10
TELEGRAPH. THE HONGKONG
TUESDAY, JULY 27,
1937.
**
BOOKS Edited by Roger Pippett
Victorious Gentility
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IN VICTORIAN FICTION
T
By E. M. Delafield
(The Hoparth Press, 10s. Gd.)
HERE was no nousense-" Come, alr, let us have no nonsense! I expect you to obey me "-about the genteel society which Miss Delafield's minor Victorian authors reflect so minutely and so exactly. The normal child or wife would have thought of defying Gdd as noon as father or husband-almost sooner,
If there were mutiny, the authors saw to it that the
were calamitous, consequences
and the development of a sense of Built in the mutineer, usually ex- plated only by a long. Hngering death, was inevitable. This was the fute of Eric, the hero--may we say?-of Dean Farrar's really ter rite book of school te, Eric, or Little by Little.
It is true that the Dean was not reflecting actual people so much as but their fashionable attitude, there was no one at the time to condemn his morbid moralising and his massacre of lonocents-- how the Dean loved a good death?
to point la morals.
Henry Fairchild, the bad lad of Fairchild The fitstory of the
Family, was not killed off by Mrs. "Sherwood for disobeying his papa. but I always think he had a succes- sion of very narrow squeaks.
He
was about seven when he rebelled at learning Latin from Mr. Fair- He was locked up. iyon child: bread and water and well fogged. Still he sulked.
"Henry." said his father, "isten to me. When wicked men abstin- ately defy and oppose the power of God. He gives them up to their own bad hearts.... I stand in the place of God to you whilst you are a child..." The Light
Eventuais, after further agonles. This little devil saw the Holt and asked pardon of his papa on his knees, Mr. F. was graelously pleased to forgive him and, I naglie, sent a confidential Memorandum to God announcing us. decision.
o much for the rhapter "Papa nal Mama," which is followed by others
an governesses, declarations of feeling for popping the question, ill-healthi (wita mysterious declines clothes. parties brain-fovers),
nad And
"the fair sex."
When Guy, in Charlotte M. Yange's The Heir of Redclyder proposed to though Amg, he did it very nicely. with the tremulousness of subdued agitation" and Amy, sweet thing. flew off, like a little bird to its nest, and never stopped till. breathless and erinson, she threw herself on her knees and, with her fuco hidden in her mother's lap, exclaimed in panting.
whispers.... hall smothered mamma, mama, he says-he says ho loves ine!
I was, in these novels, as rare for A young gentleman to embrace his betrothed and show any signs of pañ- sion as for u, wife to question the w:dom of her husband. It is a shock to learn of the frank kissing between Dalsy and Mr. Thorold (Daisy, by Elizabeth Wetherell) when "ht Ups took their own answer" at hers: but Then Daby was an American.
Reassuring
Miss Deinfield contrasts the past with the present in an excellent Intro- duction, and in her later quotations there is a faint rumbling of ancestral voices prophesying war, particularly over the question of Women's Rights, Miss Yonge, who wrote from 1944 to 1901, in actually responsible for a saucy gibe at modern women when she makes Captain Duncombe describe them as members of "the Middlesex Club!
And Miss Delafield shows that wit of hers when she doubts that it really constitutes progress to have the tra
extended ditional children's hour handsomely into the twenty-four, with the dangerous impact of the adult perzonality on the fragile ego of the developing child."
Such a doubt is, of course, positively Victorian.
P. O. H. S.
"TEMPTATION,"
affecting scene fram 0172 "Ladies and Gentlemen in Victorian Fiction."
A
SUGAR IN THE AIR
By E. C. Large (Cape. 73. Gd.)
YOUNG unemployed. en- gineer named Pry is offered by D mysterious post mysterious company.
They have sunk a mint qi money in a process to obtain suger from the air and his job is to see whether there is any sense at all in what the inven- tor is up to and. If so, whether the nugar can be predticed at commercial rates.
The inventor is mad, and his process is as useless as it is fabulously expen- Slve
But the company has a lot of Rear tying lle, some more money to spend and a faint hope of retrieving 11s 103ses.
With the discovery of a way of ex- tracting minute quantities of synthetic sugar and the ignominious dismissal of Inventor Number One and Manag. ing Director Number Five, the fun really begins.
