The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1913-01-25 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

BLACK SUFFRAGETTES."  The above is the title of a very interesting chapter in the second book, in which, incidentally, the horrors of polygamy are dealt with. At Mumma, where the Mushidi (ruler) had his "mob of five hundred wives," "I heard," writes Mr. Crawford, "some Court gossip about an exceptional Amason who was numbered among these 'hen-cooped' wives. This woman—no elattern she !—dared to preach in a dark, hinting way, the far-off dream of women's rights; but King Bluebeard got wind of it through her rival. With regrettable vulgarity, hiushidi called the propagandist 'a goat' for such a silly speech. 'Yea, my lord,' Mrs. Amason pouted, 'even the goats are a model marriage, for the female has as good a pair of horns as the Billy.'" The author had a long talk with this woman, and he describes her as "a real Suffragette," a member of a woman's Secret Society that boasted of big deeds—a Society "into which no man dare penetrate." "These black women let their unfettered fancies roam over the vast sphere of their sex's wrongs.  . . . 'Budindu' is the name of this female freemasonry. . . . The general idea is that of a benefit society, whose supreme function is to scrutinise the cause of death of any of its members. . . . This secret society it was that decreed a 'Married Women's Property Act' long before the belated English Act of 1883, and on the death of one of their guild they pounce down on her moveable estate `to the uttermost farthing.'" There is much that we would like to quote bearing upon that very problem that is pressing itself upon the public mind here in England to-day—the relation of housing conditions and environment to religion and morals. "Here, then, is Africa's challenge to its missionaries," wrote Mr. Crawford in one of his earlier pages. "Will they allow a whole Continent to ,live like beasts in such hovels. millions ot negroes cribbed, cabined and confined in dens of disease?" Then, in lines penned "long years after," he gives most interesting particulars (with one photograph) of what he himself has accomplished, as a handmaid to missionary effort, in "town planning" amongst the blacks. The chapters on the more strictly religious work are also highly interesting, especially in their analysis of negro modes of thought, perception and reasoning.  _„. The book is excellently illustrated from photographs of noteworthy plaees (these are coloured) and of various types of the African native.  "The Golden Rose." By Fred M. White.  Ward, Lock and CO::60:  There is no contemporary author who may be depended upon with a greater degree of certainty to write a thrilling romance, or to more skilfully invent a tale of love, mystery, and adventure. Mr. White's literary output must ho enormous, yet everything he does is maintained on a high level of literary excellence. Numerous as are the stories that stand to his credit, it cannot he fairly said of one of them that they are confounded, hurried, or slipshod writing, or that the author's powers of invention have failed him. This writer, indeed, has a fertility of invention almost worthy of Balzae, and all his tales possess a compelling air of brightness and spontaneity in the telling. His latest work, "The Golden Boee,"exhibits his qualities at their highest. The story is of the discovery of a golden rose, its theft, the murder of its owner, and the attachment of suspicion to the hero, John Lethbridge. The bulk of the tale consists of a breathlessly interesting account of how Lethbridge, aided by Wilkinson, a detective of genius and daring, engages in a man-hunt of a thrilling character, and eventually succeeds in running the real criminals to earth. We have not road a more absorbing tale for a very long time. It is related with the utmost verve, and the interest is never allowed to flag for a moment. Many characters are introduced, and all are endowed with personality. A charming love interest is introduced, and altogether Mr. White is to be complimented upon having given the public another of his characteristic romances written in his best style. All who love a quickly-moving story of mystery and adventure should make a point of procuring "The Golden Bose."