BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 305, 18 September 1920, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Mr. Kiplinq on his Travels,

'In "Letters of Travel." by Eudvard Kipling (Macinillan and Co.) are now republished for the first time in hnok form three separate Bets of Mr. Kipling's impressions de voyage.... The first section in the volume is entitled "Tideway to Tidaivav," and contains descriptions of New York and other American cities, and of 2, trie to the Far East: there''being also added the "Leaves from a Winter, Notebook," gathered so far back as 1896, ■ wliAt time the author' was temporarily settled in the house he built for himself at Brabtleboro, up in the mountain-district of Vermont. In the 6eeond section. "Letters to' the Family" written in 1901, the subject is Canada and Canadian _ life, political, industrial, and social, whilst as wo are ncarinc the closo 'of'the volump wo find the author has "heard once' more "the East a-eall-ing," and Rives'- us his- imuresaious of what he calls "Egypt .of tho Magicians." 'including a trip itp the Me and a brief sojourn in- to Sudan, the letters in 'this last section, bavins, been written so late as wia.

No man'is always at his lost, and let it be. said at onco that there are passages in all throe sections of this new collection of Kipling's journalistic work in which the reiteration, of the doema that we English-are the. chosen people, and that of air Englishmen those of the -oversea tribes aTO the special and particular salt of the Empire and the race, is apt to become a triflo tedious, especially as moro than onco the-reader may detect exaEeeration as an accompaniment to.a too trcque'nt tendency to petulance, and. indeed, a shrill scolding. -But oven) when Mr. Kipling is at his second.best, le-is Stwaye provocative and readable, and rutins, his'latest published, book, he. w often far more than merely readable Especially noticeable is : his never-tailing trrip of the picturesque, in scenery, the dramatic and-humorous in !*.'*» «"!£ fty to place before tho reader the most Jnvincing pictures of far-away ■ cp& tries and cities, and to portraits of human type* . so., vividly fawn. aTsharply etched, as simply £ years that have.pas ? ed_ S ince he wrote which he then proved himself to do ST and * «fos.ch and U T fK 6 re ever in his Imperialism.. It is tftere -Britain, in his pictures of the Last and his- evident anxiety; test .;stay-at-home Britons should the responsibilities as well as tho hems and-Vmileges of Empire; toXta**™ nwtioit is full of it, and although tnero trace of a'doubt as to-wheher foreign min.uest.and governance be always worth .the candle, a' temporary - anxiety is .quickly'; succeeded- by .a cheery °P" unmistakable', feature ;&£&> of Travel" is Kiplmgs bkrtg sincerity and-- earnestness HebW out ugly truths, as' when he scolds tlio New .Yorkers.for .the rottenness of therr •local- government,.or .when, ho esposes • "hat lie deems to be the. serious ..bunder Canada has made-in being over liberal ih her immigration system. But * ■ways-does- one feel that here «t least h a man who sayr-what; he thinks and tells the truth as .he sees it, or thinks he seee- it- .regardless ,o whomsoever he may offend or whatever -powerful inter,ests he-may run counter to. Eor such transparent honesty and sincerity let.us bo infinitely grateful -It;is not always, to be found in books of travel. On polities, high Imperial" politics, and local,, industrial problems, and, social tvpes and characteristics Mr.-Kipling -has'much to-say, but.to me.-the chief ■■charm- of these "Letters' hes.-in tho 'descriptions of scenic wonders and natural beauties,.with which they richly ■studded..- Some of tho most strikingly beautiful word pictures Kipling has ever.: written-are to be found ■in-"The Leaves from, a Winter Notebook." Here,, for •'example, is a. enow scene from the Vermont lulls'

• There was never'a. cloud in the. sky that rented on tho-snowline-of the horizon as d sapphire on white velvet. Hil s of pure white, or speckled and furred witU woods, ■rose UP above the wild white leves of the fiel-ds, and the sun liotod over Uieir cmbroideries till the eyes ached.- Here and there on the exposed flopes the day s warmth-thetliorrnomcter was nearly forty dtgrees-and the night's cold had made a bald and shining crust upon the snow, hut the most part was soft and powdered stuff reaTyV catch the light ona. thou-, and .crystals and Multiply >t sevemohl Through this magnificence, and thinking noK i it,'a wood-sledge,; draw by two shaggy red.Eteers, the unbarkedlogsdiamonSted with now. shou dered down ..the .road in-'a cloud of frosty breath.: ~

When the author gets to Egypt. >t »s the glamour and fascination of Hie human ialeidoscopo- whicli fnraish linn with eonio of : liis most vivid and picturesque passages. How shrewdly he can sum '.up .tho strange cosmopolitanism which causes so much trouble in. Jigypt is Shown- in the following quotation: .

