at length in this magazine, so our best course in reference to this volume is to express our satisfaction with it in its treatment of the man and his work. We know of only two biographies of Benton of real value besides this. There should be a wide welcome for one as satisfactory as this is. A fuller realization of the true position of the man has come, especially with reference to what he did in preparing the way for the saving of Missouri to the Union.

THE AWAKENING OF CHINA.*

This book is divided into five parts: Old China and Its People; The Commercial Force and the Economic Revolution; The Political Force and the National Protest; The Missionary Force and the Chinese Church; The Future of China and Our Relation to It. Dr. Brown has come to be one of the leading writers on missionary subjects, recognized far beyond the limits of his own denomination. He has visited the field and he has studied China carefully. His words come with an authority different from either the missionary or the secular historian. Not only the part treating of the missionary work and possibilities, but his historical statements and explanations are authoritative and show original research and thought. He has added materially to the definite literature on conditions and demands of awakening China.

A NEW PANSY STORY.†

In childhood we used to read Pansy's stories with a great deal of pleasure and much profit. In many ways they were, and are, the best kind of Sunday reading. Of late years we have read part and all of several of her stories as they appeared in the weekly press, but always with disappointment. It seemed as though her powers were gone or else our former appreciation had been lost with the years. But either we have awakened or she has brightened in her writing. This new story is in her best vein. It lacks the tediousness of her recent stories. It deserves a place beside Tip Lewis and Esther Reid and the Chautauqua Girls. Watch Ransom is a real girl and David Ransom is a real man in many ways and the story is well told. Our sympathy, our interest, our satisfaction are stirred. Better yet there are several good lessons honestly but simply woven into the plot. We thank Pansy for the book.

*NEW FORCES IN OLD CHINA-By Arthur J. Brown. 382 pages. $1.50 net. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company.

†DAVID RANSOM'S WATCH-By Mrs. G. R. Alden. 354 pages. $1.50. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVIVALS.*

The suggestion of the connection between a revival and an Indian ghost dance is a shock to any religious mind. The explanation of the power of a Wesley as hypnotism seems an outrage upon the power of God. However it is well to stop and think of the way God uses our powers and of the difficulty the human being has in getting behind a word that has come to have a doubtful meaning. We admit the personal magnetism of a speaker as he sways an audience, but we cannot carry it farther and explain the mastery of a Moody in that way. We do not believe trances are a proof of spiritual vision but we hesitate to trace their cause to any peculiar power of the speaker. There is a good deal in a book like this to shock the reader at the first thought but the book is worth reading through, at least to get the author's opinion. At the same time the reader is likely to modify his first opposition even if he does not accept the new point of view in its entirety. The final chapter is constructive and gives a real message for present day conditions to those who desire to win men to an earnest service of our Master.

THE STRUGGLE OF THE PLAINS.†

This third novel of Western life is in many ways stronger than the others. The atmosphere is good, the scene chosen full of possibilities in itself and the story worked out dramatically. There is growth in style and the same swing of movement carries the reader along page after page. Several unattractive features are worked into this story which are unnecessary to the best development, as is always true. The scenes centering around the vote in the legislature are exceedingly graphic and the close of the story is tragic. We could suggest more changes in this than either of the other novels, but at the same time we admit a greater vividness and power. The growth is a marked gain and the criticisms are all particular.

MISSIONARY HEROES.

The lives chosen for the first book cover Africa, China, India, Turkey and Japan; the men of the second worked in China. Both books include

*PRIMITIVE TRAITS IN RELIGIOUS REVIVALS-By Frederick Morgan Davenport. 323 pages. $1.50 net. New York City: The Macmillan Company.

JUSTIN WINGATE, RANCHMAN-By John H. Whitson.
$1.50. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
EFFECTIVE WORKERS IN NEEDY FIELDS.

312 pages.

195 pages. 50 cents.

New York City: Young People's Missionary Movement. PRINCELY MEN IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM-By Harlan P. Beach. 244 pages. 50 cents. New York City: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.

Mackay of Formosa. The analytical index of the one and the questions and outlines of the other are very valuable for study classes. Mr. Beach has chosen Robert Morrison, John Kenneth Mackenzie, James Gilmore, John Livingston Nevius, George Leslie Mackay and concludes with a chapter on the martyrs of the Boxer rising. The sketches in the other book are by different writers, telling of the work of David Livingstone, George Leslie Mackay, Isabella Thoburn, Cyrus Hamlin and Joseph Hardy Neesima. There is no better way to awaken an interest in mission work than through the stories of consecrated lives. The study of mission fields and the general history of missions will follow naturally while the personal element of these studies is a better beginning than to start with the more complex texts.

LOVE IN THE GREAT FOREST FIRE.*

This story is rather too melodramatic and yet is not trashy. The scene is Minnesota in the days of its making. The mixture of grim business and love is the same as is so popular today. The plot is the same as always except for the setting. Change the great forest fire to the Chicago fire and give us city life and it would work out the same. Use some other stress of circumstances instead of a fire and it would make no difference. Still we have a story not devoid of originality. In details it is well developed. The fire scenes and other tableaux are vivid and exciting. The characters are more than the stock puppets of many modern novels. You can almost see the fire and you can feel the hearts beat. It is all very stirring and interesting but that is all.

