1923-12-15 — Page 24

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BOOKS

MISS SINCLAIR AND THE

OCCULT.

NEW FICTION.

ΟΠ

CHINESE FORMS.

THE CHINA MAIL.

TO A CHILD.

TCHEHOV AND TOLSTOI.

He always spoke of Tolstoi with special, linost imperceptible, little anile of tenderness and anxiety in his eyes; he spoke with a lowered voice, an of something phantasmal, mysterious, which requires soft and wary, worda,

A long poem does not appeal to | (Written on the fly leaf of "Puck of the Chinese mind. There is no such | Pook's Hill' and given to a okild.)

By WILLIAM McFee. thing as an epic in the language, though, of course, there are many It tells of peace, it tells of strife, pieces extending to several hundred It tells of high and low, lines. Brevity is indeed the soul of It tells of all the throbbing life

They lived long long ago; Ia Chinese poom, which is valued not

so much for what it says as for what Of matrons fat and maidens alim, it suggests. As in painting, so if castles high and cathedrals dit.

More than once be complained poetry suggestion is the end and aini

that there was no Eckermann near of the artist, who in each case tony. It tells you tales of this our kand

That Englishinen call home."Tolitor, to write down carefully the be styled an impressionist. The

[tradictory ideas of the old wizard. leul length is twelve lines, and this Where lived the mighty men who sharp, unexpected, and often con in the limit eot to candidates at the

The outer walls of Rome: great public examinations at tho present day, the Chinese holding Of Julius Cosar (in evening dress) int if a poet cannot say within such Out for a stroll on Shoeburyness. compares what he has to say it may very well be left unsaid. The sight-It tells of Knights and Squires fine

Who never were afraid, Who rode (first.class) to Palestine

Upon a fierce Crusade.

munnext

Sone of them never came back.

bear,

I

And widows at home were cheap

that year..

wilco

In lands beyond the Happy Isles,

So take, Maid Margery, this book And praps, when trees are green,

You'll find the fairies seon, Asleep within some shady nook,

woodland By little man and little manid; Adrowse beneath the

glade!

"The Book of a Benedict," by 'Uncanny Stories."--By May Mr. Duncan Swan, contains the re-

Sinclair. (Hutchinson. 78. 6d. fections and opinions of a gentle Miss Muy Sinclair, "phaps the most competent of modern novel-run who, though happily married, ists,

to quota her publisher, who demus it wise never to take his wife bay more justification than often for granted. There is little action, happens, is endowed with a really and the plot is negligible. The wonderfu! versatility. This, her Latest book, is a collection of stories period edvered by the twelve chap. of the weird and the unearthly. ters is one year. Month by month They are not entirely a now depar- the spenter moralised the line poeru is also a favourite, and so, ture: for much of her paychology sins of society. tho advan-but for its extreme difficulty, is the and her philosophical tendency pr Hist in her work, and help to make tages and disadvantages of the four-line epigram, or "stop-short," it distinctive among such fiction. matrimonial, and the single state, called because of its abruptness, though, as the critice explain,."it There is none of the obvious. alangst respectively, the scandal of maris only the words which stop, the chourful creepiness" of the tiles told mund the family fire at Christ-ges of arrangement, the iniquities sense goes on," some train of my time in her uncanniness, Herof pistical linchelors who use their thought having been suggested to

On high discoverie, illustrator, the Chevalier Jenis le freedom to pay attention to the the reader. The latter form of verso It tells of men who ventured out spauses of their friends, and things was in use so far back as the Han Bosschete, helps to take them on

He tells us what he dynasty, but only reached perfec-Who strove in many s'dusty bout

Upon the stormy sea : the plane of the almost inhumar in general.

Although smine people who con- tion under the fangs.

Who fought for gold with many Ho has a slightly ironic, almost id to

the consisting of only twenty or twenty- of derisive touch; and though he adds denied the behaviour

elderly and eight words, according to the meat- greatly to the interest of the work, young wife of an his imaginings shriek sometimes bibulous husband, how he saw sure employed, it is just long enough with the author's. It is a little gland beat Scotland at Twicken- for the poet to introduce, to develop, ditlicult, now nil then, to get Missham, what happened on Rugger to embellish and to conclude his Sinclair's own impressions distinct, Night, and so on in a leisurely dis theo in accordance with certain bestuse of the impressions driven in cursive monologue which contrives, established laws of composition. nevertheless, to hold the reader's in- The third line is considered the impony by the artist.

