B

20–20995

With astonishing frankness Mrs Asquith tells the story of her life and when she says in her preface that she has taken the responsibility of the telling entirely upon herself, one can easily believe her. Her dash and courage and unconventionality, her affectionate nature and clever wit, her social position and close association with events and people of prominence make the book unusual. In her own words, she has related of her “manners, morals, talents, defects, temptations and appearance” as faithfully as she could. Her reminiscences are all of a personal nature without reference to politics and public affairs. Both books are indexed and illustrated.

“Mrs Asquith is a sentimentalist, and a sentimentalist of the worst kind, one who keeps it all for herself. She imagines that she is a very rare, very misunderstood person. She has made a serious mistake in writing this book; in it she delivers up her secret to the first-comer. Her book is really a very dull one unless it is regarded as an unconscious self-revelation. From that aspect it is quite interesting though the type it reveals is not very intriguing.” J. M. M.

“The self-revelations of Margot Asquith and those of Benvenuto Cellini present more than one parallel. Margot Asquith’s autobiography is essentially human. She has painted a portrait of herself that will live, and she has filled in the background with pictures of many who are sure of a permanent place in the history of English literature and of the politics of England.” J. C. Grey

“Few writers have at once the intimate acquaintance and the analytic tendency to put forward such keen and living figures. We can hope to possess very few such living documents as is this record of the last forty years.” D. L. Mann

Reviewed by H: W. Nevinson

“Being a woman born into a society where her game was to be charming, and where she had no chance to be seriously educated, we find her at the age of fifty-six publishing idiocies that Marie Bashkirtseff was too sophisticated to utter at fourteen, and never once attaining Marie Bashkirtseff’s noble realization that ‘if this book is not the exact, the absolute, the strict truth, it has no raison d’être.’” F. H.

“Her lack of reticence is, plainly, offensive to good taste. It is not the less offensive because it is apparently entirely unconscious. The surprising thing is, however, that with all the material for interesting memoirs that Mrs Asquith should have stored away in her mind, she has given us relatively so little that is of any permanent value.” Stanley Went

“The book is fascinating from the first page to the last.”

Reviewed by R. R. Bowker

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

“It is after a fashion moral in tone, even religious, as is apparently, the writer’s character; it is reticent in political matters; and it is undeniably clever. With a little more pruning Mrs Asquith’s ‘Autobiography’ might have been a valuable and innocent record of a memorable society and an interesting period; as it stands, it is a scandal. Not, as we have said, for moral reasons in the narrower sense of the word, but for its wanton disregard of reticence and decorum.”

“The fascination of the book lies in its bold defiance of British literary and social tradition, and its studied departure from the conventional.”

“A book, particularly one written on some of the first figures in the country, should have some solid worth, and represent some substantial judgment. Mrs Asquith prides herself on saying exactly what she likes, on writing exactly what she thinks; but the result is not often judicious, nor of any importance, except as a tribute to the taste of the age.”

“In spite of the errors in taste, and of certain occasional breaks in a style quite admirable when its purpose is considered, the book justifies those who have declared it to be ‘a true piece of literature’ with all that such words import.”

“This autobiography is a revealing as well as an amazing book. The toes on which it treads are all English. Americans may not approve entirely of its material and its bumptious method, but they still find in it much significance and a great deal of entertainment.”

“Mrs Asquith has moved through great scenes; but the motion is a flitting, rather than an act of spiritual observation, and therefore when she sits down to recall her impression, it is apt to lack both sharpness and refinement.”

“She is not well equipped for the panoramic display of the outer world, and the remarkable fulness of her opportunity in that direction is largely wasted. Mrs Asquith is no story-teller, it is not her line; she lacks the seeing eye and the vivifying phrase. And yet she elects to write a book that is all storytelling, all an attempt to reproduce the brilliant phantasmagoria in which she has lived.”

ASTON, SIR GEORGE GREY.Memories of a marine, an amphibiography. il *$5 Dutton

(Eng ed 20–8797)

“This volume is in autobiographic form and while it does not pretend to be a complete story of the author’s life it is written along autobiographic lines. The writer gives us some account of his subaltern days, when he was a student and then a budding naval officer. Then he recalls the period of the disturbances in Ireland and the Phœnix park murders. But he soon leaves this region for the East. It is the pleasant side of naval service that he shows us. After this sea experience, the writer tells of his transfer to the admiralty office in London and his experiences. He gives an agreeable account of Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in 1887, at which the German Crown Prince Frederick, father of the recent Kaiser, was a conspicuous figure. Then, in 1889, Sir George though not then knighted—had an experience at the staff college. Then, later, there were some vigorous experiences to record in connection with the war in South Africa.”—Boston Transcript

“The book is one to be read with enjoyment and interest.”

