LITERATURE and LIFE

Otago Witness, Issue 4030, 9 June 1931, Page 64

LITERATURE and LIFE

THE HOLLY.

The sturdiest o£ forest-trees With acorns is inset; ■ . -1, Wan white blossoms the elder brings To fruit as black as. jet; . But 0, in all green English woods Is aught so fair to view As the sleek, sharp, dark-leaved holly tree And its berries burning through? Towers the ash ; and dazzling green The larch her tassels wears ; Wondrous sweet are the clots of may The tangled hawthorn bears ; But O, in heath or meadow or wold Springs aught beneath the blue As brisk and trim as a holly tr?e bole With its berries burning through? When hither, thither, falls the snow, And blazes small the frost, Naked amid the winter stars. The- elm’s vast boughs are tossed ; But O, of all that summer showed What now to winter’s true As the prickle-beribbed dark holly tree, With berries burnfng.-'throilgh I —Walter De La Mare, in public Opinion.

AFTER THRESHING,

Snugly the .stacks were housed where dips The road; we fondly'thought no day Could' from the winter landscape take Their lovely changelessness away. Now they are gone, the barren field That dreamed of a cloak of golden corn, Onlv to wake in nakedness, • •_ ■ With all ■ its .triumphs garnered, shorn, Sees'how in turn the : stacks: themselves, • Yielding, to Time's slow, winnowing, must Let all .their shapely beauty merge Into a heap of golden - dust ; r .. . .'■ Sees, and with joy its dream renews; It knows the very sun that can Transmute grey chaff, must sink each night After his high meridian. —Madeleine Kent, in the Windsor Magazine. MR JOHN MASEFIELD. By Amicus. Mr John Masefield is, as the saying goes, “younger than you.jvould t think.” He has' been so celebrated for so . long that it is a ' surprise to discover <;that when, last year, he was appointed Poet Laureate, he was-only 52, He was in the early thirties, when he first crashed into celebrity ’ with ..“The Everlasting Mercy,” in the English Review, arid he has ' remained in the public notice ever since. Byron rias said, to .have “ awoke one .morning to find himself famous”: in our own. day no' poet; 'except Mr Masefield has shrived the experience to a Byronic degree; One', week lie.Avas' a young literary journalist, who'ri-rpt’e reviews for the papers,', and was vaguely known to be familiar-with the sea; ; Next week he had been by the Daily Mail and the miracle had happened of the printing presses groaning. - under rm prints of a .monthly review. ‘ The poem was a narrative (and the public likes the jam of story with the powder of poetry) ; it was white-hot with passion; it was simple; it was in the tetrametrical metre which Byron called the easiest to write and which is certainly the easiest to read; it dealt with religion, which is properly the primary human interest; and .those whose delicate nostrils were affronted by the salvationary theme and the crudity of some of the language, were compelled to admire the lyrical power of some passages and the fine genre-painting of others. In the jargon of the Germans during the war, Mr Masefield fbllori'ed up this first triumph with “ successive hammerblows “ The Widow in the Bye Street,” “ Dauber,” and “ The Daffodil Fields,” the last being conspicuously inferior to the others, A less sensational,poem (the best, possibly, of all), was “Biography,” a kinema-series of beautiful and, thrilling experiences to the text, “ Best keep the happy moments.” Most poets’ work would be the better for winnowing: Mr Masefield’s, are more uneven than , those of any other genuine poet known to history. - Psychology is not his strong suit, and a touch more humour would have saved him from a good deal of bathos and sentimental excess. As a poet, perhaps, he takes his mission almost too solemnly; on the other hand, he is modest and has never knowingly done or said a thing which does not coinport with the. “ dignity .of letters,” shrinking from all adventitious publicity, never “ writing down,” and emerging into public only as\the zealous promoter of certain . artistic causes. Opinions differed as to his appointment, on the advice of Mr MacDonald, to the Laureateship; but nobody could dispute that amongst hi s qualifieatiqris' were a reverence for his calling, a profound sympathy for. common humanity, and a generous public'.spirit. Then came the war. MrMasefield’s very ■ irioving and musical August- 1914,” a vision of the England beloved by those who were going t6-'diej\,yvas one' of the finest of the poems inspired by the outbreak. Pilgrimages to the Levant and France produced “ Gallipoli ” and “ The Old e Front Line”—bharits to heroism interwoven with laments over the contrast between tjhe beauty of the landscapes and the hideousness of the carnage