The tales are seven- mystic terrst. (Bodley Head: Dymock's) inost troublesome to produce, some "The Prims Path contains pets even writing it first; the last The first has ghastly number. Dantesque, motif, suggesting the same relable short stories by Mr. line should contain a "surprise" or eternally-pired flight of Paolo sul Arthur Mills, who mndles the denouement. Francesa. In it the woman and medium effectively, and contrives We are, in fact, reminded of the min who have chosen tust in default se unexpected climaxes. In one old formula, "Omne epigrarna sit of love are condemned for ever to of them a young King's Messenger, instar apis." etc., better known in repeat their soulless sin in the wing in helping, as he supposes, beauty to English dress :-- squalid set of circumstances. The iu distress in a Riviera train, he and tale is tender, and deals with comes this unwitting accessory of a the wistful return of a spirit whose gang of international crooks." An-1 Jove was never satisfied by the be- other describes a Chinese vengeance loved while she lived. She hers frustrated at the eleventh hour by him confess at last that she was the much persecuted wife of the Several of the everything to hand is at rest. Oriental villain. The third is by far the best, ther tales, indeed, have their setting in most amazingly well conceived, the East, while the rest are brilliantly hell, and cleverly work-cerned with adventure, sport, and ed out of all the tales. It must be the half world. (Duckworth.) read, for its mature can hardly be shortly indicated here. The fourth- is. frankly, muther musty, and the Chevalier makes it worse. The fifth is weakich but affecting, and the into heaven, necording to the de- sixth almost jovini, with its grateful tourely eynical writer, may be ghost, who thanks his murderer, achieved ac missed, with an easo The last is an imaginative effort. quite disproportionate in the tinë within an aee of being highly surf orthodoxy. Altogether the collec cessful It gives a conception of tion is brilliantly "clever; but the eselmiology that is at the same time third tale is really distinguished,

comforting and terrifying.

SUNDAY, 16th and MONDAY, 17th

MARIE PREVOST

IN THE ZIPPY COMEDY DRAMA OF A FOLLIES BEAUTY WHO BREEZED INTO AN ARISTO- ORATIO FAMILY and STARTED A STORM THAT SUBSIDED IN A DOUBLE WEDDING.

"DON'T GET PERSONAL"

con-

Entry

"The qualities mare in a bee that

wo weet

In an epigram never should fail; The body should always be little

and sweet,

And a sting should be left in the

tail.

The following is an early speci- men, by an anonymous writer, the four-due poem :—

of

By

ADAM AND EVE. II. Dennis Bradley. 73 x 3.

197 pp. 26. L.

T Werner Laurie.

You ought to do it"-he tried to persuade, Bulerzhitsky-Tolstoi! jis so fond of you, talks to you so

unch and so well."

Of Sulerahitsky, Tehehov, said to

me:

"He's a wise baby." Very well said.

Once in my presence Tolstoi was in rapture over ons of Tebehov's stories, I think it was "The Dar- ling," Ho said:

"It is like a piece of lace worked by chaste gid; there were such girls in olden times, lace-makers 'for ever they put all their lives, all their dreams of happiness into the They dreamit in their pattern. patterns of what was most dear to them; all their vague, pure love they knitted into the laco." Tolstoi spoke with much agitation, with tears in his eyes.

And Tchehov ... sat with red spots on his cheeks and his head bent down, diligently rubbing his pince-nez. He was silent for a long while, at last, with a sigh, said in a soft bashful voice:

"There are misprints in it." Maxim Gorky, in The Adelphi.

ally if they attach any importance Mr. Dewis Bradley is a writer to the announcement of Mr. Dennis who has produced plays, fiction, Bradley's own views about pro- histories, articles, and essays, but ducere, dramatists, and actora. A he avows that advertisement writing telling little card-table story is also has paid him best. Certainly the worth a mention. direct "punching" style in which In other little pieces on Woman, British these little urticles are written is the Men's Clothes, Starch, one for an effective advertisement. Hotels, Snobs, and such like sub- And it is satisfactory to be told (injects, Mr. Bradley does not say another connection) that he writes touch that a worth saying, but he truth--"because it is the only way says it with immenso verbal dex- in which I can write. And just be terity. He is one of the writers cause it is unusual it appears who seem to believe that to make a original." The address on Advertis-statement in an elaborately anneta? ing deivered at the Advertising Con-way makes it witty or pointed. And Are pure and perfect joys indeed,vention, Atlantic City, U.S.A., this as to las views on affairs generally, But few are they who think then last June is the best thing in the he belongs to the familiar class of

such-"

book. A longish paper on. "The person who announce with a thump? Poverty of the English Drama" on the table that "Britain is being may intorost theatre lovers, as Brun by Bureaumarines, Megalo review of what is going on, especi- maniacs, and Squandermaniacs.

The bright moon shining overhead, The stream beneath the breezes

touch,

-HERBEIT A, GILES,

in "A History of Chinese Literature."

†

SCREENLAND.

Miss Hawloy, sa the potted young wife, weare some charming crea tions. Particularly does she intro- duce a novelty, the "fifty-fifty"! dress, about which both the liberals and the extreme Puritans will find something to admire-from different points of view, naturally.

