1924-02-16 — Page 10

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BOOKS

FROM THE NEW BOOKS.

Psmith!

"Eve put down the lump, and there was silence for a moment. looked about him Psmith the dead bats and covered, it thoughtfully. He picked up one

with his handkerchie[.

Wales, arrived a little later than the programme demanded. The petty officer in charge of the launch, noticing that the young people were lingering behind their parents and skylarking a little in the fashion of children-and feeling his responsibility, ven tured to say to the Princess, very.

gently:

"Come along, little lady.' Whereupon, looking him over carefully, the royal muiden re- plied, with emphasis:

"I am not a "little lady." I am the Princess Mary.'

"By this time, living noticed

THE CHINA MAIL.

ed? Nothing could be more

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 1906.

to stay with him. For this re- SOME JOTTINGS LITERARY. pass through the ordeal unscath-SING ME YOUR SONG, OF" son she was called Ki-tau-ne,' I which means, "Come always.?".

-From the Japanese book, "Ryo-i ki," written in the eighth century by the Buddhist Priest, Keikai.

The strangest tale of charm and.

spell Since Arthur ruled the British

Islands

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A collector and hook-lover, thrilling than its descriptions of Ernest Dréssel North, has quite the nahing ficet lost in the dim, recently nequired from London a cold, stormy northern sens. rare and most interesting copy of

Jean de Pierrefeu, author of "Strafford," the historical Plutarch Lied," was attached to tragedy, written by Robert the French General Head- Browning, in 1837, for his esteemed friend William C. Macquarters during the war; and his ready, the tragedian. The work is the latest war book to question

Talking to Mr. William Archer of the Yeaman of the Guard, Gil- bert gave some interesting details of the method of his collaboration with Sir Arthur Sullivan:

"VANITY FAIR

Is that which all the neighbours has this dedication: "In all affec-whether there exists such a thing van would say of some song I had belongings of Thackeray were the

tell

The

Of Richard Tebrick, late of Macready." This is signed in full book has sold 750,000 copies in can't make anything of this"-half of the nineteenth century.

Rylands,-

as "the art of warfare." tionate admiration to William C.

France and now Mr. Knopf of in Browning's blunt autograph. New York has brought out an Perhaps the chief distinction American edition. One wonders given to the volume is the fact whether it will bear comparison Well-born and strictly orthodox,

that it was once the prize possea-with Mr. C. E. Montague's "Dis An Oxford man of means and sion of Edgar Allan Poe. The

station;

book contains the American poet's game, inscribed on the out His wife became a lady fox

Without the slightest provoca-side of the original paper wrap-

tion!

At first she did as indies do-

Demanded clothes; and, what

is oddest

Enjoyed piquet and cribbage,

too;

per as follows: "Private, Edgar A. Poe, New York, June 15, 45.

As is well known in the literary field, Poo dedicated his volume "The Ravon and Other Poems,

ganest arraignments of figures enchantment," surely one of the and policies military,

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The verse always preceded the music, or even any hint of it. Sometimes very rarely Sulll given him, My dear fellow, I and then I would re-write it antirely never tinker at it. But, of course, I don't mean to say that I "invented" all the rhythms and stanzas in the operas. Often some old tune or other running a rhythm would be suggested by in my head, and I would fit my words to it more or loss exactly. When Sullivan knew I had done so, he would say, "Don't tell me what the tune is, or I shan't be able to get it out of my head." But once, I remember, I did tell man of the Guard beginning:

What Lady Kew Baid to Ethel. in one of the best conversations. in "The Newcomes" is true of all of us, and certainly not least of Thackeray. "You belong to your belongings, my dear," said that. very shrewd old lady; and the Pall Mall and Mayfair, of the first He stands alone, has no very obvious ancestors, and no descen- dants at all. Fielding is certainly the man he owed most to the same method, that of a series of habit of talking to his render rambling adventures, the same direct, the same admirable and beautiful English, refined, of course, perhaps wenkened, to the taste of a generation that came after instead of before Wesley and Whitefield, but still ossenti- ally the same; a language of un-

Her ways wore gentle, neat and Barrett of England, before her sidelights on English life during him. There is a duet in The Yeo- approachable

modest.