which defiled them. Since the war there has been an immehce production, with “Reynard the Fox” as the peak of achievement. This lovely spirited picture of a hunting day, from the sparkling meet to the trot home under the moon, is less marred than any of Mr Masefield’s narratives by those apparently careless loosenesses of writing (obvious writing to a rhyme, etc.) which are characteristic of him. * The poets loved it and it went into houses which few books except “ Ruff’s Guide ” ever penetrate. Mr Masefield, whom we had previously thought of as the sort of gentle humanitarian who might be found signing manifestoes against “blood sports,” became the hero of the shires. Not all of his later efforts have been so good: his last novel. “ The Hawbucks,” was weak to the point of absurdity. - He lives, in comparative seclusion, on the Oxford Parnassus, Boar’s Hill, a contrast, pointed enough, to the surroundings of his early manhood which saw him. at various times, an apprentice on a sailing ship, a bartender, and a New, York journalist.. Tn view of all that, he might be expected to show traces, in his appearance, of the tough adventurer. Not a bit of it. Nor does he look what poets are expected to look like. For that matter; few poets do nowadays. Long hair and the open collar were killed by the cafe versifiers, who found the sartorial part of the. job the easier. The ordinary modern poet looks like any other respectable young, man: is normally barriered -and wears an old school tie. Mr Masefield resembles Mr A. E. Housman in having a partly military, partly academic, appearance; he might he a refined retired colonel of sanners of the kind that has a diffident smile and dabbles iij archaeology. But in the .musing, melancholy eyes there is something arresting that lingers in the memory and gives the clue to a great deal.—The Spectator;

THE NEWEST BOOKS.

A TIMELY VOLUME. “The Crisis In Australian Finance, 1929 to 1931.” Documents on Budgetary , and Economic Policy. With an Introduction by E. O. G. Shann and D. B. Copland. (Cloth; /55.) Australia: Augus and Robertson,' Ltd. Budgetary deficit's' and cur- ; rcncy. instability are to some ex- . tent cause and effect; the greater the gap in the budget, the greater is the necessity of finding means to fill the gap. In Germany of 1923, the normal resources of taxation being found insufficient, one administration after another was compelled to resort to abnormal (or, indeed} illegitimate) resources'—i.e., each attempted to meet current, necessities by the'printiiig press. This extract from the pen of Lord D’Abernon, who was British Ambassador to Germany during the inflationary period, is quoted in the introduction. Those who urge resort to the printing press are not few, nor are they without influence. The authors describe . this advocacy as “the deterioration of public finance, out of which few countries have emerged without disaster.- Its sponsors excuse this measure on the same grounds that were Urged for .it in post-war Europe.” . To quote Lord D’Abernon again:—

In accordance with the principles of this school of thought the amount of internal currency ,in circulation had little influence on external value. The latter was determined, so they contended, mainly by the passivity or activity of the trade balance. Under such theoretical advice what were the German Government to, do? . They acted on the principle tiiat, as there was an admitted monetary scarcity, the natural, if not the only, way to cure it was to increase the circulation.

Mr Theodore advocates this policy} “The demand for money is greater than the supply. Very well, let us increase the supply.” If financial crises could be overcome in this simple way it may be confidently assumed that a financial crisis would never vex politicians. The professors point out that “ prosperity and buoyant Government revenues -had accustomed the Australian people to high government expenditure and a rising standard of living. Nationalistic ideals had stimulated a forced and costly development. The rising tariff wall, the widening application-of the basic wage, the extension to primary industries °of controlled marketing and protection, old and new, marked the culmination of an era.”. The fall in export prices and the culmination of the loan policy destroyed the basis of these policies. The documents which comprise the greater portion of this book relate to the various proposals to restore the financial equilibrium. They are arranged to indicate the evolution of opinion amoh" responsible groups during the crisis.

