(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)
Mr. H. A. VACHELL is to be congratulated upon having evolved in _The
Triumph of Tim_ (SMITH, ELDER) one idea that is as ingenious as it is
novel. _Tim_, who had no legal right to any particular name, started
life as a blameless schoolboy under the designation of _Tim White_.
Subsequent events having necessitated his retirement to the New World,
he began again there as _Tim Green_, and so on, through a period of
prosperity as _Brown_, one of adversity as _Black_, into the tranquil
conclusion of _Grey_. Of course this did make it a little confusing for
the other characters, one of whom (not without justice) called him
"parti-coloured." Also, while providing a pleasant variety of interest,
it goes rather against one's chance of forming any definite idea of
_Tim_ as a coherent being. But, despite this, Mr. VACHELL'S longest
novel is in many ways his best yet. There are obviously personal touches
in his pictures of Californian life; and he seems equally at home in
dealing with every phase of his hero's chameleon career. The other
characters also are well drawn, notably _Ivy_, the unrepentant little
wanton through whom came _Tim's_ first lapse in the colour scale. And
the end, which restores him to England, home and unexpected fatherhood
(unexpected, that is, to those whom familiarity with Mr. VACHELL'S
methods had not kept on the watch for precisely this development), is
both sincere and moving.
* * * * *
In choosing _The Road to Nowhere_ (ALLEN AND UNWIN) as the title to his
novel, Mr. ERIC LEADBITTER sounds, at any rate, a note of warning to
those who like their heroes to repose in the last chapter upon a bed of
roses. _Joe_, of Camberwell and very humble origin, has social ambitions
and some natural aptitude for fulfilling them. He is an intriguing
study, though I cannot believe in him as firmly as I can in his vulgar
relations. That he may arrive at the point where the snares of wealth
are to encompass him round about he is allowed to win a prize in the
Calcutta Sweep, and then to have a successful flutter in options. In
this way he wins his complete emancipation from Camberwell. The process
is so absurdly easy that one imagines Mr. LEADBITTER to have said to
himself, "Money is not worth much, any way, so it doesn't matter how
_Joe_ gets it." As far as filthy lucre is concerned one can only commend
this attitude, but unfortunately the reader may suspect that he also is
the object of a certain measure of contempt on the part of the author.
This suspicion, however, is not going to deter me from expressing my
approval of the work of a writer who is more concerned with his main
idea than with the method by which he gets to it. In the end I was left
with a real admiration for his courage and ability.
* * * * *
_Riches and Honour_ (SMITH, ELDER) tells of the kind of thing our
Empire-builders had to face on the Gold Coast of a quarter-century ago.
It is good for us to learn these things, and Mr. W. H. ADAMS' rather dry
catalogue method of filling in the local colour seems to vouch for
honest knowledge. The story, not in the least dry, is packed with
adventure, rebel chiefs, fetishes and fevers, and a dash of love. It is
_Captain Tarleton_, of H.M. Gold Coast Constabulary, whose riches and
honour are in question. Eagerly expecting the death of a rotten brother
and the pouching of a fat inheritance, he so allows this to prey on his
mind that, when the great chance comes of an important cutting-out
expedition of the kind for which he, keenest and most resourceful of
soldiers and adored leader of his fearless Hausas, is widely famous, his
nerve just goes to little bits. I suppose there are men who think it so
desperately important to succeed to money they haven't earned that they
go off their feed and throw aside habits of courage long fortified by
rigorous self-discipline; but I must say it doesn't seem very
convincing. But then the author may have met poor _Tarleton_ in the
flesh.
[Illustration: _Old Lady (to grandson just home on leave from the
trenches)._ "I AM GLAD YOU'VE COME. YOU'RE JUST IN TIME TO KILL THE
PIG."]
* * * * *
_Josiah_, head of the family whose name, _Chapel_, Mr. MILES LEWIS has
given to his South Wales story (HEINEMANN), realised quite suddenly in
middle life that if he was ever to restore the fortunes of his house,
then unhappily depressed, he must wake up and stir about a bit; must in
fact seize fate and the world by the throat and demand his own. In this
laudable intention he is entitled, I suppose, to one's sympathies,
though it hardly seems necessary for him to have adopted the manners of
a bear along with its strength; but when in the course of his wrestlings
with destiny he descended to paltry sharp-practice over a business
bargain, and _Griff_, his son, followed suit, one began to wonder
whether, after all, the County would benefit much by the restoration of
the old stock. Yet there was something likeable about _Griff_ that made
one at any rate half glad to see him back in the ancestral seat; but
even then the marriage that put him there had a little too much the air
of good strategy, though the author, it would seem, has no uneasiness in
regard to these little meannesses of his heroes. This, however, may be a
matter of taste; but there is less excuse for the way I in which he has
cut his book up into two parallel stories which really have very little
to connect them. He does tie them together after a fashion when he
effects a reconciliation between father and son in the last chapter; but
seeing that this is so long delayed, and results in a rather horrible
anti-climax, there is not much gained. In spite of all these grumbles
you are not to infer that there is nothing to appreciate in this book;
there is much that is good, the minor characters being about the best of
it.
* * * * *
"The parade on Tuesday, the 11th April, 1916, will be compulsory
for all ranks stationed in Colombo. Only medical certificates will
be accepted in lieu of absence. This will be a practice Ceremonial
Parade. Officers will swear words."--_The Ceylonese._
Very probably; but we don't think they ought to advertise it in advance.