psychological version of one
often used in farce (except that it precisely wasn't to be any manner
of dream), are such as might well alarm any writer--and, one might
add, any reader also. It is a further misfortune that the style of
what is actually written should be in the master's most remote and
obscure manner, so much so that one is forced to wonder whether,
without the notes as guide, it would be in any sort clear what the
whole thing was about. The transition, for example, from the actual to
the supernatural event is so abrupt that it might well have left the
uninformed helplessly befogged. But this very fact again, as supposing
some further treatment only now to be guessed at, helps to make the
unique fascination of the book as revealing the difficulties and
rewards of letters.

* * * * *

Whatever Mr. ERNEST THOMPSON SETON cares to write I am glad to read,
but there were moments in _The Preacher of Cedar Mountain_ (HODDER AND
STOUGHTON) when the great moral lesson of the story was as much as I
could bear. The tale reveals the spiritual and moral development of
_Jim Hartigan_. The author assures us that most of the characters are
drawn from life, and that some of the main events are historical. All
which I can easily believe, for Mr. SETON'S blunt method of describing
_Jim Hartigan's_ evolution from an unhallowed stable-boy to a muscular
Christian continually suggests reality. It is not a stylish method,
but it gets home, and in a tale of this kind that is the main, if not
the only, matter of importance. _Jim's_ besetting weaknesses were
drink and an overwhelming love for horses. The former he conquered
fairly soon, but the latter tripped him up more than once, and if he
had not been guided by the wisest woman who ever came from the
West his end would have been chaotic. The races at Fort Ryan are
excellently described, and as a picture of the West of America some
forty years ago you will find this story of _Jim's_ conversion both
instructive and intriguing. All the same Mr. SETON has so often
delighted me by his tales of the animal world that I hope this
excursion is merely a holiday from the work for which he has a real
genius.

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE ABOVE GENTLEMAN IS SUPERSTITIOUS ON THE SUBJECT OF
WALKING UNDER LADDERS.]

* * * * *

Up to the present time the crop of German spy-stories has been
disti