ed hurriedly out of the way of the final (and wonderfully
thrilling) chapters. The explanation is, I think, that the cowboy,
whom he knows so well, is for Mr. CULLEY hero and heroine too. _Dave_,
round whom the story revolves, is a pleasant study of a type of
American youth which we are coming gratefully to estimate at its true
worth; but in the development of the theme _Dave_ soon becomes
almost insignificant beside the greater figure of the cowboy, _Monte
Latarette_. For him alone I should regard the book as one not to be
missed by anyone who values a handling of character at once delicate
and masterful.

* * * * *

_Keeling Letters and Recollections_ (ALLEN AND UNWIN) is a book that
will perhaps rouse varied emotions in those who read it. Regret
there will be for so much youth and intellectual vigour sacrificed;
admiration for courage and for a patriotism that circumstances made by
no means the simple matter of conviction that it has been for most;
and vehement opposition to many of the views (on the War especially)
held by the subject of the memoir. By sympathy and environment KEELING
was, to begin with, a wholehearted admirer of Germany. Strangely, in
one of his social views, he carried this admiration even to the extent
of advocating a Teutonic control that should include Holland. To such
a mind the outbreak of war with Germany may well have seemed the last
horror. But he admitted no choice. Within a few days he was a private
soldier; he was killed, as sergeant-major, while bombing a trench on
August 18, 1916. The spirit in which he entered the War is shown in
an extract from a letter: "What we have got to do in the interest of
Europe is to fight Germany without passion, with respect." How grimly
those last two words sound now! Through everything KEELING held with a
generous obstinacy to his original prejudices. Germany remained most
tragically his second fatherland. Somewhere he writes, "I expect I
shall be a stronger Pacifist after the war than any of the people who
are Pacifists now. But I don't feel one will have earned the right to
be one _unless one has gone in with the rest_." The italics are mine.
Before a vindication so unanswerable criticism has no further word to
say.

* * * * *

Extract from collected works, of Viscount HALDANE OF CLOAN, O.M.,
K.T., Op. 3001, Minister of Reconstruction. Report of the Machinery
of Government Committee (C