READERS' COLUMN.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 July 1915, Page 12 (Supplement)

READERS' COLUMN.

■«' \ 1 (Ly James ,Wortlcy). 1 ] t:ii-: r-i!r:si-:NT cui-'is. ! i Man is -i) built that lie is ever hope- , f»l «i t'.'e future. Tin' h.-An- linn; is : C.lwa.VS coming to the most pcssimistiindividual, and it is perhaps because tif , this that after a. course o! recent pnbli- ( (illimis. aii uf which .I. a! with tin; war , in some a-Nvt iir another, line, Justine- ' tiveiy turns for relict to the poets of . hope I'vd comfort. And it is a, remark- ( , Hide thin'. 1 : lhat tins.- nii'ii have invari-j . nUy liv--:1 in. or through, •nine great period i.;' national strain. Take, a quar- . (rtli' of Americans that comes tn one's mind m-w--Lowell. Whittii'v. Loir-fellow and Übver Wendell Holmes. These men ] lived through four years during which the existence of their nation as uncli was in iiioiuentarv danger. 'What ,-. wave of I'ilnii-ni conies over the ,<iuls of all thinking men at such a time! And this is trulv voiced liv siudi men as we bare named'. LowclTs ■■The Present Crisis'' might well be. addressed to Hie Anicl'iiuhs of to-day: Has thou chosen, 0 my pro pic. on ' 'vlin.-e party thou shalt stand, Ere the doom from its worn sandals shakes the du.-t against our land? Though the cause of evil prosper, yet I 'tis truth alone is strong. Or again, from ''A (!lanr-e lieliind the Curtain" Cromwell is made to say: •'! sen Hie beauty of (iod's providence In the King's order: Blind lie will not let His doom pass from him, but must'bid it stay As 'twere a tricked, whose enlivening chirp 'He. loved to hear beneath his very hearth. ■ This inbuilt well have been written of the Kai-er. Turn then to Whittier's ] ''ltaly," and note the strain of hopeone might say the certainty of hope: •■1 dreamed of Freedom slowly gained iliy martyr, meekness, patience, faith, And 1"! 'an athlete grimly stained, I 'With corded muscles battle-strained, j Shouting it from the iields of deatii. j God reigns, and let the earth rejoice! 1 bow before id, sterner plan. Dumb arc the organs of my choice, J He speaks in battle's stormy voice, j His yiraisc is the wrath oF man." ) These manly verses from a Quaker poet. Longfellow might lie turned to anywhere, but his well-known "Psalm of Life" and "'Excelsior'' sin.ir in praise of the strenuous, hopeful life. Throughout the poetic prose of Oliver Wendell Holmes there breathes the same ciilogism of everything noble and true, and which cannot exist unless side by I Bide with a deep-rooted and instinctive, patriotism. His prose, poetic at all limes. frequently throughout the "Break - fast Tabic" series gives way to rhyme. One in praise of old Enpland deserves to be better known than it is. "A Good Time coming" describes the parting of friends, one on a visit to the Home Land i from America: " 'An islet is a world.' she said. i (When e-h.rv with its dust lias Wended, And Britain keeps her noble dead Till earth and seas and skies arc raided. Ileneatli each swinging forest ibough Some arm as stout in deatii reposes— From wave-washed foot to heaven-kiss-ed 'brow j 1! t valorous life-blood runs in roses; I Nay. let our brothers of the West i Write smiling in their florid 'pages, One half her soil has walked the rest In -poets, heroes, martyrs, sages!" FOSTER ERASER'S NEW BOOK. *"The Coii(|ucring Jew," by John T'oster Eraser. (London: Cassell and Co.; Wlo). Mr. Foster Eraser's jiiiu-U travel has provided him with a new theme—the all-thc-world-pervadiiig character of the Jew. And let me say light at tlie start that this book dill'ers very materially from Mr Eraser's other well-known works, in them Oilr.'Eraser is the journalist, and he writes