Books to Read and Books to Keep

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12615, 27 November 1926, Page 12

Books to Read and Books to Keep

(Reviews by R,A»L.)

A BARONESS REMEMBERS The ‘‘lmpressions and Memories” of the Baroness Deichmann (John Murray, per Gordon and Gotch) are an account of the life of a private household whose lines were cast between England and Germany. The writer tells in her own simple way a story studded with details which, for the most part, will be of interest only to family connections and friends. There aro fleeting flashes of the original Krupps, of the Iron Chancellor, Bismarck and his family, qf Elizabeth Fry (a relation), of the ah d Emperor Mtnd Empress) of Germany and lesser people. For some of b4r Bismarck material, the baroness has drawn on Sidney Whitman's well-known volume; nevertheless, she can speak from firsthand knowledge of that remarkable man. “My general impression of the great Chancellor, ” she writes, “was of a bear in a cage* and he was undoubtedly living under severe mental strain and in a sadly nervous state. . . » The Bismarcks were in every way peculiar, and unlike anyone I have seen before or since. ‘lntense* should have been their motto, for they were intense in all they did. They pursued their aims regardless of all obstacles.** It seems that “there is no doubt that Bismarck distorted the famous telegram King William of Prussia sent to the French Emperor at Earns which hastened the war of 1870, for the late King of Rumania, a Prince of Hohenzollern, told me he had seen it. * .*' We wonder what Bismarck’s shade was thinking over fifty years later when the sun rose blood-red over Europe 1 t • • • NOT SO GLOOMY AS PAINTED Dean Inge, that radical in thought, has been dubbed by somebody the “gloomy dean.’* The misleading epithet must have originated in the famous cleric’s natural candour: for instance, his reason and his conscience will not permit him to say that all’s right with everything English when a number of thing? are 60 obviously awry. This frankness occasionally hurts the smeg patriot, who relies more on his heart than on his head. These reflections are prompted by a reading of the “Lay Thoughts of a Dean,” published (or republished) by Putnam's. The “thoughts'* are articles which first appeared in leading literary periodicals or newspapers. They will lend to disillusion a lot of people who have formed a mistaken idea of the Inge outlook on matters in general. At least, they fail to justify the dirgelike epithet. He expresses himself logically, and in excellent English. He has the courage of his convictions. He can he serious, but never (one feels) because he wishes to be. When he is censorious be shows cause. One will not always agree with his conclusions, but there will be few who will not admire his vigorous frankness. In such times as these the world needs Dean Inge and his like. BOHEMIA I Since the Treaty of Versailles began to operate there has been throughout the world a popular demand for knowledge concerning many nations made independent by that famous instrument. Of these is Bohemia, once an integral and inconvenient part of the Austrian Empire. By the treaty this became part of wbat now figures very prominently in European politics as Czecho-Slovakia. In “Tho Spirit of Bohemia” (Allen and Unwin, London), YTaditnir Nosck, whoso “History of Bohemia” is a classic, has placed this addition to the map of political Europe in its true perspective. He has done the work well, summarising the country’s history, and reviewing its achievements in literature and music. He has shown us a tine race with a splendid history, highly patriotic and strongly religious,* with a true instinct for self-govern-ment, and with refinement of taste embodied in its books and its buildings. A comprehensive index and a large bibliography help the reader substantially to understanding from the days of the “Blind King” and those of John Huss and Ziska. and the great wars of the latter chieftain to our own time. A useful book, indeed. CIRCUMSTANCES We hare all had experience of the hardness which turmi life to dreadful bitterness, and many of us have found ourselves helped by our “better selves.” The element of good in us that is both the ally and proof of the immortality of our souls has restored us to cheerful life after being almost lost by the discouragement of circumstance —the foul clutch of circumstance, Yeats calls it—and we have been proportionally grateful. Kathleen O’Brien, whose .journalistic work has often found a place on this page, deals with such an experience in “John Barbara” (The TJodley Head. London). A young woman, cultivated and refined, deprived of home and friends, is forced to earn her bread bv clerking work, and spends her time between the unsympathetic atmosphere of the oifire and the solitude of a small fiat of the most drab, with an outlook on citv roofs extending in every direction. When almost spent, her better *relf comes to her rescue, and great is the chango and most blessed the consummation. with new friends helping and life smiling. Tt is a story firmly and most daintily told. A BIG AUSTRALIAN The life of a strong soul living in the forest, attuned to all sounds and scents and attractions of tree, rivei aud mountain, and without doubt a man brave, resolute and capable. is always acceptable to the reading public. When his surroundings in the forests of Western Australia, in all their changing moods of summer and spring, are described well, and the human equation comes forward with startling adventures, then you have a good, readable storv. Of such is “Tho Dushlnml Man” (Hodder and Stoughton, London), by James Bollard. Fresh it is and vigorous, n little naive at times, and somewhat long in talk — nevertheless a good hook, and very instructive about the things and doings of the big Australian State. ANNOTATIONS Volume U in the J nteniutiniml Library (Stanley Bank contains an entirely new translation of Anion Chekhov, and llireo stories that hn\o never before been given L> the English public. In bringing out this M-rie-v iho publishers are rendering a real service to renders of vlaspu- fiction. “Saki” (If. B. Miuijo, lamentably fallen in the Great War. is being further ineinorbilled by the inexpensive yet neat reprints of hiera.v works. Several of these have a! read v been noticed in these columns. Tim lale-t t<> hand from the publi-.her*. the Brnlbw Head, is that fitrikintfly line rJory of prophecy. “When William Came." ’Here (as Lord Oharnwood says in his ini rodiietirm) “is the real Monro . . Coder-hea rtrd, earing for thing* lovdy and of good report, caring for them pas.-ionalely, and every inch n man.” Thr-e le-i.-suc.-j arc eplcridid value at the gric6»

