SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 211, 31 May 1919, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Christopher and Columbus. , It''is ft'far cry nowadays to the first publication of thai, delightl'dlly humorous' )>r.ok, "Elizabeth and Her German Garden," with its sly hits at the ineffable conceit of i Prussian Jnnkerdom and the searching light which it .cast upon the Gorman character generally Since then wo hav,o had not a few excellent stories from "Elizabeth," who, by the way, is it KewZealaiul-born lady. Mony oi' my readers may remember the highly satirical portrait of n Prussian officer which "Elizabeth" gnvo us in that clover story, "The Ciiravancrs." An J now here is "Elizabeth'' again to the front with a ;invel',. "Christopher and Columbus" (Mae. millan and Co.), which is a. perfect mino of droll situations and witty and, oceaBioiially; very, wise observations on men, wljsion and manners in America. A good sub-title for this novol would have been, 1 might suggest, , "Blizalieth ■ Discovers Amerieh,", for iilthoii(,'h .the,story relates Die adventures of two young la'dips, (lie. von Twinlcler twins, one cannot-help feelis that it-is.Elizabeth herself tliittisgiving- us her imprassions of -trans-Atlantic Bocie'ty, manners, and ciutams. A more frankly humorous story was nov«r written. It fairly brims over with good tilings. Here, indeed, is a novel to be "Iwuglit, borrowed, or stolen"—of course, the first alternative carries "Liber's" special recnmmen'liition—on Hie first uvnilablp onportunity. Anna-Rose and Annn-Fclici-

tas are the. names of. the .twins, orphan daughters; of a German father, with whom it. is clear they- never, were- very much in sympathy, nnd an English- mother, to wliOMi memory, they are passionately devoted, hen tho war breaks out tho twins a,re residing with an English uncle and aunt, the former:a wither selfish fellow, tho latter 'tkindhearted, but,' like her husband, greatly:perturbed by local 'sneers at the nationality of her nieces. Eventually, the twins are .shipped off to Amorica (second-class) with a draft for .£21)0, a ;£lO aoto. for pocket money, and some letters of. introduction to' alleged friends of the relatives, who are so unfcignecUy: relieved by their departure. It is the new-'.'discovery'-' of America by these two young ladies, thoroughly English in all but their name, that the story deuls. In it narrative whose every page sparkles with wit nnd humour, "Elizabeth" tells how "Christopher and Columbus," for so between themselves the twins ("sweet"—if satirical—"seventeen" would most properly ■ describe them) mado a firm-friend*, on the voyage to New York, of a wealthy American named Twist, whose fortune has been mnd? by his invention of "Twist's Non-Trickier Teapot"; how this" genekman proves , a most useful and kindly "guide, counsellor, and friend" to the expatriated girls; tells, too, of their curious reception by,the Clous-' ton Sacks, upon which they had counted 'so much; of their journeying to California, and their settling down in .that land of flowers and fruit; of their' meeting with a. young English naval officer, invalided from the front, but inexhaustibly full of good .'humour, good naturo, and, for ono of thp. twins, deepest, affection; finally, how, by. a dublo international marriage, tho German name, which has causod them, so much 'trouble disappears for ever under respectively the purely Anglo-Saxon cognomens (of their husbands), of Twist and .Elliott. Before tho reader, has perused 'the'..first. .t? n pages he cannot'.fail, to fall in..love with AnnaRose and. Aiina-Felicitas:. All happiness, he will.. say,..to . the pair, of wanderers when olio*'they shall have settled down as tmo' British -and. .American subjects, and when Twinklor,. either with or without the "von/-ceases t'p appear on their travelling trunks. "Liber" wits a 6pccial mark of-commendation on "Christophor and Columbus." \" . '. Three American. Novels, ~..'