s saying those who read) that
excellent book, _The Retreat from Mons_, will be glad to hear that
its author, Major A. CORBETT-SMITH, has now continued his record in a
further volume, called _The Marne and After_ (CASSELL). In it you will
find all those qualities, a sane and soldier-like common-sense, an
entire absence of gush, and a saving humour in the midst of horrors,
which made the earlier installment memorable. Above all else I
have been impressed by the first of these characteristics. Major
CORBETT-SMITH writes from the viewpoint of one to whom even this
ghastliest of wars is part of the day's work. That he sees its human
and hideous sides by no means impairs this quiet professional outlook.
I recall one phrase in his chapter on the secret agents of the enemy:
"At the Aisne German spies were a regular plague"--just as one might
speak of wasps or weather--which somehow conveyed to me very vividly
the secret of our original little army's disproportionate influence
in the early weeks of the War. The operations which we call the
actual Battle of the Marne (surely fated to be the most fought-again
engagement in history) are here very clearly described, with
illustrative plans; while one other chapter, called suggestively
"_Kultur_," may be commended to those super-philosophers amongst us
who are already beginning an attempt to belittle the foul record of
calculated crime that must for at least a generation place Germany
outside the pale of civilization. For this grim chapter alone I should
like to see Major CORBETT-SMITH'S otherwise cheery volume scattered
broadcast over the country.

* * * * *

_June_ (METHUEN) is saturated with the simple sentimentality in which
American authors excel. I do not know whether British novelists could
write this sort of book successfully if they would, but I do know that
they don't. Miss EDITH BARNARD DELANO, however, succeeds in getting
considerable charm into her story, and if it leaves rather a sweeter
taste in the mouth than some of us relish there are others who like
their fiction to be strongly sugared. _June_, an orphan child, was
looked after by nigger servants, and by one, _Mammy_, in particular.
She possessed a house and a valley; and a young man prospecting in the
latter met with an accident and was discovered by the child. Hence
complications, and the removal of _June_ from her home to be educated
with some cousins. Then poverty, hard times an