Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 351, 11 May 1928, Page 14

Books Reviewed

STALKY HIMSELF. A PAT LITTLE BEAST with a Tile temper, brought up by half-a-dozen females in an atmosphere of "dont’s,” and then, without benefit of companionship with other boys, thrown into a new public school in which he was much the youngest of some 200 boys, who quickly discovered that his name was Lionel—that was the material from which a famous man was moulded. At one time, when he was about eight years old, he decided to commit suicide, by drowning, but changed his mind after he had got himself very wet. A loose flap in a big circus tent, discovered just after he had decided to defer the suicide, .gave him a new outlook on life. So he who has become famed in literature as Rudyard Kipling’s “Stalky,” and in the history of the Great War as the leader of Dunsterforce, was saved to a world which was not grateful until many years later. “Stalky’s Reminiscences,” as MajorGeneral Lionel C. Dunsterville has called his book of recollections, would be well worth while even if it only threw some light on Kipling’s school days and the genesis of “Stalky and Co.” It is doubly welcome because, apart from the Westward Ho days, and the strange adventure of Dunsterforce, Major-General Dunsterville has had a diversified military life, with many interesting experiences, and he has told us of the lighter side of it unpretentiously and well, and with humour. There are parts that will not please Prohibitionists. He attributes his later robust health to illicit early consumption of rum and stout! Rum-and-eggs had been prescribed for an invalid sister who hated the decoction. Lionel liked it, and so for a long time the sister took the honour and the boy took the profit. Later, in his school days, he had an anaemic friend whose parents paid extra for their son to have a small bottle of stout at night. The rightful owner didn’t like the stout, and young Dunsterville helped him out of his difficulty. He was at Westward Ho some years before Kipling, and one judges that the foundation of “Stalky” had been pretty well laid before Kipling arrived, though "Stalky” himself disclaims ever having been as clever as

he was portrayed in the book. There is enough to show, though, that Rudyard Kipling found good material to work on, and to suggest that the characters of boys and masters presented in “Stalky and Co.” were exaggerated but little, if at: all. The later part of these reminiscences is very different from the type of book usually written by retired generals. This particular general seems to have been rather unconventional. He gives many bright views, from unorthodox angles, of soldiering in Northern India, China (in the Boxer troubles), and the Great War. It is a book to be read through and then put on a shelf whence it can be easily reached from an armchair, for dipping into with the after-dinner pipe. “Stalky’s Reminiscences.” Major-General L. C. Dunsterville. Jonathan Cape, Ltd., London. Our copy from the publishers. “Have a Heart!” “Have a Heart,” by Clara Sharpe Hough, is the story of a couple happily married until the serpent, in the form of a handsome man, enters their garden of life. David Morley, a newspaper editor, who idolises his first

