Connecticut western news., 1921-07-07

masters of Egypt. Constant conflict
 in the streets between the partisans of
 each side laid a fitting scene for Charles kingsley's religious philosoph- ic historical melodrama.
 Cyril, bishop and later saint, is nom- inally the leader of the battling churchmen of the tale; the great Aug ustine and the philosophic Synesius, bishops both, are minor personages of the drama, with many other passing figures of the church, but the leading character from that side is the humble Philammon, the young boy of the mon- astery in the desert, who makes his way in the simplicity of his zeal to brave the world, the flesh, and the dew Il, where so many other monks of fic- tion have found that interesting triad, keeping headquarters at Alexandria. The city was ruled by Orestes, so far as any prefect could rule the unruly cOsmopolis, worldly and elusive per son, who, not satisfied with the trou- bles already at hand, would conspire to erect an empire of Africa out of the difficulties of Rome and Constan- tinople, and to crown as his empress, Hypatia, idealist, mathematician, neo- Platonist, leader and teacher of what remained of Greek philosophy as liv- ing force. Under Hypatia's sway fell the young Philammon by reason of her beauty, her power of speech, and the inherited appeal of philosophy to one whose ancestry was Athenian. An appeal of another sort came to him from Pelagia, dancer and beauty, dar- ling of the city in general and of in- dividuals in particular. To the charm of Hypatia yielded not only the world ly prefect and the simple monk, but the most interesting figure of the story, Raphael-Aben-Ezra, descended from the blood of Solomon, rich, lazy, and selfish to all appearance, but the parsonage in whose soul and mind was surging most violently the strug- gle and conflict which is the keynote of the book. Should the traditions of Jewry, the lure of Greek philosophy, the charm of pleasant if tumultuous world, or the power of Christianity conquer in him? In his apparently easy going way through existence, he was measuring what every phase of that seething cauldron had to offer as solution for the problems which a human soul has to ponder for its OWE salvation. It took him long to decide, and it was only by the ministrations of Augustine and Synesius and the liv- ing example of Victoria that he final ly found in Christianity the truly dem- Ocratic creed by which the world could best live.
 Struggle and strife of soul or body -Philammon's yearning to see more of the world than the monastery in charm of Hypatia's beauty and her learning; Cyril's struggles by militant means toward a spiritual end; Ores tes' to win an empire; Pelagia's to win love; Raphael to find the truth: the conflict between old thought and new and as the climax. the conflict and the end in Hypatia'S case:
 "Yes, on into the church itself! Into the cool, dim shadow, with its fretted ., dies, and incense and blazing altar, and great pictures, looking from the walls athwart the gorgeous gloom. And right in front above the altar, the colossal Christ watching unmoved from off the wall, his right hand raised to give blessing-or a curse?
 "On, up the nave, fresh shreds of her dress strewing the holy pavement, up the chancel steps themselves-up to the altar-right underneath the great, still Christ; and there even those hell hounds paused.
 "She shook herself free from her tormentors, and springing back, rose for one moment to her full height, naked, snow white against the dusky mass around, shame and indignation in those wide, clear eyes, but not a stain of fear. With one hand she clasped her golden locks around her; the other long, white arm was still Christ, appealing-and who dare say, in vain?-from man to God. Her lips were opened to speak; but the words that should have come from them reached Gods ears alone; for in an instant they struck her down, the dark mass closed over her again-and then vail on vail, ear-piercing, rang along the vaulted roofs, and thrilled like the trumpet of averaging angels through Philammon's ears" Copyright, 1919, by the Post Publishing
 Co. (The Boston PosD. Copyright In the
 United Kingdom, the Dominions. its Col
 onies and dependencies, under the copy
 right act, by the Post Publishing Co.,,
 Boston, Mass. U. S. A. All rights re-
 served.