Their publication is most timely and valuable. Representing all schools of financial thought they cover the ramifications of finance in its relationship to Australia. Their influence is discernible in the latest developments arising out of the recommendations of the expert committee, whose recommendations have so recently created wide-

rd lesl. Thi< ’<f — Was appointed to prepare a plan for balancing the Commonwealth and <Svace Bm.igeis over a period of years. It includes the Commonwealth statistician, Mr C. H. Wilkens; Mr L. F. Giblin, ’Tasmanian statistician; Professor D. B. Copland, of Melbourne University; Professor Melville; and Professor Shann, adviser to the bank of New South Wales. It made drastic recommendations, including a 20 per cent, reduction in the cost of Government generally, a 20 per cent, cut in the aggregate cost of public servants’ salaries, a corresponding reduction in expenditure on social services, and a tax of 20 per cent, on fixed incomes such as interest on bonds, mortgages, and other investments. " -

This book is most helpful as an aid to understanding the position in Australia, and is certainly not without value as an aid iii overcoming our own difficulties. Tlie authors allow the documents to speak for themselves, but certain phases, in the unfolding and definition of aims are illumined by their, comments. To all who would pretend to understand the present crisis this book is indispensable. , AN APPEALING WOMAN. “ The Colonel’s Daughter.” By Richard Aldington. (Cloth;, (is.) London: Chatto and Windus, Ltd. Father and Mother believed in ‘ “ keeping Georgie young a most convenient means, very common in all classes, of avoiding the responsibilities of education—and this meant in fact a perpetual servitude in statu pupillari, with the result that with the body of a woman, t Gcorgie had the mind, habits, and feelings of a girl of sixteen.

Mr Aldington would have made his description more accurate had he used the words “some girls of sixteen,” for in these days readers of fiction are familiar with soriie very well informed girls of that age. Georgie Smithers was the only surviving daughter 'of Lieuten-ant-colonel Frederic Smithers and his xvife Alvinia. The book opens on a Saturday, aa hen Alvinia had again forgotten many things—this time the Bird’s custard powder, the pound of Danish butter, and “ the indispensable leg of New Zealand mutton.” So Georgie was in a pet, because Cricton was. seven miles away and the only means, of: locomotion was the hated bicycle, Georgie feeling the family should have had a. car, These three persons—the colonel, poor, gay, extravagant, and proud; Alvinia, indifferent housekeeper, - and in her youth a loyei;,of the hounds; Georgie, likable and repressed—occupy most of the pages. Mr Aldington is widely known as a man of letters, Avith a dozen books, including tAvo works of fiction—“ Death to a Hero” and “Roads to Glory”—to his credit. This novel is a step into a Avider sphere, though the aftermath : of the Avar is always present in its influence; on. lives and circumstances. In this, his thirteenth book, Mr Aldington has successfully entered the limited circle of big novelists-—the comparative few in the great army of imagery. He Avrites Avell, though his peculiarities of style are sometimes tedious.

“The Colonel’s Daughter” is-a study of repressed womanhood and a recital ot experiences arising out of an unnatural life. . Georgie is so human and appealing in her natural simplicity that the reader is always-sympathetic. Her father is a capital example, of the retired officer who ■ indulges in a' periodical fling (reminiscent of War days), consistently backing horses in the “also started” qlass,. and generally tangling up Ins affairs. . Throughout the book he upholds tlie army tradition, and provides proofs of the incapacity of the average army officer. As befits a noA-el set in rural England, there are the squire and the village Characters, Some of - these are splendidly draAvn, and some are distinctly clever in their appropriate backgrounds. Mrs Eastcoprt, for instance, is a. type of vicious virtue which can’ be relied on to find evil in everything. Mr Purfleet., a man of whom Dr M'Call declared that he clogged the passages of his mind with too many books and talked more nonSense- in a Aveek than all the rest of the village in a year. On his part, Mr Purfleet explained Dr M'Call’s love of gardening as an imposition imposed on him by Mother Earth as a penance for loading her bosom with so many corpses. These good friends are. always entertaining, especially when, they compare notes on "that abominable hag of Endor, Mother Eastcourt.” Both Purfleei