.. .. From the 'Macmillan ; Co. (New York and Melbourne) come Hired "American novels, each in its own'way much above tho average standard of. American fiction. In "The. Heart' of a. Fool" William Allen White, who gave us that fine story "A Certain Rich Man," depicts the conflict between fielfiah' materialism arid a high-minded idealism of which a little town in a .Middle. Western' State (in Kansas,.'if I. may hazard tho suggestion) is the scene.' .Materialism '.ie .incarnated in Tom Vah,:Dorn, .a handsome, but selfish and sensual lawyer,", afterwards'a'corrupt Judge; idealism in. an ardent .Socialist, Grant Adams. The changes wrought in tho political and social atmosphere of the little town,by its development from a sleepy agricultural centro into a busy city, through, the discovery ot a coalfield close by are described with a firm hand. Van.Do'rn becomes the cor. nipt tool .of a -grasping capitalism, and for. a time prospers exceedingly. When, finally, retribution is exacted, it is" not m'dterial.but; he -is left a .lonely, pitiful wreck.. .The idealist's end is tragio, but lie leaves.behind' him a message of hopo for the town. He wins spiritually if. not from a wordly point of view. The novel has an incidental love story, but its chief quality lies in., ite . clever character, drawing.. One gets to know the'"leading 1 citizens" of.'.tho town .-of.. Harvey as. one knows the-Five'Towns folk-of .'Arnold Bennett's "Cla-yhanger" series? For.one character alone, old Dr. Nesb'it, who rules th« political roost in Harvey, and whom his fellow-townsmen know as ''Old Linen '■ Pants," Mr: White's story will be remembered by all who read it. ', There is a strong flavour of. our old friend "David Earuih"' lir "Old liiien: Pants:"' "In the Heart of.a.'.Foor'i's.a long story—it .runs into over ..GOO. pages—"but one reader at least/would not have one page the shorter. "Birth/. , by. Zona'. Gale, is the etory of two generations) .Again the ecene is a small inland town, a/mere village, and as in Miy White's novel it is the strong character-drawing which constitutes thechief attraction of the .story. It is the story of a well-meaning man who is oni> of life's, failures, and of a son who, . a curious combination" of; strength and weakness, threatens for a while to inherit the.paternal purse .of inefficiency, but whom wo-'.leave j. at tho .end of the etory, on the verge of a.rpal manhood in which dreams nromisc-to mako place for action and success'.. Poor Marshall Pitt, whom his fellow-townsmen,of Burage put down as-a "man...of-no account," is,'in his way, a very lovable fellow, but it is easy to understand that his bright and clever ivife should have found him impossible to livo with', especially in such a dead-and-alive hole-as Enrage.. Nevertheless, it is to the failures in life, that the heart often goes out more readily than to the successful.--..Miss Gale's pictures of the little Western community are .simply, but sharply- verbal dry point". : '" . ■ A third American novel, and one which has a distinctive and. pleasing touch of originality is "The Flood Tide," by Daniel Chase. Here we have the ..life history "of , a lad whoVlxfhi in a quiet old New England seaport,.-, goes first-to Boston mid then to New: York, and becomes the head Of a colossal grocery trust or combine. In his pursuit of wealth he, for a tiino. at least, neglects and ignores I a• natural craving for tho-better things in life. biit-;eventually he , grows to loathe the great commercial 'edifice he has reared, and finds in yachting an escape from the deadly ennui and loneliness of his life, for in his rage for wealth he has broken with the irirl he loved from boyhood. Eventually the stately edifice crumbles '"■ to the- dust, , nnd the hero -returns" to ' his native town, r ... disillusioned and disappointed mini.; lie finds, however, a new career as -ah : artist, -and his old love, now a widow, teaches him that the-gifts of Mammon are but dead sea fruit as compared'with the better things of love and .contentment'. Mr. Chiise'e pictures of the quaint old seaport town, with its memories of the' old whaling days and begone commercial- importance, are delightful ... ■' . -■■ "The Last Ditch." Hiss Violet Hunt, the author of "The Last Ditch" (Stanley, Paul and Co.) is a wcll-practisfed ond clover novelist, and she has never done anything better than the series of' pictures', of "society" life duriilg the war, which; she presents in ber-latest novel. I confess I do-not care very much for fiction-set forth in epistolary form, although somq very notablo exceptions, Mr. E." V. liiicass delightful "liisleiiHrs' Lure," for iimtance, might be ciird. The title seems to imply thnt tho author believes, tho old-time semi-feudal inllucnco and actual power of the British aristocracy is, if not actually dead, inevitably doomed. Tho story scarcely lives up to its title, for so-long as there nre men and women, especially wealthy men and women, tltere must always be a caste. That to-da-y.it is the plutocracy rather than the old aristocracy which rules tho social roost does not affect tho argument l-liiif. ciiAl-o dies hard, and is, in Eiigland at least, very far from burial. The letters in-which-are set. forth the story of the worries' a.Ud