Acton's Fe 2. By Frederick Swainson. (G. Newnes. 6 1 )
—At last some one has written for us a stirring school-story on the old heroic lines, with real boys in it, boys in whom we recoe- else the making of men. Acton is one of the heroes, a boy with lash of temper, which leads him to commit a bad "foul" at foots has,. Rightly punished, he prepares elaborate schemes for revenging himself on the captain of the eleven, who refesV him his "cap," which take the form of working his school- house into the front rank and increasing his own athlete)
reputation. But his plans also take far more subtle and reprehensible forms. Eventually an accident brings out the better nature of Acton, and the feud is forgotten. The story is excellently written and never falters, nor is there a dull paragraph in the whole book. The dialogue, the school- boy wit and humour, is the genuine repartee and humour of boys ; and the shifting and changing of sentiment in the mass of boys, the rise and fall of various favourites' popularity, is represented with no little skill. Gus Todd, the limp character who pulls himself together so well, though not one of the principal actors in the story, is perhaps the best-drawn character in the book. But the movement and the incidents, the vitality and crispness of the style, are the refreshing features of Mr. Swain- son's story. This is the best school-story we have seen for two or three years.
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