“Sir George throughout his narrative is chatty, never tedious or prolix and intersperses his story with frequent anecdotes, which are always fresh and well told.”

“Altogether, he has given us an exceedingly attractive addition to the literature of reminiscence.”

ATHEARN, WALTER SCOTT.National system of education. (Merrick lectures) *$1.50 Doran 377

20–4029

“Professor Athearn frankly states that the church cannot ask the state to teach religion, but the church can teach religion at odd hours during the week and on Sunday. The church can and must organize and administrate a national system of religious education that will parallel and correlate with the national secular system which is in process of formation at the present time. He regards the Smith-Towner bill as a large step in the direction of a unified, national, secular system of education, and accepts it as a challenge to the educational leadership of the church to produce a program which will be equally scientific, equally democratic, and equally prophetic. His discussion of national control, or direction, of a system of secular and religious education is extremely worth while at this, the most critical, time in the history of education in the United States.” (School R) “Bibliography on educational organization and administration.” (Booklist)

Reviewed by J. A. Artman

“Timely and vital book.”

ATTLEE, CLEMENT RICHARD.Social worker. *$2.50 Macmillan 360

20–19448

“‘The social service library,’ of which this is the first volume, is issued under the ægis of the University of London Ratan Tata department of social science and administration. The subjects dealt with in order, each subject being treated under certain general sub-headings, are Social service and citizenship, Charities (these are classified, and one section discusses Waste and over-lapping), Organization, Social service in conjunction with central and governing authorities, the Qualifications and training of the social worker (a talk on the subject which would be of great value to all entering on social work), Religious agencies, The settlement movement (one of the subheads is, The school mission), Varieties of social worker; and there is an instructive chapter at the end on The social service of the working classes (The friendly society—The trade union—The cooperative society—The working men’s club—self-education).”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“It is written in a philosophical spirit and with close-hand knowledge of the subject. Although its descriptions of the various agencies is based on British material, the book as a whole is bound to be useful for the American social worker and student of social problems.” J. H. T.

“The book is full, racily written, and made alive with interesting first-hand illustration.”

“To an American social worker possibly the chief interest of the book is the philosophy of the author. He reflects a modern faith in the power of the community as such to deal with the conditions that menace social welfare.” P. R. Lee

“The book is a singularly thoughtful and instructive study of a subject in which a widely interested public really needs well-considered guidance.”

AUDOUX, MARGUERITE.Marie Claire’s workshop; tr. by F. S. Flint. *$2 (3½c) Seltzer

21–759

“Marie-Claire,” to which “Marie Claire’s workshop” is a sequel, was published in 1911. Marie Claire is now employed as a seamstress in a workshop in Paris, and the book describes her life and work there, with character studies of her shopmates. Monsieur and Madame Dalignac are the kindly proprietors and they are portrayed vividly as are Sandrine and Bouledogue and Duretour and her lover and Gabielle and the others. There is also Clement, Madame Dalignac’s nephew, who wishes to make Marie Claire his wife. The strain of working against time to fill a promised order, the monotony of the dull season when there is no work, the everyday contact of the girls, all enter into the picture.

“Very simple and very real, told with sympathy, grace and a fine, sure artistry, this picture of ‘Marie Claire’s workshop’ is a most appealing book.”

“In short, this is a special type of realism, and the cumulative effect of it ... recalls as its nearest parallel, not prose but verse, Hood’s ‘Song of the shirt.’” Calvin Winter

“This is a book for gentle souls; although it is too deeply human for the ingenuous.” A. G. H. Spiers

“Possesses all the qualities of its forerunner, truth, serenity, freshness, keen observation, united with a deeper understanding of human nature and an even wider sympathy.”

AULT, NORMAN.Dreamland shores. il *$3 Dodd 821

Poems for children with such titles as My dog, Clouds, Ducks, Pirate gold, The wind, The weathercock, The magic garden, Seasons, Noah’s ark, The moon’s adventure, The clock-man, Travels, A castle in the air, Tree-top. There are six colored plates and other illustrations by the author.

