− Nation 111:sup415 O 13 ’20 1400w
“It has none of the detached judgment of a historical appraisal of a completed career. Instead it has the militant interest of a brief presented in behalf of one of the most brilliant statesmen of modern times. It is not biography in the highest form of that art nor is it great literature. But Mr Spender’s work is not cheapened or vitiated by unseeing eulogy of his subject.” W: L. Chenery
+ N Y Times 25:3 Je 27 ’20 3550w
“Mr Spender knows no discrimination in his eulogy: whatever his hero has done is not only right but so conspicuously right that it needs neither apology nor explanation. The best we can honestly say of ‘The prime minister’ is that it will serve as a quarry from which some future biographer may draw useful materials.”
− + Spec 124:427 Mr 27 ’20 750w Springf’d Republican p9a Jl 4 ’20 800w
“Much the most satisfactory part of the book is that which describes Mr Lloyd George’s birth and upbringing, his early political activities, his entry into Parliament, and the brilliant fighting years in which he marked himself out as a certain minister of the crown. The history of his career as a minister down to the outbreak of war is vague and scrappy and generally inadequate.”
+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p189 Mr 18 ’20 350w
SPOFFORD, HARRIET ELIZABETH (PRESCOTT) (MRS RICHARD S. SPOFFORD). Elder’s people. il *$1.75 (2c) Houghton
20–5405
Through these stories of old New England we look into the hearts of the country people, hear their gossip, learn to know their homely religion, their superstitions, see the struggles they have with their baser selves and glimpse their higher natures. We also learn to love the sturdy souls that recur in all the stories and embody the best that is in them all—Elder Perry, Old Steve, Miss Mahala, and others. The stories are: The deacon’s whistle; A change of heart; A rural telephone; The step-father; John-a-dreams; Miss Mahala’s miracle; An old fiddler; The blessing called peace; Father James; The impossible choice; A village dressmaker; Miss Mahala’s will; A life in a night; Miss Mahala and Johnny.