ought to possess this book and study it carefully. It will be informing. The judicial temper and the true Catholic spirit guiding the author may be illustrated by quoting his commentary on Rule 39: In Rule 39 the legislator admonishes the examiners of books that, in passing judgment on certain opinions and doctrines, their minds must, in accordance with the directions of Benedict XIV., be free from every prejudice; they must lay aside all indulgent leaning towards their native country, towards their community, towards the schools in which they were trained, and towards the institute to which they belong; they must lay aside the principles that are the guiding marks of mere schools or parties, and must, instead of such, be guided solely by the dogmas of the holy Catholic Church, and by the common teaching of Catholics-as contained in the decrees of the General Councils, the Constitutions of the Roman Pontiffs, and the unanimous teaching of theologians. In a word, they must imitate that broad-minded liberality of the Angelic Doctor, who is almost to be admired as much for the way he deals with those who differ from him, as in the way he expounds his own view, and who, before condemning any one's opinion, instead of searching for faults, strives in every way he can to reconcile it with the Catholic doctrine. BRUNHILDE'S PAYING GUEST. A pleasant variation on the rather overworked theme of the prosperous North and the impecunious South is Brunhilde's Paying Guest. A Southern woman, no longer young, of artistic temperament, who has sacrificed her ambitions to filial duty, opens a boarding house. She reconciles the enterprise with her family pride by the thin fiction that her boarders are guests. One of these guests speedily falls in love with her; and she with him, after a decorous delay. But would it be honorable and wise for her to take advantage of the love of a man so much younger than herself? Without any ambitious effort at character-drawing or analysis of motive, and without the aid of any villain or harrowing situations, the auther sketches a pleasant comedy full of refined people, and redolent of the social atmosphere of Southern life. * Brunhilde's Paying Guest. A Story of the South To-day. By Caroline Fuller. New York: The Century Company. SLUM STORIES. Some striking pictures of the misery, poverty, and crime amid which the London poor pass their lives are drawn from actual experience by those two indefatigable slummers, Miss M. F. Quinlan and Miss Olive Katherine Parr.† The readers of THE CATHOLIC WORLD need not to be told of the power of Miss Quinlan's graphic pen, with its command over pathos and humor. Miss Parr, who certifies that her stories are actual histories, some of which have figured in the London press, writes with "more matter and less art." Both seek to awaken among Catholic women an interest in social work, by inculcating the fact that even in the most vicious and degraded souls there still live pulsations of a nobler life, if one can but discover them and stimulate them by sympathy and encouragement. St. Margaret of Cortona, the me ST. MARGARET OF CORTONA. diæval Magdalen, was not preBy Fr. Cuthbert. cisely a wanton, or an "abandoned woman," but a girl who fell through excessive gayety, and over-great affection. She lived nine years with her lover "in defiance of law and convention," the only mitigation of her sin being her constant hope of lawful marriage with the man who had deluded her. He was murdered, his promise remaining unfulfilled. But his death was the occasion of the conversion of Margaret. Her reversion to virtue and to God was characteristically whole-hearted. She fought her way through many temptations, gave her life to the poor, outdoing them in voluntary poverty; merited admission to the third order of St. Francis, and died a saint. Her "legend by her confessor, Fra Giunta, ‡ is given with the delicious simplicity and naïveté of the early Franciscan chroniclers. The introduction to it, in seventy-five pages, by Father Cuthbert, is an admirable little treatise on her religious psychology, with not a little unobtrusive moralizing. The contrast between the modern touch of Father Cuthbert and the medieval artlessness of Fra Giunta, is most striking, but each in his own way is extremely enjoyable. *My Brother's Keeper. By M. F. Quinlan. New York: Benziger Brothers. Back Slum Idols. By Olive Katherine Parr. New York: Benziger Brothers. A Tuscan Penitent. The Life and Legend of St. Margaret of Cortona. By Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C. London: Burns & Oates. THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF By Professor Orr. No Catholic on this side of the ocean feels any temptation to doubt the virgin birth of our Savior; indeed, so fundamental and, as it were, instinctive is their belief in the virginity of Mary, that they cannot understand why professing Christians should question that article of the Creed. Yet, outside the Catholic Church, this point is vehemently debated, more so at present, perhaps, than any other. Many scholars and preachers take the attitude that the virgin birth is a matter of no religious importance, and, at best, historically doubtful; the more radical stoutly deny it, or insidiously treat it as a belief beneath the serious consideration of a thinking man. To this new field Protestantism, fulfilling its destiny, is moving with greater or lesser rapidity; despite the efforts of individual scholars, it advances steadily, resistlessly, like a glacier, destroying and being destroyed, whose progress man is powerless to arrest. That it is obedience to its original impulse, rather than the logic of facts, which is hastening Protestantism towards the precipice, is made clear by the present work of Dr. Orr. Here we have a book by a Protestant divine which the Master of the Sacred Palace himself might