1938-01-22 — Page 10

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH WEEK-END SECTION

BOOKS-EDITED BY ROGER

NOVEL IN A THOUSAND

REVOLT ON THE PAMPAS

By Theodor Pilvier

(Michael Joseph, 88. 6d.)

PUT this novel aside to look at when the autumn publishing avalanche had passed. But it lured me. So I picked

It up again the other night-and read it into the small hours of the morning. And not many authors can do that to me

now..

It is a grand novel of adventure, continuously exclting, never doc- trinaire. Herr Plivier has stolen the thunder of the romantic school of The Scarlet Pimpernel and made it reverberate in the sky- the revelle to a new dawn of free- com.

A long story. Revolt on the Pampas opens with a 14-year-old lud, Claus, creeping away from his home in Germany. And it ends with 17-year-old Klaus sailing back again, still in search of expe- rience, but knowing this time Just what sort of experience he means to have,

1 Hanburg he had fallen in with a South American Indian; Achazo, and stowed himself away with bim. Dis- covered, they had to work their pas sage-ou a badly undermanned ship- round the Horn to Chile. Achazo dis appears into the interior, while Kinus becomes the prisoner-pet-secretary of the local dictator, Savedra.

Though far apart in space. the twa friends scheme together, for ICluun, by his very simplicity and his free ran of Savedra's jails, offer' and night-clubs, is able to assist the plans of his adored Achaza to organise the nitrate workers and.establish a republic.

Savedra is overthrown, but their hopes are temporarily flashed-and Klous, grown beyond his years, returns to Germany as Achazo did to Chile and for the same desperately herole rea- sons. He will fight to the end against the infinitely stronger dictatorship of

Hitlerland.

The boy's reactions to the life and the scenes around him are superbly clone. Amk there are magnificent de- scriptions of storms over land and sea, And-well. I hope you will get Revolt on the Pampas aud-rend the rest for yourself. It's a novel in a thousand.

+

WHO WOULD HAVE DAUGHTERS? By Marguerite Steen

(Collins, 89, Gd.)

A

FTER Airting too long with he-mun stuff, Miss Stern gives us here her freshest and Armest story yet, prefacing it with delicious-malicious picture of the Little Man of pre-War days.

Mr. Anerly was the "Daddy Typo at its richest suburban best, and he had threa darlingdadlings"not to men tion a devoted Mummy-wife to fetch these slippers and turn on that bath- water and provide him, Tree, gratis and

Bridge Problem No. 43

10 9 7 G

K TO T + Nil

3 4

W.

F

S

10 !

AJ

◆ A 3

4K JE 3

Hearts are trumps.,

South leads

and North-South must win seven of the eight trieks.

Solutions by Wednesday to "Bridge Problem," the Hongkong Telegraph, Wyndham Street.

SOLUTION OF PROBLEM 42

South leads queen of clubs. 1

discords a West plays low North spade and South follows with the small club which North ruffs with the queen. North

returns the other trump (diamond) for South to win two trump tricks, North discarding the remaining low spade. North's mosters win the rest of the tricks,

If at trick one. West covers the club queen with the king, North ruffs with the queen and diamond 4 is returned as before for South to win Iwo trump tricks, North discard- ing the master heart. If East dis- cards a spade North's spades are good If he discards heurt or club he establishes a winner for South. This winner is led for East to be squeezed again so that no matter what line of defence is taken, North-South win all the tricks.

The shower of solutions confined that No. 42, was found easy and in- eldentally proved the great number who (as they say) follow the pro- blems week by week. Only one in- correct.

submitted. Correct Solutions from JAK, EF, WAL, "S'easy", "Contrael", A.E.G., "Emjay," RE.L. "Bridge Pro- blem", N.A.E., M.B., "66023", And

J.K

D.E.L

anawer

-Whs

Anawers-West's play of apude queen on first lead of 42 was good defence in an effort la force North's ace or secure the trick to lead trumps which East could not do. But no

clisqunlined solution wor

which allowed East's jack to win it the subsequent piny was correct,

PIPPETT

Two of the delightful water-colour drawings from "Mittens." the story of a kitten, written and profusely illustrated by Clare Turlay Newberry (Hamish Hamilton, 3s. 6d.)

for nothing. with the nucleu of an admiring audience wherever he might bu.

