the revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush and the revelation of God to the world through Jesus. Religion is a progressive thing. THE religion of the new democracy not only demands that each man shall live his own life, but that he give up his own life that others may live. The time has come for the Church to promote a great crusade with this slogan: "He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." The Lord's Prayer is a social prayer. There isn't a single "I" or "my" in the entire petition. From the very first word "Our"-it is a collective appeal. "Give us this day our daily bread." "Forgive us our trespasses." "Lead us not into temptation." "Deliver us from evil." "I will not see thy face except thy brother be with thee" may be literally applied to the one who offers the Lord's Prayer as his petition. money to carry on its work under present conditions, but money threatens some day to become the curse of the Church just as it has proved to be the curse of many another institution. It does not need more members. It is not a question of whether the Church is gaining or losing in membership, for the actual power of an organization is never determined by mere numbers. It is a question of whether it is gaining the right kind of members. Gideon's band of a few hundred was far more effective than the army of thousands of half-hearted soldiers which preceded it. That minis⚫ter who said that they had been having a great revival in his church, not because so many had been added to his church, but because so many had been getting out, spoke a solemn truth. It does not need more ministers, despite the cry of theological schools and church boards for more recruits. There are now over 200,000 ministers in this country. What is needed is not more ministers, but better ministers, real interpreters and prophets of the modern day. It does not need more organization. There are already too many societies in the Church. It requires too much energy and vitality to keep the machinery going. One of the severest and most justifiable criticisms of the Church is that it is over-organized. It needs to be more simple and more direct. It needs to touch the life of the community more than it is now doing. It does not chiefly need more sociability, nor more philanthropy, nor more efficiency. It needs all of these, but, above all, it needs men and women who are ready to pay the price of discipleship. More than all these, it needs the discipline of persecution because it has dared go contrary to the accepted order of things when these things are wrong. Nothing would make the Church grow in influence quite so much as to be persecuted for "righteousness' sake." HERE are some churches and individ THER uals who seek to justify their indifference to the social situation by the Scripture: "I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." It is unfortunate that they have narrowed this text to a mere theological definition. What does "Jesus. crucified" signify if it doesn't mean service and sacrifice and suffering? The exponents of social service might well take the cross as an emblem of their philosophy, for it is more nearly typical of what they believe than any other symbol: The deepest meaning of the cross finds its expression in unselfish devotion to all the needs of men. Edited by EDMUND PEARSON Corralling These Colts of Pegasus L By ARTHUR GUITERMAN ET us start a new literary game. We'll read out the titles of modern books of verse to the assembled intelligentsia, who must try to guess from the titles the nature and contents of the books to which they appertain. Try it. 1 What, for instance, would you make of "Not Poppy," which adorns the jacket of Virginia Moore's first and decidedly appealing book of verse? One reviewer pardonably misread the title, "Hot Poppy," which would have been. equally modern and appropriate. On turning a few leaves, you will discover that the title was taken from a quotation from Othello, beginning, Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world. A pleasant device is this of abbreviated quotation, recalling the tale of the preacher who-in the remote past when, not bobbing the hair, but piling it high on the head was the feminine practice that was threatening civilization-was heard to announce from the pulpit, "The text of my discourse will be, 'Topknot come down!' When asked where the text was to be found, he referred inquirers to Matthew xxiv, 17, "Let him that is on the housetop not come down." Nevertheless Miss Moore can both write and sing. There is originality and delight in the allusion to a baby as 3 pense of Joseph Auslander, a full-fledged poet whose proved wings are growing still stronger and surer. You will hardly infer what "Cyclops' Eye" indicates; but when you explore the book you will find that this title is likewise that of one of the last poems, wherein the visual organ peculiar to the race of Polyphemus