at in the hostile camp should read _William Booth,
Founder of the Salvation Army_ (MACMILLAN), and see for themselves
what ideas and ideals they were opposing. Mr. HAROLD BEGBIE has done
his work well, and the only fault to be found with him is that his
ardour has sometimes beguiled him into recording trivialities; and
this error strikes one the more as BOOTH, both in his strength and in
his weakness, was not trivial. When this, however, is said, nothing
but praise remains for a careful study both of the man and of his
methods. The instrument upon which BOOTH played was human nature, and
he played upon it with a sure hand because he understood how difficult
it is to touch the spirit when the body is suffering from physical
degradation. To this must be added a genuine spiritual exaltation and
love of his fellow-man and also an indomitable courage. Few men could
have emerged with hope and enthusiasm unquenched from such a childhood
as BOOTH'S; but we know how he lived to conquer all opposition and to
promote and organise what is perhaps the greatest movement of modern
times. In paying our tribute to him for his successful crusade against
misery and evil we are not to forget his wife, whose unfailing love
and devotion were his constant support.

* * * * *

Mr. JOHN GALSWORTHY'S short stories and studies in _Tatterdemalion_
(HEINEMANN) are divided into "of war-time" and "of peace-time." I
think the greater part of the author's faithful company of readers
will prefer the latter. Mr. GALSWORTHY has less than most men the kind
of mind that can put off the burden of the suffering of war or submit
easily to the difficult need for us all to think one way in a time of
national crisis. But "Cafard," study of a _poilu_ in the despairing
depression that comes of the fatigue and horror of long fighting, who
is lifted back to courage by a little frightened beaten mongrel whose
confidence he wins, so forgetting his own trouble, was written, one
can feel, because the author wanted to write it, not because he felt
it was expected of him. Of the peace-time sketches "Manna," with the
theme of a penniless and eccentric parson charged with stealing a loaf
of bread and acquitted against the evidence, is as admirable as it is
unexpected in flavour. For the rest there is good GALSWORTHY, if not
of the very best, and but little that one would not praise highly if
it came from an author of lower standards.