Here is.' a country which ia not a country, but a longish strip of market-garden, nominally in charge it a government which is .not a government, but the disconnected satrapy of a half-dead empire., controlled Tccksnifflingly by a- Power which is not a Power hut an Agency, wtiicli Agency has- teen tied up by years, cub torn, and blackmail into all torts of mti- ■ mate relations with six or seven liu.ronean Power*, all with rights and perquisites, none of whose subjects seem directly amenable to any Power which at first,. Bocond, ov third hand is supposed to te responsible. That is the barest outline. To nil in "the details (if any living man knows them) would be as easy as to explain baseball to an Englishman or the Eton wall game to'a citizen of. the United State*. 1 - P«t it is a .fascinating 'nlav Thero'aro Frenchmen in it, whose logical mind it otfonds. and they revenge ' themFclvi-9 by printing the finance-reports and the catalogue of the Brink Museum ui mire French. There are Germans in it. whoso demands must ho carefully weighed "'°r n,. lt thc-v'ean by any means ,be ratisficd but they ferve to block other SnniAV There are Russians in it, who So not v,rv much matter at present, but wM bo heard from later. There aro no inn. nd Greeks, in it both rather n Mscd with • themselves -just now), full I^LiTi lift e and there are women a 1 ttx, hi. . e are reason. Among these conflic ting ntere ™ and" amusements sits .and WM™ English official, whose job is irrigatii ir cr draining or reclaiming land on behalf of a trifle often million people, and he finds himself tripped up by skeins of ntriguo and bafflement which may ramify through half a dozen harems and four consulates All this makes for raavity. toleration, and the blesßed habit of not being surprised at anything whatever.

Kipling is always Kipling, and the Kipling of the Egyptian _ notes is much the same Kipling, in point of personal view, in his likes and prejudices, ris ho wrote himself clown in the earlier letters of 189 G. May his heart at least never grow older, bis vision never lose its acutcness, or his pen its brilliancy.

The birthday' of a fair chorus girl was approaching, and a youthful admirer asked her what sho would like for a birthday present to celobrate tho occasion. Ho suggested timidly that she might Derhaps like a book. "Don't bo silly, I've got ono," said she—"Moruinif Tat."

"Laughter in Court." An f-iellont collection of humorous anecdote* of Bench and Bar is contained in a littlo volume ontitlod "Laughter in Court," edited by Richard Knight (London', Jarrolds, Ltd.). Tlio book is niainl.v a compilation, the author havinsr laid toll on such well-known works as the "Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins, Judge Darling's "Sc'htillne Juris," Mr. Plowden's "Grain or Chaff," and Mr. Birrcll's "Life of Sir Frederick Lockwood." Ho has nlsj drawn upon his own personal expcrienAß of over half a century of professional life. He tells, of course, many old stories, but thev aro well worth the retellmsr, whilst manv of his own legal yarns are decidedly entertaining. • Speaking generally, the socnlled witticisms which fall from tho Boneh are apt lo lose not a little when set forth in cold print, the audience to wh'cli they then appeal is less Rvinnnthetic thai), one in which the junior Bar is well represented. Some of the best of Mr Knight's'stories record the wordv satirical warfare which often goes'en between Bench and Bar, the Irish courts of. an earlier 'lay furnishing «>mo specially amusing examples. I have space to spare for only ono quotation from a little book which, is full of good things, an Irish court story, told of a case tried in Limerick beforo Chief Baron O'Grady:— Counsel waß miikinc a, speech for the defence when rn asa began to bray loudly outside the Court. . _ "Wait a moment," said the Chief Baron, "one at a time, Mr. Bushe, if you please. When the Chief Baron wan charging the jury, the ass began to bray if possible moro loudly than before. "I bee your pardon, my lord, said Bushe "may I ask vou to repeat your last wordsj there is ruch an echo in tins I Court-1 did not auite catch them. i Mr..Knight has included some examples of auaint and curious wills, some. of which are- very amusing. (N.Z. price Bs.). ■ •