14

But soon the chased the water-

fowl,

And next she killed and ate a replied the author of the "Drama

rabbit;

New York, 1946, to Elizabeth marriage to Robert Browning with this inscription: "To the noblest of her sex." "And what could I say in reply?" laughingly of Exile," "but, sir, you are the was an ardent admirer of the poetry of Miss Barrett, quoting her again and again during his American lectores. In fact, he was the first to introduce her to the American people. Many of her carliest poems he printed in Graham's Magazine..

Anyone who revelled in Mr. Lytton Strachey's "Queen Vic toria" will recall Ite numerous references to "The Creevey Papers." with their delectable the first third of the eighteenth and the last years of the preced- ing century. It will, therefore, be welcome news that the Duttons have just brought out this volume in a new edition, readily available Creevey, though not a man of high consequence, seems to have had social charm; for he went everywhere from Windsor Castle down and knew intimately the royalty, nobility and gentry "of England, writing of them all with the greatest freedom.

"I have a song to sing, Ol Sing me-your song, Or It was suggested to me by an old chantey I used to hear the sailors on board my yacht singing in the inge, beginning:

ease, ecoming especially in the later master's hands, to be the very language of every day and of all the world, and. yet stupid, never inharmonious. never obscure, never unconscious of the great tradition, full every-

English lecture in the United the delay of the children, Her She loved to crunch the bones and most discerning of yours." Poe to students of history. Thomas "dog-watch" on Saturday even where of music and meaning and

"'Somebody's Mother,' he mur- mured reverently."Luave it to Psmith," by P. G. Wodehouse (Herbert Jenkins). 79. 6d. The 44th Street of Adventure,

"Stranger things happen to an States than in any other country. At least, they happened to me. I shall never forget for instance, how in the middle of a speech to the City Club of New York, I was thrust into a taxicab, hurried off

to the 44th Street Theatre, receiv- ed with a tremendous explosion (a flashlight photo!) thrust into the middle of a harem scene, and tok to make a speech while the audience rafted Tor an original) letter from Lloyd George to the American nation.

Majesty had come back to the stern of the boat, and, overhear- ing these remarks, turned to the. officer, who was much abashed, and shid to hims

She is quite right. She is

not a "little lady" but we hope to make her one."Remembered Yesterdays," by Robert Under- wood Johnson.

RHYMED REVIEWS.

LADY INTO FOX.

[By David Garnett.]

Very hot, and rather flustered, I kept screwing up a bit of paper! which had been given to me at the wings, and by the time I had finished my three minutes' specch it was a bit of wel, mushy pulp. When I left the stage, a white- faced man in the wings who had

"In the reign of the Emperor been making frantic signa to me, Kimmel, a man from Ono district informed me coldly that had in the province of Mino went out utterly destroyed Lloyd George's Jetter to the American antion to look for a good wife. After a long search he met in the field a

grow!

Until the thing became a habit.

She tore her gowns and ran away, Preferring woods to country-

boxes,

But minde her husband glad in

May

With five delightful baby-

foxes.

He named them Esther (she was

dark),

Angelica, for she was moral And didn't snap or snart or bark; The boys were Kaspar, Selwyn,

Sorel.

His wife and godcubs loved him

much;

He helped them catch the agile

bunny;

He brought them sugar, grapes

and such,

And once a whole big hive of

honey,

on her husband's very grounds

Poor Mrs. Tebrick, changed by

magic.

which had just been raffled for beautiful woman, and he brought | But many hundreds of dollars."her to his home and married her. "Adventures in Journalism," by After a while a son was born to Philip Cibbs. - (Heinemann).] Them. One day the woman 16s.

suchlendy changed into a fox. The husband; gazing at the trans- formed

The Little Lady."

