THE READERS' COLUMN.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1915, Page 6

THE READERS' COLUMN.

(By James Wortley).

THE SOXG OF THE SUBMARINE. This is the song of the submarine Afloat on the waters wide. Like, a sleeping whale In the starlight pale Just flush with the swirling tide. The salt sea ripples against lier plates, The salt wind is her breath Like the spear of fate She lies in wait And her name is "Sudden Death."

I watch the swift destroyers come Like greyhounds lank and' loan, And their long hulks sleek Play hide-and-seek With me on the waters green. I watch them with my single eye, I see their funnels' flame, . And I sing Ho! ho! As I sink below, Ho! bo! for a glorious game!

I roam the seas from Soapa Fhw : To the Bight of Heligoland, In the Dover Strait I lie in wait On the ed'ge of Goodwin's Sand. I am here and there and everywhere, Like the phantom of a dream, And I sing Ho! ho! Through the winds,that blow. The song of the submarine! —William Booth. "'The Secret Service Submarine," by Guy Thome. (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack; 1015).

The get-up and title of the book is entirely misleading. One expects a dry book dealing with the secret service of cither Germany or England, with tonnage, horse-power, and aJI manner of tables cleverly set forth to show what we liavn accomplished or must accomplish to win the war. Instead of all this we find a charming tale of a very typical devil-may-care Englishman, who has learned nothing but a taste for best liqueurs, and. some little skill with a cue, when his.father dies, and he has to make a living. This he does by teaching at a "select academy for young gentlemen"—to wit, llorstone 'House School at iUlaiikiiifj'lon-on-.Sefl, a village among the Norfolk marshes. The school iis aptly described as a sort of discreet modern edition of Dotheboys Hall. Dr. l.'pjelly proves to be a German spy in close, touch with our enemies' naval authorities in the North Sea, to whom he supplies information per medium of a messenger in a secret submarine which visits the Norfolk Broads. The story is cleverly and naturally conceived. It provides plenty of humor, interwoven with much exciting incident. The lines by William Booth, quoted above,.are taken from the fly-leaf of the book.

o Aiiiilo-CJcriiiiiii Problem," Dr. ,\s classic discussion of the subjust published in a popular edi•'.hu.k r s at Is fill. This book bus and re-reviewed by every per (mil magazine of importance rUI over. What phlegmatic pooKnglisb are, when men like liobic soldier, or students like >Saro.'e placed so convincingly before us passe, into which we were drifting >eot to diplomatic relations with iv, and where we were very shortrrive. How thoroughly these men lierj hail studied the problem the of the past year have proved. As ids the wonder grow* thfct wijfc

a people so well prepared as the German* were we have keen able to hold them where they are.

We have read Douglas Sladen, and judging from bis writings, we pictured a young, full flooded Englishman, enjoying himself in the stray corners of. the earth. In "Twenty Years of my life" we come to realise with somewhat of a shock that no longer is Mr. Sladen. a youth, but » very mature man approach, ing the seventies, jf not already in them. Mr. Sladen sketches with many a delightful anecdote pen pictures of hit friends. These are grouped thus: "My Xovelist Friends," "My Author Friends, 1 ' "My Artist iFrlend9,"'ete. Cables the other day notified us <4 the death of one of these friends in the person of Walter Emanuel, a writer in "Poach,'' Mr, Emanuel's liumoj waii of a delicate, elusive nature that pleased more than ordinarily tne liter, ary .reader. Many of his articles hava appeared in the more exclusive magazines, and reviews, but so far I have not met any collected work. He belonged to a very old firm of family solicitors in London, and in the early days of the war did a good deal in organising authors' and artists' regiment for home defence.

The centenary of the,'birth of Hablot Knight Browne, well known as "Phiz.." the illustrator of Dickens' works, i» duly celebrated by a long and interesting article in the June number of the Bookman, from the pen of B. W. Mata, editor of 'The Diekensian." Phiz's illustrations of "Pickwick Papers" are known the world over, and his portrayal of the famous characters of the book will probably lest as long a? literature.