When Mother Was Little. By S. P. Yorke. (Unwin.) — The originality
of the story told in this book lies more in the form in which it appears than in anything else. The children to whom it is narrated are supposed to live in a country-house, with all the freedom and life of the country, whereas the mother's was spent, at first, in "a small, dark town-house," her father being a curate with small means. He subsequently, however, received a living in the country, which enabled his child to discover all the glories of Bexley Chase. The book contains a great deal, there- fore, about celandines and pansies, picnics and strawberries, blackberries and fuchsias. It need hardly be said that Honora, or "mother" when "she was little," makes her discoveries in moral as well as natural science ; but these are not dwelt upon too much. There is also in the story a vein of humour, which comes out in such incidents as that of the unconscious poaching by the children, in the shape of the abstraction of a dozen pheasant's eggs, and the placing of them before the curate and two brother-parsons. The story is in all respects an agreeable and well-written one, and will be none the less appreciated for the form in which it is cast.
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