Mr. Masefield in the present volume has adopted much the same method and manner that Mr. Yeats did in his 'personal reminiscences' of their common friend. When read together, a strikingly composite picture of the real Synge is gained, since the one touches rather the personal characteristics of the man, and the other his spiritual background and artistic achievements. But both emphasize his strange aloofness, his "golden silences," his excellence as a companion on a journey, his gypsy-like wanderings to wildest corners of Europe and Ireland in search of atmosphere and life, and the masterful though unconscious art which he wrought out of his colorful experiences. When the biography of Synge comes to be written, both these monographs will be treasured as first-hand accounts of a notable literary figure of our time by fellow-workmen who knew and loved him.

It is not such a far cry from Synge to Tagore, for though they are essentially different in many ways they both belong to the great household of Romance that surrounds with a like sort of faery glow such differing offspring as Homer and Shakespeare, Villon and Æschylus. But even more directly Synge and Tagore are comparable, since both try to give voice to the genius of their particular race, to preserve its folk-life, the local atmosphere, to catch the cloud-effects on the national spiritual horizon. In fact, Tagore's short stories have been traced in influence to the very door of the Celtic movement, Yeats in particular being credited with having inspired the great Hindu. But, on the other hand, the differences are quite as marked as the resemblances, and Tagore cannot be made a Celt even by the literary critic.

Mr. Rhys has written a striking biography on a subject that might well have discouraged an Occidental. So ably has he completed his task, however, that it is difficult to see how the lovers of Tagore can long be without this first adequate interpretation of their inspiring teacher. For it is in the rôle of teacher that his manifold activities and writings can best be studied, and it is in his boys' school at Bolpur that all his talents find their richest and most enduring increase. From the first to the last chapter Mr. Rhys touches on so many matters of

importance that a review of the volume can only be a series of pregnant digressions.

First of all, we have the pictures of the chief events in the singularly quiet life of Tagore-his scholarly, deeply religious father who exerted such a strong influence on the boy, his own lonely life as overseer of the family estate, his marriage, the birth of his children and the subsequent breavements, his mental awakening, and its gradual fruition, until now he is the great prophet of his people. In fact it is Tagore's phenomenal versatility that seems the most remarkable thing about him. How one writer can produce short stories, plays, poems, and philosophic treatises, each superbly simple in thought, and clear as a flute melody in language (even when translated into English) is striking enough, since each of these literary forms he has brought to its definitive shape. But when to this we add his sweeping religious and educational reforms, his patronage of economic improvements (in which his son, a graduate of one of our western schools of agriculture is the leader), and his intensely patriotic championship of everything likely to help India and forward the growth of love in the world, we realize that we are dealing with one of the great men of the age, and that restraint in the expression of our appreciation of this genius in hardly

necessary.

Two phases of this work require particular mention the two outposts of his spiritual thought. One is his love of child life. "Nature shut her hands," he says, "and laughingly asked every day, 'What have I got inside,' and nothing seemed impossible." We are here in the presence of a super-Stevenson. A rereading of "The Crescent Moon" will show it even better than Rhys does. And then after "The Gardener," where temporal love is portrayed, we reach "Gitanjali," where timeless love is so wonderfully interpreted, we reach "Sadhana, the Realization of Life," and we are at the zenith of his thought. This last volume may well come to mean a great deal to this war-torn world of ours, for it unites the essence of the Christian and Hindu religions- the two really vital faiths of our time-in such a way that the follower of either can freely accept the new, which is not so much a compromise as the realization of the essential

unity underlying both. Tempering Hindu monism with Christian individualism and Hindu ascetism with Christian belief in action, Tagore may well lead a religious revival, the like of which has not been seen for twenty centuries. Indeed one of the most persistent thoughts that press for expression as one reads him is that in many ways he resembles the other Great Teacher who taught the love of God and the brotherhood of man, and lived as he taught.

But, more calmly, it is possible that Tagore enthusiasts may overrate their guide, philosopher, and friend. It is still too soon to say. But we can all agree with a writer in the Quarterly Review who says that Tagore has given us the "highest expression of man's belief in God that has appeared in our generation." W. S. RUSK.

THE HIGHER PATRIOTISM. By John Grier Hibben. New York: Chas. Scribner's Sons.

