to the Japanese. The result was that the Korean government, which it is believed had instigated the meetings, because of pressure brought to bear by the Japanese, prohibited them, but the Korean police, knowing that the government did not actually wish the meetings to be discontinued, claimed that they were unable to break them up. Thereupon the Japanese, under authority of a clause in the recently signed Protocol which provided that Japan should assist Korea in putting down any popular uprising with which the Korean government was unable to deal, called out their soldiers and dispersed the gatherings. A few days later their request was withdrawn for the present. For the present only, it is believed, for four thousand additional troops were immediately ordered to Seoul, making six thousand in all that are now in the city. Meanwhile fresh rumors are abroad that the Japanese are again going to order that long hair shall no longer be worn and that this, that and the other shall be done by the Koreans.

The conclusion to which this leads is, therefore, that much as an equitable government, such as the Japanese have established in their own land, would do for Korea; much as we may concede to the Japanese in point of courage, skill and capability; much as we may admire them for the wonderful progress they have made in the past sixty years, the question still remains: has Japan learned the lesson of ten years ago or is the Mikado of Japan a brother in blunders to George the Third of England?

BY THE BOOKLOVER.

Anyone who has been out rowing on such a river as the Missouri, tugging against its tossing current, whirled swiftly past its eddies, wearied though delighted by the rapid swing onward of the waters, knows the pleasure of turning aside into the still water beneath the overhanging trees of the shore. There it is pleasant to float gently, hearing only the echo of the hurrying flood. Just such a feeling comes over the Booklover as he turns from the excitement of a swiftly moving novel, such as is so common today, to the shady scenes and quiet lives which Jane Austen knew and loved and gave to us. Here are no intense tales of terror and danger, but a pleasant, restful reality of life. Some of our grandest scenery is where the waves break on the ragged rocks of Nahant, or where the hills have been torn apart to receive the torrents of the Colorado. We may wonder in the face of such magnificence, wonder even to awe, but are we not happier in the beauty spots of the upper Connecticut or in the woods near the little streams of the West? We hear more of the grandeur of the great mountains. So we hear more about the noble works of Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Eliot than of work fully as noble, though less pretentious.

Jane Austen has been passed over by most of us for half a century. The reason is not important, but the fact is clear. The loss is not so much hers as ours, or there would be no reason for these words. Her name stands upon the pages of literature, whether we read or not. Sometimes we wonder why a name thus holds its place. The reason is easy to find: Read and you will see. The charm of her few stories is undeniable. It is not generally felt as she is not widely known because of her quiet beauty. There was a time when such books were needed to stir up a slug gish age. That day is past, and we are wearying of the old style. Let us turn to an older style: climb up to the top shelf in the library; blow off the covering dust; hunt for it till you find it. Then read, not in the haste of today to finish and read another, but in the desire for rest and the charm of a forgotten day when there was time enough to live.

It is true that we have cut loose from the restful reading of our fathers. They read for joy, we for the reading. They read a book, we read books. What they read they knew, and it be came part of them. What we read we forget and then we read something else. We have lost many of the great books. We are told that some people read Shakespeare in these days. It is almost a debatable question. We suppose there are some who read Bunyan, but they do not talk about it much. Really a man is not educated who does not know his Pilgrim's Progress. The Christian who has not read of that Christian's pilgrimage has lost something. If he has been so unfortunate as never to have laid eyes upon the wonderful allegory, let him seek it out at once. If he has tried it and found it lacking in interest, probably he is one of those who find little joy in the reading even of the great Bible. Aside from all religious thoughts The Pilgrim's Progress is one of the literary tests of education. No single book of English authorship shows such perfect mastery of literary style and language. The simple Anglo-Saxon directness of speech, the strong old words, short and virile, this is worth more than the multitude of text books of today. Would you write good English? would you know your mother tongue? would you speak strong and true, write clear and vividly, think deep and nobly? Study your Bible first; nowhere can you find better English. There the beauty of Ruskin, the grandeur of Milton, the ruggedness of Carlyle, the poetry of Tennyson is blended into perfection. It is where they learned to write. Strangely great men have placed this other book close by the Bible, too close for another to come between. Strangely, if we are wise today, for we have almost taken it down, at least have pushed it back out of sight. It is not strange. The wonder is in our blindness. Bunyan is a friend to please and help. In him is strength for life and expression, pleasure in reading and knowing, for a friend makes us better as well as happier. Stop just a moment and rest. You can do more tomorrow if you spare a little time today from the rush and turmoil.

A new year is beginning. We do not venture this remark simply because it marks our new volume. The year really begins in the fall, though we may continue to keep New Year's Day frozen fast in January. The vacations are over; business and school take a new start. The hot weather is nearing its close; church and home resume their wonted routine. Autumn is preparation, winter is work, spring shows results. When summer comes we should be able to rest and watch the ripening of the year's harvest. Let us make this our best year.

The election time is at hand.

It is always more or less of a crisis in America, whether the issue be in doubt or not. In many ways, especially from the point of view of business, it would be well if the presidential term were longer. A six-year term, with a renomination impossible, would remove some present day difficulties, though it would create others. No matter how baseless, the charge will always be made that certain of the president's acts toward the end of his first term are influenced by the desire for a second election.

There is no reason to believe that the Democratic party will use money in a questionable way to any greater extent than usual but it is clear that the president intends that the Republican campaign shall be cleaner than usual. Locally, bribery will win many victories for both parties but nationally a Republican victory this fall will be a marked triumph for righteousness in politics.

The campaign which has been started against the patent medicines should be helped on by every self-respecting human being. It is impossible to walk through the streets of city or miniature town without being faced by windows full of these so-called medicines which contain more alcohol than the larger part of the intoxicating liquors of the day. The line which has been clearly drawn between the leading magazines of the day should count in

the homes of the country. A good proportion of the leading pe riodicals refuse liquor and patent medicine advertisements. The others should be brought to their senses by a rapidly failing patronage.

Speaking of advertising, we have often wondered how so many of the religious weeklies and monthlies of the country can publish their advertisements of fake mining and prospecting concerns. Almost all of these papers contain such matter. Several are glaring in their welcome to these pleasant sounding pros pectuses. Ninety-nine out of every one hundred of these concerns will never make any returns to the investors. We except that one out of the one hundred for fear we might be caught, like The Ladies' Home Journal, by one honest concern in bad company. The way in which such advertisements are paid for should awaken suspicion, but they appear from number to number without a warning.

Never has there been such an attack upon those who have been considered beyond reach as that which has given us a new phrase, frenzied finance. A confederate has gone over to the enemy. "Standard Oil" is to be laid bare. Several facts are already evident. There is bitterness enough in the words already written to prove that half way methods are ruled out. We shall have a complete case, unless the very frenzy of the attack spoils the case. We are brought face to face with a national menace if even half that is told is true.

The reader has been surprised to find that the more familiar John D. Rockefeller is brushed lightly aside and others who have been almost unknown to us are brought to the front. We are finding the new "Standard Oil" which has its grasp upon far more important things than petroleum. With banks beyond number, the much vaunted New York Life and other great institutions at its call, what a power it is for good or ill.

We are told that a combination of such reach and compass could elect any man it wanted president. Perhaps, but it has failed to buy the author of the penned attack; it has failed to purchase the silence of the magazine. What contradictions!