SOME NEW BOOKS 1. The Fields of Heaven. By Nora Tynan O'Mahony. London: Erskine Macdonald. (Price 1s.) A series of papers under the title Poets I have Known' appeared some years ago in our pages, one of which was devoted to Nora Tynan O'Mahony and concluded with the prophecy that when a volume of her poetry appeared it would prove to be very bright and winsome, very human and full of charm, with that wistful tenderness by which cor ad cor loquitur. Readers of The Fields of Heaven will readily admit that Father Russell's prophecy is amply made good. The wistful appealing tenderness and the human personal touch are strongly felt; so is the winsome brightness-even in spite of the fact that the insistent, often recurring note throughout the poems is one of sorrow, sorrow for her very estimable and highly gifted husband, the late John O'Mahony. The volume might almost be called an In Memoriam. But it is not a bitter or gloomy sorrow that is here sung; the pathos of loneliness is supported by the strong thoughts of Faith, is mellowed and brightened by joy in the beauty of flowers and streams and sunshine and by the sweet comfort that children bring to a mother's heart. There are some interesting points of resemblance between Mrs. O'Mahony's poetry and that of her well known and distinguished poet sister, Katharine Tynan. 2. In Father Gabriel's Garden. By Elsa Schmidt. London: Washbourne, Ltd. (Price 2s. 6d.) This will be found a very pleasant book if merely for the beauty of its gracefully expressed ideas and the great love of nature and intimate knowledge of flowers that pervade it; but its real charm lies in carrying the reader back to the ages of Faith as one by one Father Gabriel weaves his legends round the flowers in his ideal garden. A strong current of devotion runs through its every page and children especially will drink in many a pious lesson from the old French priest's winning conversations with his little friends. It is a beautiful and holy series of tales which will add to the reputation of its author as a writer of stories at once attractive and spiritual. 3. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, Spanish and English with a continuous commentary by Joseph Rickaby, S.J. London: Burns and Oates, Ltd. (Price 5s. net.) 66 Father Rickaby has given us in this little volume a most useful addition to the literature which has grown round the Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius. Indeed his commentary is so suggestive and so helpful for the better understanding of the text that one is tempted to wish that the Spanish version had been altogether omitted thus leaving room for a more extended commentary in Father Rickaby's manner. As is well known, the book of the "Spiritual Exercises" is not intended for use as a book of spiritual reading but as a spiritual drill-book-the "Exercises" are to be made" not merely read through. A drill-instructor is needed for their use and Father Rickaby shows himself a thoroughly competent and skilful one. Although, as he modestly and frankly tells us in his Editorial, he does not "expect his views to commend themselves to every reader," yet he may rest assured that he has succeeded in providing an edition of the "Exercises" fully in harmony with the spirit of their author. Those who are long familiar with the work of St. Ignatius and with the labours of previous commentators will find in this edition new things as well as old presented in a most attractive form, and for a beginner we know of no commentator more helpful and more certain to develop on right lines the ideas of the saintly author. 4. The multiplication of good penny booklets is a thing to rejoice over heartily. They only cost a penny, it is true, and are only booklets, but for all that they are one of the most important forms of publication at the present day. They reach a vast number of people, and have correspondingly wide powers of good influence. We are glad to see among the recent penny issues of the enterprising Irish Messenger Office (5 Great Denmark-street, Dublin) two of the admirable lectures of the Rev. Peter Finlay, S.J., The Church and Secular Education, and Is One Religion as Good as Another? Two others from the same office are: The Young Men of France and the War by the Comtesse de Courson and How Eileen Learned to Keep House by E. Leahy-the latter a very practical manual of domestic economy in the appetising form of a story. From the Irish Catholic Truth Society we have, besides a sixpenny cloth edition of Pius X. and Benedict XV. by R. J. Kelly, K.C., the following penny numbers: Property: Its Distribution. By M. Christie, B.A. The Mother of Jesus and St. Veronica. By "Reparation." And St. Veronica; or Passiontide in Jerusalem. By M. M. Tales of the Night Shelter. Emerald Library of Short Stories, No. 12. By E. F. Kelly. By Alice Dease. By Joseph M. Flood, The list which follows of new booklets from the English Catholic Truth Society shows the predominating interest taken by the Society in Apologetics. A new continuity work, The Anglican Claim to be Catholic, by C. G. Mortimer, B.A., costs threepence; the rest cost the usual penny: The Protestant Platform by G. Elliot Anstruther. Some Protestant Historians on John Knox by a Scottish Priest. Dialogues of Defence: I. by Rev. Edmund Lester, S.J. Catholic Faith and Practice in Mediaeval England by H. J. Kilduff. The Pope and the War by His Eminence Cardinal Bourne. The Sisters of Notre Dame. Dr. Agnes McLaren by Mary Ryan, M.A. THE IRISH MONTHLY NOVEMBER, 1915 A MODERN BAYARD By ETHEL HERBERT-SMITH, Author of "The Pardon of Fire," "The Gift of the Blessed One," etc. CHAPTER I. The uncertainty was at an end, and people now knew the worst. For days France had been in the throes of suspense, hoping against hope that the war cloud might disperse, and yet, hour by hour, the conviction had steadily grown that once again Germany meant to come to grips, and if possible crush for all time her power and freedom. The day was close and sultry, and a shimmering heat brooded over the cornfields, splashed here and there with flaming poppies, which stood erect and rigid, as if bidding defiance to ruthless invaders of the peaceful scene. The village of Beaupré-for one can hardly dignify it by the name of town, although its inhabitants always speak of it as a petite ville'-had finished its midday meal an hour or more ago, and the air was redolent with that peculiar VOL. XLIII.-No. 509. 51 combination of burnt wood and garlic, so utterly un-English, which is always associated in one's mind with the Latin race. From every house and cottage hurried men and women, and even the school-teachers in the excitement of the moment left their work, and ran down the street followed by their pupils, who-delighted at an interruption to their lessons-tumbled over each other in their eagerness to see the notice, still wet with paste, which had been affixed to the door of the Mairie, ordering full and immediate mobilization. If Germany meant business, well, France was ready, and would fight to the death, resisting the mailed fist of the enemy. It was a typical French crowd, chattering and gesticulating, while, here and there, tears rolled down the cheeks of a woman, as she realized the meaning of the placard with its big black lettering. "Would that I were not too old to serve my country!" exclaimed Pierre Chauvet, the burly inn-keeper of the Couronne d'Or, as he turned to the wiry little grocer who, in big white apron, had rushed to the scene, still grasping the scoop with which he had been carefully weighing sugar. 66 You, Louis, know nothing of the terrible days of 1870," he continued, "for I was but a youth with the blood surging madly through my veins when I marched to Sedan, yet today yon paper has set my old heart throbbing no less quickly. Canaille, that is what they are Louis. Well, well, it is the younger ones who must go this time, and may they for ever crush the Prussians, hein!" and he finished up with a contemptuous snort, as he turned his portly form to scan the gathering crowd. "There is not much time to lose, as we have to join tomorrow," retorted his companion, "but luckily Victoire can manage the business as well as I can. "Vive la Patrie! Vive la Liberté, l'Egalité, la Fraternité!" Then, giving a jerk with the sugar scoop over his shoulder, he added, "See! there is Suzanne Thibant and her boy! Poor soul! happily for her she need not part with Jean Philippe; but if this order had come a fortnight ago, he must have gone with the rest of us." |