived in modern davs he would not have complained of the coppersmith, put of another trade. In our own day Mr. a.- R. Sims has sung a ballad of the plumber; 'The plumber came down like a wolf on ' the fold, With his pockets all bulging with silver and gold. For twenty-three hours he courted the cook, And twenty-four shillings ho charged in • '. - his book.'- . And- may the good Lord have mercy on plumbers, for they aadly need-it! v The latter-day plumber is, however, in New Zealand at least, such a care-fully-trained and multi-examined tradesman that bad work isl "happily rare.. The householder's chief grumble against the plumber nowadays is not defective pipes, but over-lengthy bills. Booker T. Washington. English and American reviewers alike speak in high praise of the new life of Booker T. Washington, the little slave boy, valued at 400 dollars, in .Virginia, who rose to be a Dootor of Laws of. Harvard "University, and to become famous as ,an eloquent crampion of the rights and liberties of the race from whioh he had partially sprung—for he was a mulatto, half white, half negro. Roosevelt, whoknevrthe famous negro advopate intimately, and held him in great respect, contributes a preface to the biography, one of ..the. authors of 'whioh, by the way, is, I notice, a grand-' daughter of Mrs. Beecher Stowo, of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" famo. Washington was a many-sided- man, who, says his . biographors, "could'talk like a philosopher, dictating an essay, fpr the Bibbert Journal' and also deliver the most telling, addresses in negro dialect, if that were the readiest way to influence his,listeners." After having, with' the most killing assiduity, educated himself, working strenuously tho while for a bare living, and-for the support of his mother, . Washington went to 1 tho just enfranchised negroes of the South, saying.:; - - ~ . . "Don't pother for the momont about politics and tbe\ : vote" • (which, though oonceded.to, them, was . virtually withheld); "■bother to earn a living 'by honesty work, and. afterwards aspire to add to your bare livelihood a thoroughly comfortable and refined mode of existence. , The white man in tho South treats you most -unjustly,■ I grant,,"but.the one way.'to win'his respect-and in time get free-handed justice from 'him is to make money) to make yourselves valuable members of the community, as the Jews have done." • '■' / According ; to. the ' 'Times" reviewer of: the - book, _ Washington v _ sought throughout the line of least resistance. This was by-him. by.a telling anecdote quoted* in the' booki ..'> A negro of good position who was ac-. companying him on an' educational tour found himself once in a hurry to rejoin •him at a railway station and catch a train. He therefore went up to a.white cab-driver and requested him to drive to the ' station, getting in as any other "fare", might have.done. But the white cab-driver indignantly repudiated such a fare, saying he had never driven a negro and was not going to hegin. "Alright/' said the old coloured man, "We won't hev'no'misunderstandin'. You just hop tin;onj.der.:iback;;eeat and do der;ridin'; and I'll set in front and do der driyin'.'f L '66-h'e"caught his train and there'was'no had .blood.-., .-■ . •. .-'.'' A Coleridge on Poetry. ' "If,there he anything in heredity, the Hoii. Stephen Coleridge (author of "An Evening . in . My Library Among the English 1 Poets")'ought 1 to' be, a high authority on poetry, for he is the son of Hartley Coleridge, .and a grandson of the great' Lake .Poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge'; There 'is some pleasant in-' Mr. Coleridge's new hook, but I; cannot enthuse over some of his favourite's. Dean" Milman's prize poem pri the Apolto Belvidere leaves lie very cold, and it'is simply nonsense; to' write:of Walter Savage Landorthat "his excursions into poetry do nothing to enhance his fanie." Mr. Coleridge wfll please some of his readers, " and; 'amuse others by his state-. 1 ment that "it has been the', peculiar disgrace of Walt Whitman that, turning: Us. back oh the flower of love, he has grouted into'the black earth with :his nails:, gloating and gibbering over, its^foot.r!^This is almost as severe as Swinburne's abuse of. poor Walt. On i 1 the-.other,; hand, Mr. Coleridge has'a' good opinion of some of Edgar Allah Poe's shorter poems (he evident-ly-does not care very much for either "Th"e v Bells" or ; "Tlie : ' Raven"), and ' quotes with high approval .the lines; "Thou'wouldst be loved,—then lot the heart . '..-.