Anchor-Watch Yarns. By Edmund Downey. (Ward and Downey.) —These "
yarns " differ materially from the regulation sea-story. They deal neither with startling incidents, deadly perils, nor romantic adventures, and many readers will doubtless deem them all the better for this absence of the sensational, especially in these days, when novelists seem to be vying with each other in the production of outrageous plots and impossible horrors. In none of his happily -named Anchor-Watch Yarns does the author [drain after effect. Though alight in structure, they are all no natural and well told, so -full of human interest and genuine humour, that they may be read -both with profit and enjoyment. They axe so true to life, that they must needs be more or lees true in fact, and it is evident that Mr. Downey las enjoyed many opportunities of observing the characters whom he portrays and the scenes which he describes. Coasting skippers are not generally supposed to be a particularly interesting section of the seafaring community, yet, like any other of our fellow-men, they have their joys and sorrows, their ups and downs, and the author has done good service in revealing to us a class of whom eo little is known, and whom he knows so well. The best of the stories are, perhaps, "The Yarn of the Shipbuilder" and "The River-Pilot's Yarn." "The Yarn of the Phantom Brigantine" is also good, and all the rest are well worth reading.
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