During the evening the Rabbi was very genial-tasting Sarah's viands with relish, and comparing her to Rebecca, who made savory meat, urging Carmichael to smoke without scruple, and allowing himself to snuff three times, examining the book-shelves with keen appreciation, and finally departing with three volumes of modern divinity under his arm, to reinforce the selection in his room, "lest his eyes should be held waking in the night watches." He was much overcome by the care that had been taken for his comfort, and at the door of his room blessed his boy: "May the Lord give you the sleep of His beloved, and strengthen you to declare all His truth on the morrow." Carmichael sat by his study fire for a while and went to bed much cheered, nor did he dream that there was to be a second catastrophe in the Free Kirk of Drumtochty which would be far sadder than the first, and leave in one heart lifelong regret. [To be continued in the September Magazine Number of The Outlook] The Religious World We have already referred to the deplorable separaThe Doshisha tion of the Japanese Doshisha University at Kyoto from the American Board and from all missionary influence. The Doshisha's declaration of absolute independence has been followed by the withdrawal of the missionary teachers in the University. The Trustees of the University, in severing relations with the American Board, expressed a desire that the missionary teachers should continue as instructors independently of the Board. In reply to this request a letter was sent in behalf of the Kyoto Mission signed by the Rev. Dr. M. L. Gordon and the Rev. Dr. D. W. Learned. In this letter, which was dated July 7, the missionaries, after acknowledging their appreciation of the Trustees' request, stated that "the American Board has specifically instructed us to enter into no relations in which we cannot be recognized as its representatives. Even in the absence of specific instructions we should hesitate to assent to such form of co-operation. If this were an entirely new work, having no history behind it, the case might be different; but, in view of your action severing the Doshisha from its long-standing relationship to the American Board, it would certainly be difficult to avoid at least the appearance of disloyalty to our constituency." Further on in the letter the root of the trouble is plainly disclosed. The writers of the letter call attention to the fact that the present teachings of the University differ from those of Dr. Neesima, who was in the closest sympathy with American Christianity. The letter continues: The fundamental principles of Christianity which were dear to the hearts of the founders of the Doshisha, to those of the American friends who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars for its support, and which are not less dear to the hearts of all the members of our Mission, have been publicly assailed or ridiculed from the platform of the school and in other ways by persons connected with the administration; and instead of listening to the earnest protests of the representatives of the Mission, the Trustees have in one instance promoted an instructor who had been most active in assailing the Christian foundations of the institution to be the head of an important department. The Trustees have also said in their reply to the Report of the Deputation, in speaking of our protests, "the opinions considered so heretical by the missionaries are not so in our view." There is no longer a unity of feeling and practice in the Doshisha, but rather such a wide divergence as to render it unwise, if not impossible, for any of our number to continue to co-operate as teachers in the school. The English paper published in Yokohama called the "Japan Gazette" declares that many Japanese Christians are as dissatisfied with the present teachings of the Doshisha, and that eight Japanese professors have left the school within a year. Somewhat cynically, the "Gazette " comments as follows: There is a story current,something of a chestnut in flavor, of two people entering into partnership, the one providing brains and the other money. At the Brotherhood 66 end of a certain period the man with the brains had become possessed of the money, while the other was poor in pocket but rich in experience. The letter of the American missionaries to the President of the Board of Trustees of the Doshisha University brings the story to remembrance. The Japanese have the University; the missionaries are sadder, we hope they are wiser, men. The fourth annual Conference of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom was held this year at Marlof the Kingdom borough-on-the-Hudson, from August 3 to 8, inclusive. There is no diminution of interest nor lessening of attendance as the years go on. The papers that were read and the addresses made this year showed maturity of thought and that fearless conservatism which results from undivided purpose and painful experiential tests. The hours of the sessions of the Conference were apportioned to the intellectual and the devotional life of the Christian social movement. The Conference began with a reception and devotional meeting on Monday evening. The meeting was conducted by Mornay Williams, Esq. On Tuesday morning, after a devotional and a private business meeting, the public session was held at 10:30, and at this hour the initial paper of the Conference was read by the Rev Charles James Wood, of York, Pa. The topic of the paper was "The Historic Manifestation of Christ." The purpose of the paper was to demonstrate that neither the Incarnation nor the social religion of Jesus were fortuitous, but had been eternally and essentially necessary, because always divine. Some attempt was made to show also the applications of this principle to life and literature, to commerce and politics. In the afternoon of the same day the Hon. Ernest Howard Crosby read a paper on The Reign of Peace." Mr Crosby is the most practical exponent of Tolstoï. Mr. Mornay Williams touched upon some legal points in a paper on "The Relation of the Citizen of the Kingdom to Existing Laws." Mr. Williams's ideas gave rise to some debate. Upon Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, came essays on "The Teaching