February 15, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
Books to Read 
By Lucian Oldershaw 
17 
IT is good to be reminded occasionally of the obvious, 
as that the world is small, or that England is great, 
especially if the reminder is conveyed in an original 
and unobtrusive manner. W'c arc sometimes in 
danger of forgetting the many tics that bind England and 
xVmcrica together in bonds that cannot lightly be broken, 
and such a book as Mr. E. H. Sothern's autobiographical 
sketches, without once hinting at the subject, serves as a 
charming reminder of this really obvious fact in inter- 
national relationships. It would be hard to say whether 
the elder son of " Dundreary " Sothern were more 
English or more American. He is like many other artists 
and literary men ; lie combines much that is good of botli 
countries. Certainly I, as an Englishman, would like 
to claim him as a fellow countryman. I do not know what 
an American would say about it. 
* * * H: ::: 
Apart altogether from its international mterest— 
which is- quite accidental — Mr. Sothern's book My 
Remembrances : The Melancholy Talc of " Me." (Cassell 
and Co., 12s. net), is a book of extraordinary charm and 
originality. It is original in many ways. In the first 
place, although the author reveals a good deal of his own 
personality, especially in his whimsical con\ersations with 
"Me," his childisii image of himself, it is perhaps the 
most modest book e\x'r written by an actor. Again, 
although it contains many theatrical anecdotes, amusing 
and otherwise, and will indeed attract a large number of 
readers on this score alone, it by no means reveals the 
])oint of view of the world that is usually seen from the 
bright side of the footlights. In its easy con\ersational 
style, too, it is as original as in its matter. The charm, 
too, is varied, but the greater part of it springs from the 
])ortraiture of a delightful family circle, the tender mother, 
the gay, practical-joking father, the debonnair brother, 
Sam, and the quixotic uncle, a Captain in the English 
Navy, a friend of (Gordon and of Burton. Mr. Sothern's 
wliole life, in which he has had liard struggles for the success 
he has won, seems to be irradiated by a happy influence 
stored up, as it seems, from his early years with these four. 
There is something in the book, though it has not the 
constructi\e abihty of Du Manner's work, of the qualities 
that attracted one in both Trilby and Peter Ibbetson. 
;\Ien may come to it for gossip and lind gospel, and they 
w\\\ not be sorry they came. 
***** 
Mr. Stephen Leacock has become a habit — a good 
habit — with so many readers, that the mere announce- 
ment that his new book. Further Foolishness (John Lane, 
3s. 6d. net), has been published is all that is needed to 
secure its success. There is some evidence in the book 
of the strain of " keeping it up," but the most remarkable 
thing about it is the way in which it is kept up. The 
cinema burlesciue, Madeline of the Movies, is as sparkling 
a thing as the author of Literary Lapses has ever done, 
and Every Man and his Friends is a happy idea, carried 
out for the most part w;ith just the lightness of touch 
required. There is som6 good satire in some of the 
pieces suggested by the war, and " Humour as I see it," 
if it adds little fresh to the voluminous hterature on the 
subject (to which, by the way, Mr. Sothern also has an 
interesting contribution), adds that little freshly. I 
hope, however, Mr. Leacock will never persuade himself 
to take humour too seriously. It is a mistake, even as a 
war economy, to dine entirely off salt. Wlien I read 
that "the world's humour, in its best and greatest 
sense, is perhaps the highest product of our civilisation," 
and that " in its largest aspect, humour is blended with 
pathos till the two are one," I have an uneasy feeling that 
Mr. Leacock is " cribbing " from an essay I wrote at 
school I forget how many years ago, and I blush both for 
him and for myself. 
***** 
Canada is responsible for IVIr. 'Stephen Leacock and lias 
some reason to be proud of the fact, k is also responsible 
for Canada Chaps (John Lane, is. net), and has every 
reas on to be proud of the men and no-reason to be ashamed 
of the book. J. G. Sime has not quite written another 
Kitchener Chaps, but her (?) sketches arc bright and illus- 
trate certain phases of Dominion life and thought. As a 
mere man, I like best of all the story of Lieutenant 
JIarjoribanks, the daugiiter of a noble English family, 
who had her angles rubbed off as proprietress of a " room- 
ing-house " in Canada and, coming "home" in the- 
C.A.M.C, discovered that she was really leaving home. 
I like too the story of the Belgian nun's experiences 
in Leicester Square. Others will like best the stories of 
the men -folk of the Dominion, told from the point of 
view of a woman who is justly proud of what her 
brothers have done in the war, and also glad in some 
cases for what the war has done for some of her brothers. 
S|! ^ ^ 7^ :>fi 
Two pleasant books come to me this week from another 
Overseas Dominion, both being published in London by the 
" British Australasian." Not for this reason only I group 
them together, but also because, though one is a story 
and the other a volume of poems, they are similar in 
tone and sentiment. Frances Fitzgerald's Children 
of Kangaroo Creeli (2s. 6d. net) is a real book for children, 
because it is about real children. Try it on your children 
and, if they are not more different from mine than the 
Australian children described therein are from their 
English cousins, you will lind that I am right, and that 
the next generation will call you blessed. A. M. Bowyer 
Rosman, in An Enchanted Garden and Other Poems 
(2s. 6d. net), is also at her (?) best in dealing with 
children. There is pleasant sentiment, easy versifying, 
and a pictorial sense throughout the book, but the best 
of the lyrics in my opinion are the lullabies " Dustman " 
and " The Fold of Dreams," which come near the end of 
it. These volumes should assist Australia's growing 
literary reputation in this country. 
# ^ ^ ■ i^ # 
So far the New World and some of its bridges to the old. 
We are taken well over these bridges by Mr. Stephen 
Graham in his Russia ami the World (Cassell and Co., 
3s. 6d. net). This is more than a new edition of an old 
and valued book ; it is a revised and enlarged edition. 
It shows the author's expert knowledge and frank and 
original point of view brought to bear on the very latest 
phases of the world-\var. Mr. Graham is probably the- 
best friend Russia has in this country, because he inter- 
prets her for us with the full knowledge that a husband 
has of a wife, not with the sentimental rapture of a 
moment (though he can show that too) that a lo\'er has 
for his mistress. Mr. Graham is also a good friend of 
England, and we Englishmen should continually supply 
to our country the standard he sets up in " We could 
beat them ourselves," an admirable little sermon on the 
best kind of national self-reliance. Few people will agree 
entirely with all that Mr. Graham says on the many 
subjects of international importance on which he touches 
(he is too fearless in his opinions and honest in his ex- 
pression of them for facile agreement) , but fewer still will 
fail to be stimulated by his vigorous and informing book. 
, ***** 
It would seem to be an unwise proceeding for a young 
and inexperienced girl to invest her little all in an orange 
grove in Florida, -without having seen it and without 
.an ounce of experience in the matter of citron culture. 
But the heroine of McAllister's Grove (John Long, 6s.), 
is exceptionally lucky. She makes her grove pay ; 
she gains experience, and she wins a charming husband. 
Whether Florida is always so delightful a place as Miss 
Marion Hill makes out, and whether its people are always 
so agreeable and picturesque, I know not, but, at any 
rate, the place and the people have provided her with 
material for a very pleasant novel. 
The twentieth edition of the Motor Manual (Temple Press. 
IS. 9d. net) includes a number of revisions and additions that 
vnll be appreciated by every practical motorist, notably the 
chapter on magneto ignition and the pages devoted to the 
use of economical and alternative fuels. The volume is one 
that every motorist will find useful. 
