Burr Junior. By G. Manville Fenn. (Griffith, Ferran, and Co.)
—Tales of school-life nowadays, to be popular, must have their scene laid in some school that can be recognised. The private school, though felfilling a valuable function, is not in favour with readers, and the particular kind of school that is here described, where boys stay till they are ready to go into the Army or to the Universities, hardly exists. There are preparatory schools, and there are " crammers," and there are middle-class schools, but scarcely this kind. But the charm of Mr. Penn's story is not materially affected by this consideration. There is a fine, manly tone about it, and the incidents have an air of probability. The local colour, too, is put in with a skilful hand. The school is sup- posed to stand in a corner of England, the old iron district of East Sussex, which, as Mr. Fenn has already shown, in "Sweet Mace," he knows well. It is the characteristic of one of his heroes to have a passion for country sports and for the search after country objects. The old forge-pits, often holding a great store of fish, are well described, and so are the birds and beasts that haunt this region. Mr. Fenn is a great hand at describing the delights of a fisherman, and his scene "at the penstock" (a contrivance for emptying a pond) is particularly excellent.
Previous page