But, als for Mr. Anerly, auch Idylls do not last. Girls wil be girts, uncl they become young women-and often. froin a parental point of view, the inst Bunge is far worse in the first,

When the beautiful Flora hnd to murry ur curate in a hurry. "Daddy

Ellen became a hind tu grow up, ton, tyrannical and neurotie school-teacher there are too many of them incl- dentally, in fletion-and Mavis settled down to lur task of being her adering Bridge.

Still, worse things might have hap pened to that happy family. And anyway, the edgiiflcance of Miss Stern's tale lien in the fact that she makes you feel how far the narrow,

• cosy upbringing of those three t

tiris wis responsible for their future.

A brilliant study of the changes which have come over our custoins and our outlook since thone pre-War times. And a highly entertaining story.

M

*

SPARROW FARM By Hans Fallada (Putnam, 73, Ed.)

OURN with me, fellow- readers, mourn with me. For the man who once wrole Little Man, What Now and Who Once Eats Out of the Tin Bowl hins gone skipping out of this hard world into fairyland.

A clerk Sparrow Farm tells how turned into a sparrow and flew away into the country, where he turned buck into a handsome young man and fel in love with his beautiful cousin. But. of course. there was a lot of trenbie before that ni kiss which turned both of them to birds this time aind sent them twittering off into the seventh-heaven:

All very sweet and charming and romantic and amusing and old German. with the wicked folk becoming owls and donkeys and the good oneK having a rough Wie in preparation for the inillenalum. And, it you've kept your childish pleasure in such tales, you'll like it very much indeed,

R. P.

THIS WAS THEIR YOUTH By Ralph Fox

(Secker and Warburg. 79. Gd.)

MONG the lovely olive fields of Cordova, on 1 day last January, Ralph Fox, leading

a column of the International Bri- gade, was killed.

He had run across a stretch of

For Your Library List

NOVELS

* FLAMES COMING OUT OF THE TOP, by Norman Collins

(Gollancz, 79. d.)

** THE

SQUARE REG, by John Masefield Heinemann, 75. Bd.).

** TURNING WHEELS. by Stunrt Cloete (Collins.

3. ..

DETECTION

*** QUICKLY DEAD, by Belton Cobb (Languans, Green, 79, Od.).

THE

** THE FACE ON

CUTTING, ROOM FLOOR. by Cameron McCabe (Gol Jancz, 78. Gd.

ADVENTURE

*** RED STAR OVER CHINA, by Edgar Snow (Gollancz 18s.).

LIFE-STORY

** A BONFIRE OF LEAVES by David Whitelaw (Geoffrey Bles, 103. Gd.).

*** First-rate.

Very entertaining,

1

open ground to organise machine-gun post, when a hall of bullets burst around him.

So, as heroically as he had lived. died one who might have been among England's greatest writers,

Ralph Fox, only thirty-six when he was killed, could have become a lead- ing Agure in the "fiterary workl. But-quite-early-en-le-realised that without berty, there would be no "literary world." So he devoted his life to the cause of freedom and went out to fight the rebels in Spain When this job is over," he wrote in one of his last letters, fe will be casler for everyone."

This inst novel of his was written two or three years ago. He himself was not altogether satisfied with R; he wanted to revise It, but, in the midiat of his many political and journailstie activities, he never had the time. I s not his best work, but it should be rend for its vivid, accurate descriptions of life in a Yorkshire town).

And when you have rend it, get hold of Storming ticaven, Genghis Khan and that lovely Conversation with a Laua, and you will realise what a splendid writer, what a splendid man, was lost that winter's day when Franco's bullets jaid Ralph Fox tow. 11. W.

