Books: To the Last Man

THE THREE LIVES OF HARRIET HUBBARD AYER (284 pp.)—Margaret Hubbard Ayer & Isabella Taves — Lippincott ($3.95).

MRS. GLADSTONE (251 pp.)—Georgina Battiscombe—Houghfon Mifflin ($5).

Before these two books, the male reader's heart is likely to shrink within him like a salted snail. They tell the stories of two overpowering women, different largely in the type of power they used. Harriet Hubbard Ayer carried culture between her dazzling teeth like a cutlass; Catherine Glynne Gladstone wielded a feather duster of a featherbrain. Both weapons were equally effective.

The P.M.'s Lady. "What a comfort to know there is One above who is able to tell us!"...