Quiet Stories from an Old Woman's Garden, By Alison McLean.
(F. Warne and Co.)—In this volume there are five short stories, all of them connected by some graceful and tender sentiment with one or other of the old-fashioned plants, which are still to be found in some country gardens, "honesty," "lad's love," and the like. We can promise any reader who takes up these "quiet stories" some real enjoyment, which will be all the keener if he comes to them fresh from the perusal of some cynical and un- wholesome fin de siacle tale. Miss McLean is almost optimistic ; otherwise she would not have changed the somewhat sour old maid, Miss Merriman, into so kind and helpful a person. But optimism is a fault that we are inclined nowadays to forgive very easily. On the whole, "Honesty" is about as effective a story as any in the volume.
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