Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 537, 14 December 1928, Page 14

Books Reviewed

CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY. LET Mr D. B. Wyndham Lewis and G. C. Heseltine describe their own unorthodoxy in anthologising Christmas: The following essentials to any Christmas Anthology will be found nowhere in this Anthology: extracts from Dickens, Pepys (with one exception), and (with one exception) Washington Irving, and reference (with one exception) to Father Christmas; also fake-Gothic carols (including Good King Wcnceslas), robins, property Yule-logs, synthetic snow, red-faced jovial Squires, wigs by Clarkson, Ye Olde Englysshe Yuletyde Cheere (18 —), and all manifestations of the Christmas Supplement. Ha! But, as Tennyson observed, “though much is taken, much abides”; and we have a book, “freely ranging the ages from St. Hilary of Poitiers to

Mr Pooler, —nay, from the Saturnalia of Martial’s Rome to the more ladylike revellings of post-war London — all mixed up jovially like a Christmas Pudding. As Joly Wat says (on pages 4 and 5), and to take a small liberty with him—“Ut lioy! For in this Pudding they make so much joy.” Herrick and Beiloc side by side, Martial and the heavenly Pooter, Froissart and Peacock, Daudet and a XVII Century German cradle song: jovially—and beautifully—mixed; and not without that spice of irony which the observant reader has detected above, either. On page 23 we find CluttonBrock, writing in “The Times,” with exquisite feeling and sense, on the Christmas fraternisation of the hostile armies.in France. Beneath is quoted Field-Marshal Lord -French —-“When this was reported to me I issued immediate orders to prevent any recurrence of such conduct, and called the local commanders to strict account, which resulted in a good deal of trouble.” Again, ha! Listen to this: The recipe for Christmas Carol Punch has been composed specially for this book by a cocktail artist of international repute, Mr “Harry” McElhone of Paris, whose gracious and instant response affected us as much as Michael Angelo’s sudden consent to design a hen-house would have affected an obscure Renaissance poul-try-farmer of high principles but weak heart. You dissolve a quarter of a pound of sugar in . . . No, no! Impossible to give that away! Buy the book and join Joly Wat in chanting “Ut hoy!” “A Christmas Book.” Compiled by D. B. Wyndham Lewis and G. C. Heseltine. J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. Our cojjy from the publishers. Anastasia—Or Not? AVER the identity of the woman 'who claims to be the Grand Ducliess Anastasia, daughter of the late Tsar of Russia, there is endless controversy. One camp adheres to the belief that she is an impostor; the other, which includes her cousin, Princess Xenia (Mrs. Wm. B. Leeds), avers that the evidence in her favour is too great to be disregarded. Mrs. Harriet von Rathlef-Iveilman, w r ho has befriended the mystery-woman for many years, has written a book which does not claim to establish the title of “Madame X.,” but sets forth clearly and fairly the evidence that has been collected over a period of years—depositions, conversations arid letters . . all forming a chain that would convince the most sceptical that, at least, there is much to be said in favour of the grand-duchess theory. The unknown woman’s recollections of early life at the Court of the Emperor Nicho-

las, of the Empress, the GrandDuchesses and the Tsarevitch—to say nothing of innumerable aunts and uncles —are uncannily accurate according to those who were closely connected with the Imperial Court at St. Petersburg. “Madame X.” passed through many vicissitudes after her escape from Russia and bore a child to a peasant who assisted in her rescue. She married this man in Bucharest. Following an attempt at suicide, she was placed in a mental hos* j

