THE READERS' COLUMN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 224, 21 March 1914, Page 6

THE READERS' COLUMN.

(Conducted toy James Wortley). I THE NOVEL IX FREE LIBRARIES. ,| The iinnomrcoincnt of the annual (lis- j tribution of th« (lovcrnincnt grant ti> libraries lias occasioned in Auckland some littleU'ewspapcr comment upon inn subject of Its expenditure. In the New Zealand Herald "Tohunga" makes a strong plea, for the. novel us an educative force in the community, and he, for one, Hoes not view with disgust the annual .returns of the libraries showing 9!) per omt. of' the total issue of books to be 'ftetion. As an instance of the educational value of the novel lie quotes the writings of Jules Verne, who pictured so vividly f,\\e dawn of a new era in mechanical inventions—inventions which'have by now made very considcrable.alterations in our mode of life, lie also instances what Winston Churchill has done for American history by his graphic novels dealing with various phases of national life, and the important epochs in the history of the United States. People who listen to current gossip without making deductions for themselves have been heard to say that the novels with a vogue are the highly improper ones. It is doubtless quite the other way if the reports of librarians and booksellers be any criterion. My own experience, based upon some yean of close observation, is that it is the wholesome novel, with an unmistakable bias on the side of right,.which is most popular. Writers like Dickens, Thack«ray, Scott, Kipling and Stevenson are in constant <lemand r while among the more recent writers, Lincoln,. Harbin, Alice Brown, Harold Bell Wright,' Gene Stratton Porter, Churchill, Gilbert Parker, Pett Ridge, Phitpotts, and a score of equally reliable Scribes may be classed among the best sellers of the day. Primarily, m6st folk read to be amused, and, as "Tohunga" rightly points one, they will not read Adam Smith for amusement. So, if the libraries provide nothing but dry-as-dust text • books and reference works, the public simply will have nothing to do with them. There is, however, an opportunity for the authorities to guide the taste of the public to the best fiction, by first of all providing it, and then doing all in their power to popularise our libraries where such fiction is to be found. And having this fiction provided, for undoubtedly the libraries get it (the Auckland Star is our authority for saying that many libraries spend the whole of the subsidy on fiction), better use should be made' of it. For a very trifling sum per year a reader can command as much Action as he can get through, and yet I saw this week an auction sale of novels where hundreds of books by unknown writers were sold off at quite good prices! In very fewinstances will the purchasers get the ; class of book. they enjoy, secured as they arc in such an indiscriminate fashion. If a library subscriber wishes to possess a book he has read, it is quite easy to get an inexpensive copy from the bookspjlen In so doing lies the only satisfactory way of filling one's own bookshelves. And it is surprising what a good customer to the bookseller j the library subscriber is.

NOTES. In the next "Reader's Column" I hope to review "Pollyanna," reputed to De the most popular novel of the moment. Ethel M. Dell's new book, 'The Rocks of Valpre" (T. Fisher Unwin, per A. S. Brooker) ,is a cleverly-conceived' tale, and will still further enhance the reputation of this popular Now Zealand writer. i TWO NOVELS OP THE DAY. ""Hagar;" by Mary Johnston, author of "The Old Dominion," "Lewis Rand," etc. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd.; 1013). _ Mary Johnston knows how to charm the most seasoned novel reader, as those who have lorijoyed the perusal of "By Order of the Company" and "The OhV Dominion" will be free to confess. "Hagar" has to do with the "quality'! whites of Virginia, but the scene shirts to many quarters of the globe. We are on occasion in Egypt, New York and London, as well as \n the homes of the Ashendynes and the Coltsworths, in Gilead Balm, Vay.down in Old Virginnv. Miss Johnston gives the. setting of her tales th§ right local coloring. When in the States it is American, and while at Cairo it is real Egypt. Hagar Ashendyne upsets the foiid calculations of the family and the patriarchal rule of the Colonel, who has 'been won* to arrange the lives of the womenfolk of his household for them, in the interests of his family, and like 'his fathers before him. Particularly was this so in respect to whom they wed. Such arrangements were made of so formal :i nature as could only he 'compared to r» Royal- alliance, and.' like 'it, the woman was expected, as in the past, U acquiesce. Now, because her father was the Bohemian of the family, to put the position mildly, and because he had married, as he listed, Hagar had it in her blood to rebel against her grandfather's pre-arranged scheme on her behalf. To tell of it would upset the prospective interest in the hook. Suffice it to say that it is at this point the hook fails in its human interest. Hagar loves, hut she makes so manv conditions to the acceptance of the man of her choice—for one tiling, she tells him he must come second to her interest in "the cause of woman"—that, to my mind,, she bids fair to becoming that kind of perfect woman that would speedily drive a man into the arms of another. If Miss Johnston had ,made Hagar a little more of a woman, and a little less of a saint, the book would be just ideal."

*'"Tlic Desired Woman," by Will y. Harben, author of "Pole Baker" Paul Rundell," etc.

Dolly, the desired woman, is a fresh mountain beauty, of winning sweetness, and a noble character to match her physical uprightness, llostvn, a financial magnate, worn with the excitements of the stock- exchange, and sated with the pleasure of a city, goes to the lulls to.recuperate, under his doctor's urgent order. Struck for the flrit time with the beauty of a good woman, Mostyn qu.ckly falls a victim to Dolly's charms. He is called back to town on urgent business, and away, from the spell of her presence he is'unable to resist the strong appeal of financial interest and becomes engaged to, and ultimately marries, Irene Mitchell the daughter of a wealthy client. Like all such alliances of convenience it turns out badly, and we are treated to the debasing spectacle of a man and woman unloved by each other, seeking in eroti' excitement some happiness. Fortunatcy Dolly is more fortunate, and side hy side with this wretched history of Mostyn an d hi., wife runs another story, and a very beautiful one, which self rC Tf r .^ Ust in «*tiKntc for him- !?,;;„ t e lh ? el ' ailt Preacher is a strong character, and one we are not unfami lww with in Taranaki. . (*) Books for review supplied by Mr. tfSi^f' thc Bx *«***.