There are two richly absurd sides to this story, and of these the nciuni business of sugar-making the lesser
nonsense. Far more fantastic-and yel all too passible-are the antics of the company, which, still upholding the banner of the shareholders' ideal. Binally staggers lo ruin, even though Pry has succeeded in producing a marketable commodity.
and pompous The complicated Idlories of the commercial system, withi
www
TALE-TWISTER
THE LATE GEORGE APLEY By John P. Marquand (Robert Hale, 7s, éd.)
HIS is as pretty a piece of nction as has been published
read two-thirds of it and still not be sure that it isn't what I pre- tends to be, the sober memoir of a Highly Respected American Citizen.
The humour a delightful, but re strained. We are so used to the re- talling of pointless anecdotes about the early days of the great or the near- great that it is only after a time that you realise that the incidents su Holemnly recalled here are slightly inore fatuous than usua).
A little later still you find them fall- ing neatly into pattern. And the Joke 14
you.
You have the pleasure of seeing einerge from this collection of letters and papers a devastating picture of Bostan, the home of the bean and the cod-the wealthy, respectable side of Boston, that is, from the eighteen nities down to the present day.
George Apley takes the centre of
the stage. On one side are his parents and, on the other, his children. And, hovering in the background with the vacuous benevolence of an angel, is the inimitable Mr. Willing, his faithful blographer...
We
This novel is something new in the gentle art of debunking. Instead of cheap and easy sucers, there is a per- sistent allempt to present everything In the most favourable light
Amusing as the book is, the general watch effect is saddening, for George, tho inheritor of a puritan tradition, trying valuly in his youth to break loose to a life less fenced round by the responsibilties of his wealth and social position, only to be beaten by his environment into accepting the uld order so thoroughly that his one desire is to fix the same shackles on his son.
A nice old bird, George, defeated by Let time and his own good nature. hlm sink quietly to his comfortable rest, while you wonder whether John Apicy will manage to do any better- or whether he, too, will abandon his dreams, assume the same burdens and achieve the same mediocrity and peace.
R. P.
THE TOTALITARIAN GUIDE
its queer mixture of holy DURING a prolonged trip I have
ance. gullibility and caution, has rarely been more genially exposed. Poor Pry and his fellow technicians found the elements much easier to deal with 'than those kindly old gentlemen vn the board of directors who made hay of everybody's efforts with the best intentions in the world.
Make a note of Sugar in the Air. An original, entertaining and provoking
R. P. tale.
BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON
M
By Dorothy L. Sayers (Gollancz, 8s, Gu.)
186-8AYERS has landed herself in an odd predien-
so much unnatural death, has brought Lord Peter Wimsey dis- turbingly to life. And it looks as though it may be the death of him.
Consider these points. A corpse in the cellar is made the occasion merely for a detective interruption to a love story. That may not matter so mucli. A honeymoon cannot last for ever.
But Peter and 3arriet-of course it is Harriet Vane whom he has married have to discuss, in terms of personal' integrity, whether or not he shall i n finger about it. However important his emotional state may be to him, his duty to the public lies in detection.
And, to cloud his mind so that he han to try to secure the acquittai of the confessed and impenitent mur- derer he has exposed is surely to add mystery and horror of quite the wrong sort. If, in detective fiction, criminals are not there merely to be hounded down, then the whole protiy cross-word
❤ tumbles to pleeen.
For the rest. let it be clear that here are amusing writing, a well-conceived crime and a Peter and Harriet who will further endear themselves to the heart if not to the head,
P. E. H.
RAPID REVIEWS
A
EVER THE WINDS DLOW, by Elliot
Merrick (Duckworth, 8, 60.). long novel about a young American who has the usual school and college run and then revolls against the city. The last ninety pages are for and away the best.
THE SLEEVE OF NIGHT, by Peter Groyson, (Grayson and Traili 7. Ed.). Who murdered Norma, the glamorous sleter of the still more Was tho, in fact, glamorous Pay?
And, if so, why? murdered at !!? A good psychological thriller.
THE CHELTENHAM SQUARE MUR-
DER, by John Bade
(Skepington, 70.50). Death stalks in a quiet. Wosi of England spa. Ire struck an un- pleasant victim-and gave the polise run for their man. But they got A teasingly dis him in the bad. genious tale.
the
this place is a Ocncentration Camp). just made on the Continent Most Coatinentals have never seen was able to study the methods of golf played. and this yarn will my Continental colleagues in the merely impress them with guiding profession. Especially in power of the State." Italy, Germany, and Russia was I impressed by a teclmique that differed radically from that which. with my brother-guides In Edin burgh, I have practised for many
years.
