The Zionists. By Winifred Graham. (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.) —There
is always an irresistible attraction in any book dealing with the desire of the Jews to return to Palestine. Not yet has the genius of poetry deserted their prayers, and the Litany in which they weekly mourn "the walls that are overthrown" and " our majeLky which is departed," with its unchanging response, " We sit in solitude and mourn," is calculated to inspire the most callous Gentile with the hope that their further petition, " Gather the children of Jerusalem," may some day be granted. Miss Graham, however, has aimed more highly than her powers can attain, and the fascination of her subject alone makes her story worth reading. The education of her hero, Alexander, is such as could only produce a first-class prig, and readers will hardly be surprised to find him addressing his lady-love in the following terms : " You were in the empyrean of high abstraction,' he said, with some- thing of apology in his tone." Indeed, the apology seems to us not unnecessary. The story is written with a conviction which partly excuses its faults, and the present writer would be the last to quarrel with Miss Graham for an aim outstepping her gift of expression. There are to-day so many writers whose literary dexterity is used in unworthy paths that it is in many ways a relief to light on an author whose reach exceeds her grasp.
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