i6 
LAND & WATER 
December 28, 1917 
Books of the Week 
Hawk of the Desert. By G. K. Mittox. John Murray. 
5?. nci. 
Thomas. \W U H. Cressvvell. Nisbet and Co. 5s.net. 
Merely Players. By I-VCY Dm.k and G. M r.xfi.PiNn. 
r. I'isluT L'liwin. 6s. 
Miss Mary. By Katiurine Tvnak. John Murray. 5s "c*. 
Revoke. H\ \\ . de \'eer. John Lane. 6s. 
TUV.RE is no liviiiR writer who can tell a story of 
ativenturc to the greater delight and entrance- 
ment of young pt<oi)le than Miss G. E. Mitton. 
She always takes her audience with her to strange 
j)laccs ; on this occasion to the innermost parts of the 
ICgi.'ptian desert, and Hawk of the Desert — a splendid 
title — bears you on his wing in one wild rush from 
the first chapter to the last. The characters are forciby 
drawn ; the German spy and intriguer, Thies, is a master- 
piece, the «a\- he pidls the strings and finally meets his reward 
.■lie among the great excitements. Miss Mitton always scores 
1 y ha\-ing gained first-hand knowledge of the wld regions 
wnich she describes ; no one could have written this book 
with the same effect who liad not been to Upper Egypt. 
There arc occasions, so it seems to us, when she dilates a 
little too fully on local facts and peculiarities, but these pages 
we venture to think will be easily skipped by the young person 
who is out for blood and not for information. This is certainly 
one of the few really good ad\Tnture books that have been 
produced this. Christmas. 
* * « * » 
Mr. H. B. Cresswell, author of Thomas, has designed his 
■ book with a \iew to amusing his readers, and leaving the 
task of instructing them to those who believe that " heavy " 
fiction is acceptable in war time. Thomas was a civil servant 
who went on a holiday, and juggled with time so as to extend 
a month into six weeks, or thereabouts ; he left at home a 
rather masterful sort of mother and a very charming young 
relative by marriage, both very well drawn 'figures in the 
story. By means of a small motor car, certain fish, a duke, 
and a few other equally varied accessories, Mr. Cresswell has 
contrived as merry a story as has appeared for some time. 
One makes friends with Thomas even while laughing at him, 
and eventually one laughs with him, up to the last chapter, 
where the author proves that he is capable of writing stirring 
])rose; not without a touch of sentiment, as well as 
comedy. Thomas is a very welcome acquaintance all round, 
one in whose company it is quite possible to forget the war 
lor an hour or two, and be genuinely amused. 
* * * * * 
It would be interesting to know how much of Merely Players 
is due to each of its two authors, Lucy Dale and G. M. 
L'aulding, for there is in the book no sign of collaboration, no 
variation of style from which one might conclude a dual 
authorship. It is the well-written story of two women and 
two men— one man maiTied the wrong "woman, so that the 
other man and woman were left out in the cold. Iji pre-war 
days, such a situation would probably have led the author or 
authors to take the characters on to such complications as 
would have involved the banning of the book by libraries, 
but there is at this present time a higher conception of life, 
and, very wisely, these folk are made to act in such a way 
that the most captious reader could not blame either Judith, 
the woman who counts, or Denis, the man who realises his 
mistake too late. It is a well-told storj-. 
* * * * * 
In the matter of plot, Mr. E. F. Benson's latest book. An 
A iitimn Sowins, is little more than a short story ; Keeling 
head of a provincial establishment paralleling' Whiteley's' 
who began life in a small fish shop, took unto himself a secre- 
tary when he reached the age of fiftv and found in that the 
romance of his life ; mainlv through the strength of the girl 
both he and she loved honour most— and there the book ends 
with Kcehng realising that work is aU which can compensate 
lor the loss of the girl and the presence of his wife. In this, 
as far as plot is concerned, is no more than material for a 
short stor}-, for the concurrent story of AUce Reeling's 
daughter, and Silverdale, the parson with high church 
habits and a " pawing " manner where the womenfolk of 
his flock are concerned, is quite unimportant. 
But, though the plot is so small, the treatment is other%vise 
With uncanny skill Mr. Benson has stated the difference 
between Keeling, honoijrable. even admirable, and the well- 
bred folk with' whom his work brings him in contact ; with 
equal insight is pictured the boring stupiditv of Keeling's 
wife, her utter inability to rise with her husband from the fish- 
shop level. Norah Propert, the heroine, is more shadowv ; 
Silverdale, the offensi\e parson, is a caricature, tliough in 
him one recognises an all to Common type, while .Mice, born 
to spinsterhood and a prey to waste emotions, is little more 
than commonplace. The author has centred his activities 
in Keeling, and in him has created a figure worthy of more 
than casual attention, one of the best types that modern 
commercial life c\'olvcs. The book is more than clever, for 
tlie skill with which the very slight relations between Norah 
Propert and Keeling are traced from their beginning to the 
inevitable end is worthy of a larger epithet. Mr. Benson has 
done no better work than this, which is totally distinct in 
manner as in constniction, from any other book he has written. 
