The Bachelor's Christmas, and other Stories. By Robert Grant. (Sampson
Low, Marston, and Co.)—There is a delightful old- English flavour about the majority of these stories, and that in spite of the fact that they are exclusively American. One or two of them, such as" The Matrimonial Tontine Benefit Association" and "By Hook or Crook," are pervaded with Yankee humour. The spirit of pure fun, however, is to be found in "In Fly-Time," and, which is almost the same thing, the spirit of Dickens is to be found in "The Bachelor's Christmas." Tom Wiggin, the bachelor, who is the good fairy of his relatives, is perhaps too well-dressel for the sort of company that are generally to be found in a "Christmas CaroL" But he has the warm heart that should distinguish a book of the kind that used to be thought suitable for the season of festivity, and in the end, happily, he ceases to be a bachelor by telling a secret which he might have revealed five years before. Mr. Grant has a light touch, but that he can tell a serious and even melodramatic story well, is proved by "An Eye for an Eye," in which is related the revenge with the help of perjury of a slighted woman upon the man whom she loves. The character of Cora in this story is painfully, even terribly, powerful. This book is well written, well printed; and exceptionally well illustrated.
Previous page
