A Summer on the Canadian Prairie. By J. Binnie Clark.
(Edward Arnold. 6s.)—This is certainly a disappointing book. The voyage across is described with a liveliness which is some- times not far removed from humour; but when we reach the prairie and the emigrant's farm we do not find what we expect. The author does not give us any definite picture of the life that was lived there: there is no background, no setting ; it is true, indeed, that there is very little to put in, whatever setting there might be. It is curious to read the frank admission of the author that after she had been for a whole year in Canada she drove eight miles to get a loaf of bread, and was not ashamed to beg it. We must put it down, however, to her credit that she quotes the eminently satisfactory comment of the mission baker : "One year in Canada and drive eight miles for bread ! Main on volt hien que vous &es Anglaise, Mademoiselle. Cost compris." The book as a whole is dull, as an account of the doings of incompetent peoPle is bound to be.
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