Mr. REX BEACH is one of the few prolific writers whose stories increase in power as they increase in number, and this though they are essentially novels of action rather than novels of thought.  Of his latest effort, The Winds of Chance (HODDER AND STOUGHTON), one may say that there is not a tedious page in it.  The scene is laid in Yukon, a very vortex of life and colour and excitement in fiction, whatever it may seem to the actual inhabitants.  The true hero of the story, Napoleon Doret, the French voyageur, wins his heart’s desire in the end and we breathe a sigh of relief.  The other hero is left the accepted swain of the daughter of the Colonel of the North-West Mounted Police at Dawson, and this we find a little hard to swallow, seeing what shady, not to say immoral, company, male and female, he had just been basking in.  He is a weak creature and certainly should have married the Countess Courteau, an Amazonian lady, who would have kept him in order.  But that is to be fastidious.  The story is crisp and vivid, and, anyway, those ancient prospectors, Tom Linton and Jerry McQuirk, are worth twice the money.

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Mr. Punch has great pleasure in commending to his readers two volumes of verse—­Rhymes of the Red Ensign (HODDER AND STOUGHTON), by Miss C. FOX SMITH, and The Poets in Picardy (MURRAY), by Major E. DE STEIN—­in which they will recognise many poems that have appeared in his pages.

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[Illustration:  Master.  “BUT, JENKINS, THE NAME OF THE COMPLAINT IS NOT PEWMONIA.  SURELY YOU’VE HEARD ME AGAIN AND AGAIN SAY ’PNEUMONIA’?”

Man.  “WELL, SIR, I ’AVE; BUT I DIDN’T LIKE TO CORRECT YOU.”]

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HOW TO SOLVE THE FOOD PROBLEM.

    “Superior Working Housekeeper and young Maid for Ladies’ College. 
    No cooking; students sleep only.”—­Church Times.

* * * * *

COMMERCIAL CANDOUR.

    “The interesting announcement is made that a regular air service
    for perishable goods and passengers is to be established at
    Edinburgh.”—­Scotsman.

* * * * *

    “The London season has begun with its usual extensive programme of
    religious services in various London churches.”—­Scots Paper.

The best comment that we have yet seen on this statement occurs in the following (also from a Scots paper):—­

    “The Commander-in-Chief has borne testimony on behalf of the Grand
    Fleet to the work that the Scittish Bishops have done for the Navy
    during the War.”

END.