20 NOVEMBER 1909, Page 10

Becky Compton, ex - Duz. By Raymond Jacberns. (W. and IL Chambers.

5s.)—This is a girls'-school story. Becky has to face the difficulty of an incompetent successor put into her place—the system looks a little odd, but we do not profess to be experts—the departure of the old chief of the school, and other troubles which arise directly or indirectly out of these causes. A comic element is supplied by the German pupil, Elise Schiffner, who explains her position, her wants, and her opinions about English music with admirable frankness,—" they thump very hard, and wriggle much the bodies, but have only very small souls and very hard fingers." The book is sufficiently amusing, but it seems somehow to have a "small soul."