and Dr M'Call are friends of Georgie, as are many others in. the village. The climax of the book is ‘masterly. Georgie is engrossed in entertaining Geoffrey Hunter-Payne, from whom she and the village expects a proposal.} The days roll on, and Georgie appears to be losing rather than Avinning the heart of the visitor, who is on leave from duties abroad. When Geoffrey is eventually falling in love with a friend of Georgie’s the colonel is suddenly stricken Avith double pneumonia, and, after a gallant struggle, dies. Alvinia is useless in the crisis. Everything is in a muddle. The coloneFs estate is hopelessly involved in debt, his private affairs will not bear general examination. It falls to the faithful Georgie to help to straighten things out, and some of the revelations contained in the colonel’s private papers Avere never intended 'for her eyes. But she is brave, and meets tragedy Avith nobility of character and personal courage. The epilogue is original, and the book has more than a suggestion of genius. SOMEWHAT PUZZLING. “ The Sound and the Fury.” By William Faulkner. With an Introduction by Richard Hughes. (Cloth;, fis.) London:. Chatto and Windus, Ltd. ... I defy an. ordinary reader to disentangle the people and events concerned af a first reading. But the beauty of it is this: there is no need to disentangle anything. If one ceases to make the effort, one soon finds that this strange rigmarole holds one’s attention on its own merits. Vague forms of people and events apparently unre- ■ la ted, loom out of the‘fog and disappear again. One is seeing the Avorld through the eyes of an idiot: but so clever is Mr Faulkner that, for the' time being at least, one is content to do so.

These words are from the introduction byAir. Hughes. He has read “ The Sound and . the Fury” three times, and he offers an explanation of its purpose, an interpretation of its meaning, a justification for its Avriting, and some Avords of encouragement for the reader. The book is most difficult to read once. It may be that the book becomes clearer with a second reading and is quite devoid of difficulty at. a third. We have neither the time, the inclination,, nor the industry to attempt it. We are prepared to accept the ; Avord of Mr Hughes, Avhich -is entitled to weight because of his place, in ’the literary world, but we would hesitate to try his experiment.. Mr Faulkner’s first novel, “ Soldier’s Pay,”, was clever, and Mr Hughes supplied the introduction there. His judgrnent Avas sure with respect to that book; and perhaps it is equally .so in the present case; .

“ The Sound, and the Fury” is presented in four parts, original- in their setting—“ April Seventh, -1928,” June Second, 1910,”- “April Sixth, 1928,” “ April Eighth, 1928.” Says Mr Hughes: With-the.second part the fog begins to clear. • The narrator iioav is one:of these vague figures, a brother of . Quentin, Avho committed .suicide at Harvard in 1919; and he describes with a beautiful sense of ironical tragedy and ironical farce his last day alive. With the third and fourth parts, Avhich return to the present day’ the fog rolls away altogether, the formless, sizeless, positionless. shapes looming through it condense, to living people: the story’ quickens.- It is here this'curious method is finally justified: for one finds, in a flash, that one knoAvs all about them, that one has understood more -of Benjy’s sound-and fury than-one had realised:, the Avhole story becomes actual to one at a single moment. It is impossible to describe the effect produced, because it is unparalleled; the thoughtful reader must find it for > himself. It. all appears like .an exercise in mental gymnastics. The publishers describe it as “a very remarkable Avork,” Mr Hughes as “an important story.” It would be interesting to hear the comment of “ the thoughtful reader?’ A FAMILY AFFAIR. “Francis.”, By Daphne Lambart. , (Cloth; 55.) London and Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, Ltd. “Women love more than men. That’s true . . .isn’t it .. isn’t it? Do men forget?”. “ Women forget.” ' i : “Oh,, no! it is always I the Avontan avlio remembers.”