trials,, the ambitions and disappointments of tho Councss of Aries nml h'-r wayward, handsome daughter, Lady Venice St. , Kemy (surely (here is a (oucli of the once-famous "OuiuV'.iu this lattei name), nro' written by Ihe two ladies, to the Countess's eldor daughter, who has married a wealthy American, ami lives in tho States- The Countess is i' very shrewd woman, within her own limitations, and her comment upon society savings, and doings during the war are set forth with fill tjjat brilliancy (brilli.incv, perhaps, a trifle ton palpalilv sought after) which one associates with Miss Hunt's work But one gets just a little tired of being told (through tho convenient American relative) <tf what

the Arks anil '.heir blue-blooded friends durdiiring the war, Asa mutter of fact ! n these'people imagined they "wore putlyiß up a "last-ditch" fight against what riii • ''"''"fS' o was once pleased to call Triumphant Democracy," they made hut «. ljooi- job of i!.; Tlioy fouglit hard for [their leisure and pleasure, and, tor the I I most p.irl. (of Miiiras-J. am only referring I to Miss Hunt's aristocrats—thore are,' I am sure, many others of a very different j and more wholesome type), were at heart | supremely selfish. "Tlie Last Ditch" is certainly a very readable story. "The Amazing Interlude." . "The Amazing Interlude" (John Mmray, per Whitcombe and Tomb?) k a war stoiy, the heroine of which, Sara Leo Kennedy, a young American lady.from a Western Pennsylvanian. town,, goes to France to do her i'it, .establishing n small "House of Mercy" behind the Belgian lines/in the.Yser region. She is engaged to a smart' young business .'nan, but even before she leaves fo.r Franco, much to the disgust of her fiance, who- the period is the second yenr of the warwas for letting.the Europeans fight out their own battles, she had come to recognise there was certain lack of spiritual sympathy between the two. In London and , at the front she is befriended by a mysterious Belgian gentleman whom sbc knows simply us Henri, 'but who is a famous spy for the Allies anil' a/ princu in his own right. Try ds much as elio can to be faithful'to'her dance,-she has. to acknowledge that the young Belgian officer is her re.i.l affinity. After some months' arduous service, Henri persuades, her to return ib her own country, but once back in America her fiance's selfish indifference to what ehe considers America's call to duty makes her-break oft" the engagement. She returns to the front and her deeply enamoured Belgian, a marriage to follow in due uourso. "Saralee," as she is- affectionarcly called by tho soldiers, makes a very charming heroine, and the war scenes are. responsible for some vigorous writing and strong local colour. ■ "The New Warden." "Tho New Warden," by Mrs. David Ritchie (John Murray; per Whitcombe and Tombs), is a quietly-told eitory of Oxford in war-time, a prominent figure being the middle-aged Warden of King's, Dr. Middleton, an amiable, if not over strong-minded bachelor, who is-angled for and captured by-a somewhat .vulgar girl, whom the Doctor's relations, especiallv of the feminine sex, regard as a minx of the first water. How the worthy doctor is saved, through the agency of so .prosaic a thing as an umbrella, from the over-enterprising -Gwen, and eventually finds Madame. "Eight" in the ■ person of a charming young widow, need not-be set forth in detail: Indeed, the plot of the story is of the slightest. Its dominant quality is its excellent local colour and the combined delicacy and strength of its charapterisation. Perhaps just a trifle tepid for some novel .readers,- but- there are ninny others to whom it should make successful appeal. • • ■ "Lieutenant Bones," In "Lieutenant Bones" (Ward, Lock and Co.; per Whitcombo and Tombs), Mr. Edgar. Wallace, who for a while, as in - "Those' Folk of Bulboro," eeemed to have deserted, the, "West Coast of Africa, more particularly .the Oil Eivers, returns thereto . and submits for our entertainment a new series of well-told yarns, in which our old friends, Commissioner Sanders, and his eccentric assistant, ' Lieutenant Bones, H.N., are tho'most'prominent figures. Bosambo, the bibulous but amiable heathen who, once tamed by the redoubtable Commissioner proves himself such a faithful ally to the British, is also often on tho ecene. Desperate encounters with revolted bußh. tribes, ingenious matching of wits with native witoh-dootors, nnd the thwarting of German plots, all have their place in the book, which makes as good reading as did its predecessors. Mr. GreiffenhngenV illustrations' are excel-' lent. :. ■"■■.■■