M

by

CRIME

R. COBB is the answer to a reviewer's prayer. He has everything. In Quickly Dead, Delton Cobb (Longmans, Green, 78, d.) he spreads out his suspects fairly for your in- spection, gives you an insight into their characters, opportunities and motives and tops a credible crime with an almost guess-proof-solu- tion. Apologies for not having found him before. Another to let you under the skin of one, at any rate, of his characters is Anthony Gilbert. First half of Murder las No Tongue (Collins, 78, ed.), is a study from inside of a suspect hounded by gossip and blackmail, finally forced into a bel action with surprising resulta, That first half is very good indeed.

Promising start given to Scandal nt the Home Omice (also Longmans, Green, also Ts. ed.), by Frank A. Clement, is the Home Secretary chloro- formed with his head in a bag. But you have to ac- cept that Civil Servants are more than ordinarily unobservant to swallow the rent.

As for Clyde B. Cluson's The Purple Parrot (Heinemann, 78, ed.), you must belleve a good deal in the possibilities of hypnotism to get the best from it. Maybe it can happen. But if you can fake alibis that way what prospects for good, honest, hard-working detec- tion fans?

P. E. H..

E

HISTORY?

RED EAGLE

By Dennis Wheatley (Hutchinson, 12s. 6d.)

VERY time something hap- pens in Russia, the world's gossips think up at least a dozen explanations. How are we to choose the right one?

The most sensible way, of course, Is to choose the one that appears to fit closest to the facta.

Dennis Wheatley, however, has

a way quite of his own. He simply chooses the one that is most fan- tastic. And some of them are very fantastic indeed.

He propounds with relish the theory that Russia's General Blucher is not really himself at ali, but a brilliant Austrian major who was captured by the Tsarist army in the Great, War.

His description of how Rasputin was murdered breaks, all previous records in adding fresh legends to that already-legendary-event.

And his inside story of the trial of the right generals which "defeated the world Press," and which he claims to give for the first time," is ns old us the hills-and maybe older.

All this Jumble-which begins with Genghis Khan and ends inevitably with Dennis Wheatley-is intended to be a life story of that very brillant general, "Clint Voroshilov, who is commander of the Russian army, navy and air force, And, not unnaturally. the author has been able to make It one of the most thrilling adventure books that have been written for a very long time.

If you want thrills and do not scruple how you get them, this is your book.

But if you care at all for historical truth, you must harden your heart and refuse to read a word of 12.

W. O. C. B.

"VERNON”-Behind the VEIL!

THIS IS MY LIFE

By Vernon Barlett (Chatto and Windus, 12s. Gd.)

V

BARTLETT has ERNON written a book about him- And I want to warn self. his

believing readers against everything he says.

You nee, I know something about hin. I have, for nearly twenty yenta, worked with linn and played with him and quarrelled with him (very rarely), and eaten and drunk with him, al over the place the once kissed me on both cheeke publicly in Poznan (but that is a long story).

Now, in This In My Life, Vernon (1 really can't write "Mr. Bartlett ") tries sery hard to persuade people that he in vain, jealous, bail-tempered, Unero, reifisti. lazy. cowardly person. All those adjectives le uses about himself.

mean

I think the effort falls anyway. I think the real Bartlett shows througli the self-dispamgement. But, just in case, I want to make it clear that this la pure nonsense. He tan't a bit like that, really. Don't believe a word of It. Vernon is one of the best fellowa, ns well as one of this best journalists, from one end of Europe to the other.

Since the war, an newspaper corre- spondent, League of Nations oficial, broadcaster, Bartlett has been in the thick of "international agata." "Much hina he seen, cities and men.” And here is a fáseluning record of it all, as it happened to him, as "it Afected him.

It is a record of experience: packed, therefore, with good stories, Tragedy and comedy, with CD- thusiasm and heartbreak, witli remini-

ccences of great men (who are so often so little) and great events (which are so often so silly),

And, nt the close, the thoughts which come to all of us who have been through similar experiences; n serise of proportion, of the folly and futility of so much that has seemed important. the desire for the realities and truer values of life.

*I

"One must cultivate one's garden." was Candide's nober conclusion. have promised myself to-day ta chop down a tree which blocks the view of the Hog's Back. If you have ever wielded a woodman's axe, you will un- derstand," ends Vernon.