AUMONIER, STACY.One after another. *$2 Macmillan

20–15345

“Success jostles failure in the pages of Mr Aumonier’s latest novel. His hero is his own biographer, and we follow him through a picturesque childhood, along a divergent manhood, and into a more or less ebullient middleage. When the end of the story, but not the end of his life, is reached, we find that after adverse beginnings he has become a prosperous business man, whose temperamental sister has caused him more trouble than any of his own emotions, that he has been twice a happily wedded husband, that he is the loving father of a very desirable daughter, and the expectant grandfather of a child whose father has sacrificed himself to the god of battle in the great war. Except for that single episode near the end of the story, the chronicle has to do with the ways of national, if not individual peace.”—Boston Transcript

“It is rich and poor, cold and hot, dull and deeply interesting. But the impression of the whole is of something which has just not succeeded.” K. M.

“Readers who care for presentation of character rather than for plot, will like this, though some describe it as tedious. Not for the small library.”

“Although his theme and the form of his story are conventional, Mr Aumonier has written in ‘One after another’ an unusual novel.” E. F. E.

“‘One after another,’ though reminiscent of Butler and Bennett, is of the very recent type, the vegetable school, that deals pleasantly with mediocrity at its best.”

“By this sharp definition of the generations blended with his brooding sense of life’s fundamental continuance, Mr Aumonier has made his book as suggestive as it is entertaining and as philosophical as it is concrete.” L. L.

“The novel is one whose appeal will be to those who care for style and thought rather than for plot and incident. It is a better book than ‘The Querrils.’”

“Naturally the interest is of the quiet rather than of the exciting order, but the situations are well thought out and the human interest and humor of sound quality.”

“Here is something to be read by both the new generation and the old, for it links them together, with a fine understanding of both.” D. W. Webster

“The development of the narrator’s character is, to our mind, particularly well done—a very difficult task, and taken altogether the author more than justifies the high opinion we hold of his abilities.”

“The book tends more to reflection than to entertainment, and is considerably above the usual run of modern novels.”

“Mr Aumonier in this work, while displaying a good deal of keenness alike of observation and thought, fails in the essential task of creating people that impress us as individual and significant. Mr Aumonier’s touch, however, is incisive and dramatic. And, in intention at least, he is not commonplace.”

“The scenes are described with the ability which ‘The Querrils’ showed Mr Aumonier to possess; but the book is less carefully constructed, and the sense of incomplete finality which marred the effect of the earlier novel in this one is more obtrusive. Mr Aumonier studies situations rather than characters, and in contriving a situation with a climax that is dramatic but not ‘stagey’ he has a particular skill. At the same time, the book has a tendency to fall into vaguely connected episodes, while the characters approximate too closely to collections of impersonal attributes.”

AUSTIN, MARY (HUNTER) (MRS STAFFORD W. AUSTIN).No. 26 Jayne street. *$2 (2½c) Houghton

20–9713

The action of the story takes place in the year after America’s entrance into the war. Neith Schuyler, the heroine, has lived abroad with an invalid father for a number of years, and following his death has done relief work in France. She returns home hoping to learn to understand America. To come nearer to the problem she leaves the luxurious home of her two great aunts and takes a modest apartment on Jayne street, just off Washington square. Here she comes into contact with many shades of radical opinion and contrasts it with the “capitalistic” attitude of her own family and friends. Two men fall in love with Neith, Eustace Bittenhouse, an aviator, and Adam Frear, a labor leader. She becomes engaged to Adam and then learns that there has been another woman in his life, Rose Matlock, one of the radical group. The attitude of the two women, who represent the new feminism, puzzles Adam and he leaves for Russia. Eustace is killed in France and Neith is left to grope her way into the future alone.

“Rather obscure and vague in some places, it will not have many readers.”

“Both in subject and in treatment, Mrs Austin’s work discloses its kinship to the social novel of Wells.”

“Mrs Austin’s is a sincere and intelligent handling of an intricate subject. Owing to her careful consideration and presentation of the attitudes of her characters the book moves slowly, but it is easy to feel the dynamic forces behind it.” H. S. G.

“Her attempt is original and subtle and its subtlety of presentation is heightened by the fact that, before writing this story, Mrs Austin seems to have steeped herself in Henry James.” Ludwig Lewisohn

“One should not chide Mrs Austin too much for her somewhat blurred vision of the surface, since the greatness of her work lies in the much rarer faculty, which she possesses, of being able to focus on the inner significances.” J. C. L.