Miss Daphne Lambart made a name and the beginning of a reputation Atith her first novel “Shard.” She Avas then very young, and is now not much older. For it she earned much praise, gaining from one reviewer the title of “ a mathematician of souls.” In spine degree she has followed the plan of her first adventure in literature—she dissects a family which is interested first in' a memory and then in a final presence of Francis. The characters are quite ordinary folk, but Miss Lambart takes much pains to make them very real—to register their very ordinary opinions, and to probe their feelings. She displays unusual penetration and makes plain things plainer. 'Those who were attracted by “Shard” will .find comparisions engrossing. The whole is excellently constructed though some, readers will doubtless find the literary style someAvhat trying. Like “ Shard ” it will be Avidely discussed in literary circles', because it is a notable production. The general -verdict will, hoAvever, be favourable, as it undoubtedly should be.

JAMES BRANCH CABELL AGAIN., The Certain Hour.” By. James Branclt Cabell. (Cloth; fis net.) London: John Lane (the Bodley. Head, LtdL A collection of short stories having naught in common beyond the feature that each-. . deals Avith the affairs du cdeur of a poet.

It was thought that we had received, the last of Mr Cabell’s books when “ The Way of Ecben ” appeared last year. But here is “The Certain Hour” denying that statement and seeming to prove that the last book of the distinguished American writer is not yet to hand. This is not a neAV book, however.. It. appeared in America in 191fi, and is an example of Mr Cabell’s earlier work. Vet, it leaves one Avondering lioav many others, of its kind still remain to be republished, and Avhen the very last of “ Jurgen’s ” successors AA’ill make its. appearance. <

As the quoted extract above says, “ The Certain Hour” is a collection - of short stories dealing with the love affairs of a poet. . The idea of selecting that hour in Avhich a man comes face to face Avith himself and reveals the temper of his spirit is as novel as is Mr Cabell’s method of taking real poets as his heroes—real poets, that is, for the most part. Some of the heroes of the “ certain hours ” described ‘ in this collection belong, we think, only to Mr Cabell’s universe, not to anybody - else’s. The episodes with their high moments and gestures of valour, demand much of the hero, Avho generally meets it /with even more than is required. The result is piquant, and if not too many others of Mr Cabell's books are known to the readers, novel.

James Branch Cabell, avlio is essentually a romantic, has a style of his oavii and a decided flair for story-telling. He writes beautiful, fluent English, and selects charming and unusual plots; But one wonders if he is altogether Avise to continue this business of re-publishirig early Avork Avhich bears no comparison to some of his later Avork. One is apt to grow tired of the roiriaiitic short story, no matter lioav Avell told or polished it be, and to become bored by the finest of elegant speeches. As has been said, however, the success of '‘The Certain Hour” depends chiefly on the reader. Those new to Mr Cabell’s Avritings Avill enjoy it immensely, . and ..take special pleasure in its introduction. Others for whom the novelty of a “ Cabell.” book has Avorn off Avill be more impressed Avith Mr Frank C. Pape’s coyer design than Avith the contents of the. book itself. GHOST STORIES. “They Walk Again”: An anthology of ghost stories chosen by Colin de la Mare. With an introduction byWalter de la MSre. (Cloth; 7s fid net.). London: Faber and Faber, Ltd. • Detective stories and ghost stories haA’e a good deal in common, and the differences be- ' tween them are peculiarly’ in- • teresting. . . . As soon, lioaveA’pr, as Ave are sure of the criminal, our interest is apt rapidly to Avane. “ Finis ’’ usually leaA’es us a little cold, and the tale fades quickly Out of mind. NeA’er so Avith a fine ■ ghost story. That leaves us—as it should leave us.

