THE READERS' COLUMN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 89, 31 August 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE READERS' COLUMN.

(By ".James Wortley"). NOTES. In tliii nice fol- pleasure which the pre. sent generation si'i'in to indulge so largely, it i> rather curious that more of our young folk do not seek to excel in some branch of study for the mere delight it gives in knowing more upon some particular subject than their fellows. To-day we seek to excel in football or in golf, to be looked to as an authority 011 bridge or Parisian fashions, and overlook the possibilities for prestige by learning something of England's colonial policy or the methods by which people of the United States elect their president. Yet this is not for want of attention being called to the subject of reading and mental culture. In these columns a week or two since was the report of an address given at the Brotherhood, during which the speaker referred to the small store men put upon training of the intellect. Men who would not profess to play billiards with Gray or Stevenson will yet think themselves quite equal to crossing mental swords with men of wide culture, though they themselves may never have spent a shilling in seeking to furnish their minds with questions of logic, philosophy or history. And yet one might as well go on to a football field entirelj untrained, and seek honors against a Mynott, a Humphries or a Bayly. But by a little steady reading upon any particular line, one may readily and quickly obtain a position of merit in knowledge upon the subject so studied. This was emphasised by Mr. McNab, when lecturing here some two years ago upon the early voyagers to New Zealand. In opening his address he said: "I have noticed that if a person will, for but an hour or two a week, in his leisure, steadily seek for information upon any given subject, reading whatever he can find upon it, he will very soon attain to the forefront of knowledge upon that particular subject, and not infrequently may find himself an acknowledged authority upon questions in connection with it. Not only so, but it will be at the same time gratifying and satisfying to find the amount of other useful knowledge gained in making one's researches." Mr. Balfour is a man of many parts. Whatever one may think of the politician will depend on one's environment, but all bookmen welcome a genuine lover of literature among them, irrespective of creed, party or estate. When proposing the toast of "Literature" at the Royal Literary Fund dinner in May, he sounded a healthy and welcome note. "What I ask from literature mainly," said Mr. Balfour, "is that in a world which is full of sadness and difficulty in which you go through the day distressed and come back from your work weary, you should find in literature something which represents life indeed which is true in the highest sense of truth to what is, or what is imagined to he, but which does cheer you." This duty of literature to cheer is a fascinating thought, and suggests that the happiness we desire to see in the ending of a book should be in itself the truth. Raised to a higher plane wherefrom we might view the whole drama of man's spiritual as well as temporal existence, it may be that we shall see eacb career end in "hope fulfilled." NEW NOVELS. *"The Impudence of Prue," by Sophie Fisher, (lndianopolis: The BobsMerrill Company). This is a dainty story of the Queen Anne period in England's history. Readers who look for dullness in an historical novel will be pleasingly disappointed with this book. There is not a dull page in it. Lady Prudence Brooke is a fascinating heroine, and her gay and unusual adventures keep one interested through nearly four hundred pages. In Robin, her lover, we find the qualities we admire in a man, and in reading about him we learn a good deal of the unsettled domestic and political life of the day. The details of the attachment that .sprung up under most unusual and dramatic circumstances, we must leave the reader to find out. If we might suggest a sequel, it would be interesting to know how Robin finally came into his rightful name and estates.

*"The Chasm," by George Grain Cook. a (Xew York: Frederick A. Stokes j Company). c Devotees at the shrine of Nietzsche a will find in the author of "The Chasm" s an unbelieving soul. The doctrine of i the "super-man," as thus' set forth, f gets short shrift in this book. Marion i Moulton is the heiress to the American s Flow Company, being the only daugh- i ter of the sole stock-holder. As such, ] of course, money must mate with < money. But "Dave" Moulton, the one- 1 time blacksmith, finds himself thwarted by the views of those most concerned. 1 Marion is engaged to a Russian noble- < mail, who seeks to found a race of "su- 1 per-nien." "Dave" thinks all titled 1 Europeans are seeking alliances with the almighty dollar, and his lack of good taste in sending De llohenfels an offensive cable, brings .Marion back to Moline in hot haste to reprove her father. A ' chit nee conversation with one of the under gardeners reveals to her a man who is a student and a list. Quite a patronising friendship on .Marion's part commences. She is surprised to learn some of the views held by diners "below I the salt." The book lays before us in' a very entertaining way various views on socialism without coming to fixed conclusions. In a most interesting and well-told narrative we are taken from one scene to another with engaging ease. First it is an observation ear on an American railroad, then a debate in the Duma, a village in Southern Russia to a. street-corner gathering in Moline, thence back to a political prison in Riga. The perusal of this book is "well worth," as the writer "makes good" in his description of the various phases of life touched upon. And it is thoroughly | modern, a very distinct recommendation to the minds of many readers. -Both copies reach us from Messrs Gordon and Gotch. Wellington.