is parenthetically described as "an Eye that did not see so much as feel." From the first poem, "Steel," onward, the book has plenty of powerful and varied stuff, with occasional unnecessary obscurities. It is rather surprising to find a poet with so strong a feeling for classical mythology stressing "Ixion" on the first instead of the second syllable in order to make a near-rhyme with "done." Yet much worse offenses will be forgiven Mr. Auslander if he can persuade his young contemporaries to take his own vow: I will not make a sonnet from 6 5 Marie Emilie Gilchrist's title, "Wide Pastures," is in harmony with the atmosphere of many of her outdoor poems. Caresse Crosby's "Graven Images" is non-committal. Georgiana Thayer's "Eve Passes" repeats the title of an ingratiating little poem in the collection, and measurably suggests the truth that in the book a woman is speaking as a woman. H. Thompson Rich's "I Come Singing" is misleading, as the author comes freeversing; but he does sing a little before he goes. Edward Davison's "Harvest of Youth" is precisely that; and there is fine promise in the first book of this young Englishman, now domiciled here at Vassar College. Vachel Lindsay's "Going-to-the-Stars" is, to speak of the book as well as the title, far below the poet's splendid best; and the author's home-made illustrations are scratchy 8 libels of the mountains and flowers that they are intended to suggest. That lively little Irish poet James Stephens himself explains why his recent collection is called "A Poetry Recital."" It consists of poems that experience has proved can be effectively read to audiences; and if you haven't been a component of one of those audiences you have missed something, especially the epitome of cathood in "The Fur Coat" and the fine completeness of the curse of the bibulous old bard in "Righteous Anger." For those interested in learning more of the work of the author of that famous lyric "The Rosary" the Dial Press has reprinted "The Poems of Robert Cameron Rogers." 11 What Thomas Moult appraises as "The Best Poems of 1925"" are published in a book of that title. He is probably right as frequently as most anthologists. "Yesterday and Today,"" an anthology compiled by Louis Untermeyer, evidences more than ordinary thought, care, and research by the compiler to make the book suitable and valuable for use in schools. It contains an exceptionally original selection from poets both of yesterday and of to-day, and is notable for its commendably liberal inclusions from the poems of Emily Dickinson. 15 David Morton's "The Sonnet Today and Yesterday"" is not an exhaustive discussion of its theme, but is in the nature of a pleasant and informing chat, with a few modern instances chosen to indicate how wide is the field of the adventurous sonneteer. In "Poets and Their Art" Harriet Monroe discusses poems and their makers, most of the latter being contemporary producers of what she has been pleased to extol as "the new poetry," with a few poets of the days when poetry was not praised or condemned as being "new" or "old," but was merely poetry. Miss Monroe's com 10 A Poetry Recital. By James Stephens. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.75. 11 The Poems of Robert Cameron Rogers. The Dial Press, New York. $2.50. 12 The Best Poems of 1925. Selected by Thomas Moult. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York. $2. 13 Yesterday and Today. Compiled by Louis Untermeyer. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York. 14 The Sonnet Today and Yesterday. By David Morton. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Poets and Their Art. By Harriet Monroe. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2.50. ments on such themes are always worth attention, and if she has her prejudices, let us grant that she has earned her right to them: 16 If you consider Mr. Theodore Dreiser an infallible critic of lyric drama, you may believe that George Sterling's "Lilith" is a work of such art and significance that Euripides, Eschylus, Shakespeare, and Shelley (as catalogued) had best look to their laurels. If you ask me, I think that Mr. Dreiser is a friend of Mr. Sterling, and that "Lilith" is an interesting dramatic poem or poetic play, containing passages worthy of Mr. Sterling's deservedly high reputation. 16 Lilith. By George Sterling. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50. Fiction OBERLIN'S THREE STAGES. By Jacob Wassermann. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York. $2.50. It "German-it is a remote conception. is far, far away. To be a German is as if one were in the midst of a wild, incoherent dream; there is no body, no boundaries, no limit. It is like water in the dark: it runs and runs, and no one knows where; it speaks and speaks, and no one knows what." To an entirely respectful reviewer, wonidering how, without apparent self-con demnation as either stupid or flippant, it was going to be possible to express the honest emotions aroused by the latest work of a deservedly distinguished author, these words upon the concluding page of "Oberlin's Three Stages" came as a blessed relief. They suffice. Not all Germans all the time, nor many Germans much of the time, but some Germans some of the time, are exactly like that; and this time so is Jacob Wassermann. The dream in this instance, it may be added, has more than a touch of nightmare; and it feels good at the end to give one's self a shake, realize that one is clothed, clean, and awake, and let in the sun. THE GREAT VALLEY. By Mary Johnston. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $2. In her latest novel Mary Johnston has again exploited pioneer American life, with which she is so familiar. This story takes the Scotch Presbyterian minister, John Selkirk, and his family from Old Virginia, where they have just landed, to the then "Far, Far West," known as the Shenando country or the Great Valley lying between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains. When Stephen Trabue, the Huguenot, has wagoned this party of nine over the Blue Ridge and landed them safely in Burke's Tract with their farm implements and other "needments," and the author has considerately skipped six years to give them time to build their log cabins and grist mills and to plant their maize fields, we are introduced to life and romance in the New Virginia in the middle of the eighteenth century. We note that Richmond, from which these travelers started on their rough and perilous journey, was founded nearly two hundred years ago by Colonel William Byrd, ancestor of Lieutenant-Commander Richard E. Byrd, who lately flew over the North Pole-the spirit of adventure his by right of inheritance from these intrepid forefathers. 'The Shenando country, where buffalo and Indians once roamed, was at this time, for some unknown reason, deserted by both, so Off for "My Place in Zermont and I bought it for the Price of a cheap automobile What a wealth of the joys of living is suggested by the words "Summer Home"! A little domain in Vacation Land, all your own, where fond dreams may come to life-is waiting just around the corner, here in Vermont. And all so easily within your reach-so accessible and so inexpensive! This home of yours-only a few hours from the scenes of your busy activitiesneed no longer be a castle in the air." In Vermont are literally thousands of places, delightfully located by stream or lake, on view-commanding hills or near centers of vacation activity-places easy to own, easy to maintain. Many of these places are now small farms, located, more for their marvelous scenic setting than for serious agricultural pursuits. IDEAL FOR SUMMER HOMES Vermont is peculiarly adapted to "summer homes" development. Far enough from the busy industrial centers to maintain forever her unspoiled natural beauty, Vermont, by virtue of her versatile scenic attractions and marvelous summer climate, offers every ingredient for living the life that rejuvenates. Whether your fancy turns to the pretentious summer estate or the modest homey cottage your only confusion will be in finding so much in Vermont from which to choose. YOU MUST COME AND SEE Make your vacation trip this summer a home-hunting expedition. That, in itself, will provide the thrill that is different. Plan a Vermont trip. Write for the Vermont books mentioned above, and wander about at your leisure. You'll agree that only a part of the story about your "place in Vermont" can be told in words. STOPS Hundreds of inexpensive places just waiting for the magic AND PREVENTS TRAVEL SICKNESS and all dizziness faintness and stomach disorders caused by the motion of sea, train, auto,car or air travel THE MOTHERSILL REMEDY CO. LTD. NEW YORK, MONTREAL, LONDON, PARIS.. In writing to the above advertisers please mention The Outlook Recognizing the trend toward "summer homes" development, the State of Vermont has collected and published in book form information regarding properties for sale. This official book," Farms and Summer Homes for Sale," will be mailed free to those interested in owning their own summer home. Over five hundred places are described. These are typical of hundreds more that you will see in your travels if you visit Vermont this summer. Vermont Publicity Bureau, Montpelier, Vermont, and Vermont State Chamber of Commerce, Burlington, Vermont 25. Years in use no drugs no harm MOTHERSILIES SEASICK REMEDY View the Volcano in Safety Golf Surfboarding Snow-capped mountains and yucca-studded And HAWAII-scenic climax of this perfect holiday-is only five or six days beyond. Sail direct from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle or Vancouver. Come back by another route if you like. $300 or $400 additional will cover every expense of round trip from Pacific Coast, including hotels, a visit to Kilauea Volcano, amusements and sightseeing. Write today for all booklets. Hawaii TOURIST BUREAU 223 MCCANN BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. 