The Borderland of Czar and Kaiser. By Poulteney Bigelow. Illustrated
by F. Remington. (Gay and Bird.)—Mr. Bigelow's knowledge of the German military system is comprehensive and minute, and he describes with a thoroughly appreciative and kindly criticism its strength and weakness. He has also much to say about the Cossack and his value as a cavalry soldier. There are one or two stirring chapters concerning Russian peasant life, and the hopeless condition of the great mass of the peasantry. The story of the priest's and the inspector's visit to a village and ex- torting money on the strength of non-attendance at communion, by flogging, is ghastly ; yet the landlord declared that the Greek Church were pursuing with the assistance of the Third Section, tactics of this kind all over the Empire. The treatment of the Jews furnishes matter of painful interest for another chapter, as also does that of the Lutherans. Mr. Bigelow visited the famous German Cavalry Army Stud-Farm, at Trakehnen. Mr. Remington's sketches of soldier types of both countries are admirable.
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