FICTION.
THE OLD BLOOD.*
Mn. FREDERICK PALMER, one of the very best of the American war correspondents, has been our good friend as a recorder of what he has seen, and he continues to be more than benevolent In this spirited excursion into the realm of romance. The Plot is simple enough. Philip Sanford, the only son of a New England rector, has served an arduous apprenticeship as a railwayman after leaving the University; he has " made good " by hard work and ability, and earned his first long holiday, which, after a brief sojourn with his parents, he devotes to a visit to his English cousins in Hampshire. There ho meets other cousins, two sisters who live in France with their mother, and is staying with them when the storm-cloud bursts and the château is occupied by the invading German army. As a neutral ho manages, not without difficulty, to got away, makes his way to England, obtains a commission in the Artillery, sees hard fighting in Flanders, is dangerously wounded, and owes his life to the skill of a wonderful American surgeon and the devotion of one of his cousins. But a bare outline such as wo have given conveys no impression of the qualities which raise the story above the level of the average war story of to-day. Phil Sanford's most distinguished ancestor had played a gallant part in the American War of Independence, and his statue is not only tho chief feature in Longfield, Phil's Now England home, but it has always served as an inspiration to his descendants. What Mr. Palmer has done is to show that the same spirit of freedom which inspired the ancestor to take up arms against the Old Country now impels his descendant to range himself with the Old Country against her enemies. The " old blood " thus turns into the blood that is thicker than water. But apart from this generous interpretation of the bond that unites tho two countries, the story is attractive from the impartiality with which the author describes the domestic charm of the two households—in New and Old England. Phil's father and mother aro a delightful pair ; the postscript of Dr. Sanford's letter introducing his son to his cousin wins our affection, and the wording of his telegram applauding Phil's desire to join the British Army completes the conquest.
Tho spirit of the book is throughout admirable. Mr. Palmer is no lover of the Germans or their methods of conducting warfare, but ho readily admits that there are honourable and chivalrous exceptions. For the rest, we may note the interesting study of the two French- American sisters—the attractive beauty and (ho far more interesting but " spiky " plain sister. Philip did not need the liberal education of love, because he had it in his blood to start with, but there is something very moving in the unconventional courtship of the sickroom, in which his precarious hold on life is strengthened by the will-power of Helen Ribot and converted into a certainty by the skill of an American surgeon, one of those amazing operators whose humanity and kindliness have never been blunted by the conditions of his craft. Altogether, this is a gallant and invigorating book, in which our gratitude to the author for his generous sympathy with the cause of the Allies is reinforced by admiration for his skill as a writer and a student of character.
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