THE REVIEWER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8002, 4 May 1904, Page 1

THE REVIEWER.

"The Burden of Her Youth," by L. T. Meade. (London: John Long.) Elinor Farrant's father having died owing a sum of one thousand pounds the girl determines to sete his debt; paid, and the onus of carrying her determination' into effect is the burden of her youth. She sets put' bravely to money, refuses the offered aid, of her lover, finds work in London and has many adventures in the great city. ;At first* self-centred, her human sympathies are enlarged by the influences brought to bear on her. and ehe finds relief from her own troubles in helping otherlike, pretty homeless Roberta Trigg and helpless Mrs Godfrey, wife of th© old miser who has, unknown to Elinor, robbed her of money to which she is entitled. How the villain— made :S0 by. his lust for gold—attempts to compass her death, how he fails, how Robertas- first attempt at matrimony comes fco grief,! Tbufc her second is successful, how John Godfrey and Elinor find happiness after trials, all .this is told simply* and vivaciously.; Mrs Meade conveys a healthy moral lesson, and she does so without detracting from the story's merits as a story. ; L " Great Masters "f-Parfc ix. of this arfcis- \ tic publication has come to hand from the publisher, Mr W. Heinemann, London. Its I merit is' equal to that of the previous parts. As has been previously said in this column, individual tastes will differ in choice qf 'favourite pictures amongst these reproductions of the works of some of the greatest "artists, of the world, but there will be agreement -as to the unrivalled excelle_a;e of all the reproductions. As nearly as photogravure can represent an original in oils, these plates do so. Whether one prefers to keep them in a portfolio or to frame tiiem and hang them is a' matter, of taste— lhey are perfectly suitable for either course; no better decoration for the rooms of a pic-ture-lover could be desired. Perhaps the pick of the four 'in Part ix. will be Jan de Bray V Governors of the Hospital for Poor j Children. The work. of Hals's pupil is reproduced with convincing fidelity... Look-, ing at Vermeer's picture of himself at wortha his sftudio*>ne "Wonders whether the arfc ist intended to produoe the effect of a face which is plainly suggested by one of the vast indentation, in the map of Holland <>n the wall. The other plates are Carpaccio's St Ursula's Dream and Velasquez's Infante* Don Balthazar Carlos.^ Even in a photo- : gravure 4s appreciable? the success that crowned the artist's attempt to make that little Don look dignified. V "Chambers's Journal "for Majreh.— Le Quern's serial " The Closed Book," a sehactional story with. a Borgiah motif, a tale by Louis Becke,; in which heroine and hero -