The first volume in the very elegant "Nautilus Series" being
offered to the public by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Bowden, is The Story of a Baby, by Ethel Turner. It is Australian, add looks very American in its humour and general lightness of touch. It begins with very light comedy and very nearly ends in the most dismal tragedy. It starts prettily with the young father and mother, Larrie and Dot, quarrelling about the carrying of their baby. The differences between the two, who are both wilful enough in all conscience, become more serious as time and the story go on. Dot's love of music returns to her, and it is fos- tered by an artistic enthusiast, Sullivan Wooster. Fortunately, although he could easily have played the part of the blackguard and separated the jealous Larrie from Dot, he is a gentleman, and brings them together again by means of the child. There is a sense of strain in the last chapters of the book. But it is, on the whole, a careful and enjoyable study of a very rare kind in the lives, not only of a child, but of a child-husband and a child- wife. The humour, which is exhibited chiefly at the beginning of the story, recalls somewhat that of the author of "Pomona."
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