THE FATHER. By Katharine Holland Brown. (Heine. mann. 7s. 6d.)-It
was clever of Miss Brown to choose such a moment for writing such a book. Just now, when even the most highbrow among us are tired of novels with a purpose and novels without a plot, of sex novels and problem novels, and novels in which the " atmosphere " shrouds the happen- , a story that is a story is very welcome. The father is a hot-heated Abolitionist, who buys a farm in Illinois, and, in the intervals of bringing up his most engaging family, edits an anti-slavery paper, helps the poor in the most amusing ways, and becomes the friend of Abraham Lincoln. Miss Holland Brown writes well, so well that we can almost hear the Sabbath whispering of Aunt Celestia's black bombazine, smell the soap on Little Thomas's well-scrubbed face, and see the arrogant tilt of Mercy Rose's chin. Mercy is the heroine and is as pretty and tempestuously petticoated a minx as ever stirred hearts in New England. There is plenty of excitement in the story, and no trace of mawkishness. The portrait of Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer is particularly pleasant. The author has taken the old-fashioned ingredients of love and adventure, has added the sugar of sentiment, and, praise be, the leaven of humour and spice of devilry. She has mixed them well, and has served up a very satisfying dish,
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