Some Good New Books.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 20, 16 May 1907, Page 19

Some Good New Books.

(Louis Gille and Co., Liverpool St., Sydney). Mother M. Salome (of St. Mary's Convent, Cambridge, England) Iras 'brought out in book form 44 of her 1 Good-Night Stories Told to Very Little Ones.' The tHle sufficiently indicates the contents of this wellprinted and neatly bound volume. The stories appeared originally in the English ' Catholic Fireside.' They are wejl and simply told, are sure to interest the little ones, ' and in practically every case convey some religious truths or useful lessons adapted to the budding child-mind. (Pp. viii.-104, Bvo., cloth gilt, 2s fed). ' Memoir of the Life of Sister Mary Gcnevieve Beale.' Compiled by a Sister of St. Louis. (Pp. viii106, Bvo., cloth gilt, 2s). This is a well-told story of the birth, early life, travels, and conversion of Priscilla Beale, foundress of the Sisters of St. Louis in Ireland. It is an interesting toiograpiny, and parents, teachers, and superiors of religious houses will find in the volume many wise maxims for their guidance. We should like to transfer some of these ' wisdoms ' to our columns, did space permit. But here is an everyday les- - son in firmness by that remarkable nun which those concerned should mark, learn, and inwardly digest : ' Never promise to a child without performing ; do not threaten a punishment which you do not intend to inflict, or promise a recompense which you do not intend to give.' A timely and very welcome work is ' The Religious Persecution in France, 1900-1906.' The author is Mr. J. Napier Brodhead, author of ' Slav and Moslem' and favorably known in the United States for his contributions on the trials of religion in France. The author has long been resident in the Republic. He is a dose observer and wields a facile and at times caustic pen. In one respect his recently published work stands in a class apart : the thirty chapters that sum up the story of the six years' persecution were each written upon the spot, at the time that the events they describe were happening under the writer's eyes. Each chapter has thus the freshness and "directness of a sketch from nature. And the whole work tells the stony of the Atheist-Freemason-Radicail-Socialist onslaught on religion as the various stages of the attack developed before the author's vision. He li\ed through it all, saw it all evolve, and as an observant and intelligent student of social and religious problems he set.s vividly before the reader the preparations for the Associations Law, tlv? fate of the Congregations, the gyrations, inconsistencies, despotism, and guile of the fanatical Jacobinism of the Lime, the, part which Freemasonry played in the persecution an.i the steady progress of violence and anarchy which led to so-