29 OCTOBER 1892, Page 24

Not One of Us. By the Author of the "Atelier

du Lys." (National Society.)—The scene of this charming picture of Alpine life is laid in Northern Italy, a gentler background with a warmer colouring than one could have obtained further north. We have two heroines, a young girl who has left her native village, and come back educated to fill the post of school-teacher, and a Dutchwoman who has married an emigrant to Holland. But though these two, and the school-teacher's mother, interest us much, it is for the study of mountain village life that we must read Not One of Us,—a really admirable study, with a full appre- ciation of the scenic environment. It is this background which gives the reader a vivid impression of the reality, and enforces, perhaps too much, the meanness and pettiness of the life of the village community. We do not say this is unfair, it is much too accurate a picture for that, but one gets a low impression of their charity, without those redeeming features which would have added artistically to the study. Not One of Us is as good as any- thing done by the writer of the "Atelier du Lys ; " it certainly brings one phase of Italian life before us with most unusual and undeniable distinctness.