The Getting of Wisdom. By Henry Handel Richardson. (W. Heinemann.
6s.)—Bette Brooks at School. By D. R. Mack. (G. Bell and Sons. 3s. 6d.)—These two stories are both concerned with life in modern British girls' schools. One of these establishments, however, is in Australia and the other in England. It is interesting to study the contrast between the management of girls' public schools here and in a daughter-nation, and it will be a surprise to most people that the great difference between the two is that outdoor games, hockey, cricket, &c., appear non-existent in Australia and all-important in Great Britain. Neither here nor in Australia does there seem the slightest attempt to realise the truth that women's education should not be conducted on exactly the same lines as that of men. There is no indication that school governors have the faintest idea that scientific training in the special problems which await the women of the nation could be of any use to their girls as future citizens. How radically wrong are the ideals of the British school can be guessed from the fact that whilst the word "school" is always dignified by a capital letter, "home" is written with a little " h." The fact is absolutely ignored that every home in Britain is managed by a woman, and that there- fore it is of supreme importance for women to study the art of home life. A public-school spirit is encouraged which is bound to be barren of results as regards the future of the girls. More than this, by implication the ideal of home life is looked down on by this glorification of the public-school spirit. Considering this tendency in women's education, no one need be surprised that the women of to-day do not wish to enter any sphere of domestic life, but prefer strenuous competition with men. Fortunately, how- ever, the very finest school spirit is unable entirely to eradicate the instincts of womanhood. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that when we consider how completely the next generation will be dependent on the manner in which the girls of this generation idealise or deprecate the making of a home, it is astonishing that such an educational spirit as that indicated in these books should be tolerated in a civilised community.
The Green Patch. By Baroness von liluttert. (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)—The beginning of Baroness von Hutben's novel forcibly reminds the reader of the verses attributed to Byron in the " Rejected Addresses "— " Sated with home, of wife and children tired., The restless soul is driven abroad to roan"— for the book opens with the bald statement that "there came a day when Christopher Lambe found that he could no longer bear his wife, his three little girls, Lambe House, Sussex, England in general." The gentleman in question therefore gaily throws off all his duties and responsibilities and retires to a villa in Italy. The story, however, is even more concerned with Daphne Lambe, his third daughter, than with the evasions of her father, but most readers will not find the young lady a very credible or pleasing figure. The book is a little thin, and though there are clever pieces of writing in it, it is difficult to pronounce it a success.
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