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 ques. tions, 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 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 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 ques. tions, 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 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 ciple he claims that this moral system in public schools would be remarkably full and complete, and would cover, in the main, "the ten all-embracing precepts of the "Decalogue," and "would, in the United States, as in all the world, allow of appeal to those religious sanctions which provide the highest motives for obedience." Apart from its main purport, this collection of views is well deserving of study for much valuable pedagogical instruction that it contains. It is, too, a pregnant, ready-made text for a powerful article in defense of our parochial schools. We trust that somebody will take advantage of the opportunity. CAMPING AND TRAMPING The veteran naturalist, Mr. Burroughs, in his own delightfully picturesque and easy style, gives us a brisk and breezy account of the tour to the Yellowstone Park, which he made in company with President Roosevelt in 1903. The incidents of that episode in the strenuous life lose nothing in his hands. He brings out in strong relief the President's hearty democratic manner and his love and knowledge of fur and feather, in all the varieties with which the wild West abounds. In a sort of appendix, entitled "President Roosevelt as a Nature-Lover and Observer," Mr. Burroughs, with an eye to the nature fakir controversy, enters the witness box to testify to Mr. Roosevelt's knowledge of wild life, and his exceptional powers of observation. Mr. Burroughs tells of many cases in which the President identified all sorts of birds, many of them rare ones, under difficult circumstances, in the Yellowstone and around Sagamore Hill. More than once, in terms slightly different, Mr. Burroughs declares that "The President is a born nature-lover, and he has what does not always go with this passion-remarkable powers of observation. He sees quickly and surely, not less so with the corporal eye than with the mental. His exceptional vitality, his awareness of all around, gives the clue to his powers of seeing. The chief qualification of a born observer is an alert, sensitive, objective type of mind, and this Roosevelt has in a pre-eminent degree." * Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt. By John Burroughs. New York: Houghton, |