Golden Lads and Girls. By H. A. Hinkson. (Downey and
Co.) —This is a story of essentially modern Ireland, which is yet written in that style which made Irish novels of a generation ago so very popular to readers of that period. In other words, it is full of both animal and ardent spirits, and contains plenty of honest boy and girl love, while a little shooting and Fenianism give it the needed touch of modernity. Some of the characters, indeed, are admirably drawn,—in particular, Hugh Joyce, a most admirable example of the spirited young Irishman ; Gertrude Sart,oris, who is an equally excellent example of the fair and not too coy Saxon maiden ; the easy-going rector ; and the doctor, who is equally good at draining a jorum of punch and at drawing the long-bow. The scoundreldom, too, in Golden Lads and Girls is not too pronounced. There is, of course, the ordinary tyrannical factor and the ordinary" bad lot" of a tenant who shoots the factor. Outside of these, however, there is little villainy in the book, for the academic Fenian has nothing worse in him than a capacity for dreaming impossible dreams. To be sure, there is Hugh Joyce's rival, Captain Smythe, who is not above resorting to essentially base tricks to accomplish his ends. But he, or somebody like him, was absolutely necessary if the story was to have anything really deserving the name of a plot. Alto- gether this is one of the few stories that have recently been published which can be cordially praised, because, while being thoroughly wholesome, it is also thoroughly enjoyable.
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