TALES.—Sister .Tans. By Joel Chandler Harris. (A. Constable.) —We must
own to feeling a certain relief in finding "Uncle Remus," to give Mr. Harris his well-known nom-de-plume, leave for a time " Brer Fox" and his kindred to tell us a plain story of human beings. William Wornum, a preternaturally shy young man—as we suppose young men to be on the other side of the Atlantic—tells the story of his own love and of a number of persons and affairs which are somehow complicated with it. The common incidents of fiction are there—a woman's frailty, a kid- napped child, a long-lost brother reappearing—but they are worked up with no common skill, and the dialogue is quite admirable. "Sister Janey "—she is William's sister—is of the Poyser genus, Yankee variety. The result is most distinctly effective. It is suggested, for instance, that a gentleman given
to drinking is about to make a friendly call When I want to shake hands with a demijohn,' remarked Sister Jane, go
over to the tavern and shake hands with a new one." The courtship of Jincy Meadows is also particularly good.—A Proctor's Wooing. By Alan St. Anbyn. (F. V. White and Co.)— Girton and Newnham are henceforth, we suppose, to have their part in tales of University life. The presence of the women seems to do more for the softening of Academic manners than did the Old World devotion to arts. What a difference between this story and the conte,s of "Peter Priggins, ex-scout," in which a former generation of readers found entertainment ! The Proctor falls out with his lady-love because she is bent on taking another Tripos, in spite of headaches "early in the term"—is it usual for Girtonians and Newnhamites to have them later on ?—and turns his affections to a young lady who fails in passing her "Previous." Then there is another hero who is not a Proctor, but may possibly be one in the future. He comes out as Senior Wrangler, in spite of an episode which is commonly supposed fatal to such ambition, an engagement to a very pretty girl in a florist's shop, not to speak of a duel with a "tuft." We have him and the Proctor's ex-sposa working together for the women's cause. "When an overwhelming majority of the Senate throw open wide the doors of the University for the admission of women to full membership, he will get his reward—not till then." What does Mr. St...4 ubyn mean by "not till then " ? Will he have to wait as long as an old friend of the writer waited—forty years—till the best living in the gift of his College fell vacant ? What a difference again between the Old and the New !—Cynthia. By Leonard Merrick. 2 vole. (Chatto and Windus.)—Cynthia is "a daughter of the Philistines," a nation which seems to include all English people except a small artistic and professional circle and a portion of "society." Philistines do not recognise, it seems, the merits of the novelist, and is not far wrong if novelists are indeed such as Cynthia's husband, a weak, irritable creature, who does not receive half the punishment that he deserves for his misdeeds. If Mr. Merrick is to be believed, " ghosts " do a. brisk business in the novel line. Clever writers may besiege all the magazines in vain when they apply in their own names. Let them work for a few people who have contrived to secure the right of entry, they need never want employment. Is this true? —Mrs. Albert Grundy. By Harold Frederic. (J. Lane )This Is a social satire, and we must frankly own that we have some- times found it somewhat difficult to understand. But it is often undoubtedly smart, as when the "Ladies' Namesake Committee" is described. "'Ladies of the name of" May" should combine in making a present to the future Duchess of York.'—' But your name is Emily,' I urged, thoughtlessly.—' 0, we weren't exactly literal about it,' said Mrs. Albert, we couldn't be, you know. It would have shut out some of the very best people.'"
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