approve; of almost immaculate orthodoxy, it might, with the sacrifice of a few sentences, pass for the product of a Catholic author. It shows, with great strength and clearness, that there is nothing in the facts. of Holy Scripture or in the doctrines of Protestantism, which should lead to disbelief in the virgin birth of Christ; yet, if signs are prophetic, this able effort will avail little to turn back the course of destructive thought in the church of the author. If facts and reasoning alone had weight with his coreligionists, he would gain the battle for the old dogma; but he has also to contend against the temperament which results from the original sins of Protestantism-the desire of novelty and the instinct of destructiveness. Such an enemy scholarship alone cannot vanquish. The more is the pity, then, because Dr. Orr gives us here a sound and thorough piece of work. Many critics who take the same view as himself of the fundamental question may think him *The Virgin Birth of Christ. By James Orr, D.D., Professor of Apologetics in the United Free Church College, Glasgow. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. unduly conservative in regard to a few critical points; but these do not affect the substance of his argument, though they may weaken it in the eyes of those who dread not to keep step with the advance guard. The book is characterized by good sense, by an appeal to plain reason; it can be easily followed by an intelligent layman who is interested in religious questions, and we heartily recommend it to all who desire an excellent summary of the problem and of the proofs. There are two Catholic doctrines which issue clearly from our author's reasoning, though he fails to perceive them-the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the superiority of a religious virginity over the married state. One wonders why there is such earnest striving to maintain the fact of Mary's virginity, if there be in it no surpassing excellence; or why God should work a great miracle to preserve the purity of his mother's body and not confer the grace which would keep her soul untainted of sin. THE CONGO. Mr. Richard Harding Davis makes his bow to the public with a stout volume in his hand, to tell us all about his interesting but somewhat cursory trip to Congo Land, and to add to the perplexity which besets our efforts to reach "the truth about the Congo." Mr. Davis is a master of literary perspective and a keen judge of materials suitable to strike the reader's attention. He describes his arrival and brief sojourn, in company with Mrs. Davis, at Banana, the "front door of Leopold's 'shop,'" and his subsequent trip up the river as far as Stanley Pool. He denounces without measure King Leopold, his officials, and all his works and pomps. Though he himself did not see much of the blood-curdling atrocities, he heard a great deal about them, and he implicitly credits his informants. Though his indignation against oppression is infectious, one cannot help regretting that he did not take a little more time in order to see things for himself. His description of his futile essay in hunting the hippopotamus, and of many incidents aboard the river steamers, are quite diverting. But his trick of introducing exaggerations, which he does not mean to be taken seriously, is a dangerous one. For, The Congo and Coasts of Africa. By Richard Harding Davis, F.R.G.S. Illustrations from photographs by the author. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. when he does mean to be taken literally, the suspicious reader may think that he is treated to another bit of jocular hyperbole. Returning by the Cape and the East Coast, Mr. Davis saw something of the Gold Coast, Lorenço, Marquey, and Zanzibar, of which places he gives some interesting accounts. PEDAGOGY. The two successful essays, and the three which, in the opinion of the judges, were next in merit, submitted for the prizes offered by a citizen of California for the best and the next best essay on "Moral Training in the Public School" are published by the committee that had charge of the competition. The first paper, which bore off the prize of five hundred dollars, was written by Mr. C. E. Rugh, principal of a school in Oakland. A Philadelphia clergyman won the second prize, of three hundred dollars. The book is well worth the study of educators. To say that any or all of the essays furnish a solution of the problem of how efficaciously to teach and inculcate morality on a non-religious basis would be to declare that the impossible has been achieved. Indeed the significance of these attempts lies in the fact that they manifest eloquently the meagre, superficial, fragmentary, and devitalized idea that must be formed of morality by the teacher who will divorce it from religion. The conception of it as embodied in these essays, speaking generally, has but faint correspondence with the connotation of the idea of morals which we associate with the Decalogue, conscience, duty, virtue. The prize essay dwells mainly on the means which the school and its courses provide for developing the social sense in the child. Good citizenship, character as understood to signify these qualities which make the successful business man, or the economically satisfactory social member, are the ideals which are aimed at. The author of the second essay endeavors to go a little farther; and outlines a method which would build on deeper and firmer foundations. But if he does so, it is because he falls back upon religion for his basic principles. His solution is: Let the State teach in her public schools the system of morality which is embodied in her own laws, with such sanctions as the religious character of the State herself supplies. In developing this prin *Moral Training in the Public Schools. The California Prize Essays. New York and Boston: Ginn & Co. |