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Show BOOK REVIEWS Francis," by the Th? r" -f St' transited oy Mss k r,? Ompanions: with appendi-rhfe-isnstEnt1"' 'Thousand arid One Objections tr, Secret Societies." By Rev. J w Book D. D. Revised and enlarged bv Pt' Ferreol Girady, c. SS R ' comprehensively in this enlarged edi tion of Father Book's work. Thus instance the general principle - uDon which the Church is opposed to secret 7ouStle?.T,,a terSeIy pressed as follows: fol-lows: "By a divine right the Church has charge of souls, and, consequently she has a right to know what thev I are doing and how they ar fn ng if But how can she judge of the lawfulness lawful-ness of an act, if It is not submitted to her judgment? . . . All that the Church requires is that the end sought for be legitimate and that the means to attain that end be sanctioned . by God's law. . . . Men can in this country give full expression to their convictions and aspirations and labor to attain them in the clear light of open day. What need, then, can there be of secret, oath-bound associations?" It will thus be seen that this booklet book-let contains a supply of well-arranged arguments in answer to the many inquiries in-quiries of the non-Catholic world upon this all-important topic. Herder, St. Louis. 1902. 15 cents. Donahoe's. A book that boys will like and be benefited by is "The Talisman," by An na T. Sadlier, just published by the Benzigers. It is full of the sort of adventure ad-venture in which healthy boys delight, and the good lessons it teachers are all the better for the way in which they are inculcated. There is not a single page where the author stops to moralize: the story runs straight on, as it should. The moral is there, thought; and the most heedless reader read-er will not miss it. The Ave Maria. It is announced that Columbia university uni-versity is preparing to offer its students a course in Chinese literature. If so, it will probably use not only the Latin translations of the Chinese classics by the late Father Zottoli, but Father Perny's invaluable "Chinese Dictionary" Diction-ary" as well. Apart from their missionary mis-sionary labors, which are never permitted per-mitted to suffer detriment even for the cause of science, the brave priests who carry the faith into foreign countries deserve the gratitude and support of the general public for their services to geography, natural history, and especially linguistics. In proof we may cite the Madagascan dictionary by Father Abinail, the Siamese dictionary by Bishop Pallegoix, the Thibetan dictionary dic-tionary by Father Desgodius. and a score of other similar works that the world owes to the -Catholic missionaries. mission-aries. The successors of the present noble band will continue their labors, and by perfecting their work supplant them in the lecture room; but, as the ! "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" points out, the pioneers had first to systematize the chaos of mysterious mys-terious syllables, discover their meaning, mean-ing, transcribe their sound, formulate the laws of grammar and compile glossaries. glos-saries. This was at once a most burdensome bur-densome and most necessary duty; and to have done this in so many cases is a great and inalienable glory of the missionaries of Holy Church. The Ave Maria. Mr. Andrew Lang holds the belief that romances are only fairy tales grown up, and, having given to the children a wealth of fairy lore, he follows fol-lows his sumptuous green and pink and other bright-hued fairy books with "The Book of Romance." Gleaning here and there, he selects the best from the mass of romance invented he declares "by nobody knows who, nobody knows when, nobody knows where." And thus we find the story of Arthur and his knights, of Roland, of Diarmid, and Robin Hood, and Wayland the Smith, and many another, served up anew with the gorgeous embellishments of color and illustration that Mr. Lang knows how to employ with most happy effect. It is a book of doughty deeds, magic happenings and magnificent personages, person-ages, passing in splendid pageant before be-fore the mind's eye at the summons of this past master in the art of entertaining en-tertaining with tales from many lands. Longmans, Green & Co., New York $1.60. Donahoe's. Handsome tributes have been paid to the late M. de Blowitz, "the wonder-tui wonder-tui foreign correspondent," as one London Lon-don journal calls him; adding "It is unlikely that this generation will witness wit-ness another journalist of his mark." His death was as serene as his life had been strenuous and eventful. He received re-ceived the last sacraments with the greatest devotion, after which, again and again with edifying fervor he kissed the crucifix an object of piety that always hung upon his wall; and drawing forth two medals of the Blessed Virgin which were constantly suspended about his neck, he pressed them to his lips with all possible ven-eration."The ven-eration."The Ave Maria In a popular lecture discussing the evidence for the dates at which the several sev-eral books of the New Testament were written, included in a volume just published pub-lished by Mr. Murray, Dr. Headiam makes this apposite remark: "If you wish to understand the early history of Christianity, a careful study of the Apostolic Fathers, which are all perfectly per-fectly accessible in the excellent trans-i trans-i lations and editions by Bishop Light-jfoot, Light-jfoot, will 'be far more profitable than" pages of magazine articles and popular pamphlets." In quoting this true remark re-mark the London Tablet adds: "It would not take more than two or three hours to read the writings of the Apostolic Apos-tolic Fathers through." The Ave Maria. |