i8 
LAND & WATER 
October ii, 1917 
Some Lighter Literature 
IT is an old saying that it is pleasant to play the fool at 
times ; and if one remembers aright; this homely truth 
was put on record bvthc same pen that wrote that it is a 
pleasant and comely' act to die for one's coimtry. These 
two Horatian taes are 'brought home to one by a bo"'^ j 
frivolous drawngs which Mr. lohn Lane has just pubhshed 
(The New Eve : drawings bv Fish ; written and designed by 
Fowl 3s. 6d.net). To koe]) u'p tlie idea we may add the result 
is good red herring for it does draw the mind away from the 
sadness and perplexities of these times. Readers of the 
Tatkr will be familiar with these light and airy sketches of 
officers and their best girls ; there is a fund of laughter in 
them: and it is just the sort of volume a host and hostess 
likes to liave lying about the house. It would almost make 
a dentist's anteroom cheerful. 
* * * ♦ * 
•The detailed biograph\- f)f a Russian aristocrat given in 
Michail (Hcinemunn, (>s.' net), affords a picture of Rusijian 
life before the revolution, and up to the first days of tlic 
war ; not. onlv does it jiresent the extravagances of Russian 
society, but " in portraving Michail with the minuteness 
characteristic of most Russian authors, it affords glimjjses of 
the difference between the Russian character and the characters 
of western peoples. Michail's life is taken up at the point 
where he has become involved in an intrigue which, to satisfy 
his sense of honour, can only be ended by a marriage that is 
distasteful to him; the story ends with his death in the 
course of the war, and between these two points there is given 
a sight of the man and his motives and actions. The author — 
whose name, bv the way, is withheld— has succeeded in pre- 
senting her hero in such a way that we realise the Slavonic 
temperament — it is a different mixture of flesh and spirit, 
apparently, from that of the west ; more material in some tilings, 
less so in others, and inclined to greater extremes in action. 
The story itself is full of dramatic incident, and well-told, 
but the 'ultimate impression produced is that there is the 
real Russia of pre-revolution days, and, as the sub-title of the 
book expresses it. the heart of a Russian. 
There is more than an echo of Kipling's JiingU Book about 
Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughcs (Methuen, 
2s. 6d. net), though Tarzan was brought up among apes in 
Africa, and the setting of the story is altogether different 
from Kipling's masterpiece of wild life. The author is 
evidently a keen nature student, and at the same time he 
tells a striking story, albeit rather crudely as far as the human 
part of it is concerned. How Tarzan learned to read while 
stiU ignorant of liuman speech, how he gained contact with 
his kind after he had reached manhood, and what manner of 
man he became after having spent nearly twenty years as a 
beast of a tropical forest, make good reading, without in- 
volving more strain on one's credulity than the great majority 
c;f novels. The test of the book lies in its last page, whicli 
promises a further volume devoted to Tarzan' s adventures ; 
we look forward with interest to the appearance of that 
second volume, proof that this book is well worth reading. 
Mr. Ridgwell Cultum, whose Triumph of John Kars has just 
been published (Chapman and Hall. fe. net), evidently knows 
the Yukon district through practical experience of its evils 
and wonders, for he describes the mining town of " Nortli of 
Si.xty " with the facility that comes only of real knowledge. 
In this book he deals with a liidden auriferous area and the 
crimes which it caused, as also with the punishment of those 
crimes. Thougli there is nothing out of the ordinary in the 
plot of the story, yet the way in which it is told, and the big 
surprise which is sprung alike on the reader and the hero in 
the last chapters makes it a notable work, in addition to the 
sense of things northern which the author so subtly conveys. 
It is not a book for squeamish folk, for the author deals with 
hard life in a hard country ; it is. however, a novel that 
deals with realities, and all who have the faintest interest in 
the ways of the, far nortli will delight in the book. 
* ♦ ' » * * 
Messrs. J. D. Berosford and KennetJi RicJimond Jiave 
collaborated to produce tlie liiography of .a man whom thev 
regard as the originator of a new sj-stem of philosophy. 
W. E. Ford, a Biography. (Collins, 6s. net), the result of their 
joint efforts is a book that will prove stimulating but not 
very satisfying. Ford l^gaii by studyuig the work of the 
great educationists from Comcniusto Froebel, and set up a 
school of his own in which he attempted to carry into practice 
the results of his studies. The school, finally, was shut down. 
and then Ford found that in order to learn to teach he had to 
buirow more deeply into the systems of life that are the result 
of ordinary teaching — he had to find out exactly where and 
how his o\vn system had fallen short. He went east, and on a 
visit to Japan he died with his search unfinished, leaving 
a mass of note-books from which his biographers hope later 
to compile a statement of his philosopliy of life. 
