BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 87, 5 January 1918, Page 10

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Letters From France. New Zealanders who have read from tunc to time the letters of Captain > Jl. W. Bean, Australia's official war correspondent, will be glad to renew acquaintance with them in a hnndv and permanent form. In "Letters from Franco ' (Oassell and Co, per S. and N. Mackny), some of the most interesting of Captain Bean's descriptions of how his fellow-Australians have fought on the Western front are collected. One and all the letters make fascinating reading. We see the gallant men from the southern continent "\ one engagement after another, at Fricourt at Poaeres, and at Mouquet farm of bloody memory, and many other places Captain Bean gives a detailed and very interesting account of the life led by tiie Australians during the dreary winter months of 1916 tie does not confine his . character sketches, so clearly defined, so vigorousg hmned, to his fellow countrvmen , tie writes with equal enthusiasm of the gay British Tommies and the taciturn, grimly determined French In one respect there is no difference' between the soldiers of France, Britain, am the greater Britain of the overseas and that is m the unouenchable 'ardour -for final victory by which ; thev are possessed. Of the British troops Captain Bean .has clearlv a special warm corner in his heart "for the men ot the Scots reeiments. The ftenf, "ever foreets that the Hun Hun and all that the very' word Hun connotes. Captain Bean savs — The Scotsman is, I think, the most mi 'ft" W° X WcLe acrS in l,fH Str , 81, . n ? "■ a ,I,ost fime fisher in battle but he is quite ready to make friends afterwards with his enemy Once nt T n ? ke ? , a . Ge ™«» Pinner he is ,' p Vf trMt nmi more liberally than ti,« p 0 ?- p ? _m so cven - : "'"lk. than the Eii S ish soldier—ftiul that is sarina great deal. To the Scotsman, when ho escorts those prisoners home, those prisonersi are Germans still. He lias never forgotten the tremendous losses which the Scottish regiments suffered at the beginning of the war. He does) not feel kindly towards the man who inflicted them._ With the Australian, once the ißht is over tlio bitterness is left beHind. the Scotsman makes prisoners, out he does not make'friends.

It is a fine, inspiring, fascinating book, this of Captain Bean's, with not one chill page within its covers., (New Zealand price, ss. Gd.)

"Towards the Coal." "Towards tho Goal," by Mrs Humphrey Ward (John Murray, per Whitcombo and Tombs), is a worthy sequel to the same author's "England's JUtort, which was published last year kike its predecessor, Mrs. Ward's n,. w volume was originally written in tho form of open letters to Mr. Roosevelt, the object bomg to convey to American readers some idea of the stupendous character of the .jelf-mcrificiii" 'eliorts which have been made by the Motherland in the cause of 100 Allies. In introducing the new collection of letters to'his countrymen, Mr. Boosevet describes it as a work of "high value as a study of contemnor.iry history," and "of at least as high value as an inspiration to constructive patriotism." Mrs. Ward's new letters are based upon her own personal expe-ri- | ences at tho front. She seems to have travelled backwards and forwards in France, and everywhere found interesting material for her clever and instinctive pen, the second instalment of her story of Britain's gigantic effort being Quito as fascinating as its predecessor. Specially valuable is tho -information given >by eye-witnesses of many of the vile atrocities committed by the German troops in France. It is impossible to read her soberly-worded, yet all too horribly realistic, description of l the murders committed at \ aides, Senlis, and the wholesale massacre- of the civil inhabitants of tho I.onainc town of Gerbeviller without feelings of disgust and abhorrence for the wretches who outraged all the canons of decent-ly-conducted warfare and common humanity. She pays, I notice, .a high compliment to the splendid work done in so many French villages by the members of tho .Society of T'riends. The Quakers took charge cf the work of rebuilding the homes of +.lie peasants ill the department of the Manic. After quoting tho eulogy passed upon the Quakers by a French writer, Mrs. Ward says:

By June, 1015, one hundred and fifty "friends" had rebuilt more than .-100 houses, and rehoused more than 700 persons. They had provided ploughs and I other agricultural gear, seeds for the harvest fields and for the gardens, poultry for the farmyards. And from that clay to this the adorable wprk has gone on. "By this shall all men know that yo arc My disciples, if ye love one another." The concluding passages of a book which is replete with a ;jnc spirit of patriotism in its every chapter deal with the debt which we, the living, owe to the gallant and glorious dead. '"Who will give us back our children?" Wickedness and wrong will find their punishment and the dark Hours now passing, in the torch race of time, will hand the light on to Hours of healing and peace. But the dead return not. It is they whose appealing voices seem to be in the air to-day, as we think of America. . . . So now the,call of these hundreds of 'thousands who have given their young lives—so beloved, so rich in promise!— for their country and the freedom of men, is in your cars and ours. The dead aro witnesses of the compact between, vou and me. For that cause to which they brought their ungrudged sacrifice has now laid its resistless claim on you. Together, the free peoples of Europe and I America have now to carry it to victory— I victory just, necessary, and final. Well may Mr. Roosevelt say that t Mrs. Ward "has written nobly on a , noblo theme." (N.Z. price, 3s. Gd.)

