Where is my Husband ? and other Brown Studies. By
George Frost. (T. Burleigh. 2e. 6d. net.)—This little collection of essays is decidedly amusing, and contains some very happy sentences, in spite of its somewhat infelicitous name. The first paper purports to be written by a spinster who discusses the question of marriage and what qualities and circumstances, according to her observation, tend to happiness in that state. Her conclusion is that Louis Stevenson was right, and one "grows weary of all things except of comprehension." "Holidays" is a sensible little article in which the writer deprecates the tendency of the present day to "swagger" about overwork. "Labour," she says, "has become a passion disguised as a duty," and we forget that "the music of our lives depends on the rests as much as on the notes." "Mistress and Maid" describes the disappointments of a young housekeeper on a small income who decides to be a model mistress to her servants, combining the "very particular lady" with the paragon of sweet reasonableness. Somehow she does not succeed. Per- haps in these days of transition, the essayist suggests, we fall between two stools, "the feudal system and co-operative house- keeping," and "the middle-class mistress of the future will probably find that her maid, if she is not a Chinaman, is a tradition." Altogether the book is very readable and amusing, and we recommend it heartily to those who want light reading for the holidays outside the realms of fiction.
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