a man of strong personality, who made his clients his personal friends, and whose literary taste and skill enabled him in "Yesterdays with Authors" to make a delightful contribution to the personal history of American writing. Mrs. Fields's home on Charles Street was long a center of literary interest. She was a charming hostess, unobtrusive, gentle, accomplished, and sympathetic. As the older group passed away Miss Jewett became her companion, and her drawing-room remained a "salon" in the best sense of the word. With the death of Mrs. Fields another and intimate tie with the past is broken. was a charming writer, as her "Authors and Friends," her "Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe," and her editorial work in the preparation of the "Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett" show. Her two volumes of poems, "The Singing Shepherd" and "Orpheus," reveal the delicacy and refinement of her talent; and The Outlook is glad of the. opportunity to reprint these exquisite lines. on Theocritus : She And maidens veiled in falling robes of lawn! The stalwart glories of the North; And ours the voices uttering forth Of mariners rocked asleep In the great cradle, far from Grecian ire The dark-leaved shadow and the shining birch, The flight of gold through hollow woodlands driven, Soft dying of the year with many a sigh, And eyes that eager evermore shall search The sacred youth and maid, . The sorrowful earthly pall, And autumn's gathered grain, With whispering music in their fall; And unto thee, Theocritus, The immortal childhood of the world, THE AUTO SHOW In the days when automobiles were quite justly dubbed horseless carriages, prophets were not wanting to declare that the day of the fad for substituting gasoline for oats would not be long in the land. Later, these same prophets took up the cry that annual auto shows were likewise doomed to extinction just as soon as the new industry outgrew its swaddling-clothes. Auto shows, however, have come and gone, motors have grown in size and number of cylinders and have shrunk in price and complication, parts have been standardized, developed, and then restandardized, yet the public interest in these great trade exhibits does not seem to die. The secret of the matter, of course, lies in the fact that, together with the internal combustion motor, there has developed the mechanical intelligence of those who pass in long review before the silent machines and their less silent guardians. A public which once demanded only to know what made the wheels go round, in the days when steam-cars vied with the explosive type in popular favor, and wonderingly questioned where one kept the coal, now insists with authority upon details that put the best of demonstrators upon their mettle. Despite the great advance made in the standardization of construction and in the uniform application of mechanical principles, the great automobile exhibit recently held in the Grand Central Palace, in New York City, differed from its predecessors in at least three important particulars. It was marked by the introduction in America of the eightcylinder motor as a commercial factor. It was marked by a striking reduction in prices, and by the prominent part occupied by the developing "cycle-car" or super-light-weight automobile. Three makers displayed cars equipped with eight-cylinder motors-a departure from current practice which is claimed to give a flexibility of control not previously attained, together with a compactness of form equal to that of the four-cylinder type and a more constant torque than has been attained even by the six-cylinder. Several of this latter type were shown for less than $1,500. One eight-cylinder motor car of excellent construction was listed to sell at $1,350. A fourcylinder car equipped with all the modern devices and astonishingly well finished sold for $785. All of these cars were typical of the downward trend in auto costs and the upward trend in automobile values. The cycle-car, with its kindred, shows promise of galvanizing into activity a time-worn jest that has doubtless brought a more or less well-deserved supper to many a hard-working cartoonist. The artist who has so patiently depicted the unfortunate driver burrowing under his car can now invert his one best automobile joke and paint pictures of the unfortunate car burrowing under its driver. TRAGEDY IN LABRADOR The wave of misery set in motion by the war has broken on the shores of Labrador, and reports indicate greater suffering among the people for whom Dr. Grenfell has been working than ever before in their history. Everything seems to have conspired against their prosperity and comfort. The season has been the most severe in the memory of living men. From the lips of five old men in five different harbors on five different days Dr. Grenfell reports the same tale: "No, doctor, no man ever saw before the Strait of Belle Isle jammed with ice on the first day of August. It's beyant al'." The water was as cold as in winter, and the fish were too much paralyzed to take the bait or to be caught in the nets. Great trap-nets were broken up and used as seines to surround shoals of fish lying like sodden logs, half frozen, at the bottom. A yacht made three attempts in July to reach St. Anthony and was driven back by the ice as many times. Because of this severe weather potatoes did not appear above the ground and the berry crop failed. Even herring stayed away from the coast, and on the first of September the new snow made the hills white while the snow-drifts of last winter were still at the water-line. Then, as if to combine forces with nature, on the first of August came the news of the