We "do" historical Ediaburgh thoroughly, point out interesting features of the city, and tell turists to keep hold of their hats on the North Bridge. But we never mention the statesmanship of the Prime Minister; we keep silent about the height of the average Highlander since the advent of the milk bar; and, unwilling to stress the obvious, we never tell tourists that this is God's Own Country, In short, we stick to guiding and undertake no propaganda,
juvenile football A peep at
visit to Genera! malch, or Assembly when there is booing go. ing on, will reveal to tourists some- thing of the fighting qualities <f our nation.
Keep on meatloning Mr. Cham- berlain. Give him the credit for every good thing. from the clean nors of Edinburgh's streets to the excellence of the view obtained from the Castle Rock. Every time tzu utter his name, salute, crying. "Hip! Hip!" Salute in the normal or Boys' Brigade manner, and not as if your jacket were causing you acute discomfort under the armpit. All this will impress tourists with the might of the Prime Minister. the My recent experiences on
As an ultimate effect of this Continent make me think that wa
there is propaganda carried on by guides. 1 Виррозе are wrong.
n country with n respect in us much to be said for our methods, Continental nations will learn to For one thing, the only lies we steadfast purpose. The guide will tell are historical legends. But
thus prepare the way for inter- we are apt to forget that if we have national understanding. If he is
have a a duty to the tourist, we
good at his job and willing to study ntore im- duty to the State, or,
Italian mediately, to the Burgh. A little the work of experienced pro- reports of the Coronation--he may propaganda would not be entirely pagandistofor instance, out of place in our conducted tours. legitimately aspire to the post f Minister of Propaganda, which will be created sooner or later by Mr. Chamberlain. (Hip! Hipt)
*
•
Here are a few suggestions for which I am not going to cinim the copyright:---
Never warn tourists about the One n'Clock Gun. When they see us-romain calm while they jump nervously, or run for cover, they will admire the fortitude of our race.
Saluto all members of the police force, hcluding plain clothes men. This will give an excellent im- dis- pression of our respect for cipling.
IN THE EYES OF THE LAW, by G. Erciyn Miles and Dorothy K. Dix (Arnold, J. Gd.). Legal procedure made easy. As Lord Macmillan saya in a foreword, "The expert is always
West far too afraid of talking in popular
Inform
'that tourists language about his speciality." Here
Princos Street Gardens were until are two experts who aren't.
a few weeks ago a marsh known NO PASARAN! by Upton Sinclair HOW D
ns the Nor" Loch. This informa- (Werner Lourie, 73, 68.):
tion will show how good we are as Young New Yorker came to join the and lake Brigado International
a nation at land reclamation. part in the stand that stopped
this story goes down well, any the Franco at the gates of Madrid, Net
same thing about the Meadowe. in Mr. Binclair's best style.
adding that they are altortly to be so that used for growing crops, Edinburgh may be self-sufficient in timo of war,
BE ROUGH WITH LOVE, by Laura Whetter. (Ward, Lock, 78, dd.). It you are a brilliant young band. leader and the girl you have set your heart on won't look at you-- what happens next? Read this witty, distinguished romance and
COUNT THE "TELEGRAPHS”-- EVERYWHERE
If
Places like Fattes College and Daniel Stewart's should be pointed out an Workers' Colonics so as to give a good idea of our social ser- vleck.
If you can manage it, take your tourists out to the Braid. Hills golf course at a rush hour and hint that
STOP
T. G. 9. C.
Muscular
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Keep a battle handy.
ABSORBINE JR.
Yer yesen.ban reitevad, muscular and thou. matit paina, cuts, sprains, abrasione.. Balon Agosto, Maller, Binclour & Co., Inc.
TEACHER LOOKS BACK
LOOK back with amurement, un
I certain incidents ut my retivo!
of thone days in
exciting' year Kitchener at Khartoum and Ruberts in Routh Africa.
uit
m
We had a teacher who dearly loved A jest at the exponso of any of the boys. One boy in that clams uttered a very irregular frum the effects of
WILM abient overy attendance. Monday, and sometimes Tuesday well, ultimately finding himself no far behind the main part of the class that his long wenk-end must have come as Krautne relief to him. There was a large family, and Monday was washing day, so James was on the curpel overv week to explain his absence.