of Christ" and "The Works of Christ," the former by the Rev. E. T. Root, of Baltimore, and the other by the Rev. Professor W. N. Clark, of Colgate University. As interpretations, both essays were suggestive and inspiring. Professor Nathanael Schmidt's study of "Hosea" gave the results of scientific untrammeled scholarship brought to bear upon social ethics. The Rev. Mr. Rauschenbush followed with a paper on "The Modern Apostolate." In line with this were the addresses of Superintendent J. W Kelgaard and Director George T. Powell. These were given at the large farmers' meeting on Saturday afternoon. On Friday the subjects were prospective and the speakers prophetic. The Rev. J. W. Hegeman was singularly original in writing of "The Future Christ." The Rev. Messrs. W. T. Brown wrote on "Christian Union," and E. E. Chivers, D.D., on "The Social Aspects of World Missions." It is to be hoped that the essays presented at this Conference may find publication, for they were careful, thoughtful, practical, and original. The Brotherhood is made up of Christian thinkers and workers from all the Churches, and its platform is roomy--even the Christian Socialist is allowed to utter his thoughts. It is reverently fearless. The effect of its work in the way of social amelioration, both in New York and elsewhere, has already been felt by those who guessed not the source. While determined in its propaganda, it never forgets to keep the spiritual life nourished. It is constantly at its work in the endeavor to realize its ideals. For bare intellectualism it has no sympathy, yet the intellectual quality of the Conferences is exceptionally fine and strong. Education in the Y. M. C. A. The prospectus of the New York Young Men's Christian Association for the coming year, which has just been issued, contains some novel features and indicates that a strong effort is to be made to lay additional stress on the educational side of the work of the Association. A new step, and one of great importance, is the introduction of the syllabi of educational courses adopted by the International Committee. This forms a basis for uniform study on a distinct line of development. It is expected that 25,000 students will be enrolled this year under the different branches of the International League. An advisory board has furnished syllabi of topics in ten selected subjects; examinations are to be held simultaneously in all the branch Associations, and certificates will be issued which will be accepted in place of examination by the training-schools in Springfield and Chicago, and probably, later on, by other institutions. In short, the Association is planning systematically to make its educational courses approach more nearly to university work, and to lay down an educational system which shall be comprehensive and of thoroughly practical value. A Encampments this summer, perhaps none have enjoyed the camp experience more than the one hundred and fifty boys of the United Boys' Brigade in camp at Boynton Beach. They constitute the First New Jersey Battalion of the United Boys' Brigade, and include six companies, three from churches in Jersey City, one from Jersey City Heights, and two from Hoboken, under command of Major Thomas P. Wightman, of Jersey City. They represented two Presbyterian churches, two Reformed churches, and one Methodist church. large number of visitors have called upon the boys in camp, but their special guest was the Rev. Dr. Cornelius Brett, of the Bergen Reformed Church, who in former camps has so endeared himself to them that when he went to camp they insisted that he should remain with them until they should break camp. This indicates one of the underlying reasons for the organization-the molding influence of good men brought to bear upon the character and life of boys in the Brigade, until they are permanently fixed in good habits of thought and action. The strict observance of the day's routine, including the regular calls and drills of the military camp, morning and evening devotions, domestic duties about their tents, and the general cultivation of the comrade spirit, have a tendency to develop manliness in the boys. Objections are frequently urged against the Brigades on the ground that the order tends to foster the soldier spirit. No doubt the objection is well grounded, but in the hands of skillful managers the order can be made one of the most effective agencies for the training of boys in the arts of peace, the principles of manhood, and the spirit of genuine devotion to the pure and good in religion and life. On Saturday and Sunday, Ocean Grove Missionary Anniversary August 15 and 16, the twenty-fourth anniversary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was held at Ocean Grove, and was largely attended both by visitors and missionaries from the foreign field. The reports of President Mrs. E. H. Stokes, Secretary Mrs. M. S. Wheeler, and Treasurer Mrs. R. Van Kirk were eloquent with the evidences of progress, and were received with delight. The feature of the Saturday afternoon session was a symposium including representatives of various mission countries in their peculiar costumes, led by Mrs. S. L. Baldwin, of China. Mrs. S. M. Butler, of India, then delivered an inspiring address on Gospel work in that land. Saturday evening was devoted to an enthusiastic missionary love-feast conducted by Dr. E. H. Stokes, President of the Ocean Grove Association, in which a large audience took part. Sunday was a high day, noted in the annual conventions at Ocean Grove as " Missionary Sabbath." All the services that day were devoted to the cause of foreign missions, and were under the auspices of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. Thousands of people took part in the holiness meeting led by Dr. R. J. Daniels, and the young people's meeting conducted by the Evangelist C. H. Yatman. At the morning service Miss Ruth Marie Sites, recently returned from China, made an address, as also did Miss Marguerite Wong, of Foo Chow, China, the daughter of a high Chinese official, recently converted from Confucianism, who spoke in her native tongue, Miss Sites acting as her interpreter. Several returned missionaries from China, India, and Syria spoke briefly, and Oriental