Mrs. BELLOC LOWNDES has written a story of the War that has at least the distinction of being absolutely fair. She has indeed got so far away from the perhaps excusable error of painting Germans uniformly black that her Huns in _The Red Cross Barge_ (SMITH, ELDER) are made upon the average quite as attractive as their enemies. This by way of warning, so that if you are in no mood to look for pearls amid swine you may avoid some impatience and a feeling that impartiality can be carried too far. Not by any means that _The Red Cross Barge_ is a pro-German book.... There is an attractive sense of atmosphere about Mrs. LOWNDES' picture of the little French town in which a group of Germans are left during what appears to them the triumphal march to Paris. Here _Herr Doktor Max Keller_ meets and falls in love with a French girl who is looking after certain wounded of both nations. The peaceful and picturesque air of the little place during this quiet occupation is well contrasted with the horrors that befall it when the draggled and drink-sodden soldiery come surging back in their retreat from the Marne. Eventually, just as the Germans are leaving, _Keller_ is fatally wounded, and dies holding the hand of the enemy who has become so dear to him. One can hardly call the tale anything but sentimental, but it is sentiment of a fragrant and wholesome kind. In the years to come such stories will no doubt multiply indefinitely, but there will be few more gracefully and gently told. * * * * * [Illustration: _Corporal (alluding to knock-kneed man)._ "It's no good; 'e never looks smart. Look at 'im now--the top 'alf of 'is legs standing to attention and the bottom 'alf standing at ease!"] * * * * *