A Signpost to Eden
Carries could, and doubtless will, produce a score of arguments , against the publication. of another volume of Old Testament • stories. They could say : " The Bible is good enough for , us and for our children." Mr. de la Mare would be the last -to deny theth. In his half-shy, half-ecstatic preface, he says, ." Poetry dwells in it as light dwells upon a -mountain and . on the moss in the crevices of its rocks. In what other book -.7-by mere mention of them—are then natural objects _made .60 fair ; its stars, its- well-spring, its war-horse,'ts almond tree ? " He reminds us that the Bible is not being read nowadays so much as it used to be, and that there was a time when a load of hay would be paid for ail hour's loan of .a manuscript Testament: His own book is intended merely as a reminder--an _attempt,,to persuade young readers " to return to the inexhaustible - well-spring from which it
tame." -
By way of showing the difficulties of retelling any passage from the Bible, he quotes three verses from the Book of Ruth and a fragment from Genesis as rendered in the Wycliffe, the Coverdale, the Geneva, and the Douai Bibles and also in the Authorized Version. As Wycliffe says, " Woale wynd and marines mind is full short, but letter written dwelleth." Most certainly Mr. de la Mare's book is worthy of " dwelling." There is no jarring note in all this long volume of rhythmical, balanced prose, and one hardly notices any _change in the flow, when actual phrases from the Bible are introduced. There is no moralizing, no drawing of conclusions, no explaining.
If the author has not painted a new Eden in his magic words, he has at least embellished the one we know, he has set the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil on a green hillside, has described its crystal branches, laden with buds and fruit and petalled flowers. As we read, we see through Adam's eyes the .sparkling waters of the four great riven with their " gem-like fish."
The book is divided into nine sections, dealing with the Garden of Eden, The Flood, Joseph, Moses, The Wilderness, Samson, Saul, and David : each section is sub-divided into chapters. Throughout the volume, Mr. de is Mare, has condensed, eliminated, and added pictures of his own making, It is all good, but the reader will find himself returning over and over again to the Eden section. Here is a description of Adam's awakening. " When daylight lightened again over Eden and the shafts of sunrise pierced its eastern skies, the voice of the bird of morning stole sweetly- and wildly upon Adam's dreams, and the very rocks resounded. He awoke, and saw the woman. She lay quiet as a stone, the gold of the sun mingling with the gold of her hair, her countenance calm and marvellous.",
The description too of the building of the Ark, and the gathering together of the beasts and birds is very satisfying. It is pleasant to be told that the birds nested on the ledges beneath the long narrow windows, that " the dark-delighting mouse " had her own special crevice, and that " the children were laid to rest in the sleeping places provided for them."
The book is intended for children, but it should delight their parents as well.
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