, The Champagne Standard. By Mrs. John Lane. (John Lane.
6s.)—This is the title of the first of seventeen essays in which Mrs. John Lane describes, satirises, and, perhaps it should be added, counsels what we may 'call the "upper middle 'class." The title itself may be explained by the fact that While fifty years ago champagne was seldom to be seen except at wedding breakfists and such festivities, now a host or hostess doubts whether to entertain without producing thia wine. Perhaps the moral of this particular essay may be summed up in the words addressed to a mother who complains that her daughter " hangs on hand." "Maria, what struggler would dare to ask a champagne-standard girl to keep his fiat' ?" Mrs. Lane, who describes herself as "an exiled American sister," fills her pages with wisdom and wit. She writes from an American—or, rather, from a transplanted American—standpoint, and this gives a fresh force and meaning to her words. It is difficult to choose when all is excellent ; but perhaps" Kitchen Comedies" is as good a specimen as any. The servant problem fills so large a space in life here that it is particularly interesting to see how an immigrant from the other side regards it. Whether we are to take all her stories au pied the la lettre is another matter. There is a cook who disdains to be spoken to through a tube, and a housemaid who will not take notice after noon, but promptly gives it herself next morningr-a better start for a new place—with various other " comedians of the kitchen." "Temporary Power" is another admirable essay. The conductor who bids you hurry up, the host, the " saleslady " who makes you wait while she discusses things in general with a colleague, the verger in a fashionable church—this last is pecu- liarly American—are specimens. The whole book is thoroughly worth reading.
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