SOME NEW BOOKS

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1. The Catholic's Ready Answer. By Rev. M. P. Hill, S.J. New York: Benziger Bros. (Price 7s. 6d. net.) This substantial volume of five hundred pages was intended at first to be simply a translation of the Modern A.B.C.' by Father F. X. Brors, S.J., published not many years ago, which attained great popularity among German Catholics and was freely used as an arsenal from which to draw weapons for use in religious controversy. But Father Hill found it well to make various alterations, some omissions and many additions, so as to render the work of more service in the polemics of English-speaking countries. The matter is arranged alphabetically, according to headings. The objection of opponents to the doctrine is put briefly. The answers run in some cases to many pages, and they will be found clear, orderly, to the point; and although they are concise yet they have a fulness that is quite satisfactory. The work forms in this way a fairly complete treatise on the evidences of religion. Further, it is not altogether confined to controversy; it supplies solutions to many of the difficult questions regarding the duty of an individual which arise out of the circumstances of our present day life, questions, for example, connected with Mixed Marriages, Labour Unions, Freemasonry. The work is provided with a very full table of contents, and a rather short index. It will be found very useful not only by those whose duty it is to enter into controversy or to instruct converts or young people in religious doctrine, but also by those of the intelligent laity who realize that a clear knowledge of the Catholic position is a necessary part of a complete education.

2. The War and the Prophets. By Herbert Thurston, S.J. London: Burns and Oates, Ltd. (Price 2s. 6d. net.) A large part of this book is devoted to prophecies circulated regarding the present war or other events of modern Euro

pean history. Some of them are plausible enough to read and no doubt have gained the belief of many, especially those that are attributed to persons of high repute for sanctity-that, for example, ascribed to the Curé D'Ars. No one familiar with Father Thurston's writings need be told that he is thoroughly sceptical about prophecies of the kind; and his destructive criticism is so effective that his readers will tend to become hardly less suspicious of such compositions. He says in his Preface, "Of the many hundred predictions recorded in the various collections which I have examined almost all have been long ago refuted by the actual course of events. I have, in fact, come across but one, and that a prophecy to which attention has not hitherto been directed, which seems to me to retain the least semblance of intrinsic probability." The prophecy in question foretells a heavy cross for our present Holy Father and the subsequent triumph of the Church; and it was uttered, apparently, by a Carmelite nun, Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified, who died 1878. It is dealt with fully, pp. 80-89. A vigorous chapter is devoted to "The So-called Prophecy of St. Malachy' about the Popes, and the last chapter considers some prophecies regarding The Fate of England and the Coming of Anti-christ.' Some very interesting points about the latter question are brought together.

3. In A Book of Answered Prayers Olive Katharine Parr tells us how her prayers were strikingly answered on many occasions, occasions of greater or less moment: how in her early literary days she received the precise sum needed to purchase her typewriter (she confides to us that she was very poor then, is not rich now, and hopes she never will be); how her well-known and touching story "A RedHanded Saint" was accepted by Messrs. Washbourne after it had been refused by all publishers for over two years; how she secured a longed-for cottage at Venton and was enabled to build a little chapel as a wing to it; how she was able to found a weekly Mass there when the editor of the Irish Rosary accepted her manuscript "The Little Cardinal" which had for ten years been suffering rejection. These are but a few of the incidents. The book is brightly and pleasantly written, and is published by Messrs. Wash

bourne at one and sixpence. Miss Parr has also given us Robert Hugh Benson, An Appreciation, daintily produced by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. and costing three and sixpence, net. It is a brief but a loving, reverent and enthusiastic tribute to her dead friend, whom she pictures partly as a writer but chiefly as a priest. Here again, as in the former book, the personal note is prominent; some will like it all the better on this account, and others, not so well.

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4. Miralda, a story of Cuba, adapted from the German of Wilhelm Herchenbach, by Katherine Johnston. York: Benziger Brothers. (Price 1s. 3d. net.)

This is a pretty tale of an unsuccessful rising, the aim of which was to throw off the Spanish yoke in Cuba, and we have recounted the hair-breadth escapes of some of the conspirators, escapes aided and abetted by the loyal little freed slave, Miralda. The story goes on to tell of the strenuous exertions of the heroine to obtain enough money to purchase the freedom of her father, Gabriel, a slave, and how she succeeded. Incidentally, we get interesting accounts of Cuban life and manners, including a description of a sugarcane harvest, and a merry-making attending it, a hunt in the sand for turtles' eggs, and the pursuit and killing of a shark. This book will be specially interesting to boys bringing in as it does, so many thrilling situations, and we have no hesitation in recommending it to them.

