FICTION.
SOME HAPPENINGS-t
MR. VACITE1.L'13 " happenings " range from burlesque to tragedy ; the scene shifts from California, Oregon, and Honolulu to London and Brittany ; we are introduced to ranchers and trappers, ex-faro- dealers, artists and editors, millionaires, inventors, collectors, pro- fessional lam-tennis players, East-enders, and representatives of the "old nobility." There are one or two excursions into the macabre—not altogether successful, for Mr. Vachell is in the main too breezy an optimist to be effective in this genre. The happy ending is his forte, or perhaps his foible, for it is always to be ex- pected in spite of all untoward preliminaries. Mr. Vachell is always on the side of the angels, even when, as in the case of the waitress and her husband, they happen to be rather damaged specimens of the celestial breed. Mr. Vachell's kindly outlook may be further illustrated by the fact that the only editor who appears in the book is "generous, honourable and fearless, and an uncompromising enemy of humbug." His attitude to inventors is most comforting. Two of the nineteen stories hinge on wonderful inventions, both of which bring fortune to their originators. (We fear that this average would hardly be borne out by the records of the Patent Office.) Two relate to the devices—successful in each instance—by which estranged couples are restored to conjugal felicity. Two describe the reconciliation of fathers and children, and a third the ending of a vendetta between two Californian families by the precocious calf .love of a Romeo and Juliet not yet in their teens. In " Dog- Leg Rapids" the industrious apprentice, though small of stature, not only triumphs over his rival, a thrasonic and flamboyant Hercules, but saves his life at the peril of his own. In view of this benevolence, which is extended to " beunders " and beanfeasters, • The Necessity of Poetry: an Address given to the Tredepar and District Co-operasiee Society. By Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate. Oxford : at the Clarendon Press. (2i. net.] t some Happenings. By Horace Annealey Vachell, London; Jolla Murray. (63. net.] It is lamentable to have to confess that the character which attracts us most is the disreputable Nosey, proprietor of the Grand Hotel at Santy, who "tended his own bar, played cards, and was the tallest talker in the county." Nosey's account of how he gave up dancing after winning the world's championship is indeed a niece of splendid mendacity.
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