THREE PICTURE-BOOKS.
A Book of Beggars. By W. Dacres Adams. (W. Heinemann. 5s. net.)—Mr. Adams has drawn some capital black-and-white dogs engaged in barking at his full-page coloured illustrations of the beggars who come to town. These are humorous and pathetic, ranging from a crossing sweeper to a Lord Mayor appealing "to the citizens of London." The political beggars, male and female, are quite amusing. Mr. Adams' reminds one, at a distance, of some of Mr. William Nicholson's powerful work. The originals seem to have been done chiefly in pastel. The degree of caricature varies greatly, and in some is absent altogether, but each page is effective in one way or another.—Mac. By Cecil Aldin. (Henry Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton. 6s. net.)—Mr. Aldin always draws with great vigour, and invests both his own art and his subjects with real character. Here he gives us scenes from the life of a youthful West Highland terrier. There are twenty-four delightful pictures of him varied by the introduction of two other dogs, his friends Pat and Peggy, to say nothing of a bloodhound puppy. Facing the pictures are Mac's philosophical views on the various chances of life that are the subjects of the plates. Even the end- pieces show him in five positions which could scarcely be improved.
Susan. By Lilian P. Hacker. (Same publishers. 5s. net.)-- Susan is a fair-haired, bare-legged child who sings, sighs, skips, scowls, sleeps, and so on, through twelve very prettily drawn pictures with a verse describing the effects of her actions or emotions Miss Hacker is evidently influenced by French art in her figures and by Japanese art in her composition, with very pleasing results.
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