converts, in costume, sang and spoke in their native tongues. At the afternoon meeting twenty returned missionaries occupied the platform, and a collection of about $1,000 was taken in the interest of missions. It was pronounced one of the greatest missionary days in the history of Ocean Grove. Ten thousand people attended the closing services. The annual encampment of Bethany Assembly for the season of 1896 was held on the beautiful grounds of the Association at Brooklyn, Indiana, twenty miles west of Indianapolis, July 23 to August 17. For many years the Disciples of Christ in Indiana, which is one of their strongholds, have been accustomed to spend three or four weeks in a summer assembly at Bethany Park, considering the interests of the cause of Christ in that State. At first it was simply and only missionary in character; but with the passing years the Assembly has grown into a much wider scope, until it includes many features of entertainment, amusement, and class instruction, the latter of which was added this summer. The encampment which has just closed devoted the first week very largely to Christian Endeavor interests. Professor G. P. Coler, of Ann Arbor, conducted a Christian Endeavor Training-School, and Miss Mattie M. Botler, editor of the " Lookout," lectured each morning to the young people, giving them, in her happy literary style, many valuable lessons. The latter part of the same week was occupied by the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, which presented an attractive programme, and whose reports told a story full of devotion and success. The second week the Sunday-School Association held a three days' convention; Butler University, located at Irvington, observed "Butler University Day," which is always a time of literary Bethany Assembly Encampment feasting and gladness; and "Christian Union Day" proved that the Disciples have lost none of the old-time zeal in their fervent advocacy of this issue. During this week Dr. B. B. Tyler, of New York, gave six lectures on "Some of the Great Preachers of the Metropolis." The third week was devoted largely to State, general, and foreign missionary matters, and to the Ministerial Association of Indiana. At this time President D. R. Dungan, of Cotner University, favored the preachers with six strong lectures on questions particularly related to their work. There were two series of special lectures each day, besides a number of sacred concerts, in addition to the regular conventions and special day celebrations. The attendance was large from several States, the interest deep, and the results full of promise for greater efficiency in Christian service. The experiences of the Rev. Dr. Job Bass, the Thirty Years a Prison Chaplain thirtieth anniversary of whose installation as Chaplain of the Kings County Penitentiary, Brooklyn, was celebrated on Sunday afternoon, August 16, is full of pathetic and interesting incidents. At the request of Samuel Booth, then Mayor of Brooklyn, Dr. Bass was in 1866 ordained Chaplain of the Penitentiary at Crow Hill. Previous to his chaplaincy he had charge of several Methodist Episcopal churches in New York, Brooklyn, and New Orleans; and during the Civil War he was Chaplain of the Ninetieth Regiment of New York Volunteers. Since 1865 Dr. Bass has been connected with the City Mission and Tract Society, and has been engaged in many endeavors of a philanthropic and humanitarian nature. He has made a special personal study of hundreds of convicts, with the object of helping them morally and spiritually while in prison, and of providing them with an honest means of living upon their release. He also conducts correspondence for many, acts as banker for others, and in a number of cases has accepted the burden of supporting the families of prisoners. It has been his rule to provide bountiful dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day for those families entirely dependent. He says the most interesting class of convicts are the Federal prisoners, of whom there are about 400 at Crow Hill. Among the 700 convicts who attend chapel services regularly, almost every nationality and religious sect under the sun is represented-there are a dozen Jews, one Mussulman, and two Chinamen. Among the Federal prisoners from the mountains of Tennessee, Texas, and the Indian Territory there are some who never saw a Bible until they entered the Kings County Penitentiary. While Dr. Bass would not advocate a term in the penitentiary as the best theological training, it is a fact, nevertheless, that four men who only recently wore the stripes at Crow Hill are now regularly ordained ministers of the Gospel. So unselfish have been the services of Dr. Bass that his friends presented him with a purse of $1,000 as a token of the esteem in which he is held. A New Departure The wide-awake pastor in a thriving little city of 20,000 people has, according to a Chicago paper, instituted what he calls a conversazione" in his church, with the primary object of rendering moral and intellectual benefit to the community at large, and indirectly to reach and redeem many of the non-church-goers. His plan is to invite, by printed cards, about two hundred people to the church parlors once a month. The young members of the church are made useful as special distributers of invitation-cards, and have been found quite adapted to the work, which they very much like. The pastor selected those things pertaining to the welfare of the community, and encouraged the utmost freedom of expression of opinion both by those specially invited to speak and those taking part in the general parliament. Special effort was made to secure the attendance of some of the leading labor people, who led in the discussion of the labor unions and their attitude toward organic morality and religion. Such questions as local railway service, the public schools, kindergartens, highways, the public health, and other things in which the community in general are interested were discussed. Several of these parliaments were held during the past winter, with even better results than this sanguine pastor anticipated. We see no reason why this plan could not be made of great service in many churches. Brief Mention St. Augustine's Benedictine