30 APRIL 1904, Page 36

The reader will be provoked by this observation to ask

why, then, she has inflicted her story at such length on a patient world.

The whole interest in a quiet story of this kind should lie in the development of the characters of the drama, and unless these characters are of unusual interest, or are developed with con- summate art, the story fails to attract. Unfortunately, the characters in this story are neither remarkable nor specially well drawn ;'and this being the case, the recital becomes more than a little wearisome.

Pa Gladden : the Story of a Common Man. By Elizabeth Cherry Waltz. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—If "Pa Gladden"