Erb. By W. Pett Ridge. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Herbert Barnes—known
as Erb (with a soft breathing)—is a carman. He takes up a grievance of his fellows with distinguished success, but is sacrificed himself. "You're a restless organizer," says the Chief to him, "and no doubt somewhere in the world there is a place for you. But not here, not here !" So he is "sacked," and the "place in the world" turns out to be the secretaryship to a "Carmen's Union." His experiences are varied, exciting, but not satisfactory. He runs a paper which has to spice its matter with libels. And there are internal intrigues, for a post which does not involve manual labour looks to many workers to be more desirable than it is. So Erb is deposed. How he fares afterwards we shall leave our readers to find out for themselves. Let it suffice to say that the moral of the book is that labour itself is a more satisfactory thing than writing or talking about labour. And a most entertaining book it is. Mr. Pett Ridge is thoroughly at home in the subject, and he makes it a pleasant one to read about. One is the more thankful when we remember how sordid and dismal some novelists would have made it.
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