Priory at Ramsgate, England, has been made an Abbey by the Pope. It is the first Abbey of Benedictines established in England since the Reformation. Next November the first Catholic Congress ever held in Peru will open its sittings at Lima. A committee, specially appointed by the clergy of the republic, has informed President Pierola to that effect, and he has readily approved the project. St. Paul's Methodist Church of New York is one of the most desirable pastorates in that denomination in the country, and is now, since the appointment of the Rev. A. J. Palmer as Secretary of the Missionary Society, without a pastor. Considerable interest very naturally is taken in the question of filling the vacancy. Some of the ablest men in the denomination have served St Paul's. Books and Authors Essays on Poetry' When one sets out to criticise the criticisms of poetry, which itself is nothing less than the "criticism of life," he feels that he is dangerously near the performance of that supererogatory work of painting the lily and adorning the rose. The temptation then comes to fortify one's courage by peering into some book of necromancy to find out how to conjure up the shades of Sainte-Beuve and De Quincey, the finest of critics, to serve as protectors on this side and that. The Browning Society was a conspiracy to apotheosize a poet before he was dead. It appears that the poet bore up bravely under the embarrassment; the required only one thing of these open-mouthed devoteesthat they should not bother him with inquiries as to whether they were correct in their guesses about his meaning. To find out the poet's meaning was the proper business of the Browning Society, not of Mr. Robert Browning. Clearly the members of this Society have attended strictly to their business, and the balance-sheet," Browning Studies," shows an opulent percentage on the investment. The book contains over twenty essays upon Browning's poetry, and every paper is worth reading. They will never persuade the world that Mr. Browning always used the poetic form, but they ought to convince the candid mind that he had more poetic thought than any English writer since Shakespeare. Browning, like Shakespeare, was a theologian. When we lay aside our St. Thomas of Aquin, we resort to Robert of Asolando. Most of the essayists of this volume exhibit, however unconsciously, this principal purport of his poetry. Thus we find Professor Corson, who deals with Browning's idea of personality, saying at the start: "A cardinal idea in Browning's poetry is the regeneration of men through a personality who brings fresh stuff for them to mold, interpret, and prove right-new feeling fresh from God-whose life reteaches them what life should be, what faith is, loyalty and simple-mindedness, all once revealed, but taught them so long since that they have a mere tradition of the fact-truth copied falteringly from copies faint, the early traits all dropped away." Mr. Bury, in a carefully written paper, shows how the idea of God is the fundamental point of Browning's thought, and Miss Beale, in her paper on the religious teaching of Browning, maintains that it is this idea alone that "first calls out in us the sense of poetry." To illustrate this thesis Miss Beale gives an illuminative analysis of "Saul." Professor (now Bishop) Westcott's paper on "Browning's Views of Life" is not as full as the subject requires, but the author atones in a measure for this lack by some valuable intuitions. And so the book goes on, with a wealth of serious, solemn, and scintillating thoughts that will be valuable for several generations. Most of the essays have the added interest of not being professional criticism, thus lacking that air of perfunctoriness, of editorial omniscience, that cultured Weltschmerz, to be found in the columns of literary criticism of most papers. Professor Walker studies Browning as he does Tennyson and Arnold, according to the process of the intellectual and spiritual evolution of each. He traces the rise of the dramatic method of Browning's thinking to its mergence in the metaphysical in his later poems. Professor Walker therein slightly exaggerates. Mr. Browning himself is always the chief character in his poems; and as life drew toward its close, and as he had solved life's problems to his own satisfaction, his utterances attained a unity that Mr. Walker calls subjectivism. As for Arnold, Mr. Walker's opinion is true enough. Arnold was born into an age too perplexed and anxious for him. Arnold mirrored the minds of "feeble and restless youths born to inglorious days." He had the poetic form of the Greek, more than Tennyson, a preciosity of phrase that speaks at once of desultory reading and privileged classes. The chapters on the influence of science and social agitations over the poetry of Browning, Tennyson, and Arnold are brilliant-in places more brilliant than true. Mr. Walker will at times sacrifice accuracy upon the altar of rhetoric. But this, in literary criticism, the casuist pronounces to be only a venial sin, because it is always .occurring. Mr. Benson's essays on Gray, Bourne, and Marvell are miracles of fine perception and of delicate phrasing. Blake he is not the man to understand, for Mr. Benson has no feeling of 1 Browning Studies. Being Select Papers by Members of the Browning Society. Edited, with an Introduction, by Edward Berdoe, M.R.C.S. Macmillan & Co., New York. $1.75. The Greater Victorian Poets. By Hugh Walker. Macmillan & Co., New York. $2.50. Essays. By Arthur Christopher Benson. Macmillan & Co., New York. $2. In a Walled Garden. By Bessie Raynor Belloc. Macmillan & Co., New York. $1.75. Gallica, and Other Essays. By James Henry Hallard. