Jottings

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 19, 20 November 1931, Unnumbered Page

Jottings

"@ AM glad to know," writes Sir Sid- ", mey Low in an English paper, "that th British War Graves Commission is taking over the charge of the German totn}s in the cemetery at Mons. It is.@. strangely affecting place, that butial ground of St. Sy mphorien on thé slopes east'of the little Belgian town where the greatest of all the world’s wars began. and ended. I visited it not so long ago on a cloudy and rainy anniversary of Armistice Day. On the slippery paths and hillocks ~- 2 stumbled among graves, © "T noted. the obelisk which the German* had erected to the memory of ‘The German and British Heroes.’ . That was a magnificent gesture, and it is now fitly acknowledged by the arrangement under which our War Grayes Commis- \ sion will take charge of all the. graves in the cemetery, and will’see that those of our gallant enemies shall be as well cared for as our own are all along the old fighting front. "IT was shown the spot where the first Briton fell in the campaign, and where the last shots. were fired four years and three months‘ later.* Some of the men pointed out:to me the sloping field where they ‘lay: among the standing corn on that bright Sunday mor ning, hearing the chureh bells chiming in the town below, and waiting for the field-grey line to come over the ridge. There was not much time: for praying when the rifle-blast flamed out a few minutes later. . . ‘AL ‘ROOK ‘Fecently ‘published, of the gepus thriller, will commend — it self to unnumbered readers of detective novels. It is an omnibus volume of stories of crime, selected by tweutytwo authors as the individual best efigre of each in the particular field presented. . In "My Best Detective Story" are represented varying and highly intriguing examples of the- work of Father Ronald Knox, Ian: Hay, H. C. Bailey, Agatha Christie, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, Chesterton, Belloc, and the rest of the delectable little list of pur‘veyors of thrilling fiction. Truly a book to be sought for those who like this type of tale, and they tot:.l1 a large percentage ofthe population. 2 * _ N "Small Town," by Miss Bradida Field, the story is laid in a little town in Ontario, where a‘ picturesque tale unfolds itself in leisurely fashion whith’arrests attention by reason of' sin atmosphere of elusive romance. This story of the girl Anne who, after many fluctuations and strivings of the spirit, forsakes the conventional path to live with the lover whose wife she can never be, is treated with delicacy and restraint, and bears the precious stamp of sincerity,

LOVERS of verse will look eagerly for a small book of verse by Miss V. Sackville-West, entitled ‘"Sissinghurst," which is in the main inspired by the emotions aroused in the gifted writer by the age-old beauties of the English countryside. Miss SackvilleWest wields a graceful and poetic pen, as those who read her recently-pub-lished "All Passion Spent" do not need to be assured. LJ m * T certainly is a far cry from the Sussex coast of Miss Sheila KayeSmith to that of the somewhat oversentimental tale by Miss Irene Stiles, entitled "Seventeen Summers." Neverthe less this slight story of youth, its setting the Sussex Downs, is attractive in its gentle fashion, and will find many admirers among those whose fancy still turns to an innocuous narrative that can, without misgiving, be placed in the hands of sweet seven: teen’s grandmother. . = = = " HEN Churchyards Yawn" lives up to its title. It is a collection, gruesome indeed, by Lady Cynthia Asquith, who has chosen ghost stories of the occult and the macabre by such artists in this genre as Mr. Oliver Onions, Mr. Hugh Walpole and Mr. Arthur Machen. Mr. Blackwood is also represented, and there is a tale of a scholarly Frenchman who returns to earth, written in Mr. William Gerhardi’s best manner. ‘Tis a creepy collection, and one calculated to be read at midnight with bated breath even by the most prosaic novel reader, and hasten the beat of the stoutest heart. * * * ME. CG. J. S. THOMPSON, author of "Poison and Poisoners," is Curator of the Historical Section of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and in that eapacity has access to a wealth of data of which he has availed himself in the fullest measure in the book under review. Through past history, modern and mediaeval, poison has played its part, and the interest it excites in the human intelligence is unabated in modern times. In these vividly-toid narrations of great historical poisoners and their exploits, the attention is enchained by these ower true tales of such human monsters as Nero and Lacusta, Cesare Borgia, La Voisin, and Madame de Brinvilliers.