war. This meant that the small catch of fish could not be sold; that flour would not only be dear but almost impossible to obtain ; while sugar, pork, and butter would be entirely out of reach. Railway construction closed, the mines at Sydney and Belle Isle closed, the fur market ceased to exist, the telegraph stations were shut, and a severe epidemic in influenza swept the coast. people of Labrador are experiencing every kind of suffering. These terrible conditions create a greater need than Dr. Grenfell has ever faced before, and the Grenfell Association is making strenuous efforts to aid him in a work which has commanded the enthusiastic support of a host of Americans because it was so practical, so human, and so permanent. It is earnestly hoped that the Association, which has its office at 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City, may be able to put back of Dr. Grenfell in the appalling task he is facing this winter the most generous support, which means, of course, that it shall have the most generous contributions from its friends. A MISSIONARY PROTEST It is discouraging to read in a responsible newspaper the statement," Every one knows that we shall have to fight Japan." matter of fact, nobody knows it, although a group of people have agreed to imagine it.. The statement is utterly irresponsible. Meanwhile it is to be noted that a large and influential body of missionaries have addressed a letter to the President solemnly protesting against any action which is prejudicial to the honor and good name of Christian people in America, and presenting a series of resolutions declaring that the friendly relations between Japan and this country are endangered by repeated reports of hostile intentions on the part of our Government, and the making of preparations for war with Japan; and that the report has been widely spread in Japan that candidates for election to the Legislature of the State of California were asked to pledge their support to a bill or bills depriving Japanese residents of their rights to lease land for any purpose whatever; and the signers protest in the strongest terms possible against any such action until the diplomatic anthorities of the two countries have had time to solve the problem. It may be added that in Far Eastern countries the best-informed foreigners are the missionaries. They live with the people, work for them, know them at first hand. It is reassuring to note that further legislation inimical to Japanese interests during the present session of the Legislature of California is highly improbable. It is reported that the Governor of the State is strongly against any such action. THE NEW STATUS OF EGYPT A generation ago it became necessary, in the interests of civilization, for England and France, financially and economically, to administer the Egyptian Government. When, however, it came to a question of armed interference to deliver Egypt from anarchy, France showed herself unready. So England had to accomplish the task alone. The condition of Egypt to-day shows how well she did it. She has lifted the country from degradation and ignorance and has reconstructed it. Especially has she rehabilitated the magnificent agricultural possibilities of the valley of the Nile, always the guaranty of Egypt's wealth, but now, by British improvements through great dams and reservoirs, transformed into one of the granaries of the world. The lowest ranks of the people, the fellahin, as well as all of the population, are materially and morally in a far better condition than at any previous time, and this has been due to English educative influence. Politically Egypt is still under the Khedive as sovereign. But his Ministers, since 1882, have taken no important move without consulting with the British Agent at Cairo. Nor have the functions of the Egyptian Legislative Council been other than advisory. Khedive Abbas Hilmi joined his nominal sovereign, Turkey, in the declaration of war against England, France, and Russia. Hence England dethroned him and put Hussein Kemal, the oldest member of the Khedivial house, in his stead. In this England reverts to the old Mohammedan custom under which the throne goes, not to the oldest son of the previous monarch, but to the oldest member of the royal family. England has also revived the old title, "Sultan of Egypt." It remains to be seen whether this revival will further eliminate the Sultan of Turkey from his position of primacy both political and ecclesiastical. For the main fact to strike every one is that at last the Sultan of Turkey has been retired altogether from any control of African territory. Algeria in 1830, Tunis in 1881, Tripoli in 1911, and now Egypt in 1914-these events mark the passing of Turkish rule from Africa. In Egypt itself the change is strangely unmarked. The ceremonial entry of the new Sultan into the Abdin Palace has passed off without any hitch, indeed with some manifestation of popular satisfaction. A new Egyptian flag has now made its appearance. It consists of three white crescents on a red field with their backs to the staff, each with a five-pointed white star between the horns. YALE IN CHINA "The College of Yale in China" began in 1906 as a 66 collegiate school," like the Yale founded in 1701. It has already graduated three classes, numbering eight in all-three more than the first three classes in old Yale's catalogue. Last year it registered one hundred and thirty students, drawn from seven of the eighteen provinces of China. Already a procession of trained teachers is issuing from it. The first decade shows a teaching staff of ten Yale graduates with Chinese assistants, the best hospital in central China as the basis