Mr. Beresford contributes very little to our knowledge of 
Ford; lie has made a great attempt to picture the man, but 
the attempt has not succeeded, and, in his " notes " on Ford's 
])hilosophv, a vague discoursiveness rojiders the chapter 
irritating." Mr. Richmond, on the other hand, gives a clear 
view of the man and his system which, as is stated, is 
that of a man who lived before his time. Many will quarrel 
with Ford's conclusions, and will reject his postulates in 
great measure, hut all to whom the future of the race is of 
interest would do well to study ^Mr. Rirlimond's exposition of 
a somewhat remarkable man. 
Tliere is a great similarity between the work of Mrs. F.ditli 
Wharton and that of Thomas Hardy, in spite ol the great differ- 
ence in the setting of their stfjiy, and the fact that Mrs. Whar- 
ton deals with .American character and scenery. In her latest 
work. Summer, (Macmillan, 6s. net), Mrs. Wharton portrays 
an ill-educated girl in a New England village ; the girl ex- 
periences a grand passion with a town- bred man, who regards 
their love as a mere incident ; later, the girl's guardian marries 
her to save her name — and that is all the plot. But the picture 
of the tiny village, overshadowed by " the mountain " where 
the girl was born ; the actuality of the characters, and the 
way in which the author has got inside these people anc 
made them alive, moving against real scenes, are much akir. 
to the work that Hardy has done, for the little commonplace 
story is lifted up to the plane of tragedy, made \'ivid and power- 
ful. The figure of lawyer Royall, the girl's guardian, is 
arrestingly drawn, more by implication than direct statement. 
There is more of implication than statement, as a matter of 
fact, in the whole book, which is as artistic a piece of work as 
its author has yet produced. 
THE LATEST BOOKS 
THE REP PLANET bvw. j.locke. es. 
" A very real and human story of the War." — Daily Graphic. 
*' It is a masterly piece of characterisation, and is associated with a drama 
full of omotional thrill? and ingenious strokes of comedy."- — Sunday Times. 
tifl^ NEW EVE ~~ ^ ~ 
Pictures by ■• K. H, FISH." Text by " FOWL." Royal 4to. 
3Sa net. 
.\ new r.llfTtinn of Eve Pictures by • FISH," who is more entertaining 
than over. 
TEMPORARY HEROES 
ByCFXILSOMMERS. Illustrated by the Author. 3s. 6d. 
net. First edition sold on publication. 
" Behind the rattle and patter (aUv.Tvs very shrewd and shrcwdlv nxpressed) 
is a delicacy anil chivalry of attitude which makes these letters extremelv 
attra c tive, and coinpeU l orJhfjr_«riter oiir great res pect ."— Afominy Post. 
KHAKI COURAGE 
By CO.\IN-GSBY D.WVSOX. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. 
This book has run through edition after edition in U.S.A., and is being 
given to recruits, as the best picture of the passion for sacrifice whidi 
inspu'es our men's courage. 
POEMS OF WEST AND EAST 
By V. SACKVIIXE-WEST (the Hon. Mrs. Harold Nicolson). 
Crown 8vo. 38. 6d. net. 
OUR GIRLS IN WAR-TIME 
By JOYCE DEXXVS. Willi Topical Verses by HAMPDEN 
GORDON. Crown 410. 3s. Gd. net. 
fy companion volume to " Our Hospital A.B.C." Miss Dennvs here depicts 
women workers in aU t he profession s and trades which have opened up to them 
AT THE SERBIAN FROlVT IN 
MACEDniyi A '^'" P- ^ STEBBING. With lUustra- 
mnvbUvraiH tions and Maps. Crown 8vo. 6s.net. 
The author, who was on the spot, has had exceptional opportunities of 
seeing the flghbngjnjhat theatre oi war. 
ODES to TRIFLES *"° ^JyTf^>*^" 
By R, M. liA.SSIE, Sergt. 5th Canadian Infantry. Crown 
8vo. 3s. 6d. net. 
"Humorous verse, by a member of the Canadian ExpediUonarv Force, in 
wnich every stanza gets well home ; written with a refreshing air of con- 
viction and a re.M wit which scintillates the more sharply because not a 
word of It could be spared."— TA; Time'i. 
JOHN LANE, The Bodiey Head, Vigo St., W.I 
lVr«o for aUTUMN UST. 
