The . Country Heart and Other Stories. By Maude Egerton - King. (A.
C. Fifleld. Gs.)—There are fifteen stories here, all worth read- ing, though, we are constrained to say, not all pleasant to read. We do not hesitate at placing "The Conversion of Miss Caroline Eden " far above the rest. Caroline Eden is a lonely spinster who trios to do good to her neighbours in a very timid, precise way, knowing as little of the realities of life as a person who had lived to middle ago could contrive to do. To the town where she lives there comes an Independent minister, a•very earnest young man, full of the now knowledge, a champion of now causes, zealous in the crusade against national and social evils. He awakens Caroline Eden's heart and conscience, kept before in a decorous security, to the larger issues of life. That is her " conversion," and it is nothing loss than a disaster. Such facts as that wo spend £150,000,000 on drink and .42,000,000 on foreign missions appal her. She sees something of the evils of the world and tries to fight against them with her puny strength. Sho is "a butterfly in harness "; the " conversion " crushes her. It is a most pathetic picture.
Previous page