"Why nument yesterday. naked the teacher.
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is Yours to Command
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TO SEATTLE. VICTORIA "THE EXPRESS ROUTE":
TO SAN FRANCISCO NEW YORK AND BOSTON Via Shanghai, Kobe, Yokohama, Monolulu, San Francisco, Panama да
Canal and Havana.
Midnight Aug. 10 Pres. Jackson Noon
Aug. 21 Pres. Jefferson Midnight Sept. 7 Pres. McKinley Noon Sept. 18 Pres. Grant
8.00 a.m. Oct. Noon Oct.
Pros. Tall Pres. Hoover Pres. Lincoln Pres. Coolidge
Pres. Wilson I'res. Hoover
Janes 7"
"I was cawing the mangle, sir." said James.
Not cawing,!
EUROPE, NEW YORK AND BOSTON
។
Via Shanghai, Kobe and Toko-.
hama,
Midnight July Midnight Aug. Midnight Aug.
30 33 27
Pres. Jackson
Midnight Sept. 10 Midnight Sept. 24 Midnight Oct. MANILA
16 Pres. Jefferson
THE MOST FREQUENT SERVICE
Next Sailings.
Via Maulia. Singapore, Penang. Colombo, Bombay, Buez Canal, "Cawing the mangle?
Naples, Genoa and Marseilles.
1Pres. Harrison surely?" added the teacher.
8.00 a.m. Aug. Pres. Harrison,
0,00 a.m. Aug. 15 Pres. Taft "Cafliek the mangle, sir." James Pres. Polk
20 Pres. Jefferson 8.00 a.m, Aug. explained.
8.00 a.m. Sept. 12 Pres. Hoover 8.00 a.m. Sept. 26 Pres Polk
10 Pres. McKinley 0.00 a.m. Oct.
"Calling the mangle? How is that?" "This way, sir," nahi Janies, and he went through the action of turning the big wheel of the mangle.
"But you weed not calling the mangle all day?" the menter suggeste
a. sir," and James, "but the old woman next door has hens, and they come into our garden."
"What aliout that?" was question.
the next
"Well, sir, 1 have to chase them out." explained James.
"But do the bens come acrosa only on Mondays" asked the teacher.
No, sir? but my mother choses them oot herself when she's not washing." was the anal explanation.
Poetic Injustier
For a short time we bad martinet of a master. I received two of the best every Monday morning for falling to quote correctly the next group of fines from Goldsmith's "Dearrted Village." You can imagine how I loved Goldsmith at the age of eleven!
л
1
From newspaper paragraph we discovered that this teacher's Christian One name was Peter. We knew him after- wards a "Peter the Whaler,"
vening towards Christmas one of my classmates was indiscreet enough shout this title after him, and divo raund the corner into darkness. Next wo were day at the spelling lessen
It would be asked to spell "huge," dieult to imagine how many different efforts were male-hugh, heugh, heuge, hooge, hoogh, youge. But Peter had only one way of treating those who had not prepared for the spelling lesson.
Why I followed the profession, of Peter I do not know, for in those days the reward was a small one. Improve
weite still boy's esme; but menta
for absence Is not very the excuse explanatory notes for each other when good.
One
day received the following' genuine note from an absestes on her return:"Please excuse Mary for being absent, she had watry pokes on her simple, neck." The explanation was but there was more than that on her neck.
In the Mill Wheel.
As for trunnts, their methods and accomplishments might il a volume. Bn intolerable Two brothers became nuisance. Their way to school luy by An old mill whose wheel had not turned fre mornings OR for three years. there boys could hardly pans the place. They hid their books, waded in the
water- played the acrobat inside the wheel like a pair of forest monkeys.
stream, climbed into the mill, and
How often they had tried to open closed tho sluice. which by being divorted the water into the stream, How often they were soaked to the wind until the AUB And haunches rendered them comparatively dry,
One day the younger bay was climbing and swinging as usual inside the water- wheel, when his elder brother by sheer malicious violence wrecked the sluice, which was suffering at any rate from
The water raced down long neglect. over the wheel, which began to grind as of old. The young aerobat, inken by surprise, lost his grip inside the turning wheel, and ultimately to half- crawled, half-fell out from the side of it, though how he mined belog eut ini two on the framework I cannot say.
