REVIEW.

Dunstan Times, Issue 975, 24 December 1880, Page 3

REVIEW .

Amongst the varied crop of books anil the literary effusions that flower at this season of the year, it is our pleasurable I duty to notice one entitled ’* White Ho > I I and Blue (Jap,” a Christmas Bough with two Branches, the joint efforts of our old friend \ inceiit Pyke awl Thorpe Talbot, an authoress not unknown to fame as a writer of poetry and other pro luotions that have from time to time appeared in the Ailstrilashtn. “ White Hood,” by Vincent Pyke, is a very pleasantly written story of something Under sixty pages wiih a poem at the end, wbieh vividly pourtrays the terrible position of one lost in the snow in one iff those tierce storms Which sweep with unutterable fury over oiir alpine regions in certain seasons of the year and insCutibly brings our mind back to the fearful disaster that bofel to a party of raeu about 16 or 17 years ago on the “Old Min Mountain Range,” when they endeavored to force their way across that mountain iutlu depth of winter making for Alexandra, when about sixteen men went down never to rise again. To any one who has experienced such storms this poem will recall its horrors with life-like intensity.— “ White Hood, ”so named from a little white hood, artificially fabricated of some fleecy material, Worn as a head dress, is the heroine of the tale, the locale of which is evidently away up in the now deserted terraces of the once rich “Sholover” diggings, and, not in \inccut County where Mr Pyke holds sway a§ Chairman, as erroneously stated by the Daily Times reviewer. As old chums peruse this little work their memories will be o'rriel back at a bound to the days of Hartley and Riley, and Pox, the discoverer of the Shotover, with all the breezy freshness of those exciting times when each day awoke to something ■ new, when thousands lined the golden beadles of the Molynenx when the river, wouldn’t go down—the days of shantys and champagne, poverty and wealth : rich to day, broke to morrow. “ White Moo I,” a tailtalazmgly pietty L'irl, who has left home to live with her brother, a miner on the terraces, has two lovers—one fair of face, but not s i at heart ; the other i f uncom dy exterior, but like “ Douglas, tender ami true.” The natural sequel is not departed from in this instance. George Giff-a-d, with bis handsome face and winning ways elbows bis mate and unpretentious rival out of the race for the charming prize, but as luck or the de'il would have it, haulsome tie >rge has been “ keeping compmv ” with another young woman before “ White Hood” appeared on the, scene, and she can’t stomach her nose b-ing put out of j nut in this fashion. She is of the largelydeveloped full blooded style of beauty, with restless hot blood that brooks no illtimed dang’ing after other women ; and soon her frenzied jealousy is aroused, and in r tic of passion, she shoots her quondam lover. The plot now thickens ni one of Considerable interest, for a host of surrounding circumstances weave a chain of evidence that points with fatal accuracy to Trevauna (or “dusky Jim,” as lie is familiarly called) as the perpetra’o:- of the deed. Ilia arrest follows, and be appears before tlio Supreme Court in Dunedin indited for the murder of tiia mate. In the meantime.poor Jim, “ who has never told his love but Jet concealment, tie.,” keens ,his mouth closed, for he believes it was the woman lie secretly adores who shot | handsome G orge, aim his reason for so thinking is so wed! described, that -e will i let the author tell it' in his own words, 1 | prefacing that (lie tragedy was the sequel \ I to a certain “grand opening hall,” given j at a new store, where the chief personages ;of the plot were assembled. There Bess I Humphrys (George's early sweetheart) sufi fere t such outrageous pangs of slighted 1 | love, hj -rself neglected, while George da- | ! voted lumself to “ White Hoo 1 ” in all the ; j fascinations of the dance, that Revs’ dander lis up and George’s scalp was doom ad Jim, i i a prey to like feelings, in so far alone as I ; unrequited love is concerned, wan lore forth from the festive .scene churning his bitter thoughts, and mo ms about in hopeless ; misery and despair until daylight, when hit hat happening to blow off. he follows it. and be’d-id some rocks perceives a man lying on t:.e ~r mu 1. “ He thought it Was otic of the revellers who hj G j been drinking-, ‘not wisely but Go well,’ ami-w is I sleeping off the effects of his debauch. Hut whea I he appro ielur.l more ne ir, he s iw to his ere it horror tint it was 'teoi-ge ■ -iff ml. lying in a pool of blood ; and his horror was into isiiie.l whea he observe I the • White Hood 1 tightly do idled in George’s hj mil” Jim, to the astonisment of the Court, pleads “Guilty” to the charge, and suffers imprisonment “all for her sake” for a short period, because liis innocence is sonn proved, Bess Humphrys having confessed prior to her death, which quickly follows Jim’s incarceration, that she alone was the person who committed the murder. The story, as all Christinas stories should, ends happily; tor Mary, who knows all what Jim has suffered, confesses that she has loved lino him all along. “And the A h’.to _ lion I ’ nestles in his bosom ” I’luiro i;; considerable drain d - ■ over evinced throughout the story, its' only fault being a rather hurried crowding Jf events Indeed it would he a matter of little difficulty to dramatise it, and we would offer this suggestion to Mr Pyke, binself no mean ina’tcur a ir, who, in the double capacity of anchor and actor, would be, we fain would add, irresistible. “Rue Cap ’is a most readable story, and possesses a literary merit of a superior order, the chief actors being a young girl named Marion Me Iw iy, Gower Hamilton, and “Blue Cap,” or Lin Held Scariff. Hamilton meets Miss Medway for the first time on hoard a steamboat voyaging from Wellington to Pioton. Ms a case of love at Hist sight,” Accident favors the nourishment of his admiration, for, as the steamer enters the Tory Channel, she strikes on a sunken rock. A scene of confusion ensues, and Hamilton, as any well he imagined, fondly aids in the rescue of the helova i one. They meet again in Dunedin, and all goes as merry as the marriage bells ; but the girl, for prudential reasons, will not cojuv-; *. ) a definite engagement, in despite of her lover’s entreaties, founding her reluctance unon the shortness of their acquaintanceship. They part. Then sha laws come. IT uniiton’s father and mother die, which means a further protraction and delay. Then during this enforced separation Marion, through a thoughtless friend of her’s—a fast young girl (an amusing character, and a cousin of Hamilton’s)—hears of an engagement on his part with a yoifng widow. A misunderstanding takes place, and then, at this untoward moment, "Blue Cap,” s squatter living at Popotuno.a anpears, and pons you know, ah ! the question. Poor Marion, deeming 1, : f slighted, commits the fatal error of, in a moment of pique, “ marrying in haste and repenting at leisure.” Then follows the usual misery, the wrecked life, repentance too late, all heightened by the aft- knowledge of her lover’s unalterable fidelity. The tale, in discord with Merry Christmas stories, ends unhappily, as Marion and “Bine Cap” perish miserably, while the f ite of Hamilton is left enshrouded in dark conjecture Limited space forbids further dilation. We can but say that “Blue Can” hears