352 FORT STREET, HONOLULU, HAWAII, U. S. A. these early settlers had little to fear but the wild creatures from the forest. Elizabeth Selkirk, the heroine, but eleven when the family crossed the Blue Ridge-weeping for homesickness, one night, when lying awake in the open, she watches a blue star walk across the sky-in due time marries Conan Burke, son of the owner of. Burke's Tract. But after comfortably settling themselves there, they are moved to push still farther into the wilderness with their children and John Selkirk, willing to leave behind him certain parishioners in his church who made life hateful to him because he did not believe in the damnation of unbaptized babies. But the French and Indian War was at hand, and New England itself furnished no direr tales of terror than did New Virginia during the Seven Years' War. The Shawnees made havoc in the pleasant valley with fire and slaughter and plunder, and furnish stirring incidents for Miss Johnston's slow-moving but impressive story. THE LOVE OF MADEMOISELLE. By George Gibbs. $2. D. Appleton & Co., New York. France and Florida after the St. Bartholomew Massacre, with an English hero, a French heroine, and a Spanish villain. Romantic and with a cloak-and-sword swagger. THE OLD HOME TOWN. By Rupert Hughes. Harper & Brothers, New York. $2. Mr. Rupert Hughes is at his worst and best in dealing with sophisticated or romanticized persons placed in situations of peril or emotional stress. In such tales his genuine gift of clear and swift narrative and vivid superficial characterization count for all they are worth, and perhaps more. But these gifts are sadly insufficient in presenting the home folk of "The Old Home Town." Mr. Hughes obviously tries hard, but the obliterative emphasis with which he renders their countrified ways and intellectual crudities soon becomes tiresome, and both the humor and the pathos are of a stock-in-trade type. Even the great dam in the background is more a stage property than the vital matter it was meant to be. PLUPY, BEANY & PEWT: CONTRACTORS. By Henry A. Shute. Dorrance & Co., Philadelphia. $2. When Judge Shute wrote "The Real Diary of a Real Boy" every one said that it was right funny, but he couldn't do it again. This is now the sixth or eighth time he has done it again, and the present series is just as funny as its predecessors. Biography AMERICA GIVE ME A CHANCE! By Edward W. Bok. Illustrated by Worth Brehm. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.50. Another brew from the leaves of "The Americanization of Edward Bok." Six copyright dates are necessary to cover the obligations of this "story of a boy for a boy" to that and Mr. Bok's other volumes of reminiscence. It is entirely in a complimentary sense that one may say that there is nothing in "The Americanization" or any of, the others that should be beyond the comprehension of a modern boy of ordinary intelligence. Mr. Bok's style has the clarity of crystal, and it is no part of his power or intention to be dull. By the way, how many people besides Mr. Bok attended that unique symphony concert at which the Philadelphia Orchestra played the "Unfinished" symphony "by Schumann"? THE LIFE OF RACINE. By Mary Duclaux. Harper & Brothers, New York. $4. Under the frontispiece portrait that invariably adorns four-dollar biographies is a quotation from Dostoievsky, "Que nous le voulions ou non, c'est un grand poète." Not absolutely unqualified praise, but let us bow to Miss Duclaux; an author attempting to interest the American public in Jean Racine in the year 1926 has her work cut out for her. It is moderately safe to say that for fully, ninety-six per cent of the people whose education has entailed the reading of "Phèdre" or "Andromaque" Jean Racine remains one of the most colossal stuffed shirts in literature. There is nothing in English history or in English thought to compare with the artificiality of French letters under-Louis XIV. Alexander Pope might have taken Corneille or Racine at their true worth, but it is nearly as hard for us to appreciate Javanese temple dancers as it is to find the beauty that lies in their plush-covered verses. Every book, every manifestation of our life to-day, leads directly away from the mental attitude necessary to weep for a heroine dying in rhyming couplets. Miss Duclaux has acquired that attitude for herself. Racine is a fearfully important person to her, but for one reason or another the thing gets cold before it reaches the reader. There is the confusion of dates and incident that is the curse of books on this period. She tried to cover too big a field; the careless will still think that Jansenism has something to do with Swedish exercises, and that every woman in France was the king's mistress. Still she gives a number of Racine's letters, which are charming. Only in his letters does the Court poet unbutton himself, and Miss Duclaux translates them particularly well. EUROPE AND THE EAST. By Norman Dwight Harris, Professor of Diplomacy and Interna-. tional Law, Northwestern University. