A CAUSERIE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17104, 8 September 1917, Page 2

A CAUSERIE.

Br Constant Reader.

RELIGION AND THE WAR (b),

" War is a confession of failure to live even on the level of an intelligent humanity. It is, in fact, a descent into the realm of Nature ' red in tooth and claw' —the realm, that is, of the fighting beast. . . . The overwhelming sense of force and the appeal to force which takes possession of the mass in war, and war cannot, destroy, may even encourage, the higher sense of the spiritual and the mystical." These sentences convey the trend of the foreword which General Bramwell Booth, the present head of the Salvation Army, writes for Mr Arthur B. Copping's " Souls in Khaki," a book which is described as a " personal investigation into spiritual experiences and sources of heroism among our lads in the firing line." In an essay on "Authority and Individualism " Mr Francis Griorson writes of "three principal social elements which are levelling and diluting old systems and beliefs," and foremost amongst these elements he mentions the Salvation Army as making a clean divorce between Episcopalianism and thepeople. Mr Copping, in his introduction, says that on the outborak of war ho felt very sorry for the Salvation Army, for the following reasons: — Hitherto a source of strength, its international character seemed, in the catastrophe that had overtaken the human race, a source of weakness. The Church of England, like each of tho Nonconformist churches, operated almost entirely within the shelter of ono Empire, and wholly within the sanction of ono patriotism. But the 'Salvation Army was German as well as British, French, and Belgian as well as Austrian; it'belonged, in fact, not only to every belligerent country, but to the neutral ones as well. . . . v As an organism having tho heart in London, and , arteries radiating thence all about the habitable globe, the Salvation Army seemed peculiarly at the mercy of a European war; and in imagination I saw several of the chief arteries severed, and the organism left stricken and enfeebled.

Happily such forebodings proved illfounded, for "if there were diminished facilities for thn Salvation Army" in the ono direction, "there was increased occasion " in other directions. The Salvatioh Army sought new fields of work- in the training camps and on the actual battlefields;- —with what, success this little book attempts to set forth. Being above military age, Mr Copping desired to get to the front for the purpo.se of investigating at first hand the effect of actual warfare upon tho'spiritual life of the fighting mon : Then came the illuminating thought: wo had two annies in tho field—the British army and tho Salvation Army; and how better could one study the spiritual condition of tho former than

from vantage points that the work of the latter would afford? Other Christian organisations were engaged among the soldiers, but I realised that because •of the simple, thorough-going, -uncompromising, seven-days-a-week" character of its Christianity the Salvation Army, through its corporate and individual activities in the war arena, would most surely introduce me to the knowledge I sought.

The record that follows may fittingly be read as a war-supplement to William James's famous compendium "The Varieties of Religious Experiences." Many matters arc perplexing throughtful minds during the present crisis, one of the most vital being the question whether, after the war, there will be found Faith on the earth. To such a question Mr Copping , s book supplies a reassuring answer. I do not hesitate to commend it to all who are interested in the religious problems of the time, while incidentally it testifies to the value in our midst of an organisation like the Salvation Army.

A NEW ZEALAND NOVEL (c). As a rule I fight shy.of "Prize Novels"; they are generally disappointing, and scarcely ever lias a front-rank novelist been discovered by a " Thousand-guinea Novel Competition " —Miss Selma Lagerlof being a notable exception. The fact that "Myola" came heralded as a New Zealand novel provided, me with the first incentive, and the story, once started, compelled attention to the end.' The author —H. Musgrave— is an unknown quantity in the field of fiction; I judge her to be a woman, arid a colonial —probably an Australian rather_ than a New Zeaiander; but this is deductive guesswork. The. story begins and ends in New Zealand: the action of the' body of the book taking place in , England. It is a strong, ■ story, dramatic, almost melodramatic, in its conception, and it ought to stage remarkably well. '' I shall not spoil the interest of readers by outlining the plot; but there are certain implications jn the novel which appear to reflect the mind of the writer.

The heroine, Myola. was born in Queensland and named after the place of her birth. Her early life was shadowed by the drink-craving to which her father was a victim, and which led to their settling in the remote back-blocks of the far north of Now Zealand. The descriptions of North Island scenery are very well done, and back-block life is painted in with a good deal of artistic fidelity. The first implication is that the titled scions attached to the Government House staff'—in Australia, of course —do not hesitate' to play fast-and-loose with colonial girls: and that the girls, on their part, provided they fall in love, do not shirk the consequences. With Myola marriage- was of little import; love and maternity were everything. ! When the scene shifts to England the self-possessed and self-contained, colonially educated and trained young woman—of whom Myola is a type—is placed in sharp contrast to the ill-bred, flighty, and superficial American heiresses, whose-only ambition is to marry into the English aristocracy. Although Myola is a girl with a past, she more than holds her own with the legally married American girls. The atmosphere, of this part of tho book is cleverly created, and the ensuing complications are ingenious and well worked out. The general competency of the Australian girl in contrast to her helpless English and American sister, is illustrated when Myola comes to tho rescue of her hostess in a matter of a dinner party. At the last moment, after the menu had been drafted and the. gtiests invited, the cook disgraces herself by getting drunk. Myola, rising to the occasion, turns to and cooks tho dinner to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, .afterwards, appearing in the drawing room and taking part in the general conversation. Miss "Musgrave," if her first novel is a fair sample of her talent, " should bo heart! of again." "Myola" is well worth reading, the theme is strongly but delicately handled, and the tone of the story is beyond oavil. Therp is not a line in tho book which will give offence to the most sensitively minded. Above all, there is not a word in the novel about tho war, and this in itself in a great relief. I predict for "Myola" a good circulation in the Dominion.