to the close of the Civil War-in the sad dened thoughts of her citizens, the period when the real Charleston ended. Mrs. Ravenel writes with loyalty, deep interest, and great care for important detail. She infuses into otherwise dry history the elusive charm of a vivacious and discriminating mind. Her magnetic quality collects exactly the items most interesting to the reader, and she often causes them to center about some piquant opinion of her own, or of some bygone character, with vivifying effect. Some of the most delightful glimpses are given of old Charleston society. For instance, a gentleman, being straitened in piazza room, always took his tea in summer on the broad sidewalk in front of his house. His friends would stop for a cup and a chat. "How did he manage with the people going by?" asked a modern son. "You surely do not suppose,' said the astonished father, "that any one would intrude upon the old gentleman! Of course, when people saw him, if they were not his friends, they crossed the street and walked on the other side, not to annoy him!" Just this childlike unconventionality and delicate consideration for others were the dominant characteristics of old Charleston. Many in other parts of the country think it still exists, but to the real citizens of the old town it has long passed away. This criticism of Mr. Wister's "Lady Baltimore," exemplifying the old spirit, came with the delicious Southern accent from the lips of a Charleston man: "Well, I read the begin nin'-far enough to find two men sittin' on a tombstone discussin' whether they were gentlemen or not-and that was enough. I didn't read any mo'." No real Charleston man or woman has any doubt upon such a subject. The illustrations by Vernon Howe Bailey are in full sympathy with the text. (Charleston, the Place and the People. By Mrs. St. Julien Ravenel. The Macmillan Company. $2.50.)

The Colorado

In two elaborately illustrated and finely printed volumes

Desert Mr. George Wharton James tells in detail of the picturesque features, natural characteristics, and history of that part of the Colorado desert which belongs to Southern California. The narrative includes à readable account of a journey by water along the overflow of the Colorado River which has resulted in the much-talked-of Salton Sea. This Sea, as our readers will remember from the story as told in The Outlook, threatened to become of such a size as to be injurious to the country in which it unexpectedly appeared; enormous sums have been spent in attempting to check this over

flow and make the river return to its original channel, but newspaper despatches lately printed say that the elusive stream has once more foiled these efforts and that the Sea is again increasing in size. It need not be pointed out that Mr. James has in the general subject of his work a topic full of varied interest; and he is able to bring to its treatment knowledge of much that is absolutely unknown and strange to the average American reader, although it has to do with a part of his own country. Occasionally the reader feels that the author is giving a little too much detail, and is even inclined to question whether the material might not to advantage have been presented in a single volume. The same thing may be said of the three hundred pen-and-ink sketches made by Mr. Karl Eitel, who knows the desert in its pictorial aspects thoroughly; that is to say, while the pictures are capital in themselves, the work would not have suffered if there had not been quite so many. (The Wonders of the Colorado Desert. By George Wharton James. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $5, net. Postage, 45 cents extra.)

Christianity in

the Modern World

It is refreshing to light
a book of broad
upon
views, lifting one above

the conflicting and eddying currents of the
streets into the steady breeze above the
housetops. Modern science, philosophy, and
criticism have made havoc of the theology
that fitted well the comparative ignorance of
past centuries. Many either rejoice or fear
that the primitive faith is thereby doomed.
As the lobster which has cast its old shell to
put on a larger one is for the time more
vulnerable to its foes, so is the case with
religion in a time of transit from form to
form of knowledge. But Mr. Cairns rightly
sees in such a case ""
the modern præparatio
evangelica" for a victorious advance of
creative power. Whatever has become of
the ancient dogmas fabricated to cope with
the Hellenism of the classic and the barba-
rism of the medieval age, the net result of
the past century of historic research has
been to lift into glorious pre-eminence the
person of the Founder of Christianity, as the
heavenly leader of human progress in all
that tends to ideal manhood. A new mani-
festation of divine power unquestionably
appeared in him. The impression he pro-
duced on his disciples, as reflected in their
writings, can only be explained by a larger
indwelling of God in him than in any other
member of our race. Herein lies his moral
authority for the conscience of mankind.
How this is related to the twentieth century
appears in the fact that this supreme author-

