LAND AND WATER 
September 25, 1915. 
day deeds of ia'-b. love, gnd reniiiu iatif)n are dune by 
the si-ore and liiindred which will never be recorded, 
and e\ery one of which is noble enough to make an 
inimorial song." Could this eternal trutii have been 
littered more wisely or more beautifully? 
-Mr. W'ister is evidently not satisfied in his heart 
with the attitude to the war which his own country has 
taken hitherto. He makes no reproaches, but in one 
place he observes: " To speak of the Old World and 
the Xew World is to speak in a dead language. The 
world is one. All humanity is in the same boat. 
America can no more separate itself from t!\e destiny of 
Europe than it can escape the natural laws of the 
imiverse." Here we must close our review of this 
exquisite docimiont. It is a book that is not only a 
pleasure but a duty to read. As the author clearlv'has 
sympatliy with the Germany he knew in ante-bellum 
days, we feel we owe it to him to give this final citation : 
If Germany's tragedy be, as I think, the deepest of all, the 
hope is that she, too, will be touched by the Pent^-cost 
of Calamity, and pluck her soul from Prussia, to whom 
she gave it in 1870. Thus shall the curse be lifted. 
A GL.\SSIC ON RIFLE-SHOOTING. 
BOOKS THAT EXCEL. 
" A Russian Comedy of Errors." By George Kennaii. (Geortfe Allen aod 
Lnwin.) 6s. 
Mr. Kennan deals mainly with the side of Ru.ssian life 
that is most familiar to British readers, the revolutionary 
side, including glimpses of life— existence would be a better 
word— m the great political prison of Peter and Paul and in 
Siberia. Here, however, is no attempt at emulation of the 
fat boy in making one's flesh creep, but a plain, common-sense 
recital of things seen and heard. 
There is, for instance, an intensely interesting account 
of the e.-'cape of Prince Krapotkiu, and there is also the his- 
tory of a tiny republic established by the diggers in a Siberian 
goldfield, a remarkably successful experiment in representa- 
tive government. The stories apparently form a judicious 
selection from a mass of available material, and the book, as 
a whole, is worthy of more than tlie passing interest generally 
accorded to volumes of its class. 
" Guy and Pauline." By Compton Mackenzie. (Martin Seeker.) 6s. 
^ Although not so much of a prig as the poor hero of 
Sinister Street," Guy is still a prig, and the disagreeable 
consciousness of this pursues us through the pages of this 
book, „, which Mr. Mackenzie is gravely in danger cf 
decluiing to a " precious " style of writing. 
^f"'ig aside minor problems of the book, it may be said 
that Guy, engaged to Pauline, tried to persuade himself that 
art.-^f which he was a very amateur exponent^was of more 
moment than life and love, and finally Pauline broke off the 
engagement-and broke her own "heart. Paradoxically 
enough, although the story itself is so small, the book is an 
advance on ''Sinister Street," and it is refreshingly free of 
the juvenile descriptions of the half-world which made that 
earlier work disagreeably sordid in parts 
^.J^ I' '''^''^'■' ^1"^ "'°"''* ^^ '"'"■« tl>«n <=lever if only Guy 
were not so priggi.=li. •' •' 
By Charlotte Jlansfield. (Holden and 
• Gloria, a Girl of the Veldt. 
Hardingham.) 6g. 
The plot of this story is commonplace enough but it ,", 
zfs i-t:t ='1,, s:hi:sii£B 
lo one who lias known South Africa the bnnl- ^m i, 
scores of little trait, of the life ofihe co mtJt anTwiir 
L^ui VaS't^J ''V'"^ -undrel^PeLTDilt aJd"f 
perusal '° '° "''^' ' ^"""^ '''^'^ «"^ ^^^ well worth 
thi,^';f^a:!Srsr ^''V '''r- ^^^^-"- ^- *•- 
att«rns her effects bv ^'urJ! f P«y-''ological values; she 
."ore telbn^.'^'i'^ Gl. 'a ^^.T'*''?t ''"^ '^'"'^y "^^^'^ them 
■-owing, a^, ss^i."^ r^ ^;:^^tr''^ -^^'^ 
'^""k that ought not to be missed produced a 
Now and again —generally at widely separated intcrx'als 
— technical knowledge and literary power occur in one indi- 
vidual in combination with a desire to mark, by the published 
word, the progress and state of a particular science or sport. 