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. $5. The author undertakes "to relate the a story of European expansion and intervention in Asia and the Pacific Ocean in one concise and readable volume, so that the entire movement may be seen in its proper perspective and so that the main facts will be available to students of international a politics and to intelligent readers who desire to understand present-day movements and conditions in the East." The effort is a really notable one, but it falls considerably short of success. Obviously, Professor Harris's reading is immense, and his factish errors are few; but he has by no means mastered his immense material. This is particularly true of the chapters dealing with China and Japan, the most important regions surveyed. As a political philosopher Professor Harris is naïve and preachy. His attitude toward this humorously constructed world does credit to his heart, but not to his head. HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HEART OF THE SOUTH. By Dunbar Rowland. 2 vols. Illustrated. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago. Here are two volumes, 104 by 74 inches in height and breadth, with 1,638 pages of print, by the Director of the Mississippi State Department of Archives and History. If there is any question concerning Mississippi that is not somewhere answered in the work, one wonders what it may be. From the legends of the aborigines to the present state of industrial progress, from the oratorical flights of ante-bellum statesmen to the ravages of the boll-weevil-all are here, and each item is readily discoverable by means of a good index. A work indicating copious industry and revealing a somewhat exalted degree of pride in most things (the carpetbag régime is of course excepted) relating to the Magnolia State. THE HISTORIAN AND HISTORICAL EVI DENCE. By Allen Johnson. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $2. In the small compass of 176 pages Professor Johnson has packed a wealth of luminous comment on the problems of the historian. Primarily he deals with the character of evidence and with the caution that must be observed in determining its value. The fallibility of eye-witnesses, the prejudices or sinister motives of second In writing to the above advertiser please mention The Outlook E and narrators, the wiles of propagandists, The knavery of plagiarists and forgers, and he mischievousness of hoaxers, along with he too strong predilections of the historian himself, make common cause against the yriting of perfect history. There is a brief lance, not over-friendly, at the "new" hisory and the "new" biography; and the book closes with an admonitory note in behalf of more and ever more scrutiny in the xamination of material and of patient exctness in recording the result. It is a vork of fine scholarship, felicitously exDressed. Essays and Criticism BUCOLIC ATTITUDE. By Water Prichard Eaton. Duffield & Co., New York. $1. While Mr. Eaton does inveigh scandalusly against cities, and especially the best beloved one, his bucolic ways have lain in uch pleasant places that we are enchanted o read of them. Sharply, yet poetically, he draws that old house and garden of his, set in the deep country, and remodeled and ended by his own enthusiasic hands. Mr. Eaton was for years a dramatic critic, and we touch his ability in the description of enting his first house. "We had no fear," he says, "of Calvinistic ghosts. Behind he house we found an old, old garden, the Foses gone to a lush tangle of pink briers. We talked to the gardener. He was of an ndefinite age with a pure Celtic eye. 'Your garden looks well,' we said. 'It does, surely,' he replied. I cannot put into print the rhythm of that brief sentence, nor the orogue. But you'll know it if you ever saw Synge play at the Abbey Theatre. "Can we get the gardener with the place?' we asked. "You can't get the place without him,' was the reply." That was the beginning of the bucolic attitude. Edited Houghton EDITORIALS OF LAFCADIO HEARN. by Charles Woodward Hutson. Mifflin Company, Boston. $3. The digging into the mine of Lafcadio Hearn's career in American journalism continues to be good. Mr. Hutson's pick and shovel have delved deeply into the files of the "Item" and "Times Democrat" of New Orleans, and have brought much of interest and value to the surface. Editorial merit at the day was high. It had become a tradition in New Orleans, whose journals ranked far into the modern period as superior organs of opinion and expression. The writings culled from Hearn's contributions show great variety, and the engaging touch of the genius who penned them shows brilliantly. Many of the topics were exotic, as