May I tell him that one reader dien understand. And that I trust that the others (may they be many) will under. stand, too. For it is a great lesson. W. N. E.

THE LIFE

T

AND DEATH OF A SPANISH TOWN

By Elliot Paul

(Peler Davies, 8s. Ed.)

E town is Santa Eulalla, on the shores of the Mediter- ranean island of Ibiza (or Iviza, as you choose), now hidden In the fog of Fascist censorship.

Its life is brilliantly pictured in the first half of Mr. Paul's book.

Then comes July, 1930-civil war on the mainland of Spain har ils echo on the land.

Olvi guarda and their supporters establish a temporary Fascist rule. Loyalist pinnes fly over, dropping an ultimatum. Lator the toyni fest is sighted of the lsinnd, then comes the expedition led by Captain Bayo.

Enyo succeeds and for a time peace

the returns to Santa Eulalia and whole of Ibiza. The militamen de- part for the 11-fated expedition to the neighbouring island of Majoren, Ibiza is visited by bombing planes, presum- ably Italian, ending the brief period of peace with death and destruction,

German worship appears of the island, and Mr. Paul and his family. with a few others, are evacuated.

While his account of the war in the Island as he saw it is intensely thril- Hing. I am afraid he sailed away one day before the story that the world has walled eighteen months to read. We are still wälting.

R

JAPAN'S FEET OF CLAY By Freda Ulley

(Faber and Faber, 71, 6dj

EVISED, enlarged and first cheap edition of a book that ahould be rend by all who want to view the present crisis in the Far East from an inteligent angie.

Here is the perfect answer to those who quibble about the possibio effec- tiveness of a boycott against Japanese Kooda. Mina Utley dies deep and brings out a wealth of facts to show that Japan is thoroughly rollen at the coro but is putting up the biggest economic and financial stud in his Lory.

How long can it last? Especially if the rest of the world gives one jog to this toppling Kructure.

That in the question all must nuk aller reading this book.

No wonder it is banned in Japan.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1938

You Know,

Of Course

Are You

But

A

By The Dragoman-

ND now it's question time again. The answers are easy-and hard. Easy-if you know 'em; hard-if you don't. As far as possible they are true to label-you know 'em, of course, but ARE YOU SURE? Get a pencil and-get busy.

Two points for each correct answer, and 30 is still a pass. From that you graduate to the Highly Improbable, which is 50!

1.-Sorghum," suld the farmer. "What's sor-

Build

the farmer, ghum?" said I. "Sorghum,"

root crop

A cattle mouth ditense; a

a fodder, plant; Irish for toothache; and

30 on.

2.-Pewter-some people just colicet it and some just drink out of it. Personally, I'm not interested in this, but I'm told pewter is an alloy and the main constituent ist-

tead: Zinc:

aluminium; tin; bronze.

-

iron;

3.It sounds Spanish, but you don't have to know Spanish to know that a banderilla is:--

female bullfighter; a spear used by bullaghters; a Spanish head-dress; a bow- legged gorlila. 4. Who is the present Prime Minister of Who was the Britain? No-that's too casy: une before the one before present one? Take your pick:

Lloyd George; Baldwin; MacDonald; Gladstone; Hailsham.

5. There's going to be a lot of protest against this one-but I can take it. The last phy Shakespeare (heard of him?) wrote was:-

Titus Andronicus; The Merchant of Venice; Henry VII Hamlet; The Tem- post.

Murgatroyd says he runs in the Olympic Games every year, which proves he lies, because the Olympic Games are held only every:-

20 years: 12 years; 16 years; 5 years; 4 years; once in a unite.

Romeo and Juliet-ah, what a pair!-had surnames as well. Romeo's was:-

Smithson; Capulet; Montaque; Capsican; Capricorn; Murgatroyd.

8. Here I am again just throwing two points away! You ought to deduct four if you miss It-that's how easy it is. The correct missing

under the sun" are:- words in "There is

Nothing very new; just nothing now;

new thing; nothing new.