ity is brought to bear upon the great powers of the world at a time when they have come into the closest relations of influence with all the backward and weaker peoples-at a time also when these great powers themselves are menaced by social tension and trouble within themselves, growing out of economic evils that are also moral wrongs: Thus has Christianity come through a century of preparation to face a task perhaps greater than any before, and religion, as in many previous crises both before and since the Christian era, may be confidently expected to bring to birth the new and better order of the future. The line of its hope lies in its power to moralize the selfishness of the individual by transforming private interest into the ideal of a common good. Precisely this is what Jesus effected in the apostolic age by his ideal of the kingdom of heaven. Rarely, if ever, has the subject of the book been better treated. (Christianity in the Modern World. By the Rev. D. S. Cairns, M.A. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. $1.50.)

Mr. Foster's competent pen has Diplomacy in successive publications performed good public service in popularizing knowledge of an important subject-the intercourse of our own with other Governments. He has already shown the beneficent influence of American diplomacy upon international law. He now describes the character, methods, and duties of our diplomatic service from its beginning until now, and records what it has attempted, together with its achievements, failures, and mistakes-all with sufficient detail to make the narrative historically valuable, as well as interesting to the general reader. Of instances humorous and serious, illustrating good form and bad, tact and indiscretion, there is no lack, and foreign diplomats come in for their share. The mooted points of practice in foreign relations, and also between the President and the Senate in regard to these, are clearly stated-some of them now settled, others still open. Treaties and other compacts, arbitration, and international claims, are amply and instructively treated. In the simplification and the moralization of international diplomacy the United States has evidently taken a leading part. It may be doubted whether any branch of the public service has so honorable a record, and yet it has been singularly starved by the parsimony of Congress from the beginning. On Congress also it still depends whether the character of our consular service shall be made as generally creditable to us as the higher grades have become. Such books as Mr. Foster's help toward this so far as they pro

mote that compelling public opinion which Congress respects. (The Practice of Diplomacy. By John W. Foster. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. $3, net.).

The illustrator of this little The Dogs of yarn, as well as its author, War knows dog nature, and the characterizations are decidedly entertaining. The collaboration is quite perfect, and it is almost impossible to consider the story apart` from the pictures. Possibly the drawings are a bit cleverer than the text, although biography and the account of "the greatest there is much amusing matter in the dog dogs' club in the world." (The Dogs of War. By Walter Emanuel. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.25.)

Eight Secrets

We unhesitatingly pronounce this one of the best boys' books of the season, and note that it is particularly well adapted for boys who have an interest in invention and possess some share of the ingenuity which is often considered an all but universal American attribute. Apart from this, however, the tale has decided story interest and a capital plot idea in the house with its "eight secrets," which suggests the curiosity-stimulating title. Mr. Ingersoll is always to be depended upon for faithfulness to nature, and whether he deals with animals or with boys he gives us the genuine thing. The boy in this book is, to be sure, rather out of the common in his capacity for getting himself out of scrapes and for doing things in a wonderfully effective way; but while exceptional, he is by means impossible. (Eight Secrets. By Ernest Ingersoll. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50, net.) "This book is written," explains its author, Mr. Stephen Gwynn, "in praise of Ireland." It is, in fact, obviously intended to play a part in promoting the "Irish revival," that literary and linguistic movement which aims to develop in the contemporary Irishman a greater interest in his native tongue and in his country's past glories, and thereby stimulate him to earnest endeavor to make the present more worthy of the past. What Mr. Gwynn has done is to write a topographical history of Ireland. He describes its ancient ruins, monuments, and relics, its famous rivers and towns, and its "fair hills," associating each with the period or event for which it is best known. In this way he contrives to incorporate in his pages an amazing variety of information-information historical, traditional, archæological, architectural, social, economic, and literaryand thus to appeal to a far wider audience than that composed of his fellow-Irishmen.