Oscar Wilde on Plagiarism. Tho cynical philosophy of Oscar Wilde —the cynicism was often merely a pose—was often very amusing. In his recently published reminiscences, "\n Good Company," Mr. Coulson Kernahan relates a smart conversation between Wilde and a certain novelist on the subject of plagiarism:— "And, by tho by," observed Wilde, "never say you have adapted anything from anyone. Appropriate what is already yours, for to publish anything is to make it public property—but never adapt, or, if you do, suppress the fact. It is hardly fair to Bunyan, if you improve on him, to point out sonic hundreds of years after how much cleverer you are than he; and it if) oven more unfair if you spoil what he has said and then hold him accountable." "That, I suppose," said the novelist drily, "is whywhen you said tho other day that whenever a great man dies, William Sharp and the undertaker come in together, you _ suppressed tho fact that tlie same thing had already been said in other words by W. S. Gilbert." "Precisely," said Wildo. "It is not for me publicly to point out Gilbert's inferiority. That would be ungener-,

cms. But no one can blame me if the fact is patent to all." Safety in Good Looks. Quito an original view of life is expressed by one of the characters in a recently published novel entitled "The Baked Bread." "You're quite good-looking enough to be trusted out by yourself in the daytime." Pauline looked at her mother, who laughed. "Don't you know that it's always the plain women who declare that they can't go about without being followed by men and spoken to? If you keep your eyes open through life you'll find it's always so. Every employer of women in offices knows this. The head of a big firm told mo once that in cas?j where one man clerk and one woman clerk or secretary are in an office alone together, he always chooses a pretty woman, because then the man is safe with her. If he puts in an ugly one, especially if she's elderly, he's practically sure to hear complaints about the man having tried to_ kiss her. That's what I had in my mind when I said just now that you are good-looking enough to be trus'ted to go about London alone, especially in these days."

Stray Leaves. The altered conditions of publishing, brought about by the greatly increased cost of paper and book production generally, have been responsible for the occasional necessity for a change in -title. Thus, Messrs. Methuon announce that a selection of Mr. Chesterton's .essays, which Mr. E. V. Lucas prepared for the firm's well-known shillinrr series now published at Is. 3d. net (Is. 9d. is the Now Zealand price), under the title "A Shilling for My Thoughts," is now being reissued, under the new conditions, at "Fifteen Pennies for My 1 noughts." Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. announce for early publication' a volume of Further Memories," bv Lord Itedesdnlc. A pathetic interest is attached to the book owiug to the fact that the author was at work on it on his deathbed. The scopo of those new memories range from the Paris Coramiiiie to Russia. Mr. Edmund Gosse, C.8., lias contributed an introduction containing reminiscences of the author. In a little volume of "Odes and Other Poems," by R. C. K. Elisor, there is a section devoted to "sonnets m various metres." This is a specimen-

Like tho golden-rippled glow Of the soft September sun Ripening into unison Heaven above and earth below, Ivipomng, sweetening; even so Your sweet influences run Round my life, beloved one, Hound the garden wbero I grow. Rosy apple, houoy pear, ■ Uusky damson, velvet plum, -Mellow in tho magic air. On a branch a robin sings Calm, consolatory things In a dream. The rest are dumb. .Principal L. P. Jacks has completed his biography of the late Stopford Brookes, which was to be published in two illustrated volumes by Mr Murray. The subject of this work was a remarkable num. He wielded an actual influence in the worlds of religion, art, and literature, and although his independence r.f thought caused Imn to retire from tho service of tho Church, be possessed so vigorous a personality that his influence was very widely spread. Dr. Jacks, his son-in-law, has had access to intimate diaries and other documents. Bismarck was a man of heroic physical capacity. In 1889 Sir Charles Dilke (so we read m the recently published biography) accepted an invitation to Friedricbsruli, and made a note of what was drunk at the banquet. "Of wines and beer they drink at dinner a most extraordinary mixture, but as the wine is all the gift of emperors and merchant princes it is good. Tho cellar card was handed to the Prince with the fish, and after consultation with me and with Hatefeldt we began on sweet champagne (not suggested by me), followed by Bordeaux, followed by still Mosel, followed bv Johannesburg (which I did suggest), followed by black beer, followed by corn brandy. .... When the Chancellor got to his row of great pipes, standing against the wall ready stuffed for him" we went back to black beer."