•■' ... j'.: Prom its pre3eht,,pathway.part not; •;■' Be 'everything .which now thou art, Be nothing that thou art not. "■ So with tie world thy gentle ways ; , Thy grace, thy. more than beauty, ' Shall he an endless theme of praise,. And love a simple duty. ','. . But it is'difficult to understand his praise of such decidedly fourth-raters amongst the Americans as.Lucy 1m:com and 'Anne Reeves Aldritoh. After this one wonders why the great' Dora Wheeler Wilcox was omitted I To say that Pope "never attains tho grand style" is absurd, and I am afraid Mr,Coleridge's father would havo read his son a severe lesson had he lived to hear the latter declare that "it is remarkr able- that even tho finest work of Wordsworth was uninspired." Mr; Coleridge gets quite angry with Mr.; John Masefield's realism. His own favpuritejs clearly Tennyson, whose : "In Momoriam" he exhorts us to read ones a _ year at least. And certainly time might be much worse spent. ' ' ''Tlpperary'Un Arabic. "Tipporary" has been translated into most languages, and it baa now re-' oeived an Arabic version, A Cairo nacular review offered a prizo of £2 for aUj'Arabio song to tally with tho words and tune of the English ditty., Several competed, but no composition was considered to fufil the requires mentsl' One competitor who thought ho should have had tho prize sued the magazine, but after a prolonged hearing the Judge was unable to come to a decision, and said he must hear the song in dispute. Accordingly, it was arranged that it should be sung by ,each of four, singers at a music club, 'to which judge, counsel, experts, and. others adjourned. The song was solemnly sung four times, one of the singers made a speech, counsel addressed the. Court, and-plaintiff and defendant wrangled in. public The scene' was Gilbertian in the extreme, and so was the judgment of the Court, which'' decided to award the plaintiff two-thirds of the prize and one-third of his costs. The decision (says tho Cairo correspondent of the "Pioneer Mail") is, of corse, absurd, for either the 6ong was entitled-to the prizo or it was not; there;could not.possibly be any half-way measures.' the Paris nf t*" —-•-'. ,; So Rii" ." " 'heir. city. I:i V: ' ■ ""ii K'.ui- '•;••.••:." ;-• ' ' ' -i:. Mr!oil i;':ikU!ic;;"!.!ii' ~i:'. \.'.';' cs.-j'bidei'ably.-'

Indeed) he describes the South American Paris as "the world's most prodigious mushroom." Its streets are for tho most part narrow and villainously paved, and its pretentious buildings— largely copies hi stucco of the solid stone-work of the European capitals— make it littlo but "a splondid city of sham."' It is truo that it fs not qvdto the most expensivo city in the world to live in, for both Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo apparently can give it points in this respect, but it does its best to live up to that reputation. A peso and a half (2s. 7id.) seems to bo an ordinary charge for a simple hairout j a seat in the pit of the commonest theatre costs about ss. 3<Lj and (says an English review of the hook) if you follow tho fashion in LatinAmorica, where the silk hat is the hallmark of social standing, it will cost you anything from 3s. Cd. to 7s. merely to get your "toppor" ironed. Other charges are more or less in proportion. As for the climate,- whioh one enthusiast has described as the finest in tho world, Mr- Hammertoa found it either too much of a good thing or too much of a bad thing.' He relieves his mind' fully on this, painful subject, having suffered in Buenos, Aires as great a variety of weather .in three or four months as wo get in London in as many years. And as far the mosquitoes. . . »■ .1 The Unspeakable Hun. In the course of a recently published book, "Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons," Mr. Henry ft Mahoney gives an account of the yile treatment accorded to English prisoners, non-com-batants, as well as soldiers in German prisons. AYhen the war broke out the author, who is a professional photographer, was passing through Germany with Ms camera, on his way to Warsaw, there to take up an appointment. He tried to get back into Holland, failed, was arrested as. a spy, taken to Wesel. and there subjected to the ordeal or a midnight secret trial. Twentythree men were tried, and twenty condemned and shot, but though the prosecution pressed hard for his conviction, Mr. Mahoney was able to prove his innocence. He was not formally acquitted, but the charge was not pressed, and he was interned in Sannelager, being afterwards transferred to Klingenputz and Ruhleben, whence, last year, he .was returned to England as an invalid. What Mr. Mahoney says about the studied brutality of some of the German prison officers to their unfortunato British captives makes painful reading. Ho is specially severe upon Major ; Bach, 'the' infamous commani.dant of Sennelager. The evil fame of the, unspeakable major ■ has penetrated,/, it ■ • is said, into every prison camp in Germany, He not only compelled civilian prisoners to work, in defiance of the provisions of. international law, but ho worked them in the spirit: of a slaro : driver. He swore at them;. he.-starved' them; he drove them from the shelter of the Barrack to sleep in tho open fields in a season of drenching rain; he intro-duced-the new and brutal punishment ?0r the most trivial offences of tying men to posts' for periods ranging from fivo to twelve hours j and he stood By, laughing at the_ torture "which hi inflicted and inviting' the women of Paderborn to laugh with him. Mr> Mahoney's pages (says an English reviewer of the book) bristle with examples of the man's savagery; but one instance will suffice as an,. illustration —tne case of the Grimsby trawlers cap= turefl by .the High Seas Fleet. 