BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 211, 25 May 1918, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

["Germany at Bay," nr"G, e i! na , ny at Bay," by Major Haldane Mactall (Cassell and Co.; per Whitcombo and Tombs), has a special valueas a war book which is all its own. Its author, Major Macfa/1, late of the Sherwood l'orestera, was well known before the war as im accomplished art critic and a brilliant writer ou the history ot art. Not only this, but he was an enthusiastic Territorial officer and a keen student of tho military and political history of Europe. His book, the last pages ol which were written in the autumn of 101 1, deals specially with tho strategy of tho great war, and is specially valuable .in that tho war is regarded not as a collection of separate engagements on tho various fronts, but as a whole. Tho author's main contention is that Germany aimed at littlo short of tho complete subjugation of Europe. Hβ regards tho Germans as being now "a besieged people" whose "one hopo of winning her war" lies in "a peace which will leave her her Pan-German map." "If," says Major Macfall, "Germany can delude tho world into a Poace by juggling with phrases of liberty and humanity, or by any niisabueo of tho Moral of her enomies, so that eho is allowed to keep her Pan-Gorman map she has won her war. Upon tho making or unmaking of tliis map to-day depends the whole ol civilisation. .. . Firmly established on that map, Germany is strategically lnistrcsa of .the world. With that map her jumping ;oIT ground, Germany, consolidating her sU'ongth end swiftly roornanisinf* lier powor, can proceed with onormously incroaaed prospects of success to her dream of world dominion." What does the Pan-German map signify ? It moans a permanently enslaved Poland; the Baltic' provinces and the Ukraine German possessions in all but .tho name; it means a Rumania bearing German shackles; Serbia wiped out as an independent-nation; the Bohemians and tho Austrian Jugo-Slavs tied to tho .Hapsburg chariot wheels, and therefore indirectly the helots of the Huns; it means tho permanence of tho German "corridor" to.Asia Minor, with, later on, an. extension.'to Persia—and oven India itself. In n'o book on the war that I have yet road are the really momentous issues nt stako in- tho titanic struggle now raging more clearly, more emphatically, and convincingly set forth than in '■Germany at Bay." It if prefaced by a thoughtful and earnestly-worded introduction by Lord French, who remarks, inter alia: If this book had been written with no other chapters than those pointinn out the German peace strategy and what, that strategy really means, I. would say to /the man In tho street that ho should read it, and make himself conversant with its contents. I would llltp. to add that the position of Serbia in. the war, and her heroism and ncr significance and her strategic importance should be- realised by everyone. No man of any common aenso should remain ignorant of tho fact that if Middle Europe comes out of the war a Gorman Empire, this war has been fought in vain. And if suoli a catastrophe should befall us we snail have to wipe out the atain on our valour aud our eanity with another great war. A fine portrait of Marshal. Joffre, by Mr. J. Simpson, R.8.A., forms the frontispiece to an exceptionally interesting and valuable book. (Now Zealand price, 7s. Gd.) A Service French Dictionary.

From Messrs. Funk and Wagnall, New York (per Messrs. Angus and Robertson, Sydney) I have received a beautifullyprinted, strongly and neatly bound little book entitled "Tho Soldier's Service Dictionary of English and French Words and Phrases, with the French Equivalents Carefully Pronounced." The dictionary, which is edited by Fntnk H. Vizetelly, LL.D., has been specially designed for instant use in tho United States Services, and contains ten thousand military, naval, aeronautioal, aviation, . and conversational terms used in the British, French, and Belgian' Amies. Tho vocabulary is arranged in' alphabetical order, familiar p'hra'ses being given under their principal words. In an appendix are given somo elements of French grammar, which will be found very useful by the soldier who is studying French for the first timo. It would not be fair to compare this admirable littlo work with Mrs. Helen Cross's in its own way equally excellent "Soldiers' Spoken French," or vice versa. Dr. Vizotelly's work is primarily a dictionary, not a guide to French conversation. The two books could be used together and with\excellent result, and it is to be hoped that many soldiers, nioro especially our young New Zealand officers, who already possess Mrs. Cross's popular little work will supplement it by the one now under notice. After submitting Dr. Vizetelly's book to several practical teete it is alike a pleasure and a duty to commend it to the special attention of our soldiers. The typographical arrangement of the comprehensive information it contains is a marvel of combined compactness and clearness. In evory officor's kit a copy of the "Soldier's Service Dictionary" should certainly find a place. (N.Z. price, 55.)

A Padre's Poems, "Rough Rhymes of a Padre," by "Woodbine Willie," M.C.C.F. (Hodder and Stoughton), is the title of a littlo book of war poonis by the Rev. G. A. Studdert Kennedy, who has seen long sorvico as a chaplain with the British Expeditionary Force, and is popularly and widely known at tho front aa "Woodbine Willie." The little book, the profits from which will be fiiven to St. Dunstan's Hostel for Blinded Soldiers, is at once a testimony to. tho warmth of its author's Tespect and affection for the British Tommy, and to Mr. Kennedy's essentially practical Christianity and to the facility and versatility of his powers of poetic expression. Some of the verses reproduce the overyday point of view and talk of tho soldiers, especially those of tho London regiments, and prove that tlio noblest, most inspiring thoughts can come from rough, -uneducated men. The "Prayer Before an Attack": It ain't as I 'opes 'E'll koep mo eafe While the other blokes gooa down, It ain't as I wants to leave this world And wear an 'ero'fl crown. It ain't for that as I eaye my prayers When I goes to the attack, But I pray that whatever cornea my way I may never turn mo back.. I leaves tho matter to life and death To tho Father who knows what's best, And I prays that I still may play the man Whether I turns East or West. I'd sooner that it wero Bast, ye know, To Blighty and my gal Sue; I'd sooner he there, wi' tho gold in 'er 'air, And the eliiee be'ind all blue. But still I pray I may do my bit, And then, if I must turn Went, I'll bo unashamed when my name li named, And I'll flnd a soldier's rest. It has beon truly said that the soldier's first and most constant thought is of home. That home may bo but humble, but to tho man in the trenches it ia Heaven itself. Here, in 'some simplyworded lines, entitled "Paradise," wo have tho quintessence of tho hqme-longing which fills so great a placo in tho soldier's heart: When machine-guns start to play At the ;ndlnK of the dny, And the eun's last burmnß ray fllccds ami (lies. When till! sable warp of n^ht Tβ first cleft by silver li»ht. With itn fliulileii curving IliKlit Of surprise. It ie then that England wlla From its cottages nnd halls, And we think of four dear walls Ami her eyos. When tho cliHclrcn'B prayer is said. And they lie tucked up in bed, And tho fire i' 3 burning red, . Paradise.

Tn a brief preface Bishop Owynno, ncpiity-Cliaplniri-Gcncral, states that maiiv of Hip. pnems worn printed at Ins rcnuesi ami have gained greiit popnliinty a.nnnqst M ranks in llio 8.8. F. "I fed sure" ho safe, "'that through theso

homely verses many a man has come to realise for the first time some deep truth of tho sorrow of God in this world's greatest agony." In view oi the admirable object to which the profits of the book are being devoted, I hope that it may find many readers in Now Zealand. (jN.Z. price, IS. !)d.).