In the remarkable and handsome volume, " Rifles and Am- 
munition and Rifle Shooting,"* we arc fortunate in having 
such an ideal combination in duplicate. Of the two authors, 
Lieut. II. Ommundsen (now with the H.A.C. fighting in 
France) is known and admired tliroughout the British Empire 
for his extraordinary skill with the rifle, for his sound know- 
ledge of the rifle and its shooting, and for his readiness and 
ability to place this knowledge at the disposal of those of his 
less fortunately blessed brethren who are also devoted to the 
rifle. The other. Mr. Ernest H. Robinson, is hardly less cele- 
brated on account of his skill with the miniature rifle, of his 
ardent work on behalf of the miniature rifle movement, through 
which so many thousands of those now in the British Army 
became skilled" shots before they became soldiers, but perhaps 
mamly by reason of his highly developed skill with the long 
range match rifle and of his researches, through that part 
of the sport of rifle shooting, into the deeper problems of the 
science of the subject. 
Much could be expected from material that might be 
written by these experts for the benefit of others interested 
m rifle shooting, especially as Mr. Robinson, by reason of 
his connection with the litcraiv profession, is so well adapted to 
convey technical knowledge in the best and simplest clothing 
ot words. Those who, like the writer of this short review, 
have awaited the publication of the work with some impatience, 
have found their expectations more than fully realised. 
• ^1 c ^"^^°'">" °f f'e rifle and its ammunition is dealt with 
m the first half of the work. The salient points of progress 
are taken— the rotation of projectiles by means of rifled 
barrels, the development of the breech-loader and the evolution 
ot the present day military pattern bolt action, the adoption 
ot the brass cartridge case and the gradual building up of 
tlie complete cartridge as we now know it, the reduction in 
diameter of the bore of the barrel and the lengthening of 
bullets and so on -and a few delightful essays arc woven 
around them so that the story of evolution may be read and 
enjoyed, but nevertheless fully understood, without tliose 
Irequent breaks away gencralh" tliought necessary for the 
study of the many indi\idual models and types. 
\Ve are finally and gently led by way of a critical 
exaniination of modern military rifles in which the British 
l^ee-tnheld shows up as the best in use in the Great War 
to some speculation as to the weapons and ammunition of 
tlie tuturc. The sporting rifle and its ammunition are dealt 
with in a similar but briefer manner. 
The second half of the book is devoted to practical rifle- 
shooting, and It is here that the secrets of the skill of the 
masters are explained simply but in the minutest detail 
so that they may be digested and put into practice even by 
the no\'ice There is, the authors tell us, nothing mysterious 
or wonderful about rifle-shooting-a dictum with which many 
may not be inclined to agree— but material enough is found 
tor several chapters of sound advice on physical condition 
trigger-pulhng. eye-training, distance-judging, wind aUowances, 
mirage, aiming and other important points connected with 
the correct dehvery of the bullet at the object to be hit 
there is, besides, much of interest on British and foreign 
nfle associations the care of the rifle, and the -220 practice 
1 here is also a chapter on simple ballistics. In the last 
named the thoughtful rifleman will find simple and ingenious 
ways of bridging part of the worrying mathematics 
«i]I n J'T; Y^]'''\'^ copiously illustrated with 65 plates 
will, no doubt, take its place without dissent with those of 
Greener Premantle and Walsh, as a classic on the subfeci 
Even those who are not rifle-shooters will find a lot to ' 
interest them relating to present day mihtary rifles and their 
history whilst to those who do shoot the work is indis- 
mTster rifl"""^-^' ^'l.'^' ^^'>'= °' ^^^ written word o two 
HH^l/.i "'''". °" ^\^ P'"^^''^^^ P^rt of the subject, and in- 
Ey^^^„:^"^^(('2 -:^^f f^t^. H. On.n.undscn and 
The^ iS fi»ng-lme, and the picture is well drawn, 
c.l.fi J;""*'^''"^.'' "^o'-e with the wreckage that war 
the wo mi; > "T '''■'!: ^"'^ ^^^ ^*""- °f *he heroism o 
conn rv",VlP ' !^ ^^^^"P^'"'" of the Belgian and French 
f r.n ?n f,""* f ^"' ^""^ ^^^" ^^'t'l perusal, implying rather 
nnV ", •'" «f''ti"g spirit of our Allies on the Wes em 
front, as well as that of our own men. vvestern 
' ''' """"" "°-- ^•"■' -■"''•" ^o- ^^-■. ^-"<io. Street. Whitefri.s. Lend, 
Ion, E.C, 