10

9-Heard a man use the word bastinado the other day. He was a foreigner and he was in

a temper, too. I doubt whether he knew

tinado meant:-

A

musical instrument; a game like nine- pins; a form of torture; a half-caste; a way to cook poultry

bus-

10-Ever seen a pleture of a rhinoceros with two horns? With one, yes--but with two? If you have you know that any two-horned rhine, (unless born in a foreign zoo) was born in:- Siam: Cochin China India; Africa; South America.

11-A ducoit..

ducolt

my king- dom for a dacoit! No, thinking back, that was a horse. A dacait isn't a horse-n dacolt is:-

An Australian wild dog; a subterfuge the dacoit the enomy); a Burmese bandit; a ring used in a boat deck game; a sort of dogOCT.

Dear Kiddies,

Girls' and

Sure?

12. What you haven't got a drugget? Shame-you ought to have a drugget so you can use it for:-

Measuring out your medicine; trimming the edges of the lawns; protecting the carpet from heavy wear; growing wool,

13. There's gold in them thur banks-but not

In these, which are river banks. Every river has two banks-a right and a left bank-the right bank of any river is the bank:-

On the right looking up from the mouth

to the source; on the right looking down froin the source to the mouth.

14.If you haven't seen Horatio Nelson you've probably seen George Arliss--and, anyway, from history book pletures you should know that Horatio Nelson lost in battle hin:-

Right eye and left arm; left eye and right arm; left eye and left arm; right eye and right arın.

15. Of course, you've all heard of Conton, and It's a shame to deduct only two points if you can't remember that It's the capital of:-

Kwangst; Yunnan; Kwangtung; Hunion;( Shensi.

10. If you were to stand right at the top of thi Peak your feet would be above sea level. Just about:--

1,825 fect; 2,100 feet; 1,009 feet; 1,075 feet,

17-Now, now-don't be offended if someone It only means refers to you as a trencherman.

you are:--

A man who digs trenches; a hearty enter; a non-commbaloned officer in the army: an immaculate dresser.

18. And speaking of the Peak two questions ago, it's going to cost you two points if you don't know that it's official name is:

Mount Aberdeen: Mount Ng Hueng Sha; Mount Victoria; Mount Taimoshan: Mount Cloudy.

10. Want to settle an argument that threatens word (nice to disinherit a Heidelberg scion sclon, whatever it meths), It's over the pro- nunciation of the word DIRIGIBLE. Pa says one thing-schon another. You (and the best dieilon- aring) say:---

Di-HJ-ible; dir-lj-ible; dirij-ible; derj- ible; dir-aw, that's enough,

20. Gold and silver bullion and specle-re- member it? They were great days the Spanish Main in our doubloons, qundroons, galleons and gallons, etc. Ah, well-but the question the question. What is specie?

.. yes,

Ingots of gold and silver; gold and silver ore; coined money; gold and silver dust. 21. Take a directory (business or telephone) -but not until after you've answered the question --and It's the 1938 S.C.M. Post directory of ind the foreign residents In Hongkong, you'll fewest names under the letter-

U; Y; X; Z.

22. Someone once told me I could go to Tim- buktu (or Timbuctoo). I didn't like the way he said it, so I didn't ko and besides Timbuktu (or Timbuctoo) is in:-

Europe; Asia; Japan; Africa; Central America.

23. "I regret there was no scripture ques- tlon Tast week"-(extract from letter signed A.J.S. All right! Who-if any of these were apostles?-Come on:-

Matthew; Mark; Luke; John; none of them; ull of them.

the

24. Of the total 110 miles of railway line, link-

the length on Ing Canton with Hongkong. Chinese side of the Shum Chun river is:-

86 miles; 05 miles; 70 miles; 01 miles; 40 miles.

25-1ere's another gift one to bring the ave rage along the word fortnight comes from:-

(Answers on Page 3.)

Boys' Corner

Quite an easy competition last week, wasn't it? Some The Enchanted Nightingale of you however, didn't rend the rules properly and filled in sen- tences which weren't given in the text.

The winner, in the Senior Section, is Henrique Mendes (aged 12), of 364, Prince Edward Road, Kowloon. The Junior prize winner is Conny Bonhoff (aged 8%), 8, Devon Road, Kowloon Tong.

.