“It gives you no more idea of conditions among New York radicals than do the New York newspapers. The story moves slowly and uninterestingly.” Henrietta Malkiel

“The novel which is written primarily for some purpose outside itself is a novel which from the beginning is heavily handicapped. Usually the characters tend, in such instances, to become mere mouthpieces to express such divergent views as the author may wish to have uttered, and its situations are likely to descend into the condition of mere obvious illustrations. Mrs Austin’s new novel, ‘No. 26 Jayne street,’ has escaped none of these dangers. The book is very long, more than a little intricate, and at times profound.”

“Earnestness and background and an adroit hand belong to it, but all its data, its types, its ‘ideas’ are recognizable and timely. Its style may easily be called admirable. But its art conceals nothing. You do not lay down the book with the feeling that it is a big interpretation effortlessly embodied in its predestined form.” H. W. Boynton

AUTOBIOGRAPHYof a Winnebago Indian, ed. by Paul Radin. (Publications in American archaeology and ethnology) pa $1 Univ. of Cal. 970.2

A20–741

“‘The autobiography of a Winnebago Indian’ is edited with explanatory notes by Paul Radin. A middle-aged Winnebago called ‘S. B.,’ who belongs to a prominent family of the tribe and has had typical experiences, relates them in considerable detail and with great candor. He tells of his youthful amusements and fasts, of his courting and his many affairs with women, of his various travels, of his time spent with shows and circuses, of his term in prison charged with murder, of his conversion to the peyote rite and of his subsequent visions of Earthmaker (God). The narrative extraordinarily adumbrates customs and sentiments which have almost always been studied from the outside but which here have the most intimate ring of actuality.”—Nation

“A human document of extraordinary value alike for the ethnologist, the psychologist, and the lay reader.” R. H. Lowie

“As ethnology the account is of great value, and merely as general reading it is highly delectable.”

AYRES, LEONARD PORTER.[2]Index number for state school systems. 75c Russell Sage foundation 379

20–11840

“In ‘An index number for state school systems,’ Dr Ayres finds a single number which expresses the average of ‘ten different measures of the diffusion, the quantity, and the quality of the public education received by the children’ of the several states. The ten measures averaged into the index are: (1) the per cent of school population attending school daily; (2) average days attended by each child of school age: (3) average number of days schools were kept open; (4) per cent that high-school attendance was of total attendance; (5) per cent that boys were of girls in high schools; (6) average annual expenditure per child attending; (7) average annual expenditure per child of school age; (8) average annual expenditure per teacher employed; (9) expenditure per pupil for purposes other than teachers’ salaries: and (10) expenditure per teacher for salaries. The publication includes tables giving the index numbers of the several states for the census years since 1890 and for 1918, the resulting ranks of the states at the several periods, the correlation between the several items and the final index, and the correlation between the average of the five items that are based on attendance and the average of the five that are based on expenditure.”—School R

AYRES, RUBY MILDRED.Richard Chatterton, V. C. il *$1.75 Watt

20–1371

“One fails to fathom the reason why handsome, indifferent Richard Chatterton, jilted as a slacker by millionairess Sonia, should extort an iron-clad promise from a nice old gentleman, never to tell of his departure as a private in the Blank brigade to France where he chums with his own valet and performs the double deed of heroism which wins him the most coveted of English decorations. One word of that and Sonia would never have thrown herself into the artful arms of his false friend Montague. When unavoidable evidence jams upon her slow credence the facts about Richard, she sees him in London, invalided home, and insane jealousy of his pretty nurse makes her conduct still more complicated. Later, the mistaken report of the hero’s death, the showing up of the villain in lurid tints and Sonia’s abrupt disappearance, get things into a grand tangle. The lovers show a genius for miscomprehension that keeps the action going strong until the pallid convalescent is accidentally discovered by Sonia in a convenient sitting-room, where fate and the author have to get behind the two and push them into each other’s arms.”—Pub W

“The triteness of the story is unrelieved by any felicity of style; this is the sort of novel dashed off in a hurry to meet an uncritical demand.”

