5 DECEMBER 1903, Page 38

Dr. Lavender's People. By Margaret Deland. (Harper and Brothers. Os.)—It

is difficult to decide which is the most charming among these charming stories. The scene of them all is laid in Old Chester in New England. Dr. Lavender is the minister and also the Providence of the place, and all the ,problems of human life which can be produced in a little town are brought to him for solution. And yet, although the author gives us the feeling that Dr. Lavender is in truth the centre of the life of Old Chester, she does it more by inference than by deliberately setting out to paint his portrait in detail. He is not the hero or chief person in any of the stories, though he appears in them all. The book can be most thoroughly recom- mended as a.series of delightful pictures of a quiet country town.