It Avill depend on the individual temperament of the reader which of the ghost stories in this anthology leaves him—“ as it should leave him.” But that one at least Avill produce the desired effect is certain, the range of tales being so wide and varied. The writer of this revieAA' confesses to having been merely interested until Oliver Onions’s “The Beckoning Fair One” Avas read, after AAhich a groAving sense of “the creeps” became apparent and remained—as it was right that it should remain—long aftei the book was finished. The method of attack—if one may’ call it such—Avas similar to that described by Mr Walter de la Mare in his introduction, in Avhich he says:——

“In the ghost story the liints and dues, the decoy notes} stir and arouse states, of feelings. They are the furtive fingerings of the breeze, we the harpstrings. It proceeds towards its denouement, and that may be soft ‘as the Avhisper south wind, by’ evoking in us a series of unusual sensations and of rarified conditions of mind. . . . From its first page onwards, by means of subtle and cumulative innuendoes, every’ masterAvord a talisman, avo must be laid under such a spell as, Avill induce, us to realise that , avo are in the presence and under the influence of something as far bevond normal sensibilities as it ,is beyond human control. Apprehension even of the skeletal hand of the Law- is coarse by comparison.”

Every story in this collection, the Av-hole including many of the best ghost stories written in English, will affect some type, of reader in this mariner. The principle of selection has been to brinotogether stories that differ from one another as much as possible—the uneasv, the fantastic, the uncanny, -the gruesome and to awaken in the reader not only uneasiness, but also terror, horjor, disgust, compassion, even reassurance and resignation. With this object in view many of the most familiar ghosi stories — “ *i ld ,favourites ’’—have been omitted., ( Indeed, the majority of .those included are .either as yet little known or of a kind not usually found; in similar collections,'though every orie is sin outstanding example of its own particular variety.

Mr Colin de la Mare is. to be congratulated on his choice of story, and Mt Walter de la Mare on his admirable introductory essay. The authors represented include Algernon Blackwood, Edith Wharton, Dr Montagu James, Lord Dunsany, Walter de la Mare, W. W. Jacobs, Dr L. P. Jacks, Richard Middleton, Sheridan le Fanu, and others equally well known.

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

A letter written by Keats when he was Jiving in Hampstead in 1818, telling of an illness, fetched £330 at a recent London sale.

“Mary Webb: A Study of Her Life and Work,” by Hilda Addison, was published by Cecil Palmer after Easter.

M. Pierre Benoit, the well-known French novelist, has been for the second time seriously injured in a motor accident. The first occasion was in October, 1929.

An essay by Professor Greenlaw on “ The Province of Literary History ” is being issued immediately.

Mr Gabriel Wells, the American book collector, has arrived in London. He will probably stay until July.

An illustrated study of “ The English Medieval Feast,” by William E. Mead, has been published.

Mr Charles Malam, whose first novel, “ The City Keep,” recently appeared, is a Rhodes scholar at present in residence at Oxford.

A collection of poems by Aldous Huxley, entitled “ The Cicadas,” was recently published.

The second volume of Sir Arnold Wilson’s work, “ Loyalties—Mesopotamia, 1917-20,” contains an account of the final operations of the war, and proceeds to describe the growth of the Civil Administration of Iraq. •

Sir Josiah Stamp reveals a wide range of interests in his new book, announced under the title “ Criticism and Other Addresses.”

Mr John Hampson, the young author of a clever first novel, “ Saturday Night at the Greyhound,” comes from Birmingham, where his father is part proprietor of a local theatre. His real name is not Hampson, but Simpson.

“ The Growth of Freedom in Education,” by Professor W. J. M’Callister, is an historical and philosophical study of this phase of educational development from the time of the Greeks to the present day. ¥ * Once a page-boy of Dickens, Mr Isaac Armatage has died in London at the age of 77.. He was 16 when he joined Die- ® kens’ household at Gad’s Hill. On the night when the novelist had his fatal seizure Mr Armatage rode on horseback to fetch a doctor.

Mr Edmund Blunden has been elected to a fellowship and tutorship in English literature at Merton College, Oxford. His duties will begin from October 1. The college has also given an honorary fellowship to Mr George Francis Hill, the director and principal 'librarian of the British Museum.

To an illustrated study of “ Shakespeare in Rumania,” by Marcu Beza, a bibliography is appended of translations of Shakespeare into Rumanian and Rumanian writings on Shakespeare.

