join in expressing their reverent pride in "these three modest but immortal heroes, whose memory will be cherished in our national history."

The Frenchman is, perhaps, the supreme nationalist. Upon Americans the strongest impression will probably be made by the complete wiping out of barriers of religious creed in the face of the mystery of death. These men were no less devout because they forgot the names of things in the presence of the greatest realities.-Evening Sun, N. Y.

Forgetting Your Troubles

What a wonderful thing if mothers could be given courses in child psychology. I have heard of many cases of young men and women who would have spared much anguish and their mothers much anxiety if the mothers had known more of children's minds. Take the case of a girl who was fortunate to come in time into the practise of a wise doctor.

As a child she had been subjected to much well-meant nagging. She had suffered from St. Vitus's dance in her ninth year. She had been treated then by a competent neurologist, and the symptoms had subsided. He had pronounced her cured. But her overanxious mother had ever been on the lookout for a recurrence of the symptoms, and had not concealed her fears very successfully from her daughter. Most of us, when young, in spite of lapses, do nearly what our mothers constantly expect us to do. So, too, our nerves are apt to do what we expect of them. And this young girl had developed more or less gradually a mental nervousness -her hands trembled badly when she thought any one was observing her. Later, when she was required to earn her own living in a cold world, this misfortune embarrassed her greatly.

She had consulted several neurologists, but the malady remained just as bad as ever. They had all told her that the trouble was a psychic one, that there was no functional cause, and that her will-power could overcome the trembling if she exerted it sufficiently. But because will-power had not helped she had convinced herself that the trouble was constitutional, and not psychic, and that she had no control over it.

Yes, she was quite cured-and by a very simple method. Her final adviser watched

her in a more or less matter-of-fact, but kindly, way for a moment, and said: "Yes, I see your hands do tremble somewhat at times, just as you have told me. But what of it if they do! Lots of people have shakier hands than you have, and they are not worrying over it. It doesn't keep them awake nights. Why should such a trival thing bother you? Let your hands tremble, if they will. But stop getting nervous and feeling sensitive about such a thing!"

So she forgot about it, and the trouble disappeared when she stopt combating it. The point is that no one had ever told her to let the trivial thing go on and ignore it. She had always been told to grit her teeth and overcome the trouble by sheer force.-The People's Favorite Magazine.— DR. J. B. THOMAS.

New Fields for the Pugnacious Instinct

We often hear it maintained that the instinct of pugnacity which in the past has led to war must necessarily do so in the future, and that those who look for a permanent peace are therefore doomed to disappointment. This is a most unjustifiable assumption.

Granting that the emotional element of every instinct must always remain, it is not necessary either that the same stimuli should awaken that emotion, or that the emotion should express itself in the same action-in this case, in slaughter. The instinct for combat finds expression in games such as football and in the rivalry of sport; and it is probably for this reason that the English people are less aggressive than other nations we know, tho when the instinct is directed to war the Englishman throws himself into it with no less energy and zest. Long ago, William James pointed out the possibility of finding a moral equivalent of war in social service, from an egocentric to an altruistic and chivalrous end. We can take up arms for others even tho we refuse to do so for ourselves. Then our instinct ceases to be aggressive, and becomes protective. So ultimately we shall learn that we can fight with other weapons for truth and purity, we shall join a crusade against oppression and vice-and this kind of combat will employ for social ends those emotions and instincts which at present we use for war and destruction. So we may confidently hope that the pugnacious instinct will find scope in fields of social service in

the fight for justice, purity, and right. It is often said that instincts are blind. It is rather we who are blind to their potency and to the purposes for which they exist. The abandonment of that false doctrine which would have us suppress them, and the substitution for it of an understanding of their proper uses, would open up to us resources of power which would give us in abundance energy and life.-By J. A. HADFIELD, in The Spirit.

The Socializing Process

[The significance of the point made in the illustration which follows is far-reaching and important. It discloses this-that it is possible to be philanthropic; to do outwardly many estimable things for the community, and still lack the vital quality that makes the gifts acceptable and enduring. The absence of real innerness, not identifying one's self with those for whom the gifts are intended, is borrowing trouble for the future. Equally the receiver must enter into the real spirit of the gift and giver.. The socializing process calls for men coming together as men, giving themselves for one another and freely inviting self-expression and cooperation.-Eds.]