THE ROAD TOWARD PEACE. By Charles W. Eliot. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

These two volumes, dealing with the various problems that have related this country to the World War, are well worthy of survival when the greater part of the deluge of books that have dealt with the war are of interest only to bibliographers. It is noteworthy that the distinguished authors have adopted fundamentally the same position,- that preparedness against war is the chief duty of the United States at present.

In President Hibben's small book there are gathered three addresses and one essay. While emphasizing in all of them the ideal of "America in the world's service," he is equally emphatic that the best way to accomplish this ideal is to adequately equip our own defences so as to be able to back our protests and diplomatic notes with more than moral force. In the address delivered at the Lake Mohonk Peace Conference this spring, he shows clearly that militarism and preparedness are fundamentally different and can remain so as long as the chief endeavor of our nation is to help mankind. In fact Dr. Hibben may be classed with the more farsighted pacifists.

From time to time since the opening of the war ex-President

Eliot has contributed to the New York Times small articles dealing with the progress of the war, the bearing of its problems on this country, and the lessons to be learned. These small essays make up the body of his book, though several addresses delivered both before and after August, 1914, are also included. Dr. Eliot is strongly pro-Ally, but his acknowledged preferences do not limit his ability to see to the bottom of the matters he discusses, and since he takes up practically every phase of the war, in their present collected form his writings make a most readable and valuable history of the eventful year recently closed. His ardent pacifism, coupled with his interest in the formation of an international navy strong enough to enforce obedience to an ever-growing body of international law, runs through all the chapters. While there is nothing essentially new in the ground he covers, the matters he discusses are treated in such a scholarly, clear-sighted way that it does not seem probable a better treatment of the questions involved will appear for some time, and when it does we shall still have a first-hand account of real importance. W. S. RUSK.

THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK. By James Branch Cabell. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company. $1.35 net.

The author calls his book "a comedy of limitations," and yet it is far more of a tragedy, unless we look at it from the ironical, almost cynical point of view of Mr. Cabell himself. Though to judge from his name, he is a scion of some of the old families of Virginia, it is clear that he has grown tired of the over-idealization of the South, for he lays bare with clever strokes and unsparing pen the deadening conservatism, the unyielding prejudices, the complacent self-satisfaction of the Old South, not hesitating even in his iconoclastic mood to retouch with impious hand the traditional portrait of the 'famous Southern beauty.' "Nothing," declares one of his women characters, "was expected of us save to be beautiful and to condescend to be made much of, and that is our tragedy." The reaction is a natural one, and yet one feels that the author here and elsewhere in the book has voiced his discontent with almost too brutal frankness, in spite of the fact that he puts the criticism in the mouth ofa woman.

Mr. Cabell, however, would not have us consider him as a wanton idol-breaker, a radical scorner of tradition, but as one who would substitute a saner, more common-sense view of the past and its achievements. Nevertheless, with all its ease and brilliance, the book leaves a distinctly disagreeable impression. There is a hardness of outline, a want of sympathy, a sardonic humor, all of which arouses antagonism or leads to a hopeless view of the future.

ESSAYS IN SOCIAL JUSTICE. By Thomas Nixon Carver. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1915. Pp. vii+429. $2.00.

Under this somewhat alluring title of Essays in Social Justice Professor Carver has given us a series of articles which are fundamentally discussions of economic theory. Those who expect any description of our social and ethical relations which is easy and pleasant to read will be disappointed. The book is unsuited for anyone who is not willing to bring it to clear and consecutive thinking.

The author has performed at least two valuable services in this work. He has developed an objective concept of social justice which challenges the too-prevalent sentimental morality of the time. And he has described the relations between economics and ethics in a way which will provoke vigorous thought, whatever may be the attitude of mind of the reader toward the author's opinion. Both these services meet a need of the present time when economic and ethical relations are becoming more and more interwoven.

Some of Professor Carver's fundamental concepts will call forth a sturdy protest. The theory that our moral ideals and our social, political, and legal institutions are grouped around the idea of economic scarcity does not seem to leave much room for spiritual and ideal forces in our civilization. The theory that practically identifies qualities insuring survival with moral qualities has not said the final word until, at least, there is a redefining of terms. At times the words of the author seem perilously close to upholding materialism. For those readers to whom such views are disquieting the excellent qualities of the book will be dulled or lost. JAMES G. STEVENS.