The boy was thoroughly soaked and fearfully bruised. Its brother assisted books were for- him home. Their gotten among the whens and brlar roses; but they never played truunt again. Influenza So-called ·
on its rusty axle, and then to revolve
And the compulsory officer long since departed this life. I had occasionally suspected that he was not doing the work quite honestly..
Pres. Pierce
Pres. Van Buren Pres. Garfield Pres. Hayes
8.00 am. Aug. Midnight Aug. 4.00 p.m. Aug. 9.00 p.m. Aug. 8.00 am. Aug.
6.00 p.m. Aug.
21
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MS. "NAGARA"
M.S. SHANTUNG"
HOME WARDS
OUTWARDS.
Balling about .29th Aug. .29th Sept.
To SHANGHAI, YOKOHAMA, KOBE and OSAKA. M.S. "SHANTUNG"
Passenger Rates:
Hong Kong to Algiers
Hong Kong to Antwerp or London
Agents:
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Hongkong.
OUR BRITISH
ACROSS
137
1 Motion of the the sea that sug-
landing satisfac- gests a boat torily on the shore. 9 Formerly
10 Late In to inn (a silly nnngram,
but it is dono on purpose).
A European.
14 Supervisors, to make a party for 14 It sounds.
bridge
One evening I found one of my boga lying at the roadside with aisanke 11 A Euro broken. One of his classmates was with him, and their cycles lay there too. 1 helped to carry, the boy home, but somehow bls name appeared in the list 18 Musical direction. of absentees handed to the compulsory 19 Build up. officer so that he could make inquiry 20 Freed. regarding absence. This gentleman was 21 A colloquial success. discredited for all time when he - 22 Summon. turned at the end of the day with his 23 The right lines for railways to ilat, which bore opposite the boy's | 23 name the word "Influenza."
F
be run on. 24 Past The remaining statements have boon 25 Fish. made. recently in examination books
world. helonging to recondary pupily over 14 20 One of the great rivers of the years of age.
27 Feminine name.
It is said that King James J. had a tongue too big for his mouth, but this is perhaps wrong, because when he was at the Hampden Court Conference t In said that he spoke all the time.
The morality plays were plays dealing with the Seven Deadly Bins and other virtues.
Jaundle le a disease which affects the JAW.
A certain class of monks who went about the country pardoning the la of the populace ware called papal bulls. Burna's father was very poor, and rent. with his sometimes fell back Burns, used to go into the town on a Saturday night, where he met many of
His wrath A| his friende at the inn. good poem about this, entitled Cettara Balurday Nicht."
Alexander M. Brown
"The
28 The girl who shows a tendency towards the left in politics. This in the advertisement of a travel agency dues not sarily suggest Chaldaca.
32
neces-
35 "Locate grime" (anog.). 38 A formal expression of will. 37 Apparently suggests deduction
but is really senseless.
DOWN
2 This work of Wagner's was four. 3 Not new.
4 This is just the same as the last. 3 Some need to follow this to
mak them healthy.
This comes into a simple aver- BEG.
18th Aug..
.£49
..£53
G. E. HUYGEN
Canton..
CROSSWORDS
7 One cannot be robbed of what is
this.
6 The sort of farwell that is popu-
Jar in the Services.
12 The cholce (that might appeal
a missionary?)
13 Disagreement.
L
14. Part of the body to get ready
for fighting.
15 Bird that shows the votes cast.
for the Socialist.
18 Sporting fish of Asia.
17 Stung to rashness?
20 Men would not expect tofind
her
their enemies,
among
30 A spirit.
31 Consumed.
33 Dezire that is left by the inte.
134 Trees for the conqueror?
Yesterday's Bolation PIPIT MEDITATED LAOU | 20 1 A PROPO8 8H1PMEN I LEITPB G NOOK BORAF BONY TUFANGELS SHOULDERBLAD FBCPMO
F ORGATHERING-8) MIMINA OYLE CUFF NIPPY UAIN OLJEE_K_N__! PHINEA 8" ROUNDEB TERMES I JA MENGAT
LEGENDARY DORI G
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