The Fair Hills of Ireland

But it must be said that the wider audience will hardly be so interested as would have been the case had he hit upon a happier arrangement of his material. As it is, his book lends itself to desultory rather than consecutive reading. Its author wanders too rapidly and disconnectedly from theme to theme, indulges over-freely in allusion, and demands too great a previous knowledge of Irish history, legendary as well as authentic. Nevertheless, the book will be found well worth the pains necessary to read it, and should meet an especial welcome from prospective travelers in Ireland, who, we observe, Mr. Gwynn is quick to differentiate from "tourists." (The Fair Hills of Ireland. By Stephen Gwynn. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2.)

The Flight of Marie Antoinette

With an incredible minuteness of detail the story of three tragic days in the life of the French Queen is told in a large illustrated volume translated by Mrs. Rodolph Stanell. A heroic figure surrounded by weak dependents, her children, and the slow-witted, foolish King, it is no wonder that she inspired romantic devotion in the hearts of a few brave men. Among these, Count de Fersen, a Swedish nobleman, takes the first place as the Queen's deliverer. On the 20th of June, 1791, the royal party left Paris at night, and, aided by a few faithful friends, escaped as far as Varennes. There they were overtaken and brought back prisoners. This brief tragedy, the opening scene to be followed by increasing dangers and tumults, is described, with each actor concerned in it. The volume may have a useful place among historical documents, but it will be found tedious and almost trivial in its exhaustiveness. It contains a large number of prints of places and people concerned in the affair. (The Flight of Marie Antoinette. From the French. of G. Lenotre, by Mrs. Rodolph Stanell. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia: $1.50.)

The Fortune of little volume of essays and We would commend this the Republic addresses to the careful consideration of all who, by reason of the revelations of the past two or three years, are beginning to despair of the future of the United States. Rather, as Dr. Hillis in his sturdy optimism declares, should they rejoice in that these revelations bear witness to a public sentiment determined to rid the body politic of the germs of corruption and death. Searching further, as Dr. Hillis has searched in several years of travel through every State and Territory in the Union, the pessimists will find a wealth of evidence to dissi

pate their fears and convert them to his belief that "any darkness there is on the horizon is morning twilight and not evening twilight." This evidence is summed up in the growth of the religious spirit, the increasing popularization of education and culture, and the passing of sectionalism. Specifically, Dr. Hillis believes that everything points to a still greater America, greater in religion, in morals, in politics, in art, and, last though not least, in National unity. It may be objected that some of his generalizations are incapable of positive proof and are open to dispute, but nevertheless the candid reader must carry conviction from his pages, and with conviction the determination to play his part in realizing the ideals Dr. Hillis has set forth. word, his book makes for religious and intellectual betterment and for a whole-hearted, robust patriotism that must be up and doing. Dwight Hillis. The Fleming H. Revell (The Fortune of the Republic. By Newell Company. $1.20, net.)

Guide to Preachers

In a

Laymen who would qualify themselves to preach acceptably and effectively-and there is need of many such-will find this an eminently helpful book. It covers the whole subject-the Biblical, doctrinal, homiletical, rhetorical conditions of preaching and reasoning suitably to the needs of the modern world. Such subsidiary matters as language, literary style, elocution, and delivery receive proportionate treatment, and the important requisite of furnishing the layman with points helpful in his conflict with popular skepticism is not overlooked. There is no other book that so well meets the present want. The lists of books recommended are, with two exceptions, all British. Some excellent American substitutes should have had mention for the convenience of Ameri can students. (A Guide to Preachers. By Alfred E. Garvie, M.A., D.D. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. $1.50, net.)

"

The Imitation of Christ"

Every lover of this immortal book, the radiant product of a dark age, will be glad that it has found here a sympathetic and competent interpreter. A common misinterpretation of it is current; viz., that it is solely self-interested, concerned only for the good of the individual apart from his fellows. Though the distinguished name of Dean Milman is subscribed to this opinion, it is a strange misjudgment of one who wrote, "If you would be carried, carry another." That à Kempis was a thoroughgoing altruist, "in fact a socialist rather than an individualist," his commentator easily shows.

