The herald., 1896-04-26
l}0QKS ANP 42 HtesE!:'THElM
n Y E07><z NNHu MAKE u eElc7>'
EDITED BY ENocn KNIGHT

do not seek to know Thee. God. Too high
Art Thou for my weak, human thought to
reach
! ask that love divine my heart may teach
10 d ma dt my ~ hroter h man, to me SO h,Sn irhv
Are we so far apart who fain would each
The other bless? Help Father! beseech
Thine aid. Let me not pass the wounded
But lift him gently in his sorest need.
Quench all his burning thirst, his hunger
Oh! let me not be dead to any cry r
Thy little ones" may utter; then shall |
Thy healing word more surely hear ana
heed,
'o' ap1infs JTLiETTE I i'E'f EsTELLE 81 MATHls.
r r &
AN EXPURGATED BIBLE. A wild
war is raging in the city of chicago
over a suitable edition of the Bible for
reading in the public schools All
friends of theh schools, of good litera-
ture and the higher criticism VIII vel
come discussion of the questions in,
Volved in theh controversy. for they VIII
feel that much good will eventually
and inevitably come out of it.: All sin
cere inullirers after truth VIII be con-
tent still to rely upon the Bible as au-
thority for the great body of religious
opinion cXtant. even II PORTIONS Oh IL
shall be admitted to be Objectionable
as reading matter in our schools; while
literature everywhere will be the gamer
by placing the Scriptures on the high
pane where they belong.
This is real progress that is being
made now in the study of the Bible,
and the Christian world should be con-
graduated upon it. The great body OF
sincere Christians are already united In
heart and substance as to the value
of the Bible, and none of them 1ear thai
truth is assailed by leaving out of school
exercises many passages and portions
of it.
And when all present differences end
the wonder will grow why the sure re-
sulting advantages were not attained
long ago.
A TRIBUTE TO CELIA THANTER.
Gerald Stanley Lane in the Critic pays
a just and beautiful tribute to the mem
cry of Mrs. Thaxter, whose poems nave
made her island home on the coast OF
New England famous:
''She lived the island into her life. she
became it's scientist. its experience. it's
biography She had at once the inten-
sity and the finish of knowing perfectly;
and, with the driftwood to teach her
mystery, and the soft mistS to bring
dreams from over the sea. she became q
roet-a voice of winds and waters and
flowers. Appledore is her masterpiece:
The island with all it's neighborhood o.
cloud will always belong to her: IT is
literature now, it is copyrighted. Like
letters will the seasons come across the
greater waters-from her to those who
visit there. The soul has gone forth
from behind the eyes, it shall never go
forth from this island In the sea. When
the music is still and the iVy-WindoWS
are blown from the porch and the holly
hooks are broken and love has gone
ashore-she waits for us. wrapped IN
the shadow of the snow, the desolate
winter comes out of the gray sea and
Manders like Forgetfulness where the
poppies sleep, and visits her grave alone
but to us she will come in the blooming
time of June-and be Appledore.
This is as appreciative of the highest
mission of literature itself as 1t is OF the
sweet singer whose memory is so deal
to every lover of poetry.
4 4 4
A SINGULAR LIFE. By Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps. Houghton, Mifllir
& Co.
This remarkable book. by all odds tn
.,u..r, rf,e-,, s.loifs 'wIrn some auto
biographical writing to create a new in
terest in Mrs. Phelps Wards books, an(
in herself-a distinct literary revival
may be. too, ST. Agatha's Supply. thai
beautiful little roster-t time volume
might also have contributed to this new
interest.
Perhaps the most remarkable tribute
paid to this story was by the literary
critic Of the London Christian World, L
tribute so appreciative and so sincere
that we append extracts from it. O:
the poor fisherman of wisdom, he has
these strong words of appreciation and
praise:
Into the full suffering of the life Of
Christ the best of us may hardly say
we enter. The life of Emanuel Bayard
makes that suffering very near. We. who
above all else arc very human. are COM
PEELED to bow down before the hourly
hcroism of the man who gave his life
for his people. He holds U.S. as he held
,;s, l, l.. Ii,
is with Stephen, as the face of an angel
The book is permeated with the breath
of the sea, with its mother call of SYM
pathy, its passionate throes, its match
less strength, and eternal question and
appeal. Miss Phelps knows it's caresses
and it's pain, the men and women whom,
it makes or mars, and as we read we
know them too. iWth Bayard we fight
for life in the storm; we weep for Angel
alley; we thrill at the echo of Helen's
voice as the tide rose, and those mighty
lovers, the sea and the shore urged and
answered, resisted and yielded, protest
ed and pleaded, retreated and met loved
and elapsed, and slept. There is wind
blown wild-fower fragrance about Hell
en- which makes her stand out even from
amongst Miss Phelps gallery of beau
tiful-natured women.
OF the minor characters of the book
the critic has to say that the fishermen
folk with whom Bayard and Helen had
to deal, We're like our own Cornish
fishermen" members of that universal
brotherhood of old-ti sailors OF the
author herself these words are just:
"There is something in Miss Phelps
writing which disarms criticism Like
Helen, she captures one. We feel her
power too strongly to define the exact
point in which it is strongest Possibly
for each individual soul she will speak
in individual accents; the certainty is.
that to each thinking soul she is bound
to speak For-and herein lies the force
and conviction of the book-Miss Phelps
stands amongst those whose aim is to
leave message of faith with the world.
The band is no large one; there are but
few living writer's to whom one can turn
for honest help and guidance. Some few
aim at being wholesome; far more, at
awakening the senses by means which
are almost as unlawful as a defined sim
Miss Phelps has the spOntaneity Of
Kingsley, blended with a wonderful psy-
chology. She is so reverent, too. Every
thing is real to her-heaVen. immortali-
ity, Christ. And to us, in listening to her
message. it all becomes infinitely more
near and near. We learn to look out be-
yond this small life's tragedy, and to see
clearer the helpful laboring souls Of
men and women with strong natures
and loyal hearts. Miss Phelps is satis-
fled with nothing less than the best
in life, in love and in religion"