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Southland Times, Issue 18859, 26 June 1920, Page 11

A LITERARY LOG.

( ABOUT BOOKS & BOOKMEN. ] (By ‘lota.*’) June 26, 1920. A Sheaf of Kiddies’ Books. — A barrow load of pleasant looking tomes bearing such titles as Sunny Rhymes for Happy Children,” “Tales of Little Cats,” “Peeps, the Really Truly Sunshine Fairy,” “The Gigglequicks,” “Sunny Bunny,” “Myself and 1” and a number of others, is enough to give any adult reader a twinge of remorse that the days, when one could curl up in a big chair before a rosy fire and drink in every word and every picture, are gone. Looking at tills raft of books, I feel that there is still a great deal of joy in the world for young people and that While learned critics may deplore a falling off in the quality of the novel there is no room for complaint by the nippers, as the new Minister of Education is fond of calling his charges. These new books are all from the house of P. F. Volland Company, New York, the ptLlishers of many fine children’s series. TEC Sunny Series, from which this collection has been sent me by Hy-ndman’s, is just the sort of thing that young folk delight in. There'ie a wide range of interest, books of rhymes, of stories of animals, and boys and girls, of gardens, fairies and other wonderful things. All of them are illustrated in colour and are shown in attractive form. The complete list of titles in the series is:—Sunny Rhymes for Happy Children—Olive Beaupere Miller, Just for You—Pauline Croll, Tales of Little Cats—Carrie Jacobs-Bond, The Little Red Balloon—Caroline Hofman, The Wise Gray Cat—Caroline Hofman, The Princess Finds a Playmate—Caroline Hofman, The Funny Little Book—Johnny Gruelle, Peeps, the Really Truly Sunshine Fairy—Nancy Cox-McConnack, The Gigglequicks—Miriam Clark Potter, Myself and I —Helen Van Valkenburgh, Sunny Bunny—Nina Wilcox Putnam, Come Play With Me —Olive Beaupere Miller, The Lovely Garden-—Fairmont Snyder, Billy Bunny’s Fortune—Elizabeth Gordon, Little Sunny Stories—Johnny Gruelle, Little Bab.s—George Mitchell. In addition to that series I have by me “Rhymes for Kindly Children,” published by the same firm. The verses, which are really delightful, arc by Fairmont Snyder and the illustrations are the work of John B. Gruelle. I can with absolute confidence recommend all these books to parents. The Secrets of Life. —Parents nowadays are alive to the fact that an ignorant child is always in danger, but one of the difficulties that beset them is the maimer in which they may impart information regarding the great secrets of life to the young ones without shocking their sensibilities and giving them incorrect impressions. The day when a child is allowed to pick up this information at a street corner or from children only slightly less ignorant than themselves is passing, and should have passed years ago. In these times there is steadily growing the knowledge that there can be no truth unless we look facts in the face, without trying to side-step issues by talk about what should and what should not be. It is wrong that children should hear about the mysteries of life from lips that are polluted with words from the sewers of the language, guided by minds that are little cess pools, but it is doubly wrong for anybody to think that any child is going to escape the danger of such an education. The only way of meeting that ugly fact of life is to anticipate the purveyor of lewd ideas with an intelligent statement of the great secrets couched in language that is fitted to the child mind and can convey to the boy or girl the real sanctity of human life and of its place in the scheme of things. The time at which this education should begin is the subject of discussion by medical men and educationalists, hut there seems- to he an enormous weight of evidence on the side of those who declare that the time should he governed by the opportunities a child has for gaining knowledge from undesirable quarters. Ur Edith D. Lowry, an American, has given us two books for the assistance of parents in this important task. One is called “Truths” and the other "Confidences.” The first is specially written for boys from the age of ten to fourteen and the second is similarly adapted for girls. The hooks treat the subject in a straightforward way but in simple and noble language. Ideas are conveyed with a delicacy that gives the books inestimable value. The author uses the flowers, the birds and familiar animals for the purpose of approaching her subject and when one reaches the last page, one is satisfied that here is a book worthy of attention of all fathers and mothers. These books can be placed in the hands of the young with confidence and with the knowledge that pood results are inevitable. “Truths” and “Confidcnees” are the first of a series, the others being “Herself,” “Himself” and “False Modesty.” This last trio is designed, of course, for older people. The books are published by Forbes and Co., of Chicago, my copies coming from Hyndman’s. What the Workers Read. —Quite quietly, like the silent rising of a river, there has set in an element of education in England not tabulated in the educational curriculum : it is education by reading, and therefore depends upon what is read. Mr A. Bain Irvine, managing director of the Wavcrley Book Company, has given the public some ideas- of what books the working classes are buying. The great book-buying cenI tres ho gives as the Lanarkshire pit region, the Lancashire pits, the Midlands and South Wales. It is the class of books that are being bought that is interesting, books that the average middle class or upper class reader outside the professional classes would never dream of buying—books which •are stiff reading, books requiring close reasoning and courage to tackle them. They are being read by tens of thousands of workingmen. Such hooks arc: President Wilson's "The State,” Gides’ “Political Economy,” Cities’ and Rist’s “History of Economic Doctrines.” also "Scientific History of the Universe,” in 10 volumes, of which there are at least 3000 sets in South Wales. Of the Standard Dictionary, a sixguinea work, there tire at least 2000 sets in the valleys of Wales. These are only a few from the list Mr Irvine gives. Ten thousand copies of a work entitled “The World We Live In,” which embodies a new method of teaching geography was sold to working men, and of the first 50 copies of a new atlas published 40 copies went to miners. All the time the workingmen arc lending books to one another and the labour guilds are carrying on the educational work. It is Mr Irvine’s opinion that if publishers do not wake up ami produce the type of book (he workingman wants, the co-operative societies will come into the publishing trade and do it for them. Prime Minister’s Prayer.— Lady Georgiana Peel, the daughter of that famous Prime Minister Lord John Russell and the sislcr-in-law of another famous Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, in her recently published book of “Recollections,” writes When Sir Robert Peel was Prime Minister he used daily to say a special prayer, which was found on his dressing-table at- the time ot his death : “Dispose the hearts of ail in high stations to adopt such measures as will preserve public order, foster industry-, and alleviate distress. May true religion flourish and Peace be universal! Grant that, so far as may consist with human weakness, whatsoever is proposed by myself, or others, for the general good may be viewed with candour, and that all well and useful measures may be conducted to a prosperous issue! .... And, O most merciful Father, if 1 should forget Thee do not Thou forget me.” «- Lady Di as Editor. —Lady Duff Cooper, who as Lady Diana Manners was credited with being the best advertised woman in England, has become editor of the English edition of the French magazine Femina. In this, however, she will not be departing from tradition, for the Manners family has always had strong literary taste. Her mother, the Duchess of Rutland, published “Portraits of Men and Women,” and goes in a great deal for drawing, sculpture and plsotography. There are quite a number of writers in the ranks of Eu-dieh society of to-day. Lord Tredegar’s ton who ia an in-

