26 JUNE 1897, Page 11

Oars and Spindles. By Annie Holdsworth. (Ward, Lock, and Co.)—There

is no little power both of pathos and humour in these sketches of life in a Scottish town where a manufacturing and a fishing population live side by side, sufficiently friendly, but without the jus connubii. The central figures are the Wesleyan minister who is spending there his three years' term, his daughter, her suitor, and Kirsty, the ruling spirit of his household. Besides these four, we have quite a multitude of other characters, well sketched, we may say, in every instance, but somewhat confusing from their very number. These Scottish pictures seem to have an attraction for the public that is as yet far from failing. As long as they are as well done as Miss Holdsworth's they will certainly continue to please.