In the Nursery
" WHAT a spirited title 1" says Mr. Edward Garnett in his preface to this book, written nineteen years ago by a child
of eleven. And how direct is the opening : " As my story. begins I write of a lady with no enjoyment, no fun, no aim in life, just because she has thought of no aim." She is called Valerie (and is obviously unworthy of a surname), is the owner of Pax, " a worldly horse." Pax is stolen by Gerald and Dixon, two Germans who " were really setting up a sort of burglarary in England." They take Pax to Germany as a present for their sister, Amelia Stebens. The rest of the tale tells of the pursuit and capture of Pax by his real owner, and of the trial of Gerald and Dixon, during which the innocent Amellia dies most dramatically, after she has recited Prospero's speech, " You do look, my son, in a moved sort."
" Never have I had such a case in my life," says the Judge.
And never, alas 1 shall we meet such burglars in our lives, " dressed in yellow garments with silver girdles round their waists."
Mr. Garnett writes of the author's " unerring psychology " and " great dramatic master stroke," but we prefer to praise
her innocent earnestness and endearing spontaneity. Pax is the book of an imaginative and painstaking child, and,
as such, will be a joy to children and a refreshment to the rest of us. Mr. Ray Garnett's illustrations are excellent.
. Miss Fyleman's plays, which are intended for the nursery stage, vary in quality : two of them are very good indeed, two are quite good, and three are rather flat. All, however, have the merit' of being easy to stage and to learn. " Peter Coffin," a pirate play in verse, will delight the actors as much as the audience. The pirates' introduce themselves in rhyme :—
" I em a pirate horrid and hard,
I shot my Aunt in her own backyard.
Daniel Dagger it is my name,'
And you'd best not meddle with my little game ! "
" The Princess and the Pirate " is a gay drama in three scenes, and Leen, the wicked housemaid, is an admirable character.
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