Scenes of Jewish Life. By Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick. (Edward Arnold.
Gs.)—A volume from the pen of Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick is always welcome, so alert is her intelligence, so keen her observation, so crisp and clear-cut her style. The stories before us do not penetrate to the oore of the Jewish character like some of Mr. Zangwill's wonderful Ghetto studies, but they are marked by insight, sympathy, and impartiality. Dealing mainly with the fortunes of well-to-do Jewish families in England and Germany, they afford a pointed series of illustrations of the often-quoted saying "that every country has the Jews which it deserves." The snobbish social ostracism to which educated Jews are subjected in Germany makes one's blood boil, yet Mrs. Sidgwick reveals by many convincing touches how the sufferers by their undignified acquiescence assist in perpetuating the evil. The example of the spirited heroine in " The Powder Blue Baron" calls for extensive imitation. In "An Arabian Bird" Mrs. Sidgwick reminds us of the fact that there are many intelligent Jews who fail to amass wealth. In " Redpoll's Marriage" we have a very pleasant comedy of prearranged courtship with an unexpected and entirely satisfactory, sequel. Altogether, this is an extremely vivacious and instructive volume.
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