Mlle Alexandra Tolstoy, daughter of the famous Russian author, has been unable to secure a passport to visit Canada because she is on bad terms with the Soviet Government. She is at present on a lecture tour in Japan.

Mr F. J. Harvey Darton has written a study of English hunting literature, “ From Surtees to Sassoon.” An appendix is devoted to clues to “ The Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man.”

Professor H. J. C. Grierson, who selects the books to be awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, has been professor of rhetoric' and English literature in Edinburgh University since 1915. This year the fiction prize went to Miss E. H. Young’s “ Miss Mole,” and that for biography to Major Francis Yeats-Brown’s “ Bengal Lancer.”

Miss Doris Peel, author of “ Five on Parade,” had her first novel accepted for publication before she was twenty. This is her second. She.was born in Essex in 1908, but shortly afterwards her family emigrated to Canada, moving later to the United States. She hopes to visit England during the spring.

The house in Warwick Crescent, Paddington; which was for over twenty-five years the home of Robert Browning, has been purchased by the Children’s Clinic, of Clarendon Road, W. It will be their headquarters. In this house Browning wrote “the Ring and the Book” and many other poems. ■“

. Mr Richard Hughes, whose novel “ A High Wind in Janiica” has just been awarded the Fehiina Vie Heureuse prize for 1930-31, is at present taking lessons in flying. Mr Hughes was born in 1900, and has led a roving life since he came down from Oxford. He spent a good deal of last year in North Africa.

Major F. E. Verney, who has written a first novel, is the officer who formulated and drew up the detailed scheme for the burial of the Unknown Warrior. During the war he served with a Devonshire regiment, and later was deputy assistant adjutant and quarter-master-general in South Africa.

Mr Julian Duguid, whose remarkable book, “ Green Hell,” dealing with a journey through the forests of South America, appeared recently, is considering another expedition, this time down one of the lesser-known tributaries of the Amazon. At present Mr Duguid is a schoolmaster, and at one time he worked as a journalist in London. He is 28, and was educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford.

Miss Eliot Bliss, author of the novel “Saraband,” was born in Jamaica 27 years ago. She was educated at a convent in England and at University College. Since leaving there she has worked as a journalist, as a teacher of ballet dancing, and as secretary-chauffeuse to a parliamentary candidate. A book of her poems will probably appear later in the year.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

A new complete story by P. G. Wodehouse —“ Fate ” —is a feature of the May number of the Strand Magazine. F. Britten Austin, E. Phillips Oppenheim, “ Bartimaeus,” Temple Thurston, Denis Mackaill, and G. R. Malloch are other writers of fiction, while the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill, P.C., Hugo N. Bolton, and A. P. Cartwright contribute the following articles: “Mass Effects in Modern Life,” “ The Jockey Club,” .and “ Dinners and Diners in the House of Commons.”

The third number of Music in New Zealand contains an interview with Joseph Hislop, an article on “ The ’Cello,” “ Memories of Vienna,” by Alfred Bunz, the second in a series of talks on “ The Professional Music Teacher,” an account of bell-ringing, by Gladys'E. Watkins, anecdotes of Dvorak as a teacher, accounts of concerts and recitals, and musical notes from various centres. The subject of this month’s popular article, “ Leading New Zealand Musicians,” is Dr W. E. Thomas.

The June number Qf Weldon’s Bazaar of Children’s Fashions (Messrs Gordon and Gotch), contains five free patterns—a girl’s coat (7-8 years), a boy’s blouse suit, a small girl’s frock (3-4 years), and a girl’s flared dress and flounced dress (11-12 years). There is also a gratis transfer for scalloping. The fashions include dresses for cottons and artificial silks, coats, sports clothes, playtime suits, and undies, etc.,. while the special articles include—“ Happier Baby Bureau” (conducted by Nurse Vincent), “ Cookery,” “ Beauty for the Schoolgirl,” “ Editorial Chat for Mother and Child,” Needlework.” and “ Instruction for Knitting a Small Girl’s Bathing Suit.” A complete story and a Children’s Birthday Club complete the table of contents.