CURRENT LITERATURE.
Alan Scott's Talisman, and other Stories. By Charles Aitken. (William Hodge and Co., Glasgow.)—This is one of those col- lections of short stories illustrative of S.Jotch " humble " life which would probably never have been written, and certainly would never have been published, but for the success of Mr. Barrie and his Scotch contemporaries. The fact that Mr. Aitken prefixes to his volume a poem extracted from Mr. Crockett's "Duke Cor " speaks for itself. The best that can be said for his stories is that they are commendably short and altogether unpre- tentious. Some of them are, however, far too "thin." Take for example the first, "Alan Scott's Talisman." No doubt there is a certain amount of " pathos " in the story of a poor, half-superstitious working man losing his life in seeking to save a "threepenny- bit," which, being identified with his dead daughter, has become to him a talisman. But the pathos seems a little forced, and indeed childish. In others, such as "When the Trumpet Shall Sound" and "Lowsin' Time," tragedy is too much associated with, and is, indeed, made to depend upon, a phrase. In one or two, however, where a certain dominie figures, we have touches of genuine humour. The most elaborate story in the collection, "A Great Injustice," is well written, although the plot is not original. Alan Scott's Talisman should not be ignored by those who are endeavouring to get an idea of Scotch life—of yesterday rather than of to-day—from imaginative literature.
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