Captain Geoff. By Ismay Thorn. (Gardner and Co.)—This tale of
school-life is almost dramatic in places, and the characters always interesting and full of vitality. M. PAbeille, and the contrast between his ideas of discipline and school customs in general, and those of the boys, are very happily hit off. But Captain Geoff, readable and attractive as it is, is not school-life, but rather what Ismay Thorn conceives it to be. Her boys are a mixture compounded of young boys with the passions and eccen- tricities of their age, and men with deeper feelings and polished conversation, who weigh each word before uttering it. The style is " high-falutin' " to a degree, considering the ages of the young gentlemen, and their games are invested with a dignity out of all proportion, and the cricket-match is too palpably feminine. There are not many men living who can hit an " off " ball to long-leg (even Dr. E. M. Grace is unequal to this feat, unless, perhaps, by means of one of his backhanded strokes, which generally go past the " slips "), and hit it so hard that, after rebounding from the "long-leg's" shin there, it can be fielded by cover-point. We are not surprised at "long-leg" preferring to nurse his shin rather than field the ball. However, Captain Geoff is distinctly good reading, and conveys much good moral teaching to boys.
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