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $2.50. mysticism; also the strictures upon Keble's poetry are contrary to the consensus of the wide world. Keble is not a poet's poet; he is dry, he is formal, and at times ridiculous, but is it not true that he reached the heart of the people? Of the poet Gray Mr. Benson writes: "The stately pathos of such a life is indisputable. The pale little poet, with greatness written so largely on all his works, with his keen, deep eyes, the long aquiline nose, the heavy chin, the thin, compressed lips, the halting, affected gait, is a figure to be contemplated with serious and loving interest-spoiled for life, as he said, by retirement. How he panted for strength and serenity! How far he was from reaching either! Yet the bitter dignity of his thought, the diffident and fastidious will, are of a finer type than we often meet with. We cannot spare the men of action, it is true; yet the contemplative soul, with the body so pitifully unequal to sustain its agonizing struggle, is an earnest of higher things. In the valley of shadows he walked, and entered the gate without repining. All are equal there; and the memory that he left, and the characters that he graved on the rock, while they move our pity, stir our wonder too." In its curious felicity this passage might stand face to face and unashamed with pages from the prose of Pater or of Symonds. Mr. Benson has a vocabulary so large as to permit him to express himself accurately; this we say though mindful of Southey's severity towards the Turkish verb. This essayist studies his subjects carefully, and regards form rather than spirit. A sane, reasonable fastidiousness characterizes his criticism. To him life is a choral dance, or a dithyrambic revel, or a courtly minuet, but not "the soul's sphere of infinite images." He sees gracefulness and graciousness in the world, but not Grace, just as one, in fingering one of Bach's fugues correctly, misses entirely the melody. When we approach Mrs. Belloc, we enter another world-one that has survived from an obsolete social condition. The walls of this garden of hers are perhaps the walls of the Vatican. It is curious to see how her point of view in every one of these sketches is distinctly Roman Catholic. Mary Howitt, Lady Georgiana Fullerton, Adelaide Procter, and Manning were "'verts;" most of her other people are of the same denomination. Apart from this unripeness that generally characterizes those who have entered the Roman Church in adult years, Mrs. Belloc's simple biographical sketches are pleasing, for the people that she writes about she for the most part personally and intimately knew, and her revelations of intimate matters carry with them all the charm of any betrayal of confidence. However, all the people are now dead. Mr. Hallard's essays on French writers are well digested and trustworthy, especially that on Racine. He is not so happy, however, in his criticism of Keats and Swinburne. The essay on De Musset is clever, but, like its subject, a trifle depraved. He reveled in that "twilight where virtues are vices." Touching his earlier poems, Mr. Hallard writes so well that we take his words for an ending: "Heretical as these early poems are, most of them have a sad and tragic ending, by which De Musset did not by any means wish to point a moral, but only to adorn a tale. The sadness is but the luxury of grief which young poets affect. He felt, like Edgar Allan Poe, that love and death are the two most poetical things that be, and so he made his lovers come to dust at the end." The conclusion that we draw from this survey of our poets is that the world is now too much with them. They have not the leisure to reap the harvest of a quiet eye, but are distracted with the unrest of our days. The Outlook has always sincerely welcomed Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's books of poems, because there is genuinely good stuff in his poetry. Now that all his poems are collected into one volume, and published by the Century Company, we hope that they will be even more widely appreciated and read. There is a notable variety of style and sentiment in these pages. Some remind the reader of Browning's thoughtfulness, others are artless and have the free air of outdoor life. "The Cup of Youth ” and “ François Villon" bear marks of maturity. By the way, the latter poem contradicts the tradition about Villon's death. Dr. Mitchell is dramatic rather than lyric, yet one lyric, "The Mother," is touching and strong in thought as well as sentiment. After all, "The Mother" is dramatic in its idea. The sonnet is not a congenial form for this verse-maker; "the sonnet is a moment's monument," said Rossetti, and he was right. Dr. Mitchell is too reflective for a sonnetteer; the sonnets in this book are fragments of thought rather than the flow and ebb of a single impression. As for the rest, there is a multitudinous felicity of phrasing in his lines. It is to be hoped that the critics, who are said to be minor poets every one, will be benignant to this minor poet, for the sake of "love and the gentle heart." Sir William Dawson is a plausible writer, and he is painfully orthodox. After reading his latest book, Eden Lost and Won, we murmur, as sadly as the poet's advice will warrant," It might have been." The beauty about the case is that if the higher critics indulge themselves with such utter abandon in conjecture, the conservative has as good a right-and better. Let us direct our chef of the critical cuisine to serve up the goose and the gander with the same sauce. Sir William delights in cataclysms-of the past. They give large room for the excursions of the "scientific use of the imagination," even to the extent of confirming Sir William's rather narrow interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Dr. Paul Haupt, in an exceedingly absurd theory, locates Paradise, according to the geography of 640 B.C., by making the Nile flow across the Red Sea. Sir William locates Eden on the western frontier of Persia. Both savants are deceived by a childish literalism. Next we shall have a map of Asgard, and a verification of the location of the Hesperides, with the precise spot where grows the serpent-guarded apple-tree. Sir William's work is well meant, but is to be classed with the equally well-intentioned efforts of Ignatius Donnelly and Dr. W. F. Warren, who constructs (with the assumption of cataclysms) an equally irrefutable argument to the effect that Eden is situated at the North Pole. Some people like to read books about the Ten Lost Tribes and the Beast of the Apocalypse and the Lost Dauphin and the place of Paradise. They will enjoy this book, which may be obtained of the Fleming H. Revell Company, of this city. Not until we took up The Secret of Mankind did we suspect