LIBER'S NOTE BOOK,

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 93, 12 January 1918, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK,

I The Guns in Sussex, Light green of grass and richer green of bush 0 , Slope upwards to the darkest green of fir; ■ How still! How deathly etill! And yet the hush Shivers and trembles with some subtle stir, Some far-off throbbing, like a muffled' drum, Beaten in broken rhythm oversea, . To play the last funeral march of some Who die to-day that Europe may. bs free.

The deep-blue,heaven, curving ficni tho green, i Spans with its shimmering arch the flowery zone; : In all God's'earth there is no gentler

scene, And yet I hear that awesome monoi tone; rAbove the circling midge's piping shrill, And the. long drwiing of the ijuesting bee, Above all sultry summer sounds, it still Mutters its ceaseless menaces to me.

And as I listen all the garden fair • Durkens to plains of misery and death. And looking past the roses I see thero furrows, with the rising breath Of all things foul and black. ■' My heart is hot ■» Within me as I view it, and I cry, • "Better the misery of these meis-s lot Than all the peace that comes to such as I!"

And strange that in the pauses of the sound I. hear the children's laughter as they roam, And their mother calls, and all around Rise up the gentle murmurs of a home. But still I gaze afar, 'and at the sight My whole soul softens to its heart- , felt prayer, "Spirit of Justice, Thou for -whom they fight, Ah, turn, in mercy, to our lods out there!

"The froward peoples have deserved Thy wrath, And on themisthe judgment as of old. But if they wandered from the hallowed path, \ Yet is their retribution manifold. ' Behold all-Europe writhing on (he rack, The sins'of fathers grinding down the sons. How long, 0 Lord?" Ho sends no answer back, But still I hear tho mutter of the guns'. ' —By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in "The Times." "Punch'.' on the Politician's Recreations. "Putsch" gets some good fun out Of certain recent revelations as to tho ,way in which leading British politicians keep themselves lit by recreations noi altogether physical, and gives some curious information on this point. Thus: — '

ilr. Balfour, who has little time for golf nowadays, iimls his iriost refreshing recreation iu" .reading tho speeches of Lord Northolilfe, co-ordinating them with those of Burke and Pericles, and setting them to music in the style of Handel, his favourite composer. Lord Rhondda finds his chief solace in _ gratifying his literary tastes./ In philosophy ho is at present a convinced Rationalist. He is devoted to tho study of Bacon, but not averse from tho lighter sort of. fiction, having a special preference for cheerful stories published in cereal form. .

The Prime Minister, it may not bo gonerally known, recruits his energies by frequent perusal Of the plays of Shakespeare. At present lie is conducting a correspondence with Sir Sidney Leo and Professor Gollancz. cm the esoteric sitniificaiico of "Labour's Love Lost." . '

Mr. Winst-on Cliurchill is a voracious novel reader of catholic tastes. Just now lie is revelling in "Called Back" and "The House on'the Marsh," which are being read aloud to him by his private soerotary.

Stray Leaves. : Tho Novomber "Bookman" (Hodder and Stoughton) has two specially interesting. biographical articles, of which Algernon Blackwood and Mrs. Flora Annio Steel are respectively tho subjects. Mr. Blackwood, whoso stories of the occult and supernatural have become so popular, is a son of tho lato Sir Arthur Blackwood and a nephew of that famous Irishman, tho lato Marquis of Dull'erin. Early in lifo Sir. Blackwood went to Canada, and was for a time' a partner in a dairy farming vonturo near Toronto. An liotclkooping experience followed, after which the young adventurer' went out into the backwoods. Finally ho drifted to New York, whore ho was successively a police court reporter, artist's mode!, and newspaper correspondent, and. ended up on Dip permanent staff of tho "Now York Times." Ho returned to England some years ago as private secretary to a leading

financier, and eventually settled down as a writer of fiction, lie made his first hit with "John Silent*?," and scored big successos with his delightful studies of children ill "J'imbo" and "The Extra Day." The idea lor that weira story, "Tho Centaur," came to him whilst on a visit to the Caucasus, aiid his Alpiuo experiences liavo been put to good use in that beautiful'story, "A Prisoner in. Fairyland," and again in "Tho Human Chord." Ho is still, comparatively speaking, a young man. Mrs. Flora Annio Steel's career as a writer is discussed at length in the November "Bookman" by Air. J. P. Collins. Mrs. Steel 'is held by many Anglo-Indians to bo a far more accurate analyst /of tho India ' character than is even tlio redoubtablo Rudyard. Tlioso who have never read her wonderful story of the Indian Mutiny, "Ou the Face of the Waters," or that fascinating study of Indian.native life, "Tho' Potter's Thumb," should mako a point of doing so. *. The littlo volumo of verse, "Soldier Poets," by mou who aro on active servico, proved such a.success that Mr. Erskino. Maedonald has in preparation a second collection of tho samo character.

Mr. Herbert Jenkins, the authorpublisher, who wrote tho amusing story "Bindle," is publishing a new story,. "Tho Night Club," which, like its predecessor, is of an avowedly humorous character.

Those who enjoyed the late Dixon Scott's admirablo book of literary essays "Men of Lotters,'.' will bo glad to know that Foulis, of Edinburgh, is aboui to publish a collection of miscellaneous essays from the samo- pen. Many of the essays are Nature studies, others deal in a vein of whimsicjil humour with various ■ questions of social interest. The title will be "A Number of Things." May Wynne, who mado her first hit with tho vigorously-written historical romanco "Henry of Navarro," is now serving at the front as tho matron of a Canadian military hospital. Miss \\ynne_has omployed her leisure timo in writing a now historical novel, which has King Stanislaus of Poland for its hero. Copies of Miss AVynne's latest romanco, "The Gipsy King," which is founded on the romantic story of the so-called King of the Gipsies, Bamryldo Mooro Carew, should soon bo on sale in New Zealand.

I 10,1 ni from "The' Bookman" that Miss It. M. Delafield, wlioso brilliant i r "Zella Sees Herself," was published last year by Heinomanns, is the daughter of the popular novelist. Mrs. Henry do la Pasture. A new ) IJ ) , !', Thc I'elioans," from Miss JJclafreld s pen is promised for noxt month. Yet another translation of Dante is shortly to 111 alto its appearance,. The translator' is ; Mr. Courtney Langdon, an American professor. The work will be published in England by the Oxford University Pross, and will comprise threo volumes. The first, "The Inferno," was to ha,ve been issued in London last month. We can nover learn too much about what I may call tlio "personal" Newroan, and there should bo a good demand for a new volume of the famous cardinal's letters. The title is "The Correspondence of John Henry Newn'R" Y'tti Keble and Others." Included in the volume are letters from Keblo, Manning, Pusey, Bishop Moberley of Salisbury, Bishop Bagott of Oxford, Dean Church, Dean Hook, and athor famous ,Anglican and Roman catholic dignitaries. . Ethel Dell s new book is a collection if short stories, entitled "The Safety curtain and Other Stories." Tlio title •tory much longer than the others, is (escribed as a completo short novel in tselt, containing several most dramatic utuations. j