NIBBLES FROM NEW BOOKS.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 14, 18 June 1920, Page 3

NIBBLES FROM NEW BOOKS.

We know that dogs ftave only visions and that they do not think, because they do not speak ; ibut, though. they do not possess our mental power, it is fair to conclude that they possess none of any kind ? Their love is blind, flawless, absolfcte, and silent. — "Maeterlinck's Dogs," by Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck. Aji individual who claims to be ahove his fellows is rightly laughed at. A family which should pride itself upon its superiority to all other families would be a fit subject for satire. To me it seems equally fatuous that a nation should exalt itself, saying, "We are the finest race on earth." Since I am an Englishman, I would rather be English than anything else. But to give myself airs about it, and to strut around declaring the English raco superior to other races, would be a symptom, I consider, of a mild form of insanity. — "The Meaning of the World 's Revolution," by H. ■ Hamilton Fyfe. Death lay there so near, so quiet, so homely. Woods and sea-lake remained the same — a passion of colour mirrored in tranquillity, like the poet's thought ; palmleaves pa«-tered crisply overhead ; flecks of light maintained a flitter-mouse dance across the table-cloth; and because of what lay there, all these things hau gone pale, and spoilt, and hollow. The distemper of mortality infected them. — "The Far Cry," by Henry Milner Rideout. "Latin and Greek are dead," said Hardman, lean, eager, absolute, a fanatic of modernity. "They have been a long while dying, and this war h\s finished them. We see now that they are useless in the modern world. Nobody is going to waste time in studying them. Education must be direct and scientific. Train men for efficiency and prepare them for defence. Otherwise they will have no chance of making a living or of keeping what they make. Your classics are musty, and rusty, and fusty. — "The Vailey of Vision," by Henry van Dyke. If there is one thing that bofns a man stiff, it's when some woman starts in to "Love" him. . . . It don't matter what woman. Any woman. If he's keen before, that chokes him dead-off. He's not out for any of this Love-with-a-capital-L business that women are such nuts on. Once he's done the chasing he's gotteri all he wants out of it. — "The Disturbing Charm," by Berta Riick.