These sketches are introduced by a foreword by John Galsworthy and “catch the flying values of life” as he says a good sketch does. They contain pictures from the southern countryside of England with some French sketches. “The golden bird” is an old inn where a paralyzed youth with a poet’s soul has for ten years made the walls of his room transparent and who beguiles the time, when he is not seeing visions of the shifting seasons outside, with his violin. Some of the other titles are: Laughing down; The steam mill; Heart-breaker; Twilight; September in the fields; Causerie; Smoke in the grass; Adversity; It is forbidden to touch the flowers; A Parisian evening; Life.
“The writer gives us the impression of being extremely young—not in the sense of a child taking notes, but in the sense that she seems to be seeing, smelling, drinking, picking hops and blackberries for the first time. For such sketches as ‘An old Indian’ and ‘From an old malt-house’ we have nothing but praise. But while we welcome her warmly, we would beg her, in these uncritical days, to treat herself with the utmost severity.” K. M.
+ − Ath p831 Je 25 ’20 190w
“They have color, dramatic vivacity and interesting characterization. Somewhat depressing.”
+ − Booklist 17:61 N ’20
“Miss Easton writes with a certain graceful precision, an unerring touch for the right word, for the exact effect, and a deeply sympathetic attitude toward nature and toward humanity in its varied aspects.” L. B.
+ Freeman 1:622 S 8 ’20 200w
“They are simple, vivid and effective in their simplicity. There is real insight and real skill in putting down what the author has seen.”
+ Ind 103:440 D 25 ’20 200w