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Show Our Literary Cable "Moral Briefs" is a concise, reasoned and popular exposition of Catholic morals by Rev. John H. Maple-ton. Maple-ton. Its contents appeared originally in the Catnolic Transcript of Hartford, Conn., in weekly installments from February, 1901, to February, 103. During the course of their publication it became evident that the form of instruction adopted was appreciated by a large number of readers in varied conditions of life thie appreciation being evinced, among other ways, by ;i frequent and widtrspread demand tor back numbers num-bers of the publishing journal. It was a happy suggestion sug-gestion to bring the entire scries out in book form, and so it is offered to those desTrous of a better acquaintance ac-quaintance with Catholic morals. Beneiger Brothers, publishers, New York. Cincinnati, Chicago. Price, $1.50. ' Running through the Catholic Transcript at present if? u series of articles on marriage, probably from the same gifted pen. We trust the plan to put them in book form the same as were the other productions of Father Stapleton will be adopted upon their completion. comple-tion. ( We are promised something sane and eound on the principles of social reform which Rev. William J. Kerby. Ph. D.. will contribute to the Catholic World Already we have been satiated with enough denunciation denuncia-tion from clerical pens dipped in bigotry, and so gladly turn from the scolding priest to the scholar in robes. Father Kerby takes up the'preparatory work of classifying class-ifying problems to be met, presenting three suggestions which refer to the point of departure in reform activity. He 'says: t ; . ' "We should look to social processes to discover real problems, we should aim to modify these processes in our reforming, and we should know the nature and relations of the problem accurately before undertaking under-taking to reform them. , 1 The limitations and difficulties of reform work will be referred to in a subsequent article in the Catholic World. - The best of all the chapters in the Rosary Magazine for December is the contribution of Teresa B. O'Hare. It is on "The Simple Life,V and she Bays all she has . to say in two pages, which is enough to cover almost : any subject. "And what is the simple life?" she asks. Her answer is : "It 1b the life which all philosophers have advocated, from Socrates to Thoreau the life in which the development of the man counts for more than the acquisition of matter: in which there te leisure for thought: for which there are higher and less harassing harass-ing ambitions than the effort for wealth or honor or power or any worldly advantage. . "More than that, it is the life which all saints have lived and preached, from Anthony the Hermit, with his crust and cave in the desert, to Thomas a'Kempis. in whc.se 'Imitation of Christ' there is the key to a simplicity of mjnd and heart and spirit such as Mr. Wagner has not dreamed of in his philosophy. "The pimple life is, in fact, the imitation of Christ. Tn all the French preacber'u formularies there is none to compare with that for beauty and comprehensiveness. comprehensive-ness. If the aplicatlon, 6f Christiamcy to everyday needs and-problems were as universal as Its teachings, we should see the simple life exemplified in the lives of all profssing Christians." , ; i The January number of the American Catholic Historical His-torical Researches begins the first volume of the new I series. In the announcement of "A New Beginning," M. I. J. Griffin, editor .and publisher, says "to have ' steadily continued for a quarter of a century the tedious work of gathering, and the more tireful and exhausting, ex-hausting, the compilation and arrangement,and study of the material gathered.establishes its own and sole standard. Not another "among the millions of our Catholics has given such continuous, never-ceasing services to an endeavor to supply the material from which many could obtain the needed information to make more popular and of intimate knowledee amons the people whatever would relate the planting and growth of the church In this land, as well fs th services many of her faithful members have'repdered j to the country itself in all its avenues- of development and progress. The eonscloupnerc of having cnnr. vrt f much is but an incentive to do more and rid r ri a ? inclination, interest and enthusiasm yn in ,. ;,, action. I 'I start the New Scrips with a hearty a pp: . j , t ; of the good will shown me. and with a rein v. - i-.,r t 1 and enthusiasm in the work, though ut titw-s r nln to feel feeble-hearted at the immer Mty of th - ... ' the abundance of material obtainable, and. at t!i y,. j skimming of the surface of the field whii-h on- :, is capable only of doing. Still one must m.r . I terred from laboring because the historic al miu. '' j so rich. One must but gather the ore at haini ; i; many workers conie to discover the rU-hrus .-t' f Catholic American history, and come in g.o.!y hem to gather and crowd out the original pi-.i; . ; and to gather the golden ores ami gain f.nne ;)m, . . tune in the historical world." j i American itholie Histories I R'an i-. (,. delphia. Quarterly. Z per annum. 1 I j 4 ; y "Socialism: Its Theoretical and Practice ! a,,,,; f ! Hon." By Victor Cathrein. S. J. Revised a.! i .. by Victor F. Gettelma nn. P. J. New York. r. -. -n and Chicago: Henziger Brothers. One of the most important subje.-t. w:.-u ,,, : student of national polity can examim- is .:.,'..'. ' . Its votaries advocate it as a remedy for n,.,. ,',''.','.,. '- . ills from which humanity suffers. However its r . - -ciples be judged, its progress cannot be -the lapt general elections in Germany it poii-M ciderabiy over three million votes. Fath-r i in opposing its ideas, has ben recognised -. able writer. Sinc e its appearance in 1S!0. his r ! . . ' gone through eight editions. It has l-o-n iv.n., ,.. from German into Kriglish. Suanish. Freu. h. h.,:- , Polish. Bohemian and Hungarian. T!i- Mish. ;. . Munster in a special rescript recomnieivi.-.j t !: ': -. I to his clergy, and not a few well-tra ineri (riti - declared the volume to be the best refutation ,f s, . , , ; inn to bo found in the German language. In h . ... . ply to socialistic arguments Father 'athr-in h; . deavored to enter into their conceptions, to s),i.y : principles in their own writings, to imroire m'to -r, foundation upon which their views ar bafd. h.i .. examine their principal demands and Uk- rr-la;:,-they hear to each other. His exposition of so. ja tenets has been ackuowledged by soei-ilist (. ,,(... themselves as substantially correct. "M?rx"s Uk- writes one of them," has been set foith more .!,',. by Cathrein than by any of the Miberalisr so.-ialUt. ; killers. The author has at least read the works tin: ' he discusses." In the eighth edition, of whi-h represent re-present work is h translation, special attention h,. been bestowed on a thorough exposition and r-nitatj-.n of the "materialistic conception of history'' and it application ap-plication to socialist ideals. The controversy het.,.: Rebel's orthodox party and the revisionists, with F :.-ri . -stein and Von Vollmar at their head, has r----:o i full treatment. The most recent literarv i.nodu, ri ; for arid against socialism have been taken int.. m--rount, and the estimate of the state of so-ialistn i different countries has been corrected according to th-latest th-latest data available. It is not to be expected th,r every reader will agree with Father rathrein. Tl." subject is one of great complexity, and whilst Catholics Catho-lics will most heartily accept the authoritative gui.l ance of the church upon the genora! principles in question, opinions will differ as to details. Hut what- 1 ever he the differences of opinion, all who read thi . I book must profit by the information to be found so ' abundantly in its pages. |