The Washington herald., 1912-07-07
Literary Review of Latest Publications

tempt TO complicate his plot. but II woul,
appear that in his latest work Mr.. Masol
has not kept the different elements o
incident quite as well balanced as wa.
his wont heretofore
4 What he does is to get us greatly in
terested. in the first place, in the proba
BILE Developments Of that rather sinister
mystery in which his heroine is envei
oped. and even after she and the captaii
have met. we still believe that she ough
to continue to hold the center OF tn,
stage. Suddenly apropos Of nothing. 81
to say, the interest is made to shift tc
| the former sailors career in the House
| of Commons. and again. just as we have
a right to expect some appropriate eli
max there, We are asked to watch his
demeanor before the temptation offered
by the antarctic.
My impression is that the story breaks
down. just like some Of Phillips Open.
] helms do. for want of ingenuity to spin
out the thread any further. Either Mr.
Mason tired of the work when hall
| through II, or for some reason not ap-
parent he lost control of what frs,
seemed to him promising plot. Why
American readers are made to follow
| through the intricacies of the British
| House of Commons ways Is not quite
plain to me. It has absolutely nothing
| to do with the story. And something
that the author ough. to have spared us
and what is offensive even is the hint of
| the disposition OF the girl by her own
father. So sensational an expedient is
, not worthy of a writer of Mr.. Mason's
well-known talent.
THE DEMON MOTOR BOAT: By George Fitch.
Little. Brown & Co. Boston.
Any one who has tried to run a motor
boat will get many a hearty laugh out
NJ this h0nk In on Ia of a.
ton the author joyously celebrates all
the adventures which ignorance can ex-
tract from a craft containing a gaso-
line engine. 1t is just possible that
there are some inaccuracies in the book.
We should hardly expect any one who
actually had been inside a motor boat
to describe its powers for wickedness as
we'll as they are detailed by Mr.. Fitch
In fact. accuracy in so funny a book
would be beside the point. We like to
read that the people in the Demon
Motor Boat are so clever in all they
do.
-"over with the anchor" yells one
of the mariners, and be quick about
It. too So over the anchor goes, and
it is only when things get really ex-
citing that the gifted Hopkins who had
thrown the anchor overheard discovers
that he had forgotten to tie the rope
are always rising to the situation in
this sagaciols fashion. Then there is
Mr.. Greene the gentleman with such
gift for conversation that he could
talk a strange bulldog into lending him
his tail for a bell rope" This saying
will, perhaps. do as well as any other
to illustrate Mr.. Fftch's style. He sets
out to be absurd. and he succeeds.
1t would be something of a job to
read this honI thrntiUh af cit
But a chapter now then makes really
good fun.
GREAT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD. New
Edition. with introductioos Published by Ha1-
per Brothers. New York.
A book remarkable even among the
many and valuable contributions by
learned theologians to the different re-
ligious faiths and their history and
origin. II need only be added that the
contributors are such authorities as DR..
Herbert A. Cites, DR.. T. W. Rhys Davids,
Oskar Mann, Sir A c. Lyall, DR.. Men
ant, Sir Lepol grimm, Frederick Harri-
son, E. Denison Ross, Rev. DR.. NJ. Gas
ter, Rev. DR.. Washington GLADDEN., and
Cardinal Gibbons, and 1t win become
evident even to the layman what a treat
there is in store for the student OF
theology, and the thinker.
Space as well as time forbids to lay
before the reader a detailed review. No
reviewer, even were he posted SUFFICIENT
ly to undertake the task, could do am
pie Justice to these essays by the most
prominent authorities and treating ex-
haustively of matters to the mastering
of which the writers have given years
of study.
DR.. Giles, who is professor Of Chinese
at Cambridge, describes Confucianism
in the nineteenth century which. with
its allied worship of ancestors. is cred
tied with 256.oOO.000 adherents. and
which is the state religion in China.
whose Emperor decreed the dedication
of its illustrious founder.
DR.. T. W. Rhys Davids, professor Of
Vail and Buddhist literature in Uni
versity College, London, treats of
Buddhism. Its adherents number g.
474,O0O in India, principally in Burnea. |
Many in China are of that faith. and |
in Japan 1t ranks second among the |
chief forms of worship.
Oskar Mann, the famous Orientalist. |
in the Berlin Royal Library. explains |
in the nineteenth |
century. It ranks fourth among the |
great creeds. having 200, 000,0 900 adher-
ents. OF whom 17.69o.o00 dwell in Eu-
rope. North and South America COM
bined have $4,000.
Brahmanism is the subject of Sir A |
c. Lyalrs essay. Brahma is the only |
one of the Oriental deities who is de-
void of human personality. The adher-
ents are mostly Hindus, and they num-
Der 100, 000, 900.
Zoroaster and the Parsis. D. Menant,
he Orientalist. states that there is only
/ total of 94.100 Of the followers of Fora
husa mostly jewellers of Bombay
leaving the Sikhs and positivism as
Is Of no great importance VIC come to
3abison. E. D. Ross, professor of Per-
ian in University College. London. tells
Is that this is. a side line of the Moham-
nedan cult in Persia, founded by Mira
Ali Mohammed at Shiraz in 1924 He was
'ut to death at Tabriz in 1850 by a
anatical mob. TIE claimed to be not
merely prophet tIt a personal mani
estation of the Deity He assumed the
lame Bab-ed-Din Gate Of FAITH. Hence
ince his death he has been designated as
he first Bah" This creed which, strange
o say, has found a large number of ad-
ierers in America recently, conserved
Ugh types Of morals. forbade concu-
image and polygamy. prohibited mendi-
ancy, taught hospitality, charity, gener-
sity, and abstinence from intoxicating
rink. The sect now has a membership
4 1,2S0 distributed among thirteen States
nd mainly in the District of Columbia.
abdul BAHIA. the leader, is at present in
bis country to spread the Babist doc
rines.
/ refrain from reviewing the essays on
Judaism and Christianity, as this is notj
treatise on our individual belief and
aith. Cardinal Gibbons, Chief Rabbi
iaster. and DR.. Washington GLADDEN.,
ave exhausted the subject and this is