A BACK-TO-NATURE STORY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 138, 7 December 1929, Page 21

A BACK-TO-NATURE STORY

.The Return of the Scarecrow." By Alfred Noyes. London: Cassell and (through Innes and MacGregor, Wellington). b ' If Mr. G ? K. Chesterton can find not Mr. Alfred Noyes, an equally eminent wnter, also poet, amuse himself 7cZ% U?,~ hZ Writin^ a Porous of tl I S 3S do?f S0 in "The Rel«™ ol the Scarecrow," narrating the adIvr n a r SJ f - he ReV- Basil SteoS m,t t«%r ? W n ung«araed moment put to the test the advice of his friend to roam the Sussex downs in puris n at u rahbus. Unfortunately for him, he wL niAf Cal 6lf- ss about matching his wn l ,M\ and dl£ not sus Pect that they would be seen by an old ragamuffin and stole*. This left the reverend gentleman in a state of nature far longer than he bargained for, placing hij/in some awkward predicaments. Hunger bSft£ ,the *°Pc of m«et^g a man, but the locality seemed to be infested with wandenng women. Meantime enterprising reporters had scented out a good story in the Rev. Basil's disapAn item like this was too good to be buried^ away in a corner, so they dealt hberally with it in tho matter of head--2' ,T *1S ISL aU entertail»ng comedy with plenty of poetical quotations, as one might expecfc from Mr. Noyes, who in passing makes agreeable fun of some of the yague and latter-day versifiers. '