THE READERS' COLUMN.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1915, Page 6

THE READERS' COLUMN.

J.KTTKBS TO BOYS. | (•By dames YWtley). '""Arthur Mee's Letters to Hoys," by the ■Kili'tur of th • Children's Enivclopedia. (London: Jloddcr and Sloughton). Is net. Tlii' bud; had lain some day.; i;i inv .study When inv bov conic cut at hrca!;J'asi: wit'll "Th'afs a stunner book, dad, by the man tha.t writes the. Children's M'H;:,w:ie." This istti' most Hat!..ring review that s'jcK n. 'book-, to reach file 'heart and head of n. hoy. cou'd possibly receive. 'Here in the 'blunt .school slang -phrase, i's evidence that it U) nun ends itself in file first page to the great juvenile congregation for which thes' scrmonotics ;:ro intenih'd. This book jr.ny be commended to ministers and fo teachers, as well to civic fathers as to real fathers. The letters aie a series which cover pretty well the boy life in its various sections until be attains the stature of a, man. Thev are addressed "to the boy who will become Prime Mlni-icr." "to the boy who is leaving schorl.'" ''to the boy who loves a game," "to the boy who will manage a great business.'' "to the boy who will be mayor of his town," "to the boy who will never grow old," etc. Quotationsmight be given from page, and gems from almost every line. To the inline Pniime M'nister he writes: ''Y.ou will have a. givat h-ve of yn-u.r home, and of home'hiii'l. It is not Hie boy of the future wiho gets tired of hoane. ami too big for his mother, and so important that he inu-t always he out m the town, at the theatre or the music hall, or [oafiug at a 'football matM. watching other people ta.k:' their exercise. You will know that an hour of your liife is too precious a thing to throw away, and you will love your home and know that there lies the i.niluou.e that makes you strong'.'' To the boy Who will manage a great business he writes: "It is good to have a, vi-ion, to look far on in the wav you are goiii"'. to fee! that our liives renoh cut bevnnd n counter or an office door: and it will help you in your work to reinon'ibc Why you are doing it. and w'hnt the end of it may be." Of re'igion. Mr. Mee writes —ana he gets behind all creeds and empty doctrines when doing so: "At the very beginning of all thing's is this solemn view of life, this cran-.tiousnefs that we are not alone, but part of a great plan. . . Ilhere is no particular church or creed to which we must 'bow down. But to the faith that aill cihm'ches hold, to the faith .behind nil creed we must bow down or pcrk-h." Such is the great broad teaching c.if thiis hook. There is

a manliness and strength about it that makes" urgent appeal to the young man wh.v glories in his strength. All power to tho man who can by liis written words make such appeal. The changed conditions of life and the prr.fc-sr.onalism of tin* pulpiit of to,-d«y have stripj)e(l the parson of any real influence with our I young people. lie is too engrossed in committees of one sort and another to pet to know ,'Jtu-k and Tom I'.nd Willie. There is a. wide held of virgin soil into which fhe s-'-ed of Mr. Mcc's letters, if read, will sink deeply, and hear a rich harvest of pure and piirpf.-jrful manhood. ;—. ] ATSOCT XBW FKTIOX. Samuel Mcrwiu's new novel. ''"The Homy ißoe" (.IJoUlw. Merrill Co.), is a very thoughtful, yet entrancing statement of the conditions which have arisen in scores of homes from the active 'pnrtk.'patilon df wOllVa.ll in the world of business. .Mr. William Locke lia.s found a war topic for his new ibun-k. *' l ,Tsiflrev." It iis the .love story of an Kngili-Si war correspondent a.nd an_ .Albainnu. Thf. creator o:f "Septimus" and "CleiKcaima Wing'' has wuvceedeil in giving us a charming picture of domestic life in wa. time and in ithe territory of the struggle. .lollui Lane, of the Rod!'v Head, publishes F. E. Milk-Vouim's 'new African story, "•''Valley of a Thousa.ml Hills." The writer, wtose .woirlk in "Grit Lawless-" and "'Miles Calt'hovpe" was fresh and entertiiininsj, is evidently sr.mowhit stale, as the .situations in wWcli IT'.'ci;- . raft fnv.lls hi'iiiself in .the story have appeared in other settings in previous books. It is quite a. good enough story in .its way, kit when .so murtli is being written fjhait is good, a.nd that sheds new lift on old tiruths, wih'n, in fact, we have a writer with a message, it does seem a ipity that authors shouhl have recourse to a sjpecics of literary stock- ■ pot. Among n big issue of new fi'ution piflilished last 'month may Ibe noted ''TV Open Market," by Josephine Darkam Bacon. This talented writer depicts the dilemma of a young woman, educated to expensive tast's. left alone to fight life's battle. It is a powerful novel, anil one is pleased to note the twi.ii.mpli of the heroine.

A FAMOUS HI! RAM AX. The life story of .ioltn S. Billings, whose work on Xew Yoi'k's famous library lias {riven him international fame among -book-lovers, is just published by Putimain and Sons, New York. Hillings was associated MiK.li the New York library .for eighteen years, and to him is due tlie. entire plan of housing, cataloguing anil caring tor this vast library. It was not till so late as JiLs ii-fty-oightli year that he undertook to reduce to something like order the enormous mass of books and manuscripts in the hands of the library trustees. For years he worked at the task, and, moreover, decided for tlhe trustees the general fundamental prim-ijiles and scope of Hie library for the trustees. His labors oniy ended with his death in 101". To tinmedical profession he was well-known for his work, when KurgeoivOenerai of t'.'e Uiliited .States, in classifying and P&talog'iii,ng the whole of the literiitirc on medicine in its very varied and several branches.

NOTES. I;; ila dainty cover of deep U\\i clot'i. tb= miioih-looked-for .shilling edition (Is 3d in Sew Zealand) of (len.j !>tintton Porter's- "Freckles" readies ni': from .Mr. Mum-ay's press Tt is stated that tinsale of tUii.s book lias already exceeded tliioc-qua.rtcrs of il million. >\"n do know that the piiblUhcrs had to de'ay tin- i-isiie rf Hie cheap edition by on. month in o'.-d'r to double the edit.on. as the orders in band exceeded th > 011,11.thy ready IVr the day of issue. tuini.iij>' their attention to Mi" oositi.-.l at the Dardanelles, beean.-e of tin- treasures in Byzantine literature which ( 011stantinoplc is supposed to contain, and which lias been locked up since the Ottoman conquest four and ndiaif eenliir es a<;o The driviuir of I lie Turks out of Kia-oiM". may pos»il.'y yi-ld unknown lyiric, of S)i-..iilio and other manuscripts. (" TVnks supplied I'm- review bv Mr. A. S. P.rooker. .the 15.1 v. JiooksWi!.