Usher Life. By Francis Holt, M.A. (W. Rapp and Sons.)—If
it is true that ushers as a class are held in low esteem by the rest of mankind, we are afraid that Mr. Holt's book will not do much to improve their position. He establishes, indeed, beyond doubt their kinship, in respect of their passions and weaknesses, to the rest of humanity, and further, gives some reasons for thinking that they are largely drawn from that class of men whose capacities, mental and moral, afford good grounds for putting them in lunatic asylums. Really, we can hardly imagine Mr. Holt to be serious in all he says. If he is, the age he speaks of must be in the remote past, and the schools intended can hardly be termed "middle-class." It is a little difficult to understand how a master could be so small of stature that he had to climb on to a form in order to box a pupil's ears. Of the same man, we read that a tall, strapping housemaid, admiring the beauty of his features, picked him up in her arms and kissed him. Another master—a foreigner—fell in love with the sister of one of his pupils. With the help of the said pupil, he composed an amatory poem to the lady of his affections. We quote the first verse :— " I love ye girls, I love ye girls, But most of all love Kitty ;
She has blue eyes, and bright red earls,
And like a foal, is skitty."
No wonder Mr. Holt says in his preface that he does not profess to portray the character of all ushers from the incidents in his book. The volume is amusing, though it probably will not im- press its readers as one to be absolutely trusted.
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