LARKS AND BLACK MARLIN Zone Grey has been, has seen, has conquered (the big game of our seas) and put pen to paper about it. It has been something of a rush job, but “Tales ocf the Anglers* Eldorado: New Zealand,” if not a finny classic, w vivid in parts, and excellent publicity for this country. Frankly, this handsome volume (Hodder and Stoughton, publishers) is not greatly interesting in its narrative until Grey actually gets among the larks on the island of Orepukupmku, and later, into grips with the giant fish. He found on this golden spot that his fishing “was the merest of incidentals. It must be the means to an end, or one aspect of an end. How many times, on some adventure in a wild country . . . have I been rewarded by a singular revivifying joy similar to this I discovered in the wet grassy top of Orepukupuku, the rich amber light filling my eyes and the songs of the larks in my ears.” Grey may have loved the birds to the degree he implies, but he loved more (one feels) killing the black marlin, the mako and king fish who scour the

deep waters up north. When fighting a half-ton marlin it is not at all likely that he would relish being reminded of his pastoral reflection that _ his “fishing was the merest of incidentals.” A graphio passage or two from the story of his combat with a nobly-large striped marlin: “The rod curved. The strain lifted me. Out there a crash of water preceded a whirling splash. Then a short blunt beak, like the small end of a base-ball bat, stuck up, followed by the black-and-silver head of an enormous black marlin. Ponderously he heaved. The water fell away in waves; His head, his stubby, dorsal fin, angrily spread, his great broad deep shoulders climbed out of the slow waters. Then he soused back sullenly and disappeared. And again:— Out of a boiling, hissing smash he climbed, scarce- a hundred feet from the boat, and rose gloriously in tho light, a hlnck opal indeed, catching tlie lire of tiie sun. But he could not clear the water. He was too heavy. T saw his great short club bill, his huge gaping jaw*, his large staring black eye, terrible to behold . . . His descent was a plunge into a gulf, out of which ho thundered again in spouting green and white, higher this time, wilder, with cat-apultic force—” While Grey contended with his marlin: A huge, long, round, gold-white fish pierced the sky. Up, up! He had not raised the slightest splash. Up he shot, then over in the air—a magnificent somersault, and down, slick as a trick diver ft was a mako shark of a 12001 b bulk. A cream-white torrent of water burst nearer to us, and out of it whirled the mako going up sidewtae, then rolling. «<> his whole under side, white a* anew, with the immense pectoral fins black against the horizon, shone dearly to my distended eyes. His terrific vigour, his outstanding ability, were absolutely new in my experience of fish. Down he smashed into a green swell Despite its adjectival frenzy, that ia the publicity with a “pull” in it, a<i the advertisement merchants would say. Beside it. glimpses of the Maori and praise of New Zealand blankets are things not worth remembering. Grey has justified to the hilt the use of the term —“the Anglers’ Eldorado.” Such pen pictures as have been quoted should bring sporting tourists from overseas in battalions. Our All Blacks are confronted with a serious