again about the men of Scrooby and Gainsborough, the sojourn in Holland and the development there, and the migration, the settlement in Plymouth, the difficulties and how they were overcome, and the laws and worship formulated and established in the new home. An excellent chapter tells of "Some Early Books about Plymouth." The cover carries a reproduction of St. Gauden's statue in Philadelphia representing "The Pilgrim"; between thirty and forty illustrations, some of them quite out of the ordinary, lighten the book's pages. This is, then, a volume for the fireside in the November month of the Pilgrim celebration. Its tone is warm and cordial, its statements generally well authenticated, and its citation of documents not too burdensome to the untechnical reader. It is, none the less, a book for permanent retention in the library. Old Plymouth Trails. By WINTHROP PACKARD. Small, Maynard and Company, Boston, 1920. 82 x 5 in., 350 pp. A title closer to the contents than the present one might be suggested in some such form as "A Naturalist's Rambles Around Plymouth, Cape Cod, and Nantucket." For there is little of Pilgrim history here, but a great deal of what a nature-lover may still find and rejoice in while following Pilgrim haunts. Yet even such a title would not be all-inclusive, for here is a chapter on "Unbuilding a Building," recalling in the history of the structure as it is laid bare the story of those who built it of hewn timbers and lived in it. And there are other chapters as remote in interest from Bradford and Brewster as "Pickerel Fishing" is from the Mayflower covenant. In short this is a book which may either accompany the visitor on the woodland, meadow, and shore trails over country once trodden by the Pilgrims and their descendants, or may be read evenings or rainy vacation days by the fireside. Chapters will be found suitable to one occasion or the other. Chatty, informative of the situation to-day, telling of things in forest, stream, or wave known and unknown to the visitor or the "native" of those parts, carrying a sheaf of illustrations "woodsy" or otherwise; it speaks to the interest and the heart in inti'mate and confidential intercourse, often with a touch of humor that makes one feel 'quite at home. It is not a necessity for the anniversary pilgrim to the Pilgrims' home, but a luxury whose cost will be repaid many times in the quiet pleasure it affords. The Argonauts of Faith. By BASIL MATHEWS, with an introduction by Viscount Bryce. George H. Doran Company, New York, 1920. 74 x 5 in., 180 pp. In the prolog to this volume is given the story of the Golden Fleece and the Argonauts, of the brave men who sailed away in search of adventure and after many dangers and difficulties, triumphantly reached their goal. The story of the Pilgrims is paralleled with this tale of the Argonauts, and also with the story of the travelers in Pilgrim's Progress. The book is for boys and girls, and gives in an inter. esting way, first, an account of the early Dissenters in England. Chapter II tells of the escape of the Pilgrims to Holland, Chapters III and IV continue with their life in that country (perhaps more in detail and with more interest than many histories for young people). Chapter V is the story of the voyage to the New World. The rest of the book deals with the settlement of Plymouth, and the relations of the Pilgrims to the Indians and to another and undesirable settlement which was attempted nearby. The epilog-The Building of the New "Argo" is a brief résumé of the development of the United States from the Confederation of the New England Colonies to the end of the Great War. Mr. Mathews compares the building of the Ship of State to the building of the Argo, and concludes with a plea for World Brotherhood: "That Argo [the Argo of Brotherhood] will only be built and sail the seas to win the Golden Fleece of Freedom for all humanity if we who are her shipwrights and sailors are prepared to endure hardness, to live simply, and to act with courage as did the Argonauts of Faith, the story of whose deeds in England, Holland, and America has now been told." The Last of the "Mayflower." By RENDEL HARRIS. Longmans, Green & Company, New York, 1920. 92 x 64 in., 122 pp. In the flock of books connected with the Pilgrim Tercentenary this will probably be unique. The others will deal with the personnel and principles and consequences of the Pilgrim emigration. But the question was bound to be asked: What became of the Mayflower? No perfectly satisfactory solution is likely; the data are elusive, there were several vessels named Mayflower, and the variations in the tonnage of the one which Dr. Harris tries to follow raise serious doubt as to identity. Dr. Harris seems to show that the Pilgrim Mayflower was in New England waters (New Plymouth) again in 1630; again in 1653, bringing goods for John Eliot's Indian mission; was in the Greenland whaling service in 1626-39 (including the visit of 1630 named above); was chartered by the East India Company, 1655 and 1659, and was, perhaps, lost on the Indian coast in 1659. Dr. Harris cites a considerable number of original documents-letters of John Eliot and others; a bill of lading; records of the ports of London, Hull, etc., as well as from printed sources. One must confess that the story is intricate and not over clear. The difficulties are due to the subject itself, to the crossing of tracks, and to the distance in time. Probably all that is at present available has been brought together, for Dr. Harris' work is usually quite exhaustive. It is, indeed, away from his lines of investigation, tho here, as always, his method is scientific. The Menace of Immorality in Church and State. By JOHN ROACH STRATON. George H. Doran Company, New York, 1920. 7 x 5 in., 253 pp. In the pulpit criticism and denunciation come with far less effort than constructive teaching. There is sufficient basis for both in "church and world," with appetite in the pews avid enough to relish anything that savors of the salacious or is tinted red. Moreover, this sort of discourse easily lends itself to suggests, in fact-extravagance, even hyperbole, in statement. Dr. Straton's addresses are aimed at "the shortcomings of the Church and the awful sins of modern society," and against the "flood of books characterized by superficial optimism." Those who need emphasis on this will find abundance here to meet their desires. The good of society is not served when a travesty of fact like the following, about women's hats, issues from the pulpit. "The prices charged for these 'creations' are simply a polite form of highway robbery. They take a piece of straw or felt, punch it up in the middle until it looks like a Texas sombrero gone to seed, and is utterly with out symmetry or grace; then they stick a rooster's tail on one side and a sunflower on the other, label the whole thing 'From Paris' and sell it for $40.00! At the outside limit there can not be much over forty cents' worth of actual material in it, but it is a 'creation' from Paris, and they find some one with folly to buy it, and the greater folly to wear it." Two paragraphs later is a description of the motions of women in the hobble skirt that doubtless made for the amusement of the audience but certainly not for its uplift. Permit us to doubt whether permanent good results from addresses which in too many paragraphs remind of the vaudeville stage. And we are still more doubtful when we find that one of the tests applied to action is stated in the words, "There is nothing in the Bible even remotely suggesting or justifying- -as we know it to-day." Were we held in modern life to what is "even remotely suggested or justified" in the Bible, we should be carried back many centuries in our mode of living. The Hellenism. By NORMAN BENTWICH. Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1919. 84 x 5 in., 386 pp. To what has become known as Hellenism the Christian world owes the New Testament in its original form and also the oldest, most authoritative, and, therefore, most important version of the Old Testament. By Hellenism is meant the composite culture, dominated by Greek ideas, which followed the track of Alexander's armies and changed isolated and variant cultures into a semblance (at least) of unity possessing a common medium of intercourse and many common interests. It created a large literature, much of which had been lost for hundreds of years and is now in process of recovery and restudy. And one result is a gain of deeper penetration and completer understanding of the origins and documents of Christianity as well as of the civilization of four centuries, 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. Bentwich's volume studies only one phase of this subject-the effect of Hellenism upon the Hebrews. He shows that its advent, not long after the Ezra-Nehemiah policy of non-intercourse with the nations, ran counter to Jewish feeling; but it became increasingly influential in Jewry, especially outside Palestine. In about six centuries it had run its course; had caused a wall to be built about Jewish doctrines and practises which forced upon Hebrews self-contentment and self-sufficiency, and so had isolated them even more completely in that pride of race and of religion which made them a people apart. The present volume is valuable within these limits. It is not a first-hand work, but rests upon such noteworthy publications as Schürer's History of the Jewish people. A Bunch of Everlastings, or Texts That Made History. By F. W. BOREHAM. The Abingdon Press, New York, 1920. 71⁄2 x 44 in., 256 pp. In the February number of this year there was an estimate of F. W. Boreham and his work. On the editorial desk lies another volume of his-this time of sermons-but such sermons! There are twenty-three assembled here, and they are of their own kind. Each is a development of a human theme and built on a text which was the favorite of one of the world's greatest. So the sermon titles carry the individual's name-Thomas Chalmer's Text, Martin Luther's, Sir John Franklin's, Oliver Cromwell's, et al. Into each is woven a bit of the subject's life-an episode here or there, an estimate of his worth or his special service. And the sermons close without "a moral," for the good reason that their moral has been told in preaching the sermon. There was no need for the application. We give one of the sermons on another page of this number. The Christian Adventure. By A. HERBERT GRAY, Association Press, New York, 1920. 74 x 5 in., 134 pp. In the number for August, 1918, we gave considerable space to consideration of a book on the ordinary man and the Church by this same author-and the book was worth the In this other and smaller book the space. author is concerned only with "an effort to present the message of Jesus as he gave it to the world." There are eight chapters, all as virile and square-faced in their views of things as those of his earlier book. For example, in the first chapter (on "Jesus") he has this brief sentence: "(Jesus) was a happy man." He first justifies fully the current phrase, "Man of Sorrows," and then unjustifies it in view of the larger facts of life. In the next chapter, "What Was Jesus Doing?" is the following paragraph: "So soon, however, as the ordinary ambitions are exorcised from the spirit of man, wonderful consequences appear. It turns out that in that way the giant evils of the world receive a death-blow. Consider such familiar evils as sweating, overwork, bad housing, and congested urban areas. The real root from which all these giant social weeds have grown is the root of avarice. Because someone, somewhere, and at some point was over-anxious to make money these things appeared. In each case someone has considered personal money gain before the rights of other individuals. Someone has been trying to get too much work for the wage he paid, or to put too many people to live on the land he was going to let, or to give too little in healthy house-room for the rent he was going to charge. But in a society where the members had been brought to put the common good before personal gain, none of these things could occur. A servant of the kingdom would rather be very poor himself, than take the life energy of another on starvation terms." And so on throughout. Education for Democracy. By HENRY F. COPE. Macmillan and Company, New York, 1920. 275 pp. It would take a genius to write anything striking on democracy at the present time. Cope travels well-worn roads in his discussion of education, but he shows in a sane, strong, practical way that the heart and soul of education is the spiritual values. This is true of education through the kindergarten, public schools, high schools, colleges, technical schools and universities. This being so, serious weaknesses are revealed and needs and opportunities presented. Conserving spiritual values is not to be confused with teaching the Bible or creeds in the public schools. But being the highest concern of all the people, physical provision should be made for it by the community while the actual teaching is done by the Church. Suggestions as to how this may be carried out are made in the book. Summit Views. By JOHN EDWARD BUSHNELL. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 1919. 71⁄2 x 5 in., 190 pp. Among the thirteen sermons published here by Dr. Bushnell are several of unusual quality, with sound sense packed in-as when he says: "It is no sign of superior spirituality for a preacher to make his sermons uninteresting." The sermon on Magnitudes Beyond the Narrows," printed on another page of this issue, gives a savor of the whole. |