One could endure the style if the matter were weighty, but it is the style that is heavy while the matter is light. The author shows no evidence of contact with Meyer or Arthur Evans or the more recent authorities on Egypt and Babylonia. He has about the same fund of general reading which the rest of us also possess. Consequently he has little information to give us.

His subject is the secular importance of the India trade and the return in our own time, of the westward European movement toward the East again.

As this subject practically covers all human history, the author's little book of 175 pages would be too small to do justice to the theme, if he had anything of any value to say.

“MY WIFE,” by Edward Burke. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, 75 cents net.

We have always regarded a certain vulgar class of jokes about taking a bath or eating ones breakfast or waking up in the night as instances where it would be better to sink one's sense of humor in the interest of one's personal dignity. When similar jokes are induced to play around the marriage relation, they seem to us, by vulgarizing a sacred institution, to do a great deal of harm. We admit that women are often, and men sometimes ridiculous in their family life. Really no good purpose is served, however, by jokes that penetrate inside the family circle.

These remarks apply somewhat to the tone of this book. The story, which is a sort of mixed love affair of the daughter of the man and wife concerned, is rather common-place.

"THE ALTAR OF FREEDOM," by Mary

Roberts Rinehart. Boston. 1917. Houghton, Mifflin Co. Price, 50 cents net.

This is a stirring appeal to the mothers of this country to make their offering. The full meaning of the sacrifice comes out in the motto sentence:

"Personal service is not rolling bandages for the other woman's son.' "THREE'S A CROWD"; An Anglo-American Comedy, by William Caine. Boston. 1917. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price, $1.50 net.

This is a story of the difficulties of the mother-in-law, who makes the third of the crowd. The other two; the husband is an English artist and the wife an American girl. The mother-in-law lost her money, came over from America to live with them, and then the trouble began. The girl, like most American girls, was extravagant and the wicked mother-in-law egged her on. The girl wrongfully sided with her mother and left her husband. Of course there were other flirtations. The mother-in-law tried to effect a divorce and remarriage with a richer man. The shock of the immoralities sure to be involved drove the girl back to her husband. The mother-in-law lived by herself after that and everyone was happy.

The story shows unconsciously the evils of a wife's independent attitude toward her husband and the immoralities attendant on the lust for wealth. "HELEN," by Arthur Sherburne Hardy. Bos

ton. 1917. Houghton, Mifflin Co. Price, $1.35 net.

The story of an orphan girl, brought up partly by a paternal grandmother of American extraction, partly by a maternal grandmother, a Frenchwoman. The girl has two love affairs, one with a Frenchman, one with an American. She inherits some American money and marries the Yankee. Some of the descriptions of life in France are good. "THE BOY WHO WENT TO THE EAST"; and Other Indian Fairy Tales, by Ethel C. Brill. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, $1.50 net.

The children always hale with joy another fairy book. This is a new one, made up of the aboriginal stories of the people we supplanted in this coun

try. Indian stories always have a flavor to them. The book will be a very acceptable Christmas gift. The stories are real folk-tales, culled from the collections that have been made of Algonquin and Iroquois stories.

"OUR FLAG AND ITS MESSAGE," by Major J. A. Moss, U. S. A. and Major M. B. Stewart, U. S. A. Philadelphia. 1917. J. B. Lippincott Co.

This contains President Wilson's appeal for unity together with a patriotic interpretation of the symbolism of the flag. It is a tract for patriotism.

"EAT AND GROW THIN. Calendar. 1918. The famous 'Mahdah' Menus," by Vance Thompson. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, $1.00 net.

This is a calendar for 1918 with a monthly dietary and intercalated recipes. The whole is prefaced by a pleasing introduction and adorned by a disagreeable picture on the outside.

We don't doubt the author knows what he is talking about. His diet will probably make you thin. Some people

need to grow thin. Let us not forget, however, that some people, tuberculosis patients for instance, need to grow fat. Perhaps they could use this calendar too by taking the contrary, so to speak. "ALL AROUND THE SUN-DIAL," by

Caroline Hofman. With Pictures by Rachel Robinson Elmer. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price $2.00 net. Rachael Robinson Elmer's pictures, especially the big, full page, colored illustrations, will delight the children. "Show me the pictures," is what every child asks. These are rolicking, jolly groups of children, in the wind, among the flowers, all full of color, motion, and life. Caroline Hofman's verses are just the lines for the pictures. This will be a very acceptable gift book in the approaching holidays.

“IN PICTURE LAND"; Children's Favorite Masterpieces with Little Stories in Verse, by Florence W. Switton. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, $1.00 net.

This is a collection of photographs of all sorts of standard or classic paintings by such artists as Vogel, Kaiser, Bouguereau, Meyer von Bremen, Madame Lebrun, Plockhurst, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jules Breton. The pictures are pictures of children or for children. The

author has fitted little verses to each of these pictures such as children might enjoy and, better still, such as may interest them in the pictures. That will really be the value of the book, that the little boy or girl who gets it will begin the first steps of an artistic education. These being really great pictures, the child's introduction to them in this pleasant way is a part of his training.

"THE HAPPIFATS AND THE GROUCH," Stories and Pictures by Kate Jordan. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, $2.00 net.

"BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN," by Aunt Sadie (Sarah Stokes Halkett), illustrated by Katharine Pyle. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, $1.50 net.

"THE FUNNYFEATHERS," by Lansing Campbell. New York. 1917. E. P. Dutton & Co. Price, $1.50 net.

These are a set of beautiful children's books, full of pictures and great fullpage colored illustrations. The text is a good commentary on the pictures and just the kind of story children enjoy. They make beautiful gift books and are just what you have been looking for when you start out to make your selection for the babies.