ggnldUg draughtsman its well, has published several books of (moms, and has Just writ- 1 ten a novel which ia-Itb -appear soon. His cousin, Lady Jane Butler ,is thfe author of> a number of podmapas also are Eshcrt and Sacbeve,fell Sitwell (eons bf Lady Ida and Sir George Sit Well). Lord Latbom writes extremely witty and ingenious plays. Another clever Woman is Mrs Christopher Lowtheir, the author of various and varied mimes and ballete and an actress and dancer herself. Ambrose Bierce.— Ambrose Bierce, whose brilliant work is only now being tardily recognised, fought through the, American Civil War, and was breveted major fOr bravery in action. Leaving his native Ohio in 1872, he made his way to London. At that time were flourishing intrepid journalists like George Augustus Sala, Tom Hood, and Captain Mayne Reid. With these and some others. Bierce used to foregather in a cafe in Lmlgate Station and discuss literature and life. His cynicism earned him the title of “Bitter Bierce.” Kipling is said to have been inspired with his ’Recessional” by reading Bierce’s greatest poem, l‘An Invocation.” Gladstone, while routing about a second-hand bookshop, discovered Bierce’s “Cobwebs from an Empty Skull.” The author’s spell in dealing with the occult enchanted the statesman, and his praise did much to make Bierce’s reputation. His stories remind “John of London” sometimes of do Maupassant in their crystal style and personal realism, and at other times, he adds, one cannot help thinking that 0. Henry learned the art of the surprise plot from the earlier master. Some New Publications.—A complete edition of F. Marion Crawford’s novels is announced by an American publishing firm. Crawford’s stories had a great vogue in the ’eighties, and some of them, notably the “Saracinesca” series, are worth re-reading. “A Cigarette Maker's Romance,” “Dr Isaacs,” and “A Roman Singer” were also very popular, and there was a powerfully I written story of Sicilian brigandage, “Corleone.” An American by birth, Crawford lived for many years at Sorrento, near N aplcs. Hodcicr and Stoughton include in their list of new issues “The Man With the Rubber Shoes,” by Sir Alexander Bannerman. It is an up-to-date mufcery story of the post-war period, in which Britain’s enemies plot to wreck her credit and depreciate the currency. Another Ilodder and Stoughton work for publication shortly is “Cardinal Mercier's Own Story.” a record of his long conflict with the German occupiers of Belgium. Heinemann’s have given British people the' chance of renewing acquaintance with Mr Dooley. F. P. Dunne’s latest is entitled “Mr Dooley on Making a Will and Other Necessary Evils.”