4 JANUARY 1902, Page 25

Joscelyn Cheshire. By Sara Beaumont Kennedy. (Gay and Bird. 63.)

This story of the American War of Independence, telling of the spirit and charm of the Colonial dames, as well as of the bravery of the men, leads one to speculate whether the modern American woman has inherited her qualities from such an ancestress as Joscelyn Cheshire, or if she and her companions but reflect the characteristics of to-day. Anyhow, Mrs. Kennedy has given us a delightful book of true love and adventure, leaving the reader with pleasant thoughts and not with the miserable feeling that " the world is hollow, and one's doll stuffed with sawdust," which is the dead-sea-fruit borne by so many modern novels. The hero has many hairbreadth escapes, the most exciting of them being the occasion when he is hidden in the heroine's house, while she, with a gallantry only equalled by her beauty, completely bales his enemies.