• “White Hoad” and “ I’luo “an,” a Christmas Bonyh in two Dr inches. By Vincent t’vke and Thorpe Talbot. liuneiin; Joseph Brrithwaitc, and sold by all booksellers and storekeepers.

the imprint of careful study, graphic in style, and comprehensive in every detail, the only objectionable feature being the somewhat extravagant delineation of “ Blue Cap," otherwise Lmfleld Scariff. It reminds one of the morbid creations of Edgar Allan Poe. The cap is constantly worn to conceal “a horn on each side of his head, and between the two a tuft of red brown hair—coarse hair, like that \Vhich grows on a hull.” This ! his bovine eyes, his bull rages, and his aversion to the color of red, as unco “ lie suddenly causlit siyht of a how of bright scarlet ribb m fb it she bail faste ed in her hj iir. * * m * he ribbon, Marlon! screanleil old Mrs Scn-iff. Take off'ihe ribbon, quick.’ But too late. Before she could save herself he hid her in his arms, shikina h-r—worrying her—like a mid animal. The ribbon he tore’ out, and rent to shreds with his teeth.” This character, if rendered less of a monstrosity—toned down a little—the eff-ct Would have been immeasurably better Thorpe Tallict also contributes a poem, which, in our opinion, has the ring of the genuine mcbal—the tiro of true poetic genius. A.