i pltal—but lier recovery, mentally, bas been almost complete. She speaks no Russian, however. Possibly some form of amnesia would account for it. She bears scars on her head from a serious and brutally-inflicted wound. But although she speaks no Russian, a question suddenly put to her in that tongue will evoke a sensible reply—in German, with a broken accent. Imperious, capricious, resentful, suspicious, indignant, affectionate, mercurial ... all these adjectives might be applied in her varying moods. The I gamut, it will be admitted, is not, | entirely incompatible with the tem- | perament of a Russian grand-duchess. I The book has a distinct interest for i those who have read carefully the I claims issued from time to time on j behalf of this Romanov. That the > Dowager-Empress would not see her | is not an effective answer to the im- ■ postor story. Marie Feodorovna was j old. She believed her son to be still j living. To admit that a granddaughter had escaped from Siberia would have been to admit a wholesale slaughter. ... At all events here is a human document that will interest many. It is illustrated with many photographs so arranged as to afford glimpses, in parallel fashion, of the Grand-Duchess Anastasia and Madame X. The resemblance in some cases is extraordinary. Madame X. would certainly pass for a Romanov not only “in the dusk, with the light behind her,” as Gilbert would express it, but in the full noontide. “Anastasia. The Survivor of Ekaterinburg.” Translated from the German by P S Flint. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, London and New York. Our copy from the publisher. Diving in Tropic Seas Beneath the seas are superb gar- j dens, with colour harmonies that j baffle description and graceful floral j shapes such as no gardener ever con- j ceived in his most romantic dreams. Those who know the coral gardens of Fiji and Tonga and other Pacific islands alid the wonderful undersea attractions along the Californian littoral will readily understand the lure of the limpid waters that calls so insistently to Dr. William Beebe, Director of the Department of Tropical Research of the New York Zoological Society. Dr. Beebe has written many fascinating articles and books; none more so that “Beneath Tropic Seas,” which is a record of diving among the coral reefs of Haiti, magic island where Jean Christophe once held sway from a mighty mountain castle that still causes the tourist to gape, finding so grim a fortress in so unexpected a place. Dr. Beebe does not write a scientific treatise in this book: it is a pleasant chronicle of the wonders he has seen. He is persuasive, too. The pity of it is that Haiti lies so far from these shores. Possessing a deep knowledge of his subject, the author is yet able to write for the layman a narrative of courting and fighting and divorcing —they have their dramas under the sea —that is at the same time interesting and informative. But the author does not keep us under water all the time. There is a chapter on those marvellous midgets, the hum-ming-birds; another on the flying gurnard; another on sponges. The book is illustrated with excellent photographs, many taken under the water, and contains a particularly striking frontispiece, “No Man’s Land Five Fathoms Down,” painted by Zarb Pritchard on a coral reef in the lagoon of Maraa, in Tahiti. An admirablyproduced book. "Beneath Tropic Seas.” With sixty illustrations. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Ltd., New York and London. The Knickerbocker Press. Our copy from the publishers. Knowing the World Everyone at some time or other desires at least a smattering knowledge of world politics and international relations. Most of us, for instance, like to feel that we know what the League of Nations is doing, what it stands for, and what effect its abolition would have upon the world. Moreover, the modern reader of political books must have his subject treated brightly, yet with a deep and sound understanding of what it all means. These qualities are to be found in W. Watkin Davies’s “A World Outlook,” which contains a comprehensive resume of world affairs as they are, together with a history of international relations from the earliest times. Colour problems, the British Empire, the advance of Imperialism, the development of the arbitration system, and international law, as well as the outlook of the public through the Press upon these questions, are treated concisely and clearly by the author, who has woven into book form a course of lectures delivered to students of the W.E.A. in England as the beginning of a study In international relations. All the equipment necessary to give the reader a start on this absorbing topic is encompassed by the volume. “A World Outlook,” by W. Watkin Davies, M.A., F.R.Hirst.S., Barrister at Law, Lecturer in International Politics for the Joint Committee of Birmingham University and the W.E.A. Published by Methuen and Co., London. Stories For All Moods Arthur Mee is the Geni of the Lamp so far as modern youngsters are concerned. He has an uncanny intuition (possibly it is due to intensive specialisation) which guides him unerringly in discovering that which will interest and at the same time instruct young people. His Children’s Magazine needs no introduction to the New Zealand public. Last year he produced a delightful gift book, “One Thousand Beautiful Things.” A companion volume, in format, at all events, is “The Children's Hour,” a collection of poems and stories and aphorisms—all chosen with a view to providing a mixture of inspiriting and educational reading. Everything from “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and dear old “Casabianca” down (or up. perhaps) to the most i modern of jingles, seems to be here. Eugene Field, Mary Lamb, William l Blake, Oliver W. Holmes, Words- ! worth, Kipling, Thoreau, Robert ! Burns, Harold Begbie. Thomas Moore, ! Dickens, Schiller, Thomas Herrick, Southey and a hundred others—ancient and modern—have helped to provide this feast for the lucky youngster of to-day. And New Zealand has not been overlooked. On one page we find the story of Bugler Allen, the boy of the 58th Regiment, stationed i near the Hutt, whose courage deserves to be perpetuated in a book which is designed to inspire children with a love of their race. A few pages later appears an article: “Isabel Burns of New Zealand.” This is the epic story of a rescue, some years ago. on Lyttelton Harbour. A young girl's bravery and tenacity saved the lives of her brothers and