unearthly race. The people in Father Carroll's pages are grand people in the real sense of the word-splendid types of the splendid Irish peasant. And the scenery is Irish scenery, so truly and vividly reproduced that you scent the broom and your nostrils quiver with the acrid odour of the burning heather as you read. There is kindly humour, of course, and there is pathos too-almost in every one of these storiesinsistent, powerful pathos that claims its tribute relentlessly from you; for the simple heroism of this people only serves to add poignancy to their losses. It is a book to be read and to be thankful for.

New

3. The Ivy Hedge. By Maurice Francis Egan. York: Benziger Brothers. (Price 3s. 6d. net.) This story deals with present-day life in one of the smaller American manufacturing towns; and the latent menace of the jarring aims and interests of employers and employed looms large in its pages. The futility of the endeavours of Socialism and of an emasculated pseudo-Christianity to grapple with the problem stands out in vivid contrast to the ability and readiness of the Catholic Church to ease-would the world but let her some at least of the strain of this intolerable burden laid upon our generation by a ruthless industrial system. The lives of the various characters are woven into the play and interplay of this theme-lives that are now tinged with luxury and soft lights, now rugged and homely. We follow with deep interest the sequence of their hopes and trials, anxieties and successes through a series of strongly drawn word-pictures revealing much sympathetic understanding of the pathos that often underlies even the perverse and unworthy self-manifestations of humankind. The author needs no introduction to his public, being one of America's foremost and most appreciated Catholic novelists. He is particularly to be congratulated on his fine presentation of George Trevannion's mother.

4. Popular Sermons on the Catechism. From the German of Rev. A. Hubert Bamberg. Edited by Rev. Herbert Thurston, S.J. Vol. I. Faith. London: R. and T. Washbourne, Ltd. (Price 6s. net.)

These, it appears, are extempore sermons, taken down in shorthand, and translated into English. In his Preface

66

It

Father Thurston, S.J., gives them a high character. seems to me that they are quite admirable as essays in popular instruction, and that the straightforward simplicity which is their most conspicuous quality is exalted by something in the personality of the author and lifted above the level of the trite or commonplace. Nearly all the discourses are interesting, nearly all are clear in expression and animated with a certain simple piety which strikes home, and there are none from which something which is both instructive and helpful may not be learned. Taken as a whole, they present a practically complete picture of Christian doctrine and practice, so far as it is important that the laity should possess what we may call a working knowledge of Catholic principles. No one who has acquainted himself with the contents of these volumes will be ignorant of what it behoves him most to know." An experienced preacher to whom we submitted this volume was hardly less generous in his praise of the solid and well chosen matter and of the clear and attractive form in which it is presented.

5. The office of the Irish Messenger has recently made some additions to its excellent and exceedingly popular series of penny booklets. Easter with Christ and His Friends by S. M. M., is a narrative, beautifully and simply told of the Resurrection and Ascension; it is mainly intended for Our Lord's young friends. The Little Flower is a pleasingly written account of the life and death of the favourite Sister Teresa. It has half-a-dozen illustrations. The Soldier Priests of France by the Contesse de Courson tells of the heroism and devotion of the rifle-carrying ecclesiastics in the French army. The two next belong to the Social Action' Series. The Ethics of War, by Rev. Edward Masterson, S.J., is a very clear, concise, and readable exposition of the rights and wrongs of war. It is a reprint of a much praised article in the December number of Studies. The European Crisis and Ireland's Commercial Interests, by J. P. Boland, M.P., is a very timely reminder to Irishmen of all classes that the war has created a great opportunity for developing existing industries in Ireland and starting new ones; it is another Studies reprint. Some other Irish Messenger booklets of which new editions or impressions have appeared are: VOL. XLIII.-No. 502.

20

Scenes from the Passion and The Holy Hour, both marked '40th thousand'; St. Joseph in its 30th thousand-all three by the Rev. Joseph McDonnell, S.J.; and a Life of St. Patrick by E. Leahy which has reached its 25th thousand.

6. Mustard Seed. Some Pungent Paragraphs. By Francis P. Donnelly, S.J. New York: P. J. Kenedy and Sons. (Price 60 cents.)