Will Henrique and Conny call at the "Hongkong Tele- for their Kraph" offices

prizes?

Merit certificates are be- ing forwarded to Maggie Alves, Oci Tiong Kung. Oswald Sousne, William Dora Tiu, Mansoor All, C. E. Clark (Seniors); David Asche. Arthur Fisher, Alls

Peek, ter Andrews, Ann Ricardo da Luz and Victor Tavares (Juniors).

50

There were many entrants who did quite well, want to specially commend the following for good work:

Seniors: Antonio Souza,

Souza Melba Cruz, Theresa Mabel Churn, Maggie Cheng, Amy Choy, Yeung Kit-wa, Cecilia Remedios, Ho Shuk-chun, Kurima Khan, Joyce Leong, Pris- ella Pires, Ho Man-chan, Yseult Cooper, Peggy Bar- ton, S. A. Bux. Madelyn Huang, Muriel Kew, Bernd Adumcsewski, Laurence Becker, Wena Chiu-yung, Malsie Reis, Suen Mo-tak and Charles Foster.

This is a Specimen

Picture

Address

Name

Juniors; Leonardo Xavier, Wallace Landolt, S. S. Bux, Patricia

Violetta Coombs,

dos Remedios, Toolsic Garcia, Patsy

Osmund, Horacio Ozorio, S. A. K. Bux and Freddy Hofman.

This is all my own work

Are

and also a good chance of win ning a prize.

All you have to do is to find a plain piece of paper or postcard and

Ink or pencil, a pic ture entirely composed of dots and dashes.

draw on it,

By Yaeult Cooper,

Once upon a time, there reigned

in a far-off land, a king und queen who had an only son whose name was Peter. The name of the coun- try was Imagination, und great trou- ble had come upon it. On an island,' a little way from the land, was great forest, and on the branches of the highest tree in the forest dwelt a nightingale with a voire so pure, clear, and sweet as had never been heard before. The people of Ima- gination earned their living by fish- Ing, and the only fish to be caught in the surrounding scas, lived in the shallow waters around the island.

Now, all who heard the nightin- gale's magic song, fell into a trance, from, which none could wake them. The result was that nobody would fish near the island, and as imagina- tion was not very fertile, there was A lamine Prince Peler was a hand- kome, noble, and daring young man. He resolved to kill the nightingale, so he sought the advice of a witch named Witch All-Alone. She gave him, for a hundred pieces of gold, a potion, which would make him deat for seven hours.

So one night, he swam out to the island, and entered the forest. When he reached the tallest tree, he took out his handkerchief and, holding it in his hand, climbed the tree. When he reached the top he saw the nigh- tingale was singing although, he could not hear it. Without warning he suddenly seized the bird and tied It up in his handkerchief. Then he climbed down again, walked to the edge of the wood, and dived in the sen with the bird in his hand, for he wanted to drown it. Then he started to swim back to Imaging- A specimen picture is shown here, lon. Thinking he heard sounds but this must not be copied. The behind him he looked round, and picture can be of anything-animals, saw a beautiful maiden awimming birds, flowers or a scene. Please do behind him. When they stepped on shore she told him that she had been When the picture is finished, write changed into a nightingale by a Socorro Castro: Your autograph book is waiting for you in the your name, age and address on the

wizard, and the spell should not be coupon and send both to "Hongkong Telegrapli" offices.

Uncle broken until a handsome prince Facult Cooper Thank you very Eddie, c/o "Hongkong Telegraph" should dip her into the sea. much for seruling in your very inter- The competition is closed at 4 p.m.

on Wednesday. exting story, which is published on this to-day. It is very good

During the past few weeks there has been a slight misunderstanding among entrants as to, the age mit In these competitions. They re open

children, from 10 years to 14 years (Senior Section) and under ten years (Junior section).

not colour it.

She then awakened all the unfor- tunate people who had fallen into

so struck with

und Page sending you a Merit Cart Uncle Eddie the france, and prince, that he fell

flente for your efforts.

This week's competition is one which will give-you-plenty-of-fun-

deeply in love with her, and they were married-amid-great-rejoleingi

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