of medical education, twenty acres of land for the college campus, and about fifty thousand dollars toward the buildings already begun there. This, together with the loyal attachment of the surrounding community in a province which fifteen years ago was "forbidden" to foreigners. Yale in China is strategically situated at Changsha, the capital of the Province of Hunan in the heart of China, on the great central railway between Peking and Canton, and in steamship connection with Shanghai. Within a radius of six hundred miles dwell, as estimated, one-fifth of the world's population. The planting of the college here was requested by representatives of all the missionary societies at work in Hunan. The establishment of a medical school in connection with it was requested by the Governor and the gentry of the province. These have given the money needed to build the hospital, with an annual grant of $25,000 from the provincial treasury-the most notable case yet of official co-operation with foreigners in educational work. Two schools, for men and women nurses, have already branched from the medical school. Four physicians with a staff of nurses and helpers are now in its employ. Hearty local co-operation with the school appears in the provincial Police Commissioner's appointment of the entire medical staff as a Medical Council to the Municipal Bureau of Hygiene, and in the campaign for medical education undertaken by the Social Service League of Changsha women. This responsiveness in China stirs responsiveness at Yale. Four graduates of 1914 have already gone, most of them at their own cost, for a year's work in Changsha, and five men are preparing here for permanent work there in special lines. What Yale in China is doing to diffuse American ideas and ideals, and what other universities are doing, as reported in The Outlook of May 9 last, is a matter of National interest, and appeals for generous support. Money is urgently needed to work this fruitful field efficiently. For a recent report of "The Yale Mission," its development and its needs, address Mr. F. Wells Williams, New Haven, Connecticut. THE OTHER SIDE The pessimists and cynics are often right for the moment; they are always, when they judge of great things, wrong in the end. They see very clearly the diseases from which society is suffering, and the service they render is in making society aware of its disBut they never see the hidden springs of health; they never recognize the vitality in society; and in the end it is not the disease but the vitality which conquers. eases. At this moment the cynics and the pessimists are finding in the great war an immense amount of available material. "Look," they say, "at the destruction of civilization; behold the failure of Christianity, the degeneration of humanity, the eclipse of all the great hopes, visions, and ideals!" And on the surface these prophets of evil would seem to be justified. There is much that is profoundly discouraging and disconcerting to thoughtful men in the appalling destruction of life and property and the awful waste of the resources of civilization. But fundamentally the judgments of the cynics and the pessimists are disproved and made things of naught by the most magnificent illustration of the great qualities of human nature which the world has ever seen. What counts fundamentally is not the surface disorder, though that may work widespread disaster; it is not the failure of this or that political device; it is not the arrest of this or ticism of their seriousness of temper, their moral vitality, their physical resourceful ness. The luxury of modern life, the devotion to business, the disclosures of greed, selfishness, and dishonesty which have come as inevitable results of a great prosperity, have furnished cynics and pessimists with ready material for the arraignment of society and the prediction that the world has lost its ancient courage and devotion. But never in all its history has death seemed such a mere incident as to-day, when the story of indifference to its approach is told in every army corps and by every detachment of men over the whole field, east and west. Courage is the universal possession of the German, the Englishman, the Frenchman, the Belgian, the Austrian, the Russian, and the Japanese. The stories of individual coolness and daring are so many that they have almost ceased to attract special attention. The other day, when the British dreadnought Formidable went down in a storm, crushed like an eggshell by torpedoes or mines, her captainLoxley-was on the bridge as she sank; and his last words were: Steady, men; it's all right; keep cool; do not get in a panic; be British." Every officer was at his post; many of them had lighted cigarettes. This stirring exhibition of the fact that the man does not die when his body falls in the trenches or sinks in the ocean can be matched in every navy and army. All Europe is fighting for invisible things. There never was such universal and commanding evidence that the soul of humanity is supreme and invincible. THE SHIPPING BILL The Administration's proposition to purchase and run, through the medium of a Government-controlled corporation, a fleet of merchant ships seems to us on economic and political grounds an attempt to borrow, or rather buy, gratuitous trouble. Advocates of this plan, put forward as a measure for the temporary relief of American commerce, base their arguments on three points: The individual citizens of the United States have failed to develop an unsubsidized merchant marine. The war has left many idle ships along our shore that are advantageously available for purchase. There is a pressing need for neutral bot |