up Siberia or writes down Australia much as his lesser brother of the press would report a bun feast or a sew- } ing bee. Not so with the 'book on the Juws. In going to and fro upon the. earth tin- Jew has been found everywhere. Everywhere he is ostentatious, whether it be in riches or |HiTert,T. in learning or illiteracy: and it is evident that 'Mr. Eraser has written the book, not from a cursory survey of his subject, 'but research on matters pertaininL' to the Jew has been a hobby, and we' have before us a book not ephemeral, as we expected, but written easily—the outcome of a vvl: informed mind. T'i (':■• unbiassed Gentile reader, the I ■ '■ : ns which Mr. Eraser draws from C .■ : ■- an-hes he has made are possibly -.Livt.k • . : "1 ufter a perusal of his book ih">" , : ' "ivincing. Tn a flying introihc g ■-,.•■ : ■■■! i.unrbei's of the race at v.'.viu"-- • ■ '■'.'■ '., in history. Twelve mill'ens i- Co- estimate at tin- present day, : :: ! -,;' :ii.-e - -v;- |wo millions are rc.-i----''ci:t : n the I'nited States. As their number demands, a large slice of the book is devoted io the American Jew, and it is shown that wherever the Jenhas gone with freedom, as in EnglishKpcakin'-' eounirics, tlie infusion of Jowishblomi lias ever assisted to On- rise of I hose countries to a higher economic .standard. Chapters arc devoted to the Jews of Germany anil Austria, the Russian Jew. tin French J.-w. the Italian .lew. and I he Jew in the British dominions. Mer.iiiui is made of .lews that have risen Io distinction, and it is pointed out that, though the -lews of Great Britain only number i:. \,tr cent, of the population, vet ot'ihc'nien ,J eminence Jews form f! ner cent. One short paragraph disposes ;,,- (!,,. cin-.ection of .Tews with this Hothe 'service-' of Sir JlllillS Vllgel. illtllOllgll ' his rami- docs not actually appear. Mr. Eraser's linn! conclusions are--- and 1,,. n-.iiih us Ihem from lime io time, in is now received without persecution, is to-ihv evertii".' n more potent inllnencc than eve- in all (he -oci.-l. linaneial and v'j.ic'.., In- is foiii! I !>ut in .c,esci|iience he ■ U raoidiv bcinv : :--i„ihil-1 hy his Oen--'Mile hrol'lier. and will rapidly d'-apnenr - ~, a .hslinct race. To him. racially, •! persecution and ostracism meant lile: line kimilv recniion eniovcl to-day ~. ,m-t countries spdls I!,. A* «««'>■ -\[,- Era-i-r revel- in s( ah-t 1,-, but 1 lies,' are afiractivcly di'played with the writer's well-known c.-c ami Hiey in „ Iv'v d-irac! fr0,,,. 1».1 '-aHier add to the absorbing int-re-t of the book. J A NI-'.W N.'iVl'.l,. ' n'-inl 'author of "Iving' Solomon's Mini's," etc (London: Ward. Lock ami OO * Tt ■■. :..;<- nV,s"t Oiivlv rears since

Alines" si-id "She" During the time that has elapsed since tncJi, Hh lUdor has written many other books, and has become a political personage. He is not only to-day a writer of tales, but an authority on agricultural questions and land problems. Hut to the joy of many he has returned to his first love, nnd instead of writing on manures and milk tests we have. In '•The Holy Flower" a pu.v romance in the liehl of Savage .-Mricii which the novelist has made his own. In this delightful account of the orchid hunters some familiar characters return, particnlarlv Allan IJunrtcrimiin. The tale is in Air. 'Haggard's best vein, and in addition to selling well, lias created a "really increased demand for the a:ifSnir's. earlier works. We follow with pic'.sin-- the adventures of the youths and the old missionary, and with them are "■]•'. lto fiii'l Mrs. E.versou and her ~;.;■,,::.:,.:- ;,]■'..-,■ Iwi-uy years' captivity among the savages. r-llooks for r.-view supplied hy Mr. A.'S. E-rookcr. (be U.K. .Lookshop).