“There are vivid scenes of departing troops, trench warfare and base hospitals, contrasted with gay glimpses of London society and country life. And pleasant is the mellow romance of the plump chaperone and the ‘God bless my soul’ old family friend—they at least have the saving grace of humor.” Katherine Perry

AYSCOUGH, JOHN, pseud. (BP. FRANCIS BROWNING DREW BICKERSTAFFE-DREW).Abbotscourt. $2 (2c) Kenedy

(Eng ed 20–8732)

This is preeminently a story of human kindness with enough of harshness in it to throw the kindly people and their doings into relief. The two sides of the picture are represented by two branches of the same family: the clerical, younger son side in spiritual and worldly prosperity throughout successive generations; and the baronet side in as steady degeneration. At last there is a reversion to type in Eleanor, the physically and mentally sound and beautiful daughter of the ramshackle Sir Anthony Abbot of Abbotspark, whom the Rev. Thomas Abbot of Abbotscourt heroically resolves to adopt into his family on her father’s death. The story revolves around poor Eleanor’s plight as a misfit both in the vicar’s family, surrounded by kindness, and in her dissolute brother’s house, exposed to his low designs. To escape both she flees into an unknown world and when her trials have reached their climax a veritable conspiracy of kindness and good will bring her back to life and love.

“The story is a vivid picture, drawn with the author’s customary skill, of provincial social life in ecclesiastical circles and interest is well-maintained.”

“There is something delicately feminine about John Ayscough’s handling of his theme, his humor, his almost imperceptible irony. ‘Abbotscourt’ cannot be called a great book, nor would its author claim such a distinction for it. But it is worth reading for its style, its purity, and for that fragrance as of lavender and old lace which permeates its pages.”

“It is worth dwelling on the method of approach to the characters; it differs so greatly from much that passes for character drawings now. It is open perhaps to a smile here and a shrug there, but it is supported nevertheless upon a basis of thought which though delicate is secure.”

AYUSAWA, IWAO FREDERICK.International labor legislation. (Columbia univ. studies in history, economics, and public law) pa *$2 Longmans 331

20–18736

“This book traces the origin and development of international labor legislation from the time of Owen (1818), with chapters on progress toward international agreements (1890–1900), labor conferences and treaties (1900–1913) and the labor development of the world war. Part 2 deals with the difficulties in international labor legislation and Part 3 with the Washington conference of 1919 including a summary of the discussion of the eight-hour day and the employment of women and children.”—Am Econ R

“The assembled material will be useful to the student in the field of labor, even though he may be puzzled by several indefinite references and by some errors (possibly typographical).” Amy Hewes

Reviewed by J: B. Andrews

BABSON, ROGER WARD.Central American journey. (Interamerican geographical readers) il $1.20 (3c) World bk. 917.28

20–4903

This is the story of the Carroll family in their travels through Central America—an attempt to combine in the form of a story for children and an account of travel, certain information on our commercial relations with our southern neighbors. Its aim is to teach children that, in the process of linking nation with nation the world over, friendly trade relations contain the romance of the immediate future, that they imply human relations, fair dealing, and honorable business standards. Among the contents are: Castles in New Spain; The gateway of the world; The great waterway; On the trail of Columbus; A plantation in Costa Rica; Mules and mountain trails; The ancient land of Nicaragua; The wonders of a wilderness; The treasure of San Juancito; The small republic of Salvador. The book has an index and many illustrations.

BABSON, ROGER WARD.[2]Fundamentals of prosperity; what they are and whence they come. *$2 Revell 174

20–20936

“In this book the statistician of Wellesley Hills holds that we must look to religion and not to modern efficiency methods to insure national prosperity. He contends that down to this hour, mankind (or humanity—or the world at large) has lost its way, chiefly because of its refusal to accept the golden rule as the basis of true living.”—Springf’d Republican

“It is a courageous book, inspired by an unshakable faith in the pricelessness of character, filled with wholesome advice to business men, and garnished with anecdotes that would be equally appropriate at a meeting of the stock exchange and a dinner party.”

“It is a business man’s call to business to change its aim, a sermon of a high order of eloquence that if heeded would change the course of civilization.”

BABSON, ROGER WARD.W. B. Wilson and the Department of labor. *$2 Brentano’s 353

20–1493

“The present head of the Department of labor at Washington has had the kind of life history that is often described as ‘typically American,’ but it happens that he was born and passed his childhood days in Scotland. He was taken from school at the age of eight and sent to the mines. As he grew up he worked as a common laborer, iron miner, locomotive fireman, lumber-jack, log-driver, farmer, and union organizer. He was sent to Congress from Pennsylvania for three terms, and when the Department of labor was created he became by President Wilson’s appointment the first Secretary of labor. All this and much more is told in the present volume by Roger W. Babson, the statistician, who was himself formerly chief of the Information service of the Department of labor. Mr Babson’s book describes and analyzes the machinery and policy of the department.”—R of Rs

“A well-constructed and interesting biography.”

