LEFFING GES By Henry Burbig; Rae D. Henkle & Co., New York, 1929, $1.50.

"De sturries, pomes, end ferry tails vot yu'll gonna reeding onder diss cower" writes Mr. Burbig in a foreword, "vas ritten by mine own hends, s'halp me Goldberg." After one has read a few of the "sturries etc" one begins to wonder. Was Milt Gross name originally Goldberg? If not, why does Mr. Burbig invoke that name? For certainly Milt Gross is the patron saint of this book, the captain under whose banner its writer has drawn his pen and whose exploits he endeavors, insofar as in him lies, to emulate.

It is not only in the peculiar perversion of the English language that "Leffing Ges" is comparable to "Nize Baby", but even in the type of stories told. For example, in this latest work we again meet "De Boston Tea Potty", "Crissty Colombiss" and the perpetual menace of "Leetle Rad Riding Hood." But then perhaps the possibilities are limited. They are, indeed, between the Grossian and Burbigian dialects. As one well versed in the variations of 'English as she is spoke', this reviewer, at a guess, would say that the raconteur of Mr. Burbig's stories is of mixed Jewish and Italian parentage and that he learned his English somewhere in Amsterdam Ave. As a result the pristine purity of the true Yiddish-English, a dialect to delight the heart of the connoiseur, is lost.

In a word, there is no real reason why anyone should buy "Leffing Ges" unless he particularly wants to do so. Perhaps, told over the radio by their author these things affect the risibilities: in cold print they affect the stomach.