"The Acorn Planter," by Jack London, author of "The Little Lady of the Big House," "The Star Rover," "The Valley of the Moon," etc., published by the Macmillan Company, New York, price 75 cents.

HIS new work from the pen of a man who has turned his talents

into a variety of literary channels, is a book entirely distinct from any of the author's previous contributions. It is unmistakably Jack London, but a Jack London such as you will hardly encounter in the earlier yarns of adventure and phantastic imagination.

"The Acorn Planter" is a California "Forest Play." It is designed by the writer for actual production at least so the reader is advised on the inscription page. "Planned to be sung by efficient singers accompanied by a capable orchestra," to exact

quote the

text. The play is done in verse of a number of sorts, but all in keeping with Indian tradition. The argument is set forth most concisely by Mr. London himself as follows:

"In the morning of the world, while his tribe makes its camp for the night in a grove, Red Cloud, the first man of men, and the first man of the Nishinam, save in war, sings of the duty of life, which duty is to make life more abundant. The Shaman, or medicine man, sings of foreboding and prophesy. The War Chief, who commands in war, sings that war is the only way to life. This Red Cloud denies, affirming that the way of life is the way of the acorn planter, and that whoso slays one man slays the planter of many acorns. Red Cloud wins the Shaman and the people to his contention.

"After the passage of thousands of years, again in the grove appear the Nishinam. In Red Cloud, the War Chief, the Shaman, and the Dew-Woman are repeated the eternal figures of the philosopher, the soldier, the priest. and the womantypes ever realiz ing themselves afresh in the social adventures of man. Red Cloud recognizes

wrecked explorers

as planters

life-makers,

the

and

and

is for treating them with kindness. But the War Chief and the idea of war are dominant. The Shaman joins with the war party, and is privy to the massacre of the explorers.

"A hundred years pass, when, on their seasonal migration, the Nishiman camp for the night in the grove. They still live, and the war formula for life seems vindicated, despite the imminence of the superior life-makers, the whites, who are flooding into California from North, South, East, and West-the English, the Americans, the Spaniards, and the Russians. The massacre by the white men follows, and Red Cloud, dying, recognizes the white men as brother acorn-planters, the possessors of the superior lifeformula of which he had always been a protagonist."

From the foregoing it is apparent that "The Acorn Planter" is a strong and impressive attack upon war and a logical demonstration-however subtly it may be cloaked in poetry which is often tender and often finely noble -that in brotherhood alone is to be found the true secret of human progress.

"He who plants acorns reaps food, and food is life," says Red Cloud. And the wise old chief adds: "He who SOWS war reaps war, and war is death."

"My Home in the Field of Honour," by Frances Wilson Huard, published by George H. Doran Company, New York. $1.35.

T is true, only too true, that the present war has brought about many actions barbaric to such a sickening degree that we who are remote from the scenes of the tragedies are inclined to discount them as being overrated and inflated. The books that have been published are flowing over with horrifying tales of the war until it seems as if our minds would become polluted. Out of this mass of literature comes a

MME. FRANCES WILSON HUARD.

Mme. Huard relates in a most fascinating manner her own experiences just prior to the war, showing how the storm broke and its effect on civilians and her own flight from the scene of action and her return as the fighting receded. Upon her return to her chateau at Villiers, which she was forced to evacuate because of the approaching hostile army, she re-established the abandoned hospital, and is now doing effective work "In the Field of Honour."

The simple, effective way in which this graphic account is told convinces us of the horrors of war and again calls to our attention the heroic part which women are playing. It is a charming book and one well worth

reading for the pleasure derived from it as well as the first hand, authentic details of the start of a great conflict.

"German Atrocities," by J. H. Morgan, M.A., Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of London and Late Home Office Commissioner with the British Expeditionary Force. Published by E. P. Dutton and Company. $1.00 net.

THE

which serves principally to arouse the sentiment of the reader and in this way convince him of the deplorable situation. The practice shocks us more because concrete cases of cruelty rouse a livelier indignation.

'HERE have probably been more books written on "Atrocities" than on any other subject relating to the Great War. It is only too true that these atrocities exist. The present war has brought a rude awakening. Noncombatants have been slaughtered without mercy by the orders of military authorities. Private property has been destroyed where no specific military reason existed.

"The First Seven Divisions," by
Ernest W. Hamilton, Captain of the
Eleventh Hussars, published by E. P.
Dutton & Co., New York, price $1.50.

THERE is nothing vague or general

about this work, which is simply "a detailed account of the fighting from Mons to Ypres." It follows the march of military affairs closely and with care a series of maps, interspersed at intervals, bringing the situation often vividly home to the reader.

The book is free of forensics and deductions. It sticks with great fidelity to the task laid down in the beginning, and is content to relinquish its hold on the reader's attention just as soon as the tale is told. Mr. Hamilton only concerns himself, as he points out, with the activities of the original British army which marched into Belgium. to begin operations. This army, often. characterized as "contemptible,” numbered from 80,000 to 130,000 men. "It was the deciding factor," we are told, "in a strugle where the sides-at first --were none too equally matched."

Professor Morgan's book shows that he has made a very thorough investigation sparing neither time, patience nor expense in verifying the stories related to him by the men at the front. A great deal of his information he obtained from the official reports of the Russian, French and English Governments. In addition to setting forth the results of his personal investigations and reports Prof. Morgan has at the outset, broken in to the defence by analyzing Die völkerechstwidrige. Führung des belgischen Volkskriegs, or as it is more commonly known, The German White Book, and endeavors to bring out the weaknesses of this book as a statement by the German Government in defence of the rigorous miltary rule which they have maintained. The book impresses one as being air in its accusations which could, however, be said in fewer words.

A great deal of space is devoted to testimonials given by men at the front

With the new armies which were later poured into the field of European conflict the writer does not concern himself. Only the exploits of the "old regular army, led by the best in the land," are chronicled.

"Though unflattered and unsung," he concludes, "those early deeds in France and Flanders can boast an epitaph which tells no lies, and which, in its simple tragedy, is more eloquent than a volume of strained panegyrics'