His aim must still be our aim-the Christianization of Christendom. Then atheism and lust defiled the Church. To-day selfinterest in more refined forms of materialism has enervated it. Now, as then, great changes are impending. It was the wide upwelling of the mystic religious spirit, which has left its greatest memorial in "The Imitation of Christ," that produced a reformed Church, and so "made modern Europe possible." The same antagonistic principles, now as then, confront each other; the spirit of à Kempis has still further victories to win, and his book is a book for all time, until "The City of God," the dream alike of the Stoic philosopher and the Christian theologian, is realized on earth. The mooted question of its authorship is here critically discussed, and its authenticity fairly demonstrated; its structure is analyzed, and the various sources shown from which its author drew; lists and accounts of its manuscripts and printed editions are given; many fine illustrations, including some facsimile pages, are added; full recognition is shown to the work of Thomas's fellow-mystics. In short, it is a timely and helpful commentary upon a great recreative and reconstructive movement, the soul of which, in Thomas's little book, is still "marching on." (Thomas à Kempis. By J. E. G. De Montmorency, B.A., LL.B. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.25, net.) An unpretentious but valuable Joyous little book is this, born out of an Religion experience of hard trials. It invites to the way out of darkness and storm into light and peace. Its fundamental positions are true psychologically and ethically, as well as in the mystical religious life. It may be heartily commended to all who would reach the high levels of "the life that is life indeed," where no cloud or storm is that the sun does not quickly dissipate. (Rejoice Always. By Frank S. Van Eps and Marion B. Van Eps. Published by the Authors, New York.)

Lord Acton's Lectures

Hitherto the general public has had scant opportunity to avail itself of the erudition of the late Lord Acton, celebrated as the most learned man in Europe; but now, it seems, some rich gleanings from his scholarship are at last to be given to the world. Of these the first installment is just to hand in a volume of lectures edited by Mr. John Neville Figgis and Mr. Reginald Vere Laurence. The lectures are those on modern history delivered by Lord Acton as Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, and are doubly interesting as revealing the spirit in which he approached the study of history

and the idea underlying the monumental "Cambridge Modern History" which he planned, but in the execution of which he was able to take small part. To Lord Acton, it is very evident, history is the study of studies, and it is equally evident that he regarded as of most moment the history of the centuries intervening since the Renaissance and the Reformation. To him, too, the great thing was historical thinking rather than historical learning, "solidity of criticism" rather than "plenitude of erudition." For this he found all-sufficient reason in his view of history as the interpreter of the present. In this view, too, may perhaps be found the secret of the caution that so long kept him a student instead of a teacher of history. But, as these lectures amply demonstrate, once he began to teach he did not hesitate to formulate conclusions and pass verdicts. Modern history, as he presents it to us, is a vindication of general ideas, and for him, in his maturity at least, general ideas held no terrors. Take this pregnant sentence, expressing in a few words his conception of the salient feature, the central fact, of the historic cycles since the Ref ormation: Beginning with the strongest religious movement and the most refined despotism ever known, it [the subversion of established forms of political life by the development of religious thought] has led to the superiority of politics over divinity in the life of nations, and terminates in the equal claim of every man to be unhindered by man in the fulfillment of duty to God-a doctrine laden with storm and havoc, which

is the secret essence of the Rights of Man and the indestructible soul of Revolution.” Sometimes, indeed, his generalizations must be held suspect, even in positive error. Thus, in the lecture on the American Revocolonists "were not roused by the sense of lution we must query his assertion that the intolerable wrong," and that the Declaration of Independence was too rhetorical to be scientific." But in the main there can be little question of the soundness of his views, the correctness of his attitude. And, what is not unimportant, the lectures show that, "scientific" historian though he was, he was keenly alive to the human element in history. Whether he is speaking of the discovery and exploration of the New World, of the Reformation, of the counter-Reformation, or of the Thirty Years' War, his thoughts center about some commanding figure, and through this figure reveal alike movements and forces and principles. (Lectures on Modern History. By the late Right Hon. John Edward Emerich, First Baron Acton. Edited by John Neville Figgis,

