AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



way they have frequently disagreed with the 

 verdict of the critics, and are at times also quite 

 at variance with the estimate of the general pub- 

 lic, if enormous sales be an indication. Here, 

 then, are a few books upon which some people 

 have positive views, with no advertising space 

 to sell. 



Allan, James Lane. — The Choir Invisible. One 

 critic writes briefly, " Very able ; " while another says, 

 " I can't agree with you. If this book has one merit, 

 it has escaped my careful search. The scenery is as 

 unreal as that on the stage of a theatre. The people 

 are manikins, who play the fool without reason. The 

 hero is a chump, and the heroine an impossible doll. 

 Amy, the other woman, is coarse, vulgar, and slatternly, 

 and yet the book has been compared to Esmond ! " 



Baring-Gould. — The Broom Squire. " The events 

 described in this story may be possible in England and 

 amongst English men and women, but would not be 

 possible in America. A most unpleasant story of brutal 

 people." 



Bloundelle-Burton. — Across the Salt Seas. " In- 

 teresting in the main, but marred by its impossibility. 

 What sane man would dream of going over-land to 

 Flanders, after Vigo, when the ' Salt seas ' were open 

 to him ? " 



Brady, C. T. — For the Freedom of the Sea. 

 " Readable, but it makes one long to be profane in 

 thinking of the English of 1812." 



Castle, E. — Young April. "In the main an in- 



78 



