SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading vs notice such It.oks of ths week as have not ilia mortal for review in other Anat..] The Rifleman.—We welcome the new series of the Rifleman, a penny monthly, which is the official organ of the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs. The first number is an excellent piece of journalism on which we congratulate all concerned. It begins with a " Foreword " from Lord Roberts in which the very remarkable progress made by the miniature rifle clubs is fully set forth. Though it is impossible to arrive at exact figures, Lord Roberts thinks it is well within the mark to say that there are little short of two hundred thousand persons actively interested in the Society's work. As Lord Roberts says, miniature- rifle practice cannot take the place of Service-rifle shooting, but it leads up to it. And he adds :—" It may be confidently stated that every man who can shoot with a miniature rifle is a potential marksman at the longer ranges." Lord Roberts's soldierly and stirring preface is followed by a delightfully characteristic story by Mr. Rudyard Kipling entitled "The Parable of Boy Jones." Every lover of Mr. Kipling's work, especially on its patriotic side, should purchase a copy of the Rifleman of July 15th, if only in order to read this moving study. Bunt lacrymae rerum is a mood never far away when Mr. Kipling is concerned, though it is often a mood which is very carefully concealed. In this story the sense of tears in mortal - things is set flowing by the black rabbit, called " The Parson." -This "poor little impident fool," as the marker calls him, gets killed by a stray shot because he will play about too near the targets. Another interesting contribution is called "Lord Roberts and his Team!' It describes a match in which Lord Roberts was concerned at Calcutta in the " eighties." Before we leave the Rifleman we must mention the very mordant poem entitled "The New Ordeal by Fire " contributed by Mr. Owen Seaman, the editor of Punch. The lady into whose mouth the poem is put dismisses " James " because he does not know one end of a rifle from the other :— " The point that makes me shrink to share your life, Though you, I notice, treat it as a trifle, Is that you've no idea (God help your wife I) Which end to hold a rifle."
As our readers see, the July Rifleman is a very remarkable penny- worth ; and yet we have by no means mentioned all the good things in it. For example, the article on " Hand-Grenades and their Uses, Past and Present," is well worth careful study.
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