Some years ago a large manufacturer company, at the instigation of its president, built a model town for the use of its employees. Sanitary houses were erected, beautiful parks, with fountains and flowers, were laid out, and opportunities were provided for recreation and improvement. Some time after the inauguration of this ameliorative scheme, it was deemed necessary, during a financial depression, to reduce the wages of these employees by shortening the hours of work, and when, as a consequence, a strike was declared, the president of the company was astonished and perplexed, and considered the employees as utterly unappreciative. Later still, when the promoter of the model town died, and a court decision required the company to divest itself of the management of the town, as involving a function beyond its corporate powers, scarcely a protest was made by the employees when the parks, flowers and fountains were dismantled. What was the trouble? "The president of the company under discussion," as Jane Addams has said, "went further than the usual employer does. He socialized not only the factory, but the form in which his workmen were living. He built, and in a great measure regulated, an entire town, without calling upon the workmen, either for self-expression or self-gov. ernment." What was the trouble? Into his attempt at social service he carried no so

cial imagination, no associative insight, and while he sincerely desired to contribute to the life-values of his employees, he was content to "test the righteousness of the process by his own feelings and not by those of his men." So, after his model town was built and equipped with its many advantages, the relations between the company and its employees, instead of being transfused with a human spirit, were purely abstract, and no community of thought and feeling and effort was produced. Notwithstanding the munificence of his social contribution, the social activities of this employer were not social service, for they exerted no effective socializing power.

A Man With a Purpose

Henry Fawcett, a young Englishman, hunting with his father, suffered an accident staggering enough to break the nerve of ordinary men; his father shot at a partridge, hit his son's eyes and entirely blinded them. Writing about the matter afterward, young Fawcett said, "I made up my mind inside of ten minutes after the accident to stick to my main purpose as far as in me lay."

He kept his word-worked his way through Cambridge University, was made professor of political economy there, was elevated to be Postmaster-General of England, and gave to the British people a generation ago the parcel post that we in America have just achieved for ourselves. He took hold of his situation by its real handle; he met it as a challenge to his strength and not as an excuse for disheartenment.-H. E. FOSDICK.

Illiteracy

In 1900, 8.4 per cent. of the total voting population were unable to read and write. In 1910 the number had increased. Altho the bulk of the illiterate immigrant population settles at first in the large cities, the rural districts contain nearly twice the proportion of all illiterates compared with the cities, where amalgamation goes on more rapidly because isolation is more difficult, and where opportunities for learning to read and write in the prevailing language are more eagerly seized upon by the aspiring foreigner.

The percentage of illiterates in the several states is given in the following chart, the state with the smallest number being placed first and so on:

The Man You Most Admire. "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."-1 Cor. 16:13. Making Gratitude Habitual. "Praise ye Jehovah. Oh, give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his lovingkindness endureth forever."-Ps. 106:1. The Secret of Knowing. "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself."-John 7:17.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. "Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." -1 Sam. 2:19.

The Heroic Element in Christian Character. "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."-Dan. 3:18.

Is War a Moral Necessity? "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."-2 Tim. 2:3.

Waiting and Working. "Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he have finished the thing this day."-Ruth 3:18. What the Lord Requires of Man. "And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul."-Deut. 10:12. "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?"-Micah 6:8.

The Home. "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."-Mal. 4:6.

The Inside Story of the Peace Conference. By DR. EDWARD J. DILLON. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1920. 81⁄2 x 6 in., 513 pp.

It is a difficult task to attempt to reproduce an accurate mental picture of a great conference, especially one that took over five months to conclude peace with Germany. The cross-currents, the conflicting interests, the intricate problems discust, and the motives actuating the delegates make it next to impossible to get a wholly satisfactory report. Much, therefore, depends on the reputation of the one who is courageous enough to undertake such a task.

If long experience and intimate knowledge of European affairs are prime requisites to a clear understanding of this important Conference, we know of no one who is more entitled to be heard than Dr. Dillon. It is much to the credit of this versatile author that he aims high even tho he may not reach the height in view-namely, strict impartiality. He has no pet theories of his own to champion. His "principal standard of judgment is derived from the law of causality and the rules of historical criticism."

He has not attempted in this volume to write a history, only a sketch of the problems created by the war "or rendered pressing." This keen observer looked upon the enterprise to which the delegates had set their hands as "the vastest that ever tempted lofty ambitions since the tower-builders of Babel strove to bring heaven within reach of the earth."

