anything like such finished art--_The Village that Voted the
Earth was Flat_, which one might call a fantasia upon Publicity, and (to my
mind the best thing in the volume) _My Son's Wife_, an exquisitely humorous
and cunning study in the Influence of Landed Estate upon a Modern. If this
definition strikes you as obscure, read the story and you will understand.
For the rest, as I said above, all tastes are catered for; so that the
rival schools who admire Mr. KIPLING most as the creator of _Plain Tales_,
or _Stalky_ or _Puck_, will each receive encouragement and support; while,
if there be those who prefer the pot-boiler undisguisable, they too will
not find themselves altogether neglected.

* * * * *

I do wish our publishers would grasp the great truth that praise of their
own wares needs (to say the least of it) most careful handling. What they,
or some anonymous admirer, say on the cover of _The Worn Doorstep_ (HODDER
AND STOUGHTON) is that they should like to shout its merits from the
housetop. Possibly; but let me protest that it is for me, and not for them,
to do the shouting, if any; which said, I will proceed to admit that the
book is one of considerable charm. It is told in the form of letters (never
to be posted, since they are from a young wife to her soldier-husband,
presumed to have been killed before the opening of the book). Miss MARGARET
SHERWOOD thus reverts to a convention more popular some few years ago than
with our present-day romanticists. The matter of her tale shows how the
young wife in question found consolation in befriending others, especially
in the love affairs of a Belgian refugee couple, to whom she opens her home
and heart. A very pretty idea, developed with many dainty and amiable
touches. Perhaps (I set down no dogmatic verdict on the point) the cynical
or impatient may find its sweetness something too drawn out. On the other
hand, there are many "gentle readers," probably a vast majority, to whom
its appeal will prove entirely successful. And as they can be trusted to
spread its merits in the right quarters there will be no need for the
publishers to shout, either from the house-top or anywhere else, which (as
I suggested above) is as it should be.

* * * * *

When we are introduced to _Margaret Grenfield_, the heroine of _Fetters on
the Feet_ (ARNOLD), she is living with some Quaker cousins and spending
most of her time