There are innumerable tonics on the market for those who are run down in bodily health; here is a tonic for wills that are run down, for people that are losing heart or lowering their ideals. The little essays are terse, incisive, cheerful, stimulating, full of pungent epigrams and concentrated common sense. The titles tell something of the contents: Childishness of Soul, Nagging, Seeing Ourselves, Chuckling to Oneself, are some of them; but a better idea of the book will be gained by reading the following extract from the first Essay. It is headed Self-Encouragement. "Have you ever gone into the heart of this subject? Do you know what is the source of nine-tenths of the world's supply of discouragement? You will probably answer dyspepsia. You are wrong. That is the source of one-tenth. The nine-tenths are due to pride and to the most cowardly species of pride, human respect. If a man slips and falls on the side-walk, he looks around to find out whether he has been seen. If not, he brushes himself off, goes on his way and forgets all about the fall. But if one person saw him, and especially if many witnessed his plight, he will rehearse the different details of it to himself, caricature every part of it as it appears to others, will indulge in profanity, or be tempted to, will memorialize the newspapers, the mayor, the city commissioners, will make his fall a perpetual grievance, and declare emphatically, finally, with clenched fist and red face, that he will never expose himself to such a ludicrous mishap again. He is discouraged from walking because the crowd laughed. Now, is not that a parable giving the history of most discouragement ?"

7. The Life of St. Columba. By F. A. Forbes. London: James Brodie and Co. (Price 1s. net.)

This little book forms part of a series entitled "Standardbearers of the Faith." Now-a-days shops are full of child

ren's books in which the lives of great men are told in a way that appeals mostly to the imagination. This series is designed in imitation of such lives. Its object is to make the saints as familiar to children as are the other great men of history to place God's heroes in their eyes on a level with the heroes of the world. We have not seen the other numbers. of the series (they include St. Ignatius and St. Catherine of Sienna by the same author), but this book gives us a high opinion of the rest. It is admirable in every respect. The task was, of course, in a certain sense an easy one; for St. Columba is of all saints one of the most romantic; but the author has made the most of her opportunities. The picture she draws of the stormy days of the saint's youth, and even more perhaps, that of the saint in his old age, when all his nature has been changed into mercy and love, is just such a one as would appeal to children. The book is tastefully produced and has several illustrations.

8. The Solitaries of the Sambuca. By Daniel Mauldsley. London: Burns and Oates, Ltd. (Price 5s. net.)

Mr. Montgomery Carmichael has brought out this book by his friend Daniel Mauldsley' who gives in it an account of his experiences, when, imitating a friend of his, he lived as a solitary in the Italian hills. The author writes as a Catholic; yet the tone of the book does not sound with the note of the true hermit. The true Catholic solitary of the Church's tradition would in describing his life (if he were forced to describe it) dwell, it seems to us, rather on the substance of his thoughts than on the material circumstances of his life. The author seems to be an enthusiast not for the things which are sought in solitude but for the glories of solitude in itself. This seems a false note. The book is well and clearly written and the description of the mountain solitude suggests much feeling for natural beauty and sense of literary style.

9. William Pardow of the Company of Jesus. By Justine Ward. London: Longmans, Green and Co. (Price 6s. net.)

Mrs. Ward has given us a very interesting and well-written biography of this eminent American Jesuit whose death took place five years ago. Father O'Brien Pardow was not only a man of God but a man entirely for God. From childhood

till the moment he lay down to die, spent and prematurely worn out, he seemed to have one thought ever before him, the helping on of the Cause of Christ. Though he held some of the highest offices in the Society-he was Rector, Instructor of Tertians, and Provincial-Father Pardow will be best remembered as a preacher. He had to a notable degree the power of at once gripping the attention of his audience and making them think for themselves. Yet in the beginning of his career he had none of the physical gifts which go to the making of an attractive public speaker. "He was small, frail in appearance, and saved from insignificance only by his exceeding earnestness and energy. His gestures were awkward, his voice shrill, monotonous and dreary, and he did not seem to know what to do with his hands and feet.”

66

The success which came to him in later years was won laboriously, at the price of incredible pains and perseverance, not alone by the steady cultivation of the gifts he seemed to lack, but perhaps more by keeping in view the saying of a famous Irish writer: "There is no eloquence unless there is a Man behind the speech; preaching can have little effect except there is a saint behind the sermon." The Man was behind the spoken word, and Father Pardow meant that the saint should be there also. "I have heard him preach a hundred and sixty-three conferences in one year," remarked a distinguished colleague, "and have never heard him say a single word that he did not practise himself." The final call found the soldier of Christ faithful at his post. "My work is done," he said, "and I am ready. Thank God for the summons, it has been a hard struggle." He died as he lived, fearless even in the face of death. The lesson of his life will not be lost on those who read these pages. Life was in his eyes a gift from God, to be traded with till He came-God's greater glory and service, though it cost body and soul many a pang, the sole aim of that life. With this principle firmly fixed in his mind, he threw himself into the thick of the fight raging round his King's Standard, with an energy and enthusiasm which never flagged. One cannot lay down the record of this true man and saintly priest without a feeling of gratitude to God for having lent to the world a soul of such heroic mould.