* * * * *

I can testify that Mr. ZANE GREY’S The Man of the Forest (HODDER AND STOUGHTON) is a yarn told with considerable zest and with just that undercurrent of sentiment which sweeps large portions of the British public completely off its feet.  In this book the heroine, Helen Rayner, and her sister, Bo, leave Missouri for their uncle’s ranch in New Mexico; but before they reach their destination many and wonderful adventures befall them.  To escape from being kidnapped by some superb scoundrels they were hustled off to Milt Dale’s home in the forest, and there they had for a long time to remain. Milt was one of nature’s gentlemen, but as his boon companion was a cougar (whose uninviting picture is to be seen upon the paper cover), this forest home had its slight inconveniences.  Mr. GREY, however, writes of it so admirably that he almost persuades me to be a camper-out, provided always that I may live in a cavern and not in a caravan.  Cowboys, bandits, Mormons and other vigorous characters keep things moving at a terrific pace.  But stirringly full of incident as this tale is, Mr. GREY never forgets that it is love that really makes the world go round.  He is in short a born storyteller, with a style by no means to be despised, and I see no reason why his popularity should not continue to wax here, and ultimately to rival its American magnitude.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  ATMOSPHERE IN OUR RIVER BUNGALOWS.

Hostess (to her husband, just arrived from Town).  “YOU’VE FORGOTTEN THE CHOP-STICKS, JOHN.  YOU’VE SPOILT THE PARTY!”]

* * * * *

ANOTHER GEDDES PROMOTION.

“Among celebrities who will watch British seamanship matched against American are Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Sir Auckland Geddes, British Admiral to the United States.”—­ Canadian Paper.