The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-03
NEW BOOKS
Adventures ana Observations Of u

&c. p. Dutton a CO.. went away by herself
from her home In Australia to England
and at the end Of her journey set up house.
keeping and entered upon the business
OF literary creation in a London fiat. She
purports to be her own historian. In an
engaging manner with abundant ~vivacity
and humor, she relates her experiences.
She sailed to Colombo and through the
Red Sea and the Mediterranean and the
Bay OF Biscay. Her fellow passeng gers
In the second cabin amused her, and she
has the art, by means OF aneodote and COM
ment, to make them amuse US. For in
stance, there we're two-a Bradford man
on his way home after years OF compen-
sating industry In the Queensland pearl
fisheries, and a milliner bound for Man.
chester-who seemed TO be engaged. Be-
tween courses at dinner they held hands '
The observant Betty further records: "Op-
posite, the pearl fishers brother, a middle
aged man with black hair and gray mutton
chop whiskers, sits juggling with a knife
and q plateful Of peas. BY the time the
cabinet pudding 10 despatched the milliner's
head is on The pearl fishers shoulder, I
look at the brother: he takes no notice;
20 ] suppose the family approves Of the
alliance. Nobody else minds, and I'm sure
/ don't. But it's funny; cabinet pudding
never made ne feel like that" That is
detail, and IL was by detail that Robinson
Crusoe was able 10 make his book 80 re-
markably interesting.
After some experience Of tropical weather,
INC ~forewarned Of the intense torridities
Of the Red Sea. Betty tried at Colombo to
buy a pair Of pin curls. which are an artih-
cial creation and decoration having the
singular quality Of staying curled precisely
as well at the equator rs at the North Cape.
She already owned a toupee. but IL was
unsatisfactory. She could not. she tells us.
get IL to look as II 1t belonged" II was.
she declares, "a wretch" In Colombo she
and her friend Mrs Heriot went out to-
gether to get the pin curls. In Ceylon
some sorts Of shopping are not as easy "a
they are in other parts Of the world. The
two ladies mad application to a native
barber. Betty had brought her toupee
along. She unwrapped it and showed il
TO the barber. This was fatal, She had
meant TO use Il as a basis merely In explain
ing pin curls. The barber pretended 10
understand. His face lighted up with a
most intelligent illumination Il know.
laydee." he said. you come with me"
He stepped into the street. He was In
possession Of the toupee. He walked away
quickly, the ladies' following. II was not
easy, we are told, TO keep up with him
as he sped nimbly through the traffic. BY
way Of encouragement he kept turning
around and smiling. at the same time wav-
ing the naked toupee above his head. The
experience was embarrassing People stood
still to look. Betty says at this point: The
sight Of two flushed. shamefaced women
chasing wildly down the principal street
Of an Oriental town after a feet footed
Cingalee who had apparently absconded
with the hair of one Of them was enough
to hold up anything" We should say as
much. II was like a North American In
dian making Of with his symbol Of victory.
Betty adds that she longed to abandon
the chase. but the thought OF the Red Sea
temperature without pin curls kept her
running. She argued plsusibly with her
self as she continued. After ALL abe
says. 1T couldn't go on forever, Ceylon
was only In island. and we would have to
come TO the sea sooner or later" The
fight with the barber had. indeed, an end.
but no compensation. IL terminated at a
shop where they kept switches" Betty
says that she had no more Use for a switch
than she had for a torpedo. She bought
a bottle OF p%erfumery.
As we read along we remark that Betty's
wit 10 capable of audacities. This bachelor"
employed a charwoman in her London fat.
One morning the charwoman looked cold
and pinched and Betty gave her two fingers
of whiskey. Betty reports: -She drank il
neat, and came in five minutes after TO tell
me that she had a chest like driven snow.
legs OF alabarster and a political grievance
against Mr. Balfour.' Now. leaving Mr..
Balfour out Of the consideration, il is not
likely that this charwoman told the truth.
What abe said cannot be held to describe a
charwoman faithfully. But what an auda-
cious picture. A work Of the imagination.
az we must believe. it leaves nothing to the
ina gination. A little further along we re-
mark another instance of hardihood on the
part Of Betty. She has been telling how full
Of emotion she was on first seeing the King
and how an American lady threw cold water
on her In that fervid moment. Forgetting
grammar and the inevitability Of embarrass-
ment on the part Of her readers she writes:
Those sort OF people give me the same
ashamed feeling I get when l have my favor
lite nightmare and dream l am in Piccadilly |
or Collins street at S In the afternoon with
mourning On Uut DuDy NOst "uctiici
Betty thought Of IL or not. this is as painful
in the eye Of modesty as the charwoman's
vision after two fingers. Really those
sort" Of dreams ought to be restricted TO
Betty's bedchamber and TO the soft dark
mess so well qualified to veil the bushes that
must attend them.
We pass. though it must be for no more
than a very brief consideration. 20 less
disturbing matters in Betty's vivacious
book. 1t grieved US at pag rs to find
Betty saying OF Mrs. Mainwaring that she
~.enthused.' Whatever the future may be
generous enough to do with II. -~enthuse'
ia not yet a good and welcome word. Any
sensitive blue pencil would cover it with
celebrating blueness instantly. Like an
other McGinty would it be swallowed up
in the blue. But ever as Betty grieved us
she made Us smile. Only two inches away.
after speaking warmly and disapprovingly
Of the disposition OF the powerful nations
to grab and rule among the weaker peoples.
she observes: We make me tired" This
Is admirable-so gently and c-ontemptuously