"The story goes that the King and Queen, accompanied by the Princess Mary and the Prince of

wife, suid, • Come always to stay with me. She did as he desired, and came always

Was hunted down and killed by

hounds!

And don't you think that's

awful tragic?

LA. G..

15

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+

"Come, and I will sing to you-

What will you sing me? I will sing you one, O! What is your one, O!" And so on.

truth.

No one else gives quite the same impression as Thackeray of com- plete mastery over his instru- ment; one feels he could run up and down the keyboard forever and never strike a false note, Certainly no other writer of novels approaches him in this His style quality of liquid ease. may sometimes be too garrulous conversational; and, of and course, it was never meant to handle and never tries to handle the great things of nature and art...

Well, when 1 gave Sullivan the words of the dust, he found the utmost difficulty in setting it. He tried hard for Another valuable book of pub- fortnight, but in vain. I offered lished letters, those written by to recast it in another mould, but Mr. W. H. Hudson to Mr. Edward he expressed himself so delighted Edward Garnett, between the with it in its then form that he years 1901 and 1922, has been, was determined to work it out Mr. to a satisfactory issue. At last, issued by the Duttons. Garnett, Mr. Hudson's intimate he came to me and said: "You

After all, the great fact re- friend, has compiled and edited often have some old air in your them as well as having contri- mind which prompts the metre of mains. "Vanity Fair" was writ- buted an interesting introduc- your songs; if anything prompt- ten in 1847; and it is still doubt- The letters are largelyed you in this one, hum it to neful whether, in spite of all its At last an author unwilling concerned with current literary it may help me." Only a rash limitations, it is not on the whole

Miss Barrett, in a letter to R. H. Horne, wrote: "Our great poet, Mr. Browning, la enthusias tic in his admiration of the ryhthm of "The Raven."

This copy of "Strafford" was probably presented to the author of "Annabel Lee," on the occa sion of the marriage of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett.

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tion.

the greatest novel. in the langu- age. A writer who is still talked of for the first prize in the race which he began to run longer ago than the historic Sixty Years Since can have no complaint to make of his treatment at the hands of Fame.--John Bailey, in "The Continuity of Letters."

to have one of his books "mati-matters, containing trenchant man ever asks me to hum, but the lated for motion picture bits of criticism, keen comment, situation was desperate, and I The Norwegian occasional praise and always a did my best to convey to him the production! novelist, Johan Bojer, who has high, clear serise of personal at air of the chantey that had sug- It is, therefore, gested the song to me. I was 80 been lecturing recently in the artistic value. United States, refused to permit all the more amusing to find Mr. far successful that before I had the "picturizing" of his favourite Hudson writing of Miss Amy hummed a dozen bars he exclaim- and latest novel "The Last of the Lowell: "She is certainly clever, ed: "That will do I've got it!" Vikings." If more authors would but she seldom fails to irritate And in an hour he produced the take. the game stand, perhaps fre- me," adding: "As a poet she is, to charming air as it appears in the an Americanism, small opera. I have sometimes thought quenters of the motion picture use. theatres would be less inclined in potatoes,' though in her own curi- that he exclaimed "That will do

ous country she may be consider-I've got it" because my hum- sary clue to the proper setting time to discountenance every serious picture as "educational," ud big potatoes." After all, one ming was more than he could of the song.From W. S. Gi Why would hardly expect Mr. Hudson bear; but he always assured me beit, His Life and Letters," by therefore to be shunned.

that it had given him the neces- Sidney Dark and Rowland Grey. should not this Bojer runsterpiece to appreciate Miss Lowell.

POLA NEGRI beauty of a thousand passions in a daring modern drama of love adventures in hignest society.” A picture destined to create a sensation."

POLA NEGRI

in

11

REELS

MAD LOVE

"MAD LOVE'

The daring story of an adventuress !