that mankind had any secret from man. The puzzling thing about the literature of life is that continually man walketh in a vain shadow. This is not intended to be a confession of faith in Berkeleyan metaphysics, but as a sigh of fatigue. Our old men will persist in seeing visions, and our young men in dreaming dreams, and it is all patented and copyrighted. Such is not the customary fashion of the exercise of the vision and faculty divine. It looks darkened by the communal sin. Nevertheless, when we read this portentous work, "The Secret of Mankind," we find that it is an apocalypse that we see before us. In fact, the narrative begins precisely at the article of death. It has not the gracefulness of the "Little Pilgrim to the Unseen," nor the scientific interest of Flammarion's "Stories of Infinity," which it somewhat resembles. Through traveling from planet to planet, and holding sweet converse with Pythagoras, Milton, Laotze, and Napoleon, the author, who is too modest to put his name to his book, like John the Theologian-the author, we repeat, in the ghost-world learned the "secret of humanics." If we told the populace that secret, the populace would not buy the book. As we cannot be sure that the writer will get glory from exposing his vision and revelation, we shall help him to get gain. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.) 66 Every one knows that Paul Gerhard was the second Luther and a man of amazing learning, also of some talent-certainly with the talent for study. His writings were voluminous. When quite a young man he wrote a book of pious meditations that have been reckoned as belonging with Thomas à Kempis's "Imitation" and St. Augustine's Confessions." A new translation of Gerhard's Sacred Meditations has been executed by the Rev. C. W. Heisler, and issued from the press of the Lutheran Publication Society of Philadelphia. To our mind the world has moved further away from the mental standpoint of Dr. Paul Gerhard than from that of Augustine. The peculiar theology of the early reformers saturates these medita. tions, making them unreal to any but the more conservative German Lutheran. How few sincere souls to-day could be edified and consoled by this meditative emotion: "Consider, O faithful soul, the blazing wrath of God!" and again: "The bodies of the damned shall be hideously deformed, sluggish and unwieldly!" One can only conjecture how the good Dr. Gerhard found out this latter fact. Quien sabe? As a matter of course, there is no question of the piety of the author and of his book, but it seems a thought out of adjustment with the temper and terminology of our time. New Books [The books mentioned under this head and under that of Books Received include all received by The Outlook during the week ending August 14. This weekly report of current literature will be supplemented by fuller reviews of the more important works.] No more readable story has appeared among recent novels than Black Diamonds, by the veteran Hungarian romancer, Maurus Jókai. The fertility of invention and imagination are wonderful. As with Dumas the elder, whom Jókai in some ways resembles, improbabilities and even impossibilities are merrily taken at a leap; the marvelous hero's unfailing wisdom, knowledge, courage, and power surmount every difficulty; half a dozen story-threads are kept spinning without interference with one another; love, stock-gambling, political intrigue, scientific discovery, coal-mining and mining disasters, industrial strikes, dueling all are utilized in the most vivacious and entertaining way. We are not certain whether this is a recently written book; certainly it is at least the equal of any of Jókai's novels accessible. The translation by Frances A. Gerard is good, though with an occasional lapse into bad English. (Harper & Brothers, New York.)—Gabriele d'Annunzio has been received by some French critics as the greatest of recent Italian imaginative writers. He is introduced to American readers in Myrta L. Jones's translation of Episcopo and Company. M. de Vogué declares that D'Annunzio is never "vulgar," but his present translator speaks of some of his works as daringly erotic," and of others as not translatable into English. Episcopo and Company" may not be of evil intent, but it is feverish, a study of degrada. tion of the most repellent kind, and, while it has a certain power, we can see neither pleasure nor intellectual profit in it. (H. S. Stone & Co., Chicago.)—In A Story of the Heavenly Camp-Fires, by "One 66 with a New Name,” Dante, Milton, Cromwell, Bunyan, and other great men in the world of spirits discuss religion, philosophy, life, immortality, war, and much else. Only a rare genius could use this form of presenting thought attractively, and though the thought is often suggestive, we fear the medium used will repel many readers. (Harper & Brothers, New York.)-Without Sin, by Martin J. Pritchard, might have had value as a study of the life of the more cultivated circles of Jewish society in London, had the author rightly developed this side of his book. It is fairly well written, and, considering its main subject, not overstrained or intentionally objectionable. That subject is the delusion of a wealthy and intellectual Jewish maiden that through her the Messiah will come, and the birth and death of a child of whom she is the mother, and whom she regards until its death as that Messiah. The inherent improbability of the plot is as great as is its unsuitability for purposes of fiction. (H. S. Stone & Co., Chicago.) The fifth edition of How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon, by Oliver W. Nixon, with an introduction by the Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus (Star Publishing Company, Chicago), has just been published. The love of learning is growing in America. The people reach out after knowledge, as witnesses the marvelous growth of societies and associations the end of which is to make an education possible to adults who have not had educational opportunities. Added to the list of books wisely written and designed to aid in rending the veil of ignorance is The Pith of Astronomy, by Samuel G. Bayne. (Harper & Brothers, New York.) To have the author of a book hold up to theological