Pleasure is to be gained from s'uch a story as Miss 
Mary Katherine Tynan's latest novel. (John Murray, 
5s. net.) It is a simple relation of Irish Life, with 
an exceedingly conventional plot. Miss Maxx is the 
daughter of an Irish landlord, and the hern is a boy 
who, although of good family, enters the skuv as' a 
stable boy— and the end is the usual end to such a story. 
But there is keen insight into Irish folk and Irish life, and cer- 
tain anecdotes scattered about are more than nurmalh- 
attractive. For instance, the voung doctor, very raw, wli<' 
when confronted with finger-bowls for the first time, ladU<l 
strawberries^ into his, remarking that it was wonderful how- 
well up in " hygeen " we had become, as nothing wanted 
washing more than strawberries. Whereupon his host's 
strawberries went into his finger-bowl, as did those of the rest 
of the guests, while at the end the company agreed that straw- 
berries were best unwashed after all. " Washing spoils them 
—we're too faddy about things nowadays," was the general 
conclusion. It is not the anecdote itself, "but the way in which 
it is told by Miss Tynan and the spirit which it and others 
like it convey, that make the book a health\-, breezy novel, 
well written and very entertaining. ' 1 ' 
***** 
The slightest of stories makes up Revoke, by W. de Veer, 
for it is the setting rather than the actual story that counts 
in this novel., Onno Winter, president of the native court at 
a Javanese provincial centre, met a charming English girl, 
and lost his head over her— but she, after certain hesitations' 
preferred to keep her head, and that is practically all. The 
only pretence at an incident in the book consists in a snake- 
bite for the girl, when Winter virtually saved her life but 
not much emphasis is laid on this, for the author is too much 
concerned with the course of the passion animating these two 
a futile passion in the end. ' 
But, apart from the story, the hfe and .scenery of Java arc 
pictured with a sure hand, so that one may realis'e the tropical 
lieat of t!ie coastal settlements, and the wonderful scenerv ol 
the uplands. A certain journey that Winter took] with'the 
girl and her father to a hill station yields us acquaintance with ' 
thcwondersof the little-known road, with the rest houses and 
v.-.th the manners and the laziness of the Javanese people yet 
a i this IS painted in such a way as to fit with the st'on- 
It is obviously the work of one who is intimately acquainted 
with the country he describes, and, bv the time the con- 
scientious reader reaches the end of the boolc, that reader will 
feel that he too knows Java. Winter is a cleverly-drawn 
character but the heroine is even more elusive and'contra- 
cl ctorv than the majority of women. Without any attempt 
at scaling dramatic heights, the author has told a story well 
, .hl.°=V '"•'"''■ ^""^ *''"' '^''^^ "^^^^- 0"t ^f the matefial for 
a Short stor}', a very attractive novel. 
of reiiiion n,n?i ^" "'"'''■ "^"^ ^^ --^nierica's leading ministers 
■rancf ami P^ '"" '''"°"f ' '"^''^^tigation of tlie battlefields of 
of German itroH""" 'Vt^' *" '^"'l"''"^ carefully „ito the tnuli 
rblfr.!,? '• ^A ^'^ '■^*'"'" t° -^"^^"^^ ^'^ "«de a number 
mouttch.r^%T'u"^ P'^^^S^^^' ^" '^>"q"«"t sermon at Plv 
^s ocom^lH V "^'y"' ^ P"'P^ ^*'"°"^ *" '^'"'^rica in that'll 
was occupied for many years bv Henry Mard Beecher This 
andTis"no/r-*^'' ""'^ .P"'^"*^''^ -'del'y in the Ui'hed State 
m this cZ rv f."'''"'^^?^.^^ Messrs. \V. H. Smith and Sou 
concbe ?n^; f ." ''"i'"''' ^^"'^'' -^^"^^ ^'""'- ^"d contains 
hich JrP ^^Z ^^^^- ^""^ particulars about German atrocities 
w men are based on indisputable evidence. 
GOGGLES 
WIMO- SCREENS 
AWINDOW5 
fc 
'J^ -^^i^ 
THE ONUY ^ 
SAFETY GLASS 
