15 OCTOBER 1898, Page 25

Twrnpike Tales. By C. L. Marson. (Elkin Mathews.)—There is not

a little of the irreconcilable in Mr. Marson's stories. His Own order fares ill at his hand. And of course we have the foolish old story of rich men enjoying "bequests which ancient founders and benefactors had left for the hedgers and ditchers of Hertfordshire." Old founders and benefactors believed in open- ing a career to ability, wherever it might be, but that they ever dreamed that the children of hedgers and ditchers had a right to be educated is absolutely remote from the truth. But there is good work in the tales. "Miss Pattie's Rheumatism" is, perhaps, the best. All are worth reading.