Seen from the front, it is a lack charmeuse evening gown heavily beaded on the bodice which is very high, giving but a small glimpse of neck and shoulder. A fringe drap ing at the shoulder gives the effect of glceves. Demure as is this gown it is "blackness."

In The Truthful Liar," Misa Hawley is supported by Edward Fear, Charles A. Stevenson, Casson Ferguson, E. A. Warren and others.

SATURDAY, DECEMBE 26:15 - 1928

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.

A New & Up-to-date work. HAN BOOK OF COMPANY LAW

by

W. STARR TOLLER

H.B.M. Vice-Consul

Deputy Registrar of Companies-Shanghai

$10 per Copy.

Being the Hongkong Companies Ordinances completely. indexed with full text including the Orders-in-Council and their Winding-up rules. For easy reference, with a valuable introduction containing concise and useful information for Secretaries and Directors of Companies.

NOW ON SALE

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2 vols.

SEE

DYNAMIC DEAN FLASH LIKE

A COMET ACROSS THE SCREEN SEE HER when she defends the man she loves against the man who would wreck his career!

SEE HER When she descends into an inferno of raging flame, falling walls into a bedlam of fear-crazed men, seeking the one creature who had been her friend had taught her that life was something more than an uphill battle against odds į

PRISCILLA

IN THE

DEAN

AND GREAT CAST

Flame of Life

LAST SHOWS TO-DAY

WORLD

AT THE

MARIE PRIVOST SÜDANT OTT PERSONAL

THE FLAME OF LIFE."

NEW. PRISCILLA DEAN PICTURE.

Priscilla Dean, dynamic emo- tionalist of the screen, and one of fildom's most cultured women, hns longed through her whole career for such a role as she plays in "The Flame of Life," the Hobart Univer- sal-Jewel production, showing for

to-day.

DON'T GET PERSONAL" then, she eventually graduated into the last time at the World Theatro

the dramatic star class. But she'll

Her desire has been a rôle af real always be glad that she spent bereuxational depth and yet without the What sonde Marie Provost queen early girlhood developing her nearly influence of beautiful acts, fine of the bathing beauties and gave perfect figure until she knows no her the most admired figure in peer in the beanty class on the clothes, and the splendour of a golden pictures?

3

reun. For in the comedy-dramas ending. In The Flame of Life," such as "Don't Get Personal," be the heroine is a girl of the mining country of North England, a toiler On hot days, swimming. On sides the constant semi-display of by day and a much-cursed, in- cool days, golf on a course near the farm occasioned by women's humanly treated daughter by night. Universal City. At least, that's fashions of today, there is a scene! She is uneducated, reading and writ now and then requiring more than ing is wholly foreign to her; and the what she says. Of course, she was ordinary beauty to "put it over." born that why-and with the

T. Ray Burnes in the leading man real "kick" for the critice lice in the training eho has always followed, and Clarence Badger the director of fact that the end of the picture finde has kept herself in fine physical "Don't Get Personal."

her the same! She is merely alown at the climax on the high road to ticim.

better things. Frances Hodgson Burnett, England's brilliant woman novelist, know the locals of the story by personal contact. Above all, she know how to inject humanness and naturalness into a story dominated by dramatic stress. The story hus no tiresome involved plot; it pictures the impingement of natural forcCA in a strong clear way, Robert Ellis. Wallace Beory, Beatrice Burahain, Kathryn McGuiro, and there support Miss Dean, directed. by Hobart Henley,

WANDA HAWLEY.

HER LATEST REALART PICTURE.

**THE TRUTHFUL LIAR.!!.

In "Dan't Got Personal," the Universal special attraction" which | brings her in a stellar performance to the World Theatre on Sunday, 16th inst.. eho shows that acting. however, and not the display of a shapely figure, is what the fates fintended for ber-In the Univerant comedy-dramas in which she has starred since leaving the bouch queen comedy runkos, she has dis

The sorcen makes the fashions. played a talent and cleverness that makes one wish that the hadn't) and the notre who does not really stayed in the bathing class so long the fact fails in her duty to her When she was discovend by admirers. Wanda Hawley is not Mack Bonnott during a visit she one of them, however, as is evi- paid to one of his actrodes cro dhy', 'dericed in "The Truthful Liar" a their parta in much the same man. ahn joined the beauty squadron Realart picture which will be on ner that a stage play is rehearsed. Lyst was familiaY formed by Glans Swanson. Phyllis view at the World Theatre begin. In this way each, Haver and Mary Thurman Like ning needsy marke

Hobart Honey spent several weeks in rehearsing the players in

Jack Conway, Claire Adams and Frankie Les make their last stand against the outrages of "The Killer" in the Pathé feature of that ante adapted from the novel of Stewart Edward White.

PAULINE FREL

Paulino Froderick'a record on the silver sorben etudied with many a brilliant performance, but in none of hor haa sha over done anything mora noteworthy than ber

on of the wife in "The Sting of the Lash.