WORDS ANCIENT AND MODERN. By Ernest Weekley. 163 pages. Cloth. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.

In these days of "gentlemen with dusters," true confession publications, and all the other manifestations of post-war frankness, we thought that everything "with a past" had been discovered. Now comes Ernest Weekley, of University College, Nottingham, with a pithy little volume which attempts to give "fairly complete Lives of words whose history has been unusually adventurous-what might be called 'words with a dramatic past.' "It is an admirable attempt and the result is a unique assembly, ranging the length of the alphabet from Agnostic through Blackmail, Cuff, Democracy, Haphazard, Magazine, Pilgrim, Pipe, Plot, Rummage, Uproar and Weird. There are such familiar words as Story and Democracy and such foreign ones as Soviet and Swaraj. Altogether, an entertaining book of value to everyone who is careful in the use of words.

CHAMBER'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. New and Revised Edition. Originally Compiled by David Patrick and F. Hindes Groome. 1006 pages. Cloth. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company.

"The Great of All Times and Nations Over 10,000 Biographies" - a ponderous looking volume, in its green and black binding and sober brown jacket. But there is not

one page too many. The publishers inform you that "All the little Somebodies are in it and all the great Nobodies: The world's Upper Ten Thousand and the Lower and the Lowest." In it we find the stuff of a legion of romances. Abd-ul-Hamid, Ravanchol, Gilles de Ritz and Pickle the Spy - the names alone would intrigue. Nothing has been overlooked in the biographic sketches. There are many more names than could be found in an en

cyclopaedia, with pronunciation of difficult or foreign names and an index of pseudonyms

and nicknames.

pose of criticism is set forth in several vigorous chapters: J. E. Spingarn gives emphatic approval to the belief of the Idealist that the purpose of the critic is solely to interpret the self-expression of the writer. Following this spirited defense is H. L. Mencken's lively "Criticism of Criticism of Criticism," emphasizing his belief in the critic's right to express his own individual uniqueness. All sides of the merry battle, as well as many types of mind, are represented in the chapters by W. C. Brownell, Stuart Sherman, Percy Boynton and Van Wyck Brooks. Still other controversies are taken up by Sherwood Anderson, Carl Van Doren, Llewelyn Jones, William McFee, Amy Lowell, and many other authorities.

"Current Reviews" is prepared especially for everyone who wishes to study book reviews as a preparation for the writing of them. To this end there is much valuable instruction

condensed in an Introduction, Appendix A, and Appendix B. But the book constitutes far more than a text. Written for various audiences, and covering a wide range in subject matter, the reviews selected are not only highly entertaining but form an illuminating study of the work of many fine minds. They are particularly noteworthy because, as the editor says of them, "There is nothing of which I could suspect that it had been written for the exploitation of the writer's cleverness or the satisfying of a petty malice." Biographical, historical, and like reviews include such names as Henry James Forman, Robert Morss Lovett and M. R. Werner; fiction reviews by Henry Seidel Canby, Edwin Francis Edgett, Harry Hansen and Sinclair Lewis; poetry, drama, and criticism by Ernest Boyd, and John Erskine; and reviews of critical and social discussion by Zona Gale, H. L. Mencken and Ben Ray Redman.

925-927-929 Filbert Street

Philadelphia

st., Charlotte, N. C.

Uses articles and illustrations on the period design of furniture, current furniture styles, retail conditions in various cities, or anything interesting to the furniture trade in the nature of styles or sales reviews.

SOUTHERN HARDWARE (M), Grant Building, Atlanta, Ga. T. W. McAllister, editor.

Published in the interest of dealers in and distributors of hardware and allied lines in the Southern states. Uses no fiction, jokes, poetry, or articles of a general nature, but does offer a market for merchandising material relating to the hardware field - articles of a practical nature on such subjects as advertising, display, accounting, collections, etc. Particularly wants articles telling of the methods used with success by progressive Southern dealers in handling some particular line of merchandise. Photographs of window displays, store interiors, and display cases are desired, as well as samples of forceful sales letters, collection letters, or newspaper advertisements which dealers have used. Pays, at the rate of three-fourths of a cent to one cent a word, on publication.

SOUTHERN RURALIST (S-M), 116 East Hunter st., Atlanta, Ga. 50c.; 5c. C. A. Cobb, editor; J. H. Reed, associate editor.

Uses general articles of an agricultural nature from the South, and articles suited to farm mechanics and home departments from any section. Prints short stories, an occasional serial, a little poetry, and some juvenile matter for the Club Department. Sets length limits at about 2,500 words for short stories, and about 500 words on "What Farmers Are Doing." Buys photographs, and pays three dollars a column for regular matter, two dollars a column for departmental matter, and five dollars a column for fiction. Buys serials outright. Runs prize offers, which are announced on the editorial page.

SOUTHWEST REVIEW (Q), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. $2.00; 50c. Jay B. Hubbell, editor; George Bond, associate editor; Herbert P. Gambrell, managing editor.

Uses general articles relating to the history, literature, folk-lore, and present-day life of the South and the Southwest, short stories of realistic life in these sections, poetry, and plays, but no serials, humorous verse, or jokes. Sets length limit at from 2,500 to 4,000 words, does not

buy photographs, and pays, at a minimum rate of two-thirds of a cent a word, on publication. SPORT STORY MAGAZINE (S-M), Street & Smith Corporation, 79 Seventh ave., New York. $3.00; 15c. A. L. Sessions, editor.

Uses short stories, and novelettes with a sports flavor, and general articles on sports, but no serials, poetry, or jokes. Sets length limits for short stories at from 5,000 to 10,000 words, and for novelettes at from 15,000 to 20,000 words, does not buy photographs, and pays, at a minimum rate of one cent a word, on accept

ance.

ADDITIONS AND CHANGES COLLEGE STORIES (Q), 8 West 40th st., New York. $1.00; 25c. James V. Spadea, editor.

Uses short stories, novelettes, serials, general articles, poetry, humorous verse, and jokes. Sets no length limit, buys photographs, and pays, from one-half cent to one cent a word, on publication.

DIXIE DAIRY AND POULTRY JOURNAL (M), 110 Seventh ave., Nashville, Tenn. Edgar A. Wright, editor.

Uses articles on poultry and dairying, and other material suitable for Southern rural readers; and poetry of simple narrative, relating to nature or the countryside.

FOREIGN SERVICE (M), Veterans of Foreign Wars Headquarters, Kansas City, Kansas. $2.00; 20c. Barney Yanofsky, editor.

Wants material based on actual facts that can be checked up with Government records, preferring manuscripts written in pleasing fiction form. Uses short stories, articles, jokes, and humorous verse.

NEW SOUTH (M), 604 Provident Building, Chattanooga, Tenn. $3.00; 25c. Paul Severance, editor.

Uses short stories, novelettes, three-part serials, general articles, plays, and jokes, but no poetry, humorous verse, or juvenile matter. Sets length limit at 3,000 words, buys photographs of views illustrating Southern development, and of especial beauty, and pays, from one to three cents a word, on publication.

TODAY'S HUMOR (M), 1112 North boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois. $2.50; 25c. Leigh Metcalfe, editor.

Formerly Snicker Snacks. Uses short humorous verse, not exceeding 200 words. Does not buy photographs, prints no fiction, and pays, at a minimum rate of one-half cent a word, on publication.