edition, never dreams that he is leaving his beautiful wife alone too mucn. Consequently, the triangle appears—two men and a woman. Rather wilfully, and for reasons best understood by psychologists, husband and wife become estranged, and this estrangement grows upon them until it is a real barrier to their happiness. Then, at this stage, the triangle becomes a square—two men and two women. How David Morley and his wife, Serena, finally come back to their happy married life makes very interesting reading. The book gives a very good impression of the hurry and bustle of a newspaper office, and is not lacking in incident, though a rather long preamble makes the reader wonder when the real story, will commence. “Have a Heart,” by Clara Sharpe Hough, Methuen and Co., London. Our copy direct from the publishers. '‘Business First” A strong case for the need of a business being able to ascertain from day to day, down to the most minute details, the results of every one of its transactions, is made by Dr. O. Wunderlich in his latest book, “Business First in Accountancy.” In other words, he adduces a logical argument for a daily stocktaking based on current values. “Business First in Accountancy,” by Dr. O. Wunderlich. Our copy comes direct from the publishers, Angus and , Robertson, Sydney. Medical Opinion on Birth-Control “Medical Help on Birth-Control” is the title of a book published by Putnam’s, “in response to a widely-felt need, expressed by the ‘Church Times/ which said, ‘The public hqs a right to better guidance from doctors than it gets at present in this matter/ ” No fewer than 14 doctors, including Sir William Arbuthnot Lane and Sir James Barr, have contributed papers on the subject, all in favour of birth-control to limit families to circumstance. “Medical Help on Birth-Control,” G. P. Putnam’s, Sons, London and New York. Our copy from the publishers. A Thesis on Vitalism In “The Future of Life,” C. E. M. Joad philosophises—knowing about as much of the future as the rest of us. We are, he says, the torchholders of evolution. “The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have leisure enough to know whether we are happy or not.” A readable little book. “The Future of Life,” by C. E. M. Joad, Putnam’s Sons, Ltd., London and New York. Our copy from the publishers. “Fallinq Seeds” This is the story of a woman who does not appreciate a husband who is infinitely too good for so slight a character. She invites a would-be lover to the house in the husband’s absence, but, becoming terrified of her contemplated infidelity, gives him a blow instead of a caress. Later, unable to resist the wanton that is in her, she deserts child and husband for a former lover, with whom she lives for several days before the ever-faithful husband rescues her —and takes her home again. The ending of the tale shows a wife who is truly penitent—and who will probably remain faithful until the next temptation makes its irresistible call. It is the sort of a book that is written by a woman. “Falling Seeds,” by Elisabeth Cobb Chapman. Methuen and Co., London. Our copy from the publishers. After a Hundred Years. In “The Secret Memoirs of the Duchesse d’Abrant&s” is revealed a secret which has been tight-locked for a century, and with it comes to light the explanation of many obscure details in the history of Napoleon’s declining reign. In 1800 Laura married Junot, Napoleon’s Aide, Military Governor of Paris, a dashing but unruly soldier, a brilliant and capricious lover. Marriage tamed neither wife nor husband —each found consolation for the frailty of the other. Metternich, the great Austrian statesman, was one of Laura's consolations and the cause of a stormy scandal; for Junot objected. But Junot went campaigning with the Grand Army in Russia, and to Metternich succeeded Maurice de Balincourt. All Laura’s devotion was attached to him, and for many years. She was jealous, tyrannous, extravagant, perhaps unbearable; or she would have been unbearable had she not loved him with a passion which made her, in her happy moods, a creature whose charm might be forgiven anything and paid everything. Actually, Maurice did love her, so well that he nearly ruined himself for her sake. This book is in the main the record of their love, and of much that was involved in it and explained by it. When the Empire fell, the Duchesse found in her memory literary resources which helped her to face a world of misfortune; but, though she filled 28 volumes with her memoirs, at least one State secret she kept close. Here it is—told after 100 years, and a moving love-story with it. There would be no point in revealing that secret here—that is what the book is for; and it is worth reading if only to discover it. But the romance is thrown in, and so the reader gets very good value for his money. “The Secret Memoirs of the Duchesse d’Abrantes.” Edited by Robert Chantmesse, and translated from the French by Eric Sutton. Jonathan Cape. Our copy from the publisher. The Just-Miss Woman. Hermione was a woman who seemed to wake up to things just too late. For example, she woke up to the benefits of school and education in her last week at school; she woke up to the fact that she loved her husband—whom she married in order to solve the problem ot what she should do in life —when he went to the war. Of course, the person whom Kipling calls the "tertium quid” stepped into the affair, and took Hermitme’s husband. One would have thought that Hermione would have let him go, and made the best of a bad Job. She did not do that for a while, but eventually sought divorce. Whai happened after that divorce is the most interesting part of “Stinging Nettles.” by G. I. Whitham—quite a good story, even if not far off the beaten track. The author, however, has an irritating habit of dragging into the narrative quotations, complete with quotation marks. Sometimes the quotations from Malory are well-used, but generally the use of scraps and tags of prose and verse is not in the least necessary. "Stinging Nettles.” G. 1. Whitbnm. Hodler and Stoughton, Ltd., London. Our cops o )nt the publishers’ Australian represen-