“It is a little hard to tell where Babson begins and Wilson leaves off, for the biographer has not been quite able to play the part of Boswell to his Johnson.” J. E. Le Rossignol

“Mr Babson has both succeeded and failed. He has done effectively what he set out to do. He has failed to do the much greater thing, such for example, as that which Graham Wallas has accomplished in his life of Francis Place. In a word, his book is not a biography insofar as biography is an art.” W. L. C.

BACON, FRANK.Lightnin’; after the play of the same name by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon. il *$1.75 (3c) Harper

20–4438

A novel made from a popular play of the same name in which Mr Bacon has been playing the title part. Lightnin’ Bill Jones, so-called because it doesn’t describe him, is a gentle, genial old humorist who keeps a hotel in Calivada, on the California-Nevada line. In fact the state line runs thru the house, so that divorcees wishing to obtain the advantages of the easy divorce laws of one state might do so and at the same time enjoy the privileges of a California resort. Two land sharks, who for reasons of their own, wish to get control of the property, talk Bill’s wife and adopted daughter into their scheme, and then, unable to win Bill’s consent, persuade the wife to get a divorce. But their plans are foiled, and Bill with his genius for “fixing” things also brings about a happy ending to the love romance of two young people.

“The pathos and humor of the play seem dry and forced in the story. Still the charm of old ‘Lightnin’ Bill’ Jones stands to some extent.”

“The author continually insists that Jones is a ‘lovable character,’ but to the reader he seems no more than a lazy, shiftless, old drunkard, who looks to his wife and daughter for sustenance. Mr Bacon does not succeed in freeing the narrative from the atmosphere of the footlights.”

BACON, SIR REGINALD HUGH SPENCER.Dover patrol, 1915–1917. 2v il *$10 (4½c) Doran 940.45

19–19869

“At Dover during 1915, 1916 and 1917, more operations were initiated and carried out than under any naval command since the wars at the beginning of last century.” (Preface) The author enumerates his reasons for writing the book: to write while memory is still accurate; to fill the need for an adequate account of the work of the Dover patrol; to contradict the untrue statements of the press anent his dismissal. Contents of volume 1: Historical; The ships of the Dover patrol; Matters of strategy; Coastal bombardments; The work of the trawlers and paddle mine-sweepers; The Belgian coast, its patrol and barrages; Landing the guns on the Belgian coast; A proposed attack on Ostend; Preparations for a great landing; Plans for blocking Zeebrugge and Ostend; The control and protection of traffic. Contents of volume 2: The incomparable sixth flotilla; The downs and merchant shipping; The barrages in the channel; The drifters and their tasks; The French coast; C.M.B.’s, M.L.’s, submarines and smoke; Operations; The air services of the Dover patrol; Dover harbour and dockyard; Epilogue; Appendixes; Index. Each volume is abundantly illustrated and supplied with charts and diagrams.

“An important contribution from the standpoint of historical truth.”

“As a question of strategy one of the most interesting parts of the book is that dealing with the plans drawn for a joint army and navy effort to turn the enemy out of his Belgian bases.” C. C. Gill

“Admiral Bacon’s book has in it much matter for the layman and much for the expert. For that reason it is more shapeless than have been many books written about the war. For that reason also, it is a truer presentment of the conditions obtaining.” Muriel Harris

“For this lucid and sailor-like account of an essential service Admiral Bacon deserves praise.”

“This notable book wavers a little between treatise and narrative, but it is well worth reading all the same. A certain sense of grievance animates Sir Reginald Bacon’s pages. But it only obtrudes itself here and there, for instance, in a tendency to belittle the method of Admiral Keyes’s attack on Zeebrugge.”

“Sir Reginald Bacon’s detailed narrative of the Dover patrol is a well-written and highly interesting book, which will rank with Lord Jellicoe’s history of the grand fleet among the chief authorities on the naval side of the war.”

“It is a striking and interesting narrative, gracefully related, with a thousand sidelights on this little-known field of naval operations.”

“The 633 pages of ‘The Dover patrol’ are crowded with statements of fact, criticisms not indeed of persons (for, apart from his official enemy, and vague indications of contradicting sinners, Admiral Bacon is generous in his tone to his colleagues and subordinates), but of principles and the methods of the art of war at sea. Admiral Bacon sometimes writes expressly for the professional reader, but he remembers the little knowledge of most of us, avoids pedantry, and has a respectable share of the blessed faculty for making things clear.”

BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH.Scoutmastership. *$1.50 Putnam 369.4

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