BOOKS REVIEWED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 263, 27 January 1928, Page 14

BOOKS REVIEWED

Of the Life that is good to live. Of the Death that is good to die. I think Dick Harris had "the strength of the defeated,” and inarched bravely, but without hope, towards the dark, believing that death fs in very fact “finis to a story told.” And after that grave conclusion a holidaymaker needs some Wodehouse. ALICE A. KENNY. Paeroa.

SEEN IN THE CRYSTAL rpo speak of Phil May conjures up visions of blowsy “Coster gals wiv fevvers.” Mention of George Belcher brings before the mind an endless procession of garrulous tnd bibulous old dames with elastic-sided boots and kitbags which bulge mysteriously. Most of the great humorous artists of,England have one type in particular which they make their own. Mr. Charles Grave, one of Mr. Punch’s lieutenants, makes the Royal Navyfind the Merchant Marine his field,

with an occasional excursion among the Lascars and Chinese. In “Bluejackets and Others.” representative work from “Punch” has been gathered together. Each page carries extra weight in the shape of a tailpiece supplementary to the original and some of these little vignettes are quite as' amusing as the sketches proper. With Mr. Grave, the joke is inseparably wedded to the drawing, and it would be impossible to tear asunder «uch pleasantly-united couples. One in the present collection lends itself, however, to a temporary divorce. A bluejacket of the old-time pugilist stamp, looking capable of the proverbial “pitch-and-toss or murder.” is earnestly discussing aesthetics ».ver a mug of beer with a landsman. Says he: “The general idea is that sailors are all rough and tough blokes. But put me in a garden where there’s roses and I’m just like a bit o’ condensed milk.” Excellent hunting here. Appropriately enough a foreword has been supplied by “Bartimeus.” / “Bluejackets and Others.” Methuen and Co., London. Our copy from the publishers. A French Hero. We first became acquainted with the work of John Lesterman in a welltold tale of the sea, “The Adventures of a Trafalgar Lad,” which gave us a taste for more. Mr Lesterman has done a second good deed by writing "A Sailor of Napoleon.” It is rather a novelty to have a sea story, written for British boys and old boys, with a French hero, but the author gets over one dlfflcuty very well, by making the hero pally with a British midshipman who is a prisoner of war. The departure from the beaten track of naval stories of the Napoleonic Wars gives author and reader fresh points of view, and the book is historically Interesting as well as a rattling good yarn. Rowland Hilder is a very satisfying illustrator, in black and white and in colour, of adventures by land and sea, and has done many fine pictures for the book. “A Sailor of Napoleon.” John Lesterman. Jonathan Cape. Our copy from the publisher. Mrs Winthrop’s Mistakes. “The Winthrops’' is a tale of misplaced energy, love and hate. Mrs Wintbrop is a "good” woman who is fully convinced that her place is at the head of the family. Her hußband she treats with disdain, her daughter commits suicide because of the mother’s interference with her love affair, her sister is the victim of her arrogance; but her son John, whose god is “Big Business," is the apple of her eye. For him she is prepared to Bteal, to lie, or to die, if need be. Her faith in his brilliance transcends all else. The two of them have visions of wonderful things for John. He, however, forges his father’s signature for a large sum and gets 20 years in gaol. This kills the father, but the mother thinks it a miscarriage of justice and moves heaven a”d earth for the son’s release. She fails, after bolstering John up with the belief that she is sure of success, and visits the gaol to tell him so. He turns on her and reviles her for her hypocrisy and blames her for his downfall. She rushes away heartbroken at the treachery of her beloved son, reviews her conduct to the rest of the family and attempts a reformation. The book is cleverly constructed; but the probabilities of -incident and character are stretched too far for the book to impress its lesson deeply. Perhaps a hen-pecked husband may think it a good present for his wife, as a handy sermon on the folly of egoism. "The Winthrops.” Sybil Norton. Brentano s, Ltd. Our copy from the publishers. Mr Murry’s Progress. Seven or eight years ago Mr John Middleton Murry published “The Evolution of an Intellectual,” a book which recorded in a series of papers the first steps of the process which led him to what he feels profoundly is knowledge and truth. He was “an intellectual”—he is now a mystic, as his friends call him—"an emotional crank,” as his enemies call him, a reasonable man, as he calls himself. Judgment on the point belongs (if to any) to those,who have read not this book only, but his “Adelphi” papers, his "Life of Jesus,” his study of Keats, and other more recent writings. We shall pass none, except so far as to say that Mr Murry is one of the most scrupulously honest men alive, honest with himself and with his readers, and it is never anything but a deeply interesting task to follow this truth-loving mind in its attempt

to lgihten darkness. The book deserved to be re-issued, and "The Travellers’ Library” is the richer for it. “The F.volutlon of an Intellectual.” John Middleton Murry. Jonathan Cape: “The Travellers’ Library. Our copy from the nublisher. Seen In the Crystal One of the latest murder mysteries to be solved by the amazing detectives of fiction is that in which a celebrated author (at least, he should be celebrated, for he amasses a fortune by his writings) is decapitated, after having been shot. The head is packed in plaster, placed in an old biscuit tin, put in cold storage, and then returned to the strongroom in the family home. The author’s wife is a crystal gazer, and the ill-fated man had signed a cheque for the trifling sum of £70,000 for the purchase of a certain famous crystal for her amusement when he disappeared. It is a particularly gruesome case, in which several persons who could reasonably have a motive for the murder are under suspicion, while the real murderer is not revealed until the last minute—and he hadn’t sufficient rea-

son for pulling the author’s nose, apart from murdering him. The plot is unnecessarily involved, but for those who like their thrills well seasoned (and who are willing to believe in the possibility of impossible detectives) the tain “gets over.” “The Clifford Affair,” by A. Fielding. Collins and Co., Ltd. Our copy from tile Auckland branch, Wyndham Street. Religion To-day “A Picture of Religion in England To-day,” by the Rev. W. H. Draper, Master of the Temple, is sketched on a wide canvas. The author looks out upon ecclesiastic England, upon his Church and others. He knows nothing of the art of the retoucher. The author examines religion in England through Anglican eyes; yet where he sees his Church in error he does not hesitate to say so. No discussion on contemporary religion can avoid reference to the Anglo-Catholics, the party in power in the Church of England to-day. Throughout the book sounds an unmistakable note of faith in the future of religion in England. In clear and unacademic language the Master of the Temple conveys an honest impression of religion as it actually touches English life at the moment. The first three chapters are rather difficult to negotiate. One is conscious of brief sermons deftly interlarded among the salient points of his argument. Succeeding pages reveal more of “the high-lights” and irrelevant scraps of doctrine cease to disturb the unfolding of the purpose of an instructive work. “A Picture of Religion in England Today.” Methuen and Co., Ltd., London. Our copy from the publishers.