M.A., and Reginald Verc. Laurence, M.A. The Macmillan Company, New York. $3.25.) "This book," says its author, The Master the Dean of Faribault, "attempts to interpret Jesus Christ in the light of modern scholarship." It does this in the form of characterization, as Dr. Bushnell did long ago, rather than of narrative. The record of the Master's deeds may be called in question by critics; but after scholarship has given all the light it can, and all documents and institutions have borne their testimony, the personal traits that are beyond controversy shine forth. The net result is that in Jesus Christ humanity is seen divinized and God humanized. Written from a conservative standpoint, the volume is free from dogmatism, while leading up to the teaching of the Nicene Creed. Its framers, as we know, did not believe with Dean Slattery that God and man are essentially of the same nature. But this view opens the question, In what sense was Christ "more than man"? as the Dean concludes. He is content to accept it as a fact, and to leave it as a mystery. (The Master of the World. By Charles Lewis Slattery. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50, net.)

A Modern Knight

The effect of municipal right eousness is demonstrated by Mr. George in this most modern of romances. The Knight rides forth to overthrow the giant called Graft, and he wears his lady's favor on his helmet. But the mystery and the misery appear in the train of the harmless double life of the ladyat home the devoted daughter of a railway king, and in the working world a young artist in stained-glass window designing. The Knight knows her only in the second character, until the forces of evil in a misgoverned city combine against him, and he almost loses both prize of honor and love of lady. While there are parts of the story that too thinly for artistic effect disguise the especial message that Mr. George feels himself commissioned to utter, the tale is well told and worth telling. The mixture of Scotch and Irish used by the district boss could be improved, and some unnecessary bad spelling might be eliminated to the advantage of the tale. (The Romance of John Bainbridge. By Henry George, Jr. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50.)

Oxford This is a new volume in the Lang

ham Series of Art Monographs. Any one who expects to visit Oxford could do no better than to slip into his pocket this neat and handsome small volume. In many ways it would be vastly superior to the ordinary guide-book, and has also the advantage

of presenting the beautiful university town and its colleges through photographs and drawings that are truly admirable. (Oxford. By H. J. L. J. Masse, M.A. The Langham Series. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1, net.) A Western novel of average merit. (Pardner of BlosBy Frances som Range. Brown & Co., Boston. $1.50.)

Pardner of Blossom Range

Charles. Little,

come.

Sermons by a widely popular Paths to the preacher meet a wide welCity of God In the present volume the Chicago pastor impresses one with a sense of asymmetry. He seems to give disproportionate attention to the "fall" of Adam with its alleged consequences, and the fall of Chicago, with its palpable consequences, from the moral ideals of all good citizens. He is at his best in "The Lessons of the Rainbow," "The Treasures of the Snow,"

Religion and Art," "The Angel in the Sun." But in "Action and the Religious Life" he gives an essay in general terms, instead of a drum-beat to specific and neglected duties. Dr. Gunsaulus is gifted with a rhetorical power such as a successor of the Biblical prophets needs, and it is not exempt from the need of a chastening curb. The conditions which in our great cities call for prophets of the Biblical type present a field for the exercise of such a power in opening "paths to the city of God" which these sermons, except in a half-page, do not seem to recognize. (Paths to the City of God. By Frank W. Gunsaulus. The Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. $1.25, net.)

Pauline Studies

A welcome greets this volume by the distinguished geographer and historian who published, a dozen years ago, the widely known work, "St. Paul, Traveller and Roman Citizen." Of the fifteen essays it contains nearly half are new or substantially new. The remainder, originally appearing in various magazines, have been thoroughly revised and improved. The critical study of early Christian history is not yet, as Professor Ramsay holds, duly influenced by the new learning of Roman Imperial history-a remark especially perti- . nent to critics of the Acts of the Apostles. Among the most interesting of these essays are two upon the Acts, whose Lucan authorship is vigorously maintained against Professor McGiffert. Another, the "Statesmanship of Paul," develops a view favored by many scholars, that Paul cherished the design of making the Roman Empire Christian: "Had it not been for Paul-if one may guess at what might have been-no man would now remember Roman and Greek