Another volume of the same series of Messrs. Benziger is The Mad Knight, a merry tale for young people, adapted from the German of Otto V. Schachung, by K. Denver, in which our old friends, Don Quixote of La Mancha, and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, are very suitably introduced to the notice of our young people. The adventures of this gallant pair are condensed and presented to the youthful reader in simple, and amusing language; and the book ought to be a welcome addition to school libraries; it will be eagerly perused by juveniles into whose hands it falls.

5. The Friar Preacher. Yesterday and To-day. Translated from the French of Père Jacquin, O.P., by Father Hugh Pope, O.P. London: R. and T. Washbourne. (Price 2s. net.)

This little work is dedicated to "Those Young Men who

Feel a Call to the Religious Life," and it sets forth for their benefit first the origin and definite organization of the Dominican Order, and then its object-which is declared to be theological doctrinal teaching, whether in the pulpit or in the professor's chair, and the means employed to attain that object-study, prayer and the various observances of religious life. The last two chapters deal with the system of government in the order and with the lay-brethren. The book is clearly and concisely written, and will, please God, influence many to devote themselves to God's work in the splendid order that has planted and watered the seed of the Faith for close on seven centuries.

6. The Catholic Educational Year-Book. Edited by B. Essington Fay. London: The Art and Book Co., Ltd.

(Price 1s. 6d.)

A work such as this is sure to be useful to a great many persons interested in Catholic schools and colleges in Great Britain for which island it is primarily intended, although about thirty pages are given to Irish schools. The list of schools with brief particulars is given alphabetically for each diocese; and among other sections there is a list of managers and teachers. The pages number close on 500, and the price is obviously moderate.

7. Like unto a Merchant. By Mary Agatha Gray. New York: Benziger Bros. (Price 1 doll. 35 cents.)

This pleasant and well-written story tells of the search for the "Pearl of Great Price" by the Vicar of Barstow, and the greater number of his parishioners who have many contrasting shades of religious opinion. The scene is laid in an English village; we hope there are many such villages whose inhabitants join the one true Fold in such unusual numbers and with such remarkable promptitude. The author skilfully weaves into her story answers to vexed controversial points without incurring the odium of being tiresome or even of seeming to sermonise. The unfolding of the mystery will keep the reader interested to the very last page. Besides murder and mystery, there is an episode of proverbial true love which does not run smoothly, and an unexpected ending. The book throughout has a good wholesome Catholic tone.

VOL. XLIII.-No 506.

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8. A second and enlarged edition of Father B. Kelly's Short Course of Catholic Instruction (Washbourne, 6d.) shows that the first has met with favour. This book touches in a clear and concise manner upon the chief points of Catholic doctrine and is useful not only for inquirers and for the more advanced pupils in schools, but for those too who are well instructed in their religion, inasmuch as it forms a handy manual of reference. From the same publishers comes a modest booklet entitled Why Catholics honour Mary by the Rev. Joseph H. Stewart, explaining and defending the Catholic attitude towards Mary. It enters with sympathy into Protestant difficulties and briefly and simply elucidates many points which Protestants find a stumbling block. In the final chapter is given an explanation of certain sayings of St. Alphonsus in his "Glories of Mary." One of these explanations may be used to sum up the spirit of Father Stewart's own book:-" Devotion to Our Lady is no mere accident or ornament of the Catholic Faith. She is so bound up with the primal truths of Divine Revelation-the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Communion of Saints, the doctrines of grace and of prayer--that devotion to her must be an integral part of the Christian religion."

9. Friends and Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By P. J. Chandlery, S.J., author of " Pilgrim Walks to Rome." London: R. and T. Washbourne, Ltd. (Price 2s. 6d. net.)

The devotion to the Sacred Heart is traced in this little work from the early ages of the Church down to the time of Bl. Margaret Mary and from her time to the present day, in brief notices of those who were distinguished for their practice of the devotion or for their zeal in propagating it. The matter is divided into numbered paragraphs, each as a rule devoted to one person or one episode, and the biographical or historical notice is generally supplemented by some burning word of love or some generous act or practice -some flame of the fire which the Sacred Heart kindled in these favoured souls. The paragraphs, as the author wisely declares on the third page, are not meant to be read continuously but to be pondered over in meditation, one or more