'JTnjor Bach"" refused to believe that these men were simple fishermen pursuing 'their; ordinary .avoeatipnd. He assumed, without proof—-without even a pretence at an inquiry—that they had been laying mines:— Consequently he decided to mark' these unfortunate,-hardened sea-salts.in a distinguishing; manner which was peculiarly his own, thereby rendering- thorn conspicuous, and-possible of instant recognition; 'while in the event.of an'escape h,e , ing;,ptenip i t6a,l'n6 ,| difS'ci4ty.'wouia- T, bo experienced" in .identifying and ;.'catchliig the runaways.. Each man was submitted to the indignity of having one-half of his head shaved clean, one half of. his moustache removed, or one half of his beard cut .Way»". The men branded in this manner , presented a. strange spectacle, and one which afforded Major Baoh endless; amusement. TSo story has been told in print before, but never so fully; and one cannot blame those who have regarded it sceptically, sußpecting.it to be a romance imagined by men with over-strung nerves or an exaggeration of some simple incident' Which could be explained away. But it is nothing of the kind. The story, as Mr. Mahoney tells it, is true. The writer has met and conversed with several of the men who suffered the outrage. Eye-witnesses of it are in England now; and hundreds more will be able to add their testimony when the war is over. • At Ruhlebon there were horrors, but they were colourless besides, those at Sennelager, the prisoners being allowed to organise some improvement of their conditions at their own expense. Stray Leaves/"""" " ■ ■- W. HrDavies, "tho tramp-poet/' has written," a new prose work, "A Pilgrimage in .Wales," which, is. described, as "a travel book, in which the peculiar styles of Bunyan and Pepys are happily blended." •Assuredly a' ;curious combination,, the .garrulous but delightfully gossip-monger of the Merry Monarch's Court and the deeply-religious inspired tinker of Bedford. How their two entirely differ; ent "styles" can bo "blended," hap-i pily or otherwise, I am at a loss to understand. May'nob Bunyan bo a misprint for Borrow? "Wild Wales" is not the best-known of Borrow's books, but for me it has more . of • the great George's peculiar personality in it 1 than-has even "Lavengro" or "The Bible in Spain." I shall bo curious to see Mr. Davies's new. book, which is to be published by Andrew Melrose. I am sorry to soo that "To-day,'* to which, as "T.P.'s: Weekly." (its old title), and in its new form I have been a faithful subscriber, has been suspended as a weokly publication._ Under Mr. Holbrook Jackson's editorship, "To-day" nevor pleased mo as muoh as did "T.P.'s Weekly." "Tay Pay"had a knack of mingling literature and life in a. peculiarly pleasing 'way. '• "Today," though'ceasing publication as a woekjy, is„not.to:dio but altogether, for it is, I read, to bo issued as . a monthly,. 'contributors to tnV~firßt issue, in its now form, being William Watson, Ralph Hodgson/Arthur Symons, arid AV. Shaw Sparrow. , Mr. Holbrook Jriok'aon. will edit the now monthly,\ which is to .be published as a sixpenny*,.-■,',-' There-was celebrated on January, 23 the centenary off, John, Cassell, who, born/in Manchester in 18i7, went up to London] and set up in'business as publisher in 1848. Cassoll was a. successor to Charles Knight as ' a purveyor of cheap and wholesome liferaturo. Many of the older generation of Englishmen owe much, in the way of supplementing their ordinary education, J to such publications as "Cassells' Popular Educator." To-day the firm of Cassells and Co. is one of the greats est of English'publishing houses. A correspondent of the "Times," alluding to an excellent article on Emerson which recently appeared in that journal, recalls the fact that, writing of England, Emerson once said: "I seo lior not dispirited, nor weak, but well remembering that she has seen dark days before; indeed,.with' a kind of instinct, that she sees a littlo bettor ■ in a cloudy day, and that in a storm of battle and calamity she has o secret vigour and a pulse like a cannon." The rosults of Messrs. Hodder and Stougliton's One Thousand Guineas Prize Novel Competition are duly announced in tho February "Bookman." The judges awarded' the (jreb prize of j

£600 for a novel entitled "Miss Haroun Al Raschid" to Miss Jossio D. Kerruish, and the story being: "a first novel" the author receives also tho special prize of £150. Tho second prize of £300 has been awarded for a novel entitled "Myola," to E. H. Musgrove. Everyone- who can enjoy a lino pen and ink drawing and who desires to possess a specially tine collection of war sketches should make a point of subscribing to tho series of vividly realistic drawings entitled "Tho Western Front," by Mr. Muirhead Bono, tho famous Scots etcher. Tho work is published at two shillings a part, for tho British-Government by "Country Life" and George Newnos, Ltd. I have seen copies of the first two parts, and am not surprised' at the warm praise given to Mr. Bone's -work by leading English art critics. Mr. Pett Badge's new story, duo very shortly from Hodder and Stougliton, is entitled 'The Aniaziug Years." It deals with the experiences of a family of Londoners during the first two years of the war.