rival at last, and that rival’s claims have found in Zaue Grey a most enthusiastic champion. Somehow, somewhere we shall have to find room on the coat-of-arms for a swordfish rampant with Grey wearing a conqueror’s mien suitably in the vicinity. Accompanying this expedition were operators ns expert with the camera as Grey is with his tackle. They did their part admirably, as tho profuse illustrations hear witness. In everyone of us, men and women alike, is tho detective instinct, the desire to probe into strange circumstances, whether of criminal or supernatural origin. Tho “Adventure Story Magazine” (Gordon and Gotch') is designed to satisfy this prevalent human instinct and contains nothing but tho )x*>t. The *September number is an exceedingly good one; the contributors include Sir H. Rider Haggard, Lady Dorothy Mills, Ardern Beaman, Francis Simpson, etc. There are over sixty humorous drawings and just three times this number of willy yarns in the latest issue of “Aussie”—quite sufficient, indeed, to keep any reader supplied with humour until the next issue comes along. But sie” also has its serious side, and its literary and stage columns are always luil of paragraphs of particular interest to Australian and New Zealand reader**. The number is a happy forerunner of tin* big Christmas number of “Aussie,” to bo published next month. The new editor of the “Gaelic Messenger of the Sacred Heart,” 5, Ut. Denmark street. Dublin, has sent, us a sample copy. Wo know the name of the publication because the editor mentioned it in an accompanying note; wo regret that il:> contents appear to have been printed upside down. Wo have received the following reprints of good sellers from the publishers named:— Stanley Raul: “The Mist I'm)!” and “Dawn Island.” by Cecil Adair; “At School with 'I randies,” H Andom; Halva,” T>. While.ktw; “Storm World.” Hendon Hill; “City of Enticement, “ Dorothea Oururd; “Marriage in f'urmah.” Chnntoon; “The Fifth Finvor.” W. I.e Queux. Hodder and Stoughton : “Tales of Kmithrm Rivers.” by Zn lie 01-ev. Herbert Jenkins: “Sweet. Cicely. " by A. A. 1 Thomson; “CindurclUi All Alone.”-S. A, Wood.

FIRST AGE OF CHRISTIANITY Dr. E. Scott, professor qf Biblical thoolog.v at tho Union Theological Seminary, New York, lias, in “The First Age of Christianity” (Allen and Unwin, Loudon), done a useful sen ice to the world by placing the Christian era in its right historical perspective. Greek and Latin culture had spread over tho world in the wake of Greek and Homan conquest, and Augustus had promulgated his celebrated edicts for the encouragement of religious belief over the world. The leading minds were admitting the necessity for some spiritual sanction of tho morality. indispensable to civilisation. Christianity had not dawned upon the world. When Mio Roman Empire came near to breaking point Christianity had developed into a great living force, in apite of persecution—the necessary outcome of the attempt of Augustus to set ijp a State religion—and wns ready to take spiritual charge of the remains after the gradual collapse. Such was the first age of Christiauily. Dr. Scott has described it with a success which will bo acknowledged by all the world. Whether this illuminating work will further the much desired unity of Christian - belief remains to be seen. That of course is another and greater story.