Chapter 4

From the title, _Brute Gods_ (HEINEMANN), you may guess that Mr. LOUIS WILKINSON'S new novel does not deal with homely topics in a vein of harmless frolic. In recommending this very serious work of an expert author and observer, I am bound to make some reservation. Unsophisticated youth, if such there be in these days, should be kept away from the affair between _Alec Glaive_ and _Gillian Collett_. _Alec_, a mere boy, was in a dangerously unsettled condition when the lady crossed his path. His mother had upset a not too happy family by eloping with a literary _poseur_; the egoism of his father had been rendered even more oppressive and his sarcasm even more acid thereby; and a Roman Catholic priest, intent on securing a convert for his Order, had been plying his young mind with too exciting conversations and too refreshing wines. Apart from external circumstances, _Alec_ was tending to quarrel with humanity at large, and so he went the whole hog, more in search of a desperate ideal than by way of impetuous sin. Mr. WILKINSON treats the affair with deliberate, cold-blooded, even cynical analysis; and his portrayal of the snobbery and humbug of the upper-middle class, social and intellectual, in which his creatures move is searching and disturbing. But, I ask myself, are people really like that? Or rather are there enough of these unnaturals, extremists, moral Bolshevists or whatever you like to call them, to justify their presentation as a modern type? Always an optimist, I think not; and I notice that the author gives a no less clever and a much more convincing impression of the normal, settled and pleasant characters who are incidental to the plot. Make for yourself the acquaintance of the charming _Wilfred Vail_ and the most amusing and seductive Cockney artiste, _Betty Barnfield_, and you will admit, however pessimistic your views, that there may be something in mine.

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PALMAM QUI MERUIT FERAT.

"The Czecho-Slovaks were greeted this afternoon by a committee of Vancouver ladies, representing the Red Cross Society. The war-worn veterans were presented with a package containing cigarettes, an orange and a chocolate bar, in recognition of valuable services rendered the Allied cause."--_Canadian Paper._

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"PRINCE GEORGE IN SWEDEN.

Prince George has been enjoying the sights of Christiania and its beautiful surroundings."--_Morning Paper._

He should now visit Stockholm and give Norway a turn.

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"Gentleman, no ties, will undertake any mission to anywhere."-- _Provincial Paper._

But surely not where neck-wear is _de rigueur_.