Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-03-31Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-03-31
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
_Miser's Money_ (HEINEMANN) brings Mr. EDEN PHILLPOTTS back to Devonshire,
and I wave my little flag to welcome him. Of late he has sometimes been a
shade too didactic for my liking, but here he gives us yet another plain
tale of his beloved moor, and he is instructive only in showing the danger
of too much money--a danger at which most of us can in these days afford to
smile. The _Mortimers_ were, one would have supposed, a clan unlikely to be
moved from their native soil by anything less convulsive than an
earthquake. But money did it. One of them was a miser, and when he
died--after a terrific gorge at his brother's expense--he left trouble
behind him. Some of his relations wanted more of his money than was good
for their souls, and one of them (actually) fought shy of receiving her
proper share. Altogether a pretty tangle, which was not unravelled until
the _Mortimers_ had resolved to try new pastures. True, they did not go
very far, but the disturbing influence of money is sufficiently illustrated
by the fact that it induced such deeply-rooted folk to move at all. If the
theme of this story is a little sordid it is relieved by its treatment from
any reproach, and faithful followers of the PHILLPOTTS' trail will enjoy
every word of it.
* * * * *
All that we ever hoped--some day, when the War was over--to hear about
those most fascinating mysteries, the Tanks, has been put together by Major
C. and Mr. A. WILLIAMS-ELLIS, under the title _The Tank Corps_ (_Country
Life_ Offices). Here are genuine uncamouflaged pictures of all kinds of
tanks, with detailed maps and descriptions showing their operations, as
well as stories not only of those that walked in orthodox fashion through
enemy villages "with the British army cheering behind," but of others that
disappeared entire in mud, or drove themselves unaided back to our lines
when too full of gas to be occupied, or scrunched up batteries of
field-guns, or cruised alone for hours, like the famous one called Musical
Box, among the enemy's communications, or crossed vast trenches over
bundles of faggots carried upon their backs. Every boy of the right kind
who inherits the proper zeal for mechanisms will certainly find in this
book the most absorbing of yarns. Not that the subject is treated in the
least lightly or frivolously, but, since the barest truth is here
incredible romance, the authors, soberly collecting materials from
despatches, diaries and so on, as well as drawing on their own obvious
first-hand knowledge, have achieved a fairy-tale of mechanics. That the
crews were no less wonderful than their machines we knew before, but the
writers' modest yet illuminating account of the difficulties under which
they worked is none the less welcome.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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