31 DECEMBER 1910, Page 26

Clever Betsy. By Clara Louise Burnham. (Constable and Co. 6s.)—This

is a very charming American story, of which the chief interest to English readers is the description of the journey which the characters take through Yellowstone Park. The central figure of the novel is the " Betsy " of the title, who is an old servant in the family of the Bruces. She is the type of retainer whom English people always imagine it is impossible to procure in America,—the old nurse turned housekeeper. Needless to say, like all old nurses in these circumstances, she rules the whole family, and the story of her final quarrel with her mistress and her marriage is not without a certain humorous pathos. It must be pointed out that Betsy is a real American citizen and apparently has no foreign blood in her veins. So much for the contention that it is absolutely impossible to induce the free-born American to enter domestic service.