The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-12-22

DR.. Johnson said somewhere: books
that you may carry to the fire, and
hold readily in your hand. are the
most useful after all.
H. DeVere Stackpool and w. A.
Bryce have collaborated In remark
ably humorous tale of English cOun-
try life, 1.-THE Meddler" Geo. Newnes
London, one shilling). The title role
is taken by Sir John Boughton, re-
tired general WAC delights in making
trouble. The rector, "a small and
washed-out-looking parsonage" is
very much under the thumb of his
wife. Mrs. Lamb, whom Sir John de-
tests. A plot to get the downtrodden
parsOn off to London, where his
spouse has forbidden him to go, and
keep him there for respite from her
and a good time, Is Matched by the
old general. His nephew in London
takes a hand, sending up to the par
sonage, masquerading in clerical
garb, bibulous old poet who is the
scapegrace twin brother Of the par
son, supposed to be in South Africa.
His unnecessarily jealous wife fol-
lows him, arriving in time to rescue
him from the lady Of the rectory, who
has put him to bed under the impress
sion that he is so drunk he does not
know who she is. The many opportun-
tiles for fun all through the little
book are made the most Of by the
authorsl
Japan is still a savage country"
wrote Fujinami Katsundo, "the Jap
anese are still barbarians. To COM
pare the conventional codes, which
they have mistaken for civilization,
with the depth and the height Of Oc-
cidental idealism, as Christ perceived
It and Dante and st. Francis of Tssisi
and Tolstos is to compare the tortoise
with the moon. japan is initiating
from the west its worst propensities-
hard materialism, vulgarity and
money worship. The Japanese must
be humble and must admit that the
most difficult part Of their lesson is
yet to be learned. Cut and dried sys-
TENS are useless. Prussian constitu-
ton, technical education. military ef-
ficiency and bravado-such things
are not progress. Japan must de-
nounce the slavery of ancestor wor-
ship, and escape from the rule OF the
dead. She must chase away the bo-
geys OF superstition, and enjoy life
as lovely thing, and love as the Wis
ion of life still more beautiful. She
must cleanse her land of all its filth
and make It what 1t still might be-
the country OF the Rising Sun. Such
was the message Of Asako's father In
ais book, The Real Shinto.'"
This excerpt will give you a glimpse
of the deep seriousness underlying
Jonn Paris first novel, "Kimono"
(Boni & Liveright, $4,000 It is a
strange and disturbing story, yet one
the reader Is persuaded Is true to
conditions as they are today In Japan
The Japan Chronicle has said, "The
Kimono is sybol with all symbols
mysterious influence-the subsection
OF woman In Japan" Through the
marriage of a big, unspoiled English
man to European-educated Janaese
heiress, the problem of the Eurasians
are introduced. He is an impoverished
younger son, whose friends all warn
him not to 60 to Japan. knowing, as
he does not the source of her wealth.
After honeymoon of wandering In
Europe, Egypt and India, they in
dulge their curiosity as to her faith
er's native land, and are at first
charmed with the toy beauties of out
ward snow. Her relatives to control
her fortune, succeed in alternating the
couple, and after 1t is revealed to him
that his wife's inheritance is from
commercialized vice through a huge
system of brothels. Sickened by the
knowledge that he has been living on
this sort of money, and unable to cope
with the situation, ne goes back to
England, and shortly rejoins his old
regiment at the front in France. His
wife Is practically prisoner and SER
want in her cousins house until a
faithful attendant saves her from
worse by murder. It brings her to