This volume offers to every thoughtful man a splendid opportunity to become familiar with many of the details of the Conference, and to get, as it were, behind the scenes in Paris, to observe the play of forces, the incompetency of some of the delegates and the astounding ignorance of others. To crown it all we are told that "the chiefs of the great powers had no program and no method." It is Dr. Dillon's opinion that "the fatal tactical mistake chargeable to the Conference lay in its making the charter of the League of Nations and the treaty

Thus in the Introduction the author of this volume states his aim and forecasts the conclusion. In the last pages he formulates his finding as follows:

"God is a principle, an idea or an ideal, a unifying force throughout the universe, an energy that is manifest behind all phenomena. He is this or else he is collective man, man as the spirit which binds together the ages, and gives meaning to all our experience. If he is to be sought for anywhere in the physical universe, it must be as a principle, a law, or an underlying energy. Otherwise we must seek for God in the life of humanity. . Humanity as a whole, as a procession through the centuries, as giving an ideal of what is just, wise, and beautiful in conduct, is what God must mean for us to-day."

It would not be correct to say that Mr. Cooke stresses the "social origin of religion"; rather, he finds in social relations religion's sole fountain-its birthplace, cradle, schoolroom, and workshop. And his result is that God is an idea, an abstraction, and not personality.

The roads by which the author travels include comparative religion and anthropology. His chapters-apart from Preface, Foreword (by John Haynes Holmes), and Introduction-treat The Social Transmission of Human Experience, The Creative Genius of Social Man, Communal and Tribal Re

ligion, Feudal Religion, National Religion, International Religion, Universal Religion, and Religion as Cosmic and Human Motive. He distinguishes between individuality ("the product of congenital heredity") and personality (the result of "the process of social heredity"), and gives to the latter the title role in the creation of religion. He thinks that William James has given us "one of the most misleading of all modern books on religion, for the simple reason that he deals with the special, the peculiar, the distinctly individual phases of religion." Of course, after individuality is belittled, this conclusion is logical. Mr. Cooke is an enthusiastic Freudist, preferring Freud to James. A definite miscalculation of Mr. Cooke is that which omits from consideration the constantly recurring and, in sum, gigantic effects of individual action upon the mass. The real student will not neglect mass psychology, seeing in it both formative and preservative powers. But he will not disparage or neglect the force of individual impulse and creation. This is the fundamental error of Mr. Cooke's reasoning which vitiates the general result.

The volume makes difficult reading-in no small part because of its strabismic method. There are besides some strange isolated statements-as when the author speaks of "Khu-en-Aten, (afterward [sic] Iknaton)," not realizing that these two forms of the name are but the incorrect and the corrected vocalization of the same Egyptian characters! Is it any longer sure that "the Semites originated in Arabia"? Many scholars of first rank dispute it. The proof-reading leaves much to be desired.

The Manuscripts of God. By A. T. TILLHeffer, Cambridge, 1920. Pp.

YARD.

220.

The manuscripts treated by the author are Man, Nature and History. The object in reading these nianuscripts "is nothing less than to discover the soul of man and God, and then to bring the two into relation." The approach is inductive and scientific. Experience is the guide. Revelation is not appealed to. Experience shows that evolution has focussed on producing man's highest nature, his aspirations-his ideals of beauty, truth, and goodness. These aspirations are "the connections between the seen and the unseen, the finite and the infinite."

Religion is the embodiment of these elements. Man, by nature, has an intuition for these three things. Intuition is a higher form of instinct. Conscience is such an intuition.

The author's defense of faith, by showing how all science implies faith, not only in its underlying principles of trustworthiness of the senses and of uniformity, but also at every stage of its progress, is refreshing, as is also his defence of unselfish conduct from always implying reward.

Reading nature, this at least is clear to experience: "Man is the highest thing in the material world, and conscience is the highest thing in man. Nature puts goodness first."

He that runs may read history. Here Jesus is its supreme character. He stands on a plane by himself.

Through evolution then, in man, in nature, in history, we find the apex is truth, beauty, goodness, all united at their highest in the Christ. The discussion of salvation and service is enlightening.

"Service and salvation are the two ends of the same thing. Men come by way of service to salvation, or by way of salvation to service. And service means surrender to goodness."

CHARLES OTIS

6,000 Country Churches. GILL and GIFFORD PINCHOT. The MacMillan Company, New York, 1919. 6 x 8 in., 237 pp.

This volume shows how the intensive fieldstudy method of investigation may be applied with profit to the investigation of religious problems. Everybody knows how inefficiency, ignorance, and denominational rivalry have managed to demoralize the rural churches. The sins of overlapping, of waste, of religious apathy, of practical paganism in the midst of wealth are commonplaces to the professional student of church-life. Here we have the problem worked out with pitiless tables, county maps, and figures, laying bare the facts of over six thousand churches scattered over Ohio, a test State. The eighteen counties of Southeastern Ohio are chosen as a horrible example of spiritual degeneracy, of illiteracy,