Our Stories. By Ascott R. Hope. (Biggs and Debenham.)—Mr. Ascott
Hope tells his stories, 'which have a mere than common look of truth and Nature, as well as usual. "Our First Pipe" is the first, and is a most amusing account of how two lads set the " whine " of their native town in Scotland alight, and of what came to them in consequence. The picture of the administration of justice in this simple place, of its Magistrates and its prison, is very entertaining indeed. "There was a legend," says the narrator, "that an ill-informed and unprincipled Englishman had once come so far North with the view of swindling the hard-headed natives ; but the bailie who heard his case had refused to treat it seriously. Let him awa'—the man must be daft,' was the judgment of our local Solomon.' " Perhaps this is the best of the stories, but all are good.
Previous page
