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The Baron's Assistant Reader reports as follows to his chief--If you
want a really refreshing book, a book whose piquant savour and quaint
originality of style are good for jaded brains, buy and read _In a
Canadian Canoe_ by BARRY PAIN, the sixth volume of the Whitefriars
Library of Wit and Humour (HENRY & Co.). Most of the stories and, I
think, the best that go to make up this delightful volume have already
appeared in _The Granta_, a Cambridge magazine, which London papers
are accustomed to speak of as "our sprightly contemporary." They now
seek and are sure to obtain a wider public and a more extended fame.
There is in these stories a curious mixture of humour, insight and
pathos, with here and there a dash of grimness and a sprinkling of
that charming irrelevancy which is of the essence of true humour.
Occasionally Mr. BARRY PAIN wings a shaft against the comfortably
brutal doctrines of the average and orthodox householder, male or
female. But on these occasions he uses the classical fables and the
pagan deities as his bow, and the twang of his shot cannot offend
those who play the part of target and are pierced. Read the four
stories from the "Entertainments of Kapnides" in the "Canadian Canoe"
series, or, "An Hour of Death," "The Last Straw," and "Number One
Hundred and Three" in "The Nine Muses Minus One," and you will see
at once what I mean. Then for run-away, topsy-turvey wit I think I
would back "The Story of the Tin Heart" and "The Camel who never
got Started," against most stories I know. Mr. BARRY PAIN's stories
sometimes make me feel as if I had got hold of the key-handle of
things which have hitherto been puzzles to me. I turn it, open the
door ever so little to peep inside, and before I have taken a good
square look, Mr. BARRY PAIN slams the door in my face, and I think I
can hear him laughing on the other side at the bruise on my forehead.
That's not kind treatment, but it promotes curiosity. As for "The
Celestial Grocery," I can only say of it that it is in its way
a masterpiece. Mr. PAIN sometimes gives way to a touch or two of
sentiment, but he abstains from sloppiness. His book is not only witty
and humorous but fresh and original in style. It is admirably written.
His prose is good,--which is moderate praise, striking a balance
between the _pros_ and _cons_ of criticism. _Prosit!_ To all
holiday-makers who like quaintness and fun touched with pathos and
refinement, I say again, buy and read _In a Canadian Canoe_.