was the man who wrote on them. His descriptive powers came into full play. To read "Rainbow Birds" is to revel in the colorful aviaries of tropic forests, while his rare literary sense comes clearly to the surface in considering "A French Translation of Edgar Poe." In all, the text of eighty editorials is reproduced. To one with the responsibility of producing a "page" they bring a sense of envy. Philosophy THOBBING: A SEAT AT THE CIRCUS OF THE INTELLECT. By Henshaw Ward. The BobbsMerrill Company, Indianapolis. $3.50. "Thobbing" is a Lewis Carroll sort of word, fashioned by the author to combine the sense of thinking without curiosity, holding an opinion because one likes it and believing what is handy. It is much the same thing as Professor Conklin's "wishful thinking," and not greatly different from Professor Robinson's "rationalizing." There is plenty of it in this sad old world, and any one who can shock us into a better use of our minds is a benefactor. UnforItunately, the author reveals himself to be quite as accomplished a "thobber" as any of the horrible examples he brings to our attention. Though often keen and witty, he is oftener merely smart and cocky; and, though sometimes well based in his instances and generalizations, he is at other times the mere dogmatic proclaimer of quite preposterous "thobs" of his own. The seeing eye, he writes, is the sole discoverer of truth; the reason carries us into cloudland, and the "creative intellect" never created anything. It is not hard to imagine into what a complex of confusions such a postulate, if rigidly held to, will carry one. But he does not at all times adhere to it, and he reaches other confusions by following his pet prejudices. Some of the chapters, by their obvious self-contradictions, will be found highly amusing. He is himself aware, as he admits, of his propensity for indulging in the thing he ridicules; being Human, he says, he could hardly be free from it. But the jauntiness of the tone with which he makes confession awakens a certain disquietude and a suspicion that he has not shrived himself wholly from pride of intellect. Yet the book, for all its faults, will be found a stimulating and informing piece of work. From our own "thobbing" we may never entirely free ourselves; but it is an immensely helpful exercise to dwell on the outstanding examples of the "thobbing" of others. Travel BY THE CITY OF THE LONG SAND. A Tale of New China. By Alice Tisdall Hobart. The Macmillan Company, New York. $3.50. Pointed and poignant is this well-written tale of an American woman who went a bride to China with her husband, an agent for the Standard Oil Company. It is a story of duty, intellectual privation, and personal danger, without complaint, and a deep sense for what is strange, that will not breed any strong desire to tempt fortune in the Far East. Roosevelt as a Companion Rancher Knew Him Ranching with Roosevelt By By LINCOLN A. LANG With 24 Illustrations An epic of cowboy life in the Bad Lands. It pictures Roosevelt as one of the old-timers knew him -a spectacled young man whom no fractious yearling and no variety of bucking could daunt. It's the most fascinating phase of his life, in the Old West of roping, round-ups and "hell raising," of the simon-pure Dakota cowboy in action. Seasoned with pioneer wit, fired with the daredevil courage of the range, here's a book every Rooseveltian will be "dee-lighted" to own. $4.00 At All Bookstores J. B. Lippincott Co. All Motor Roads lead to NEW BRUNSWICK CANADA It's simply glorious! Good roads, like cathedral aisles, wind through miles of majestic beauty, under a canopy of cool green, scented with the fragrance of maple, cedar, pine, and fir. Through the trees glint silver lakes which invite you to camp and fish; while the salty tang of Old Ocean sings a lullaby of health and vigor. Sea, lakes, rivers-summer resorts and summer sports and cool nights-all await you in New Brunswick-with good roads radiating in every directionand the broad smile of welcome and hospitality wherever you go. FREE ROAD GUIDES and ILLUSTRATED BOOKLETS Gladly will we send you Road Guides, Booklets, information on special week-end train service, any information which will help you to make your motor tour of New Brunswick a glorious holiday. Information and literature regarding New Brunswick will be supplied by the Outlook Travel Bureau upon application, or write NEW BRUNSWICK TOURIST ASSOCIATION 13 Market Square, St. John, N. B., Canada Important to Subscribers When you notify The Outlook of a change in your address, both the old and the new address should be given. Kindly write, if possible, two weeks before the change is to take effect. TEACHERS' AGENCY The Pratt Teachers Agency 70 Fifth Avenue, New York Recommends teachers to colleges, public and private schools. EXPERT SERVICE (For other school advertisements see page 389) In writing to the above advertisers please mention The Outlook |