students West Point discipline in the matters of dress, habits of cleanliness and deportment, and boldly assert that the manners of clergymen are rarely as good as they should be, is encouraging. The author of Our Seminaries, the Rev. John Talbot Smith (William H. Young, New York), has courage. He sees what too often exists, that the lack of manner and sloppiness in dress and habits greatly limit the influence of the pulpit. Literary Notes -The original of "Jess," in " A Window in Thrums," died recently at Kirriemuir. -The London "Globe "says that M. Zola's next romance," Paris,” will not be ready for fifteen or sixteen months to come. -Mr. Kipling's new volume of ballads, "The Seven Seas," to be published in October, will contain some new ballads as well as many which have appeared in periodicals since the publication of his last book of verse. -Mrs. Burton Harrison will edit the new edition now in press of Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's "History of the City of New York," and will add a chapter on the "Externals of the Modern City," taking up the narrative where Mrs. Lamb left off and bringing it down to date. The work is published by A. S. Barnes & Co. -A meeting of newspaper men was held in St. Louis recently to arrange for the collection of a fund for a monumental tribute to the memory of Eugene Field. It was agreed that the contributions of newspaper men should not exceed $5 each, while the entire fund should not be less than $1,000. Public acknowledgment is to be made of each contribution. -"Oliver Optic," the writer of boys' stories, who is now at work on a volume that will number up in the second hundred, celebrated his seventy-fourth birthday lately. "Oliver Optic" (W. T. Adams) has crossed the Atlantic twenty-one times and the Pacific once, and has visited every country in Europe and many of those of Asia, in search of literary material for his stories, of which over 1,100,000 copies have been sold. -The manuscript of " Trilby "is preserved in a locked glass case in the rooms of the London Fine Arts Society. It is said that Du Maurier sold it for a sum larger than most authors get for the serial rights of a novel. The story is written in little exercise-books, but in various handwritings. Du Maurier has a pet theory that all members of his family must take part in the production of his works, and each one wrote at his dictation portions of the remarkable story. -The autumn list of announcements of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. contains a number of notable new books and new editions, among which may be mentioned the "Letters of Victor Hugo," Woodrow Wilson's "Essays," new and complete editions of the works of Mrs. Stowe and Bret Harte, elaborate illustrated editions of Fiske's "American Revolution" and Thoreau's "Cape Cod," and new volumes by Dr. Lyman Abbott, Mr. Aldrich, John Burroughs, Joel Chandler Harris ("Uncle Remus "), Henry James, Miss Jewett, Miss Phelps, Miss White, Mrs. Whitney, and Mrs. Wiggin. Books Received For week ending August 14, 1896 THE J. H. DEWEY PUBLISHING CO., NEW YORK HARPER & BROS., NEW YORK Dewey, John Hamlin, M.D. Sons of God and Brothers of Christ. 25 cts. Jókai, Maurus. Black Diamonds. Translated by F. A. Gerard. $1.50. One with a New Name. A Story of the Heavenly Camp-Fires. $1.25. Bayne, Samuel G. The Pith of Astronomy. $1. STAR PUBLISHING CO., CHICAGO Nixon, Oliver W., M.D., LL.D. How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon. $1.75. HERBERT S. STONE & CO., CHICAGO Pritchard, Martin J. Without Sin. $1.25. D'Annunzio, Gabriele. Episcopo and Company. Translated by M. L. Jones. $1.25. WILLIAM H. YOUNG & CO., NEW YORK Smith, Rev. John Talbot, LL.D. Our Seminaries. $1. The Queen's Approach By Mary Chase Thurlow Sweet Summer sent her heralds out By which the Queen should come. Then flew the jay, a handsome knight, The locust came with fiddle-notes; A humming tone that filled the air Then all the flower-folk began, Then all the trees their banners hung And by the brook the cardinal-flower The pickerel-weed in serried lines, Each flower that had a Sunday hat, And last of all the graceful ferns Now all is done; the roads are gay A Story about Torota By Helen C. Chapin For the Little People I am going to tell you of a little girl I once knew. Her skin was not white, like yours or mine, but light brown; and her eyes, and the soft dusky hair that was braided in two funny tails and tied with little bits of red flannel, were brown also. She was about four years old when I saw her first, and although her little eyes shone, and she showed every little white tooth in a bright smile, she could not talk to me, or I to her. You see, Torota-don't you think she had a pretty name?—was an Indian and spoke no English, while I am an American and speak no Indian. So we just smiled at each other and became friends that way. All summer Torota had lived in a tent, or tepee, as the Indians call it, with her grandmother, who was quite old and nearly blind. One day, when Torota's uncle was away from home, and only the old woman and Torota were near the tepee, a strange squaw came slowly riding by on a little Indian horse. No one noticed her or saw her go, but when grandma called for Torota to come and bring her some water in the old cup, the little girl did not answer; and though she called a long, long while, and when her son and his wife came home they, too, called and hunted, they could not find their little girl. Now, the strange squaw was Torota's own mother, although the little girl did not know her, for the grandmother had taken Torota away when she was a little, little baby. Torota's mother could not keep the little girl, now that she had gotten her, but she rode quickly and quietly on, urging the pony around the foot of a mountain, across a sandy plain, and over a river, until she came to a large frame building. This was a school for Indian children, and it was here that I first saw Torota. How do you suppose a little brown squirrel that was used to scampering up a tree and down again, scurrying here and there through the grass wherever he liked all the happy summer through, would like to be caught and kept in the house day in and day out, made to crack nuts for other people, and when he