GREAT PREACHERS.†

This is a galaxy of familiar names. Beecher, Talmage, Storrs, Brooks, McLaren, Newman, Spurgeon, Liddon, Bersier, Finney, Felix, Taylor, Hall, Broadus, Moody, Gunsaulus, Punshon, Robinson. All but one or two of these would be included by anyone in such a list. And there are only a few left out who could demand a place with the others. The treatment is generally good though the critical spirit is unnecessarily general. Much of the criticism such as is marked in discussing William M. Taylor goes into such minute detail as to lose force. With this one regret for the dissecting method of criticism which is to be deplored in its frequent appearance, we confess to a real enjoyment of a large part of this book. Sonnets on the subjects of criticism are mixed up for the reader to try to sort out. Some are very clear, others not at all so. Essays on Jesus and Paul as preachers are appended.

*THE PRIZE TO THE HARDY-By Alice Winter. 347 pages. $1.50. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

MODERN MASTERS OF PULPIT DISCOURSE-By William Cleaver Wilkinson. 526 pages. $1.60 net. New York City: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

THE BELLES LETTRES COLERIDGE.*

Perhaps it is a vivid memory of an illustrated edition, it must have been by Dore, but the albatross is a never to be forgotten picture as it hangs around his neck. Almost a morbid mental state is projected as a result into the mind of the poet and there can be no other explanation of his thought. Surely "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is Coleridge, though "Christabel" must not be forgotten, nor "Kublai Khan" and a few others. The introductory work and the notes of this edition are very satisfactory. The selection of poems is good and a handy collection like this is worthy a place in any library.

THE METHODIST PULPIT.†

These are the first four volumes of the second series of sermons by representative Methodist preachers. It is an interesting study to read the sermons as collected. We are surprised to find how few evangelistic sermons are included. The denomination has always stood for the revival, but no one would draw that conclusion from these books. Without exception the sermons are strong in their evangelical appeal, but they are directed almost entirely at church members for edification. Bishop Foss' volume is fullest of Methodist phraseology and reference but like the others he proved that the great churches are awakening more and more to their common duty of training and inspiring rather than defending particular doctrines in heated controversy.

REVIEWS IN BRIEF.

Africa Waiting, by Douglas M. Thornton, is one of the best outlines for the study of mission work and problems in the dark continent. It is one of the earlier volumes of the Student Volunteer series, but is brought down to 1897 and is well fitted for class study today. (Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, New York City. 35 cents and 50 cents).

*SELECT POEMS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE-Edited by Andrew J. George. 410 pages. 60 cents. Boston: D. C. Heath & Com

pany.

THE UPWARD LEADING-By James Henry Potts. THE MORE EXCELLENT SACRIFICE-By John W. Sayers. THE CHANGELESS CHRIST-By Robert Forbes. RELIGIOUS CERTAINTIES-By Cyrus D. Foss. 50 cents each. Cincinnati: Jennings & Graham.

A volume on Jonathan Edwards from a Methodist point of view is worthy of welcome. It is more common for a Presbyterian to preach on Wesley than for a Methodist to preach on Calvin. The time is coming when we shall realize that these great leaders belong to the Church and not to any particular church. Dr. Isaac Crook writes appreciatively of the great Calvinist and his estimate in worth reading. (Jennings & Graham, Cincinnati. 35 cents, net).

Among the many interesting readers which are being prepared for the children Blaisdell & Ball's Short Stories from American History should be very popular. The stories are well chosen and well told. (Ginn & Company, Boston. 45 cents).

The Unwritten Law is a strongly written but unpleasant novel by Arthur Henry. There is a morbid human interest about it, but the book is unnecessary and arrives no where. Simply to tell the story is no excuse for its existence and there is no other excuse. (A. S. Barnes & Company, New York City.

$1.50).

A treatise on medical missions, by J. Rutter Williamson, under the title, The Healing of the Nations, gives an interesting survey of this important field of missionary activity. The binding and printing of the volume is inferior to the majority of this series of outlines, but there is no better text book on this subject for mission study classes. (Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, New York City. 40 cents).

Vagaries and Verities is a collection of fourteen revival sermons by William B. Riley. They form a complete cycle of sermons on various popular fallacies. The treatment is direct and the effect good. (Winona Publishing Company, Chicago).

The Story of a Literary Career is an autobiographical sketch of the literary life of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. It is followed by a description of the author's home and life. This will be indispensable in the home of every lover of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. (Elizabeth Towne, Holyoke, Mass.)

Two beautiful little booklets on Japanese child life are Boys and Girls of Sunrise Land and The Making of a Cherub. Every mission band in our churches will find these a help. They are very artistic and full of information in picture and print. (Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, M. E. Church, Boston. 15 cents each).

From the West to the West is a rather ordinary story of a pioneer trip overland to Oregon in the days before the war. There is considerable