11.

REELS

SCREENLAND.

"THE ABYSMAL BRUTE."

LONDON TALE FEATURED AT THE CAPITOL.

1

"THE BROADWAY MADONNA."

Can a woman love a man so madly that she will risk impri- sonnient to do his bidding? Can she be so deeply in love that she will cast caution to the winds and carry out her part in his schemes even though they lead to the threshold of degradation?

Most people who have read Jack London's books extensively are familiar with that master's "red use of the phrase, corpuscles," and similar terms. He wrote only of he-man heroes. He had a strong personal dislike

These questions, in a broad- for the men of soft parlour-made

way, form the theme of "The manner's and mambypamby

Broadway Madonna" a stirring characteristics. He instinctively made his men more at home out story of keenedged drama enact- doors than in the drawing room,ed by a superb east coming to the because he was like that himself. World Theatre where it will be. Jack London travelled the shown for a period of three days, world over, and he travelled in commencing Sunday, 17th inst.

As the wife who is dominated adventure style, which is to say

in "side-door pullmans" or on by the superior will of her hus- tramp steamers. He never

band, Dorothy Ravier interprets

a role that requires the utmost in talent in the portraying of its ever-changing emotions. The wife is a woman of rare

hesitated to rub against the rough edges to see how they felt, He hated the feeling of pampered luxury and there wasn't a drop of silk-pillow blood in him. His life history, compiled from per- sonal notes by his wife, Charmian beauty and goodness but com- Kittredge London, reads like the pletely under the domination of adventures-of-a-Crusader whose crusade is against ease and her husband. 'When he orders her to act as a decoy in his luxury, a war royal upon the easy

scheme to prey upon a wealthy things of life.

and impressionable young man, she hesitates at first but obeys with the same weak will that marks her character through- dut. But at no time does she lose the sympathy of beholders. Miss Revier, who bears a singular likeness in face and figure to Gloria Swan- son, moulds the character with such deft skill as to mark her as an artist of exceptional potentiall ties.

It is altogether fitting that the he-man hero of Jack London's famous novel of a rough-cut man, "The Abysmal Brute, should be played on the screen by Reginald Denny, an actor noted for his utter masculinity. Denny's big gest popular success has been in the two-reel condensed epics of humour, "The Leather Pushers," in which H. C. Witwer incor- porated the best traditions of the prize ring. In his private life Denny is a lover of outdoor sports and has just about as strong a dislike for the "soft life" as the adventurous London. have reared their tawdry heada

was pro

duced for the screen by the Uni- versal Pictures Corporation mder Hobert Henley's direction. Henley directed "The Flamo of Life" and "The Flirt, two of Universal's biggest efforts, and is the featured director of that cor poration,

The problems set forth and answered with sinashing effect in The Broadway Madonna"

other countries. For that reason critice everywhere regard "The Broadway Madonna" as a prouc tion of timely interest and deep human appeal. Others in the cast are Jack Connolly, Harry Van Meter, Eugene Burr, Juanita Hanson and Loo Willarde.

The Most Tremendous

Photodrama The WORLD

Has Ever Seen That's-

MRS. WALLACE REID

IN

HUMAN WRECKAGE"

Last Showing at The WORLD To-day.

POWERFUL DRAMA-

GORGEOUS SETTINGS-

TREMENDOUS PUNCH-

BAFFLING MYSTERY

1

"The BROADWAY

MADONNA"

Beginning SUNDAY 176h

WHO?

killed the great bank

BÝ ANG CART Suspicion

(on the supe

Vhat

hat?

did the kamp bea ths rorens okim-Inw

đà the -dæk satrak come aut and hope, dawn'again?

Where?

·ťall the halsă extern

Fill the wife yield to

the-hakbanďákvellin "why did she" cheatin colaive and berry? SEE ALL IN THE GREAT STERY DRAMA

THE

BRIDWAY

WORLD THEATRE. MAONNA

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