CURRENT LITERATURE.
A Sweet Girl-Graduate By L. T. Meade. (Cassell and Co.)— We do not hesitate to say that this story is better worth reading than nine-tenths of the tales that are published. Its subject is, if not absolutely novel, certainly fresh, for it describes life in one
o! the two Colleges where the higher education of women has been followed more seriously and more successfully than anywhere else, as far, at least, as England is concerned. The experiences are not, of course, first-hand, but we take it that they are given with very fair accuracy, and that the picture is substantially truthful. That it is interesting in a high degree, there can hardly be a question. The author sacrifices something, towards the end of her story, to the exigencies of a not very probable plot. But this is a failing often observed in books of this kind. It dam not seriously interfere with the general value. It is Newnham rather than Girton that appears to be intended, but Mrs. Meade has by an oversight given the names (fictitious, of course) of four halls (Vincent, Heath, Katharine, Seymour), whereas there are in the real Newnham only three. Electric light, electric bells, and a chapel belong to the ideal rather than to the real. And certain details of manners are—we are now speaking from our brief—not exact. The students are not so much given as one would be led to think, to " dear " and "my love," to Christian names, and to kissing on slight acquaintance. As for names, it is the custom, wa believa, to use " Miss " with the surname, except in the case of real intimacies. An outside intelligence acquainted with academi- cal affairs may perceive that a girl who has been giving up her time to modern languages, would hardly be expected to take a first-class in the classical tripos.
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