did go out, only go so far? I don't believe he would like it at all, do you? That's the way it was with Torota. She was like a little wild thing for a great many days after her mother brought her. She was a good little girl, though, full of fun and gayety. Almost the first thing she learned was one of the kindergarten songs, and how she did love Miss Strong, the pretty young girl who taught her, though the only way Torota could show her love was to run and grasp Miss Strong very close around the knees! She was always so happy and bright that Miss Strong and I were sorry and surprised when we found her standing on the walk one day, with great tears rolling down her cheeks. She could not tell us what was the matter, and, although we guessed everything we could think of, she could not understand, and That same evening only shook her head. Mrs. Percy heard some one sobbing in the hall, and went out to see what it was about. There was poor Torota, curled up in a heap on the floor, crying as though her heart would break. Mrs. Percy picked her up in her arms and carried her into her own room, where she tried to comfort this poor little brown baby and find out what was the matter. At last, Torota said, as the tears rolled down her fat little face," I'm lonesome; I'm so lonesome!" Good Mrs. Percy rocked her a long time and gave her an apple-oh! such a good one-so that when Torota at last got down, the tears were all gone away. They didn't stay away, though. Oh, dear, no! Almost every day for a week Torota cried and cried because she was lonesome. We couldn't tell what to do for her, or what made her lonesome, until Saturday, the day when every one got a bath, came, and then Mrs. Percy found out all about it. What do you suppose Torota meant by "lonesome "? Two very sore feet! You know Indians wear shoes made of deerskin called moccasins, which are as comfortable to their feet as stockings. This makes it very hard for them to wear heavy shoes, and poor Torota's feet were badly blistered. "Lone some was the only English word she knew that people said in a very sorry way, so she tried to tell us how she felt as best she could. Mrs. Percy was a very wonderful woman, in her room as a doctor, and among them was with as many boxes and bottles on the shelves a box of the best kind of salve. Some of this salve went on to Torota's feet quickly, I can tell you, and in a day or two she could run around, no longer "lonesome," but happy as a bird, with Mrs. Percy's moccasins tied on her feet with bright ribbons. Jenny Afloat The other day there was a collision in New York Harbor between a big European steamer and a grain elevator. A grain elevator is built sometimes on a boat which goes about from dock to dock where there are steamers to be loaded with grain, or unloaded, and by the help of the machinery that is in the elevator the ship is loaded or unloaded in very much less time than it could possibly be done by hand. When this collision took place, there was a great deal of excitement, for a grain elevator is like a high tower built on a boat, and when it was struck it reeled in such a way as to threaten partial destruction to the steamer that struck it. On board of the grain elevator was a cat named Jenny, and when the crash came, Jenny, who had been awakened from a comfortable nap, was very much frightened. The grain elevator sank, but the bag of shavings on which Jenny had been sleeping floated off, with poor Jenny mewing pitifully. Fortunately, a tugboat was not far away, and on it were some men who are fond of cats, and one of them said, "I am going to rescue that cat," and the tugboat started after the bag of shavings and its frightened passenger, and soon rescued both. The captain of the grain elevator says that he will have that cat back, no matter what happens; but the newspapers have not told us whether the captain of the tugboat has yet surrendered his passenger. rows, The Emigrants A church not far from a great railroad station has recently been torn down. The belfry was found to be the home of doves and sparwho were greatly startled when the workmen began tearing down the church. They flew about in great excitement for a time, and then it was discovered that they had emigrated to the towers, turrets, and roof of the great station. Why is it that they chose this noisy spot? At a point near the station a line of carriages stand all day in waiting for the passengers from the trains. The horses are fed here, and while feeding they spill oats from their nose-bags. The doves come for these oats, and the sparrows for what the doves leave. Some cats have discovered that this is the birds' feeding-ground, and sometimes a bird that flies down for his breakfast does not fly back. Painted Corners A story is told of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the artist, which shows that he loves children very dearly. The story is told that when his small children are naughty, their mamma punishes them by standing them for a few minutes in the corner with their faces to the wall. This seemed to be quite severe punishment to their beauty-loving papa, so he has painted in the corners where his children are punished sprays of flowers, saying, " If he has to go to the corner, I am determined he shall enjoy himself there." It is also said that the artist, when visiting, found the child of his host receiving the same punishment, and that he quickly sketched with pencil flying birds in the corner where the small boy stood. Pansies "I love almost all flowers that blow," How, close and tight as they can be, "The very prettiest flowers that blow," On a Hot Day One of the New York daily papers recently told of a boy who was passing one of the large hotels when ice was 'being delivered there. In handling the ice a large block broke and several pieces were left on the sidewalk. The boy stood still and watched the icemen until he decided they were not going to pick those pieces up. He went to one of the men and asked if he might have the ice. He was told he could. He gathered the pieces up and carried them to a trench where some workmen were at work in the sun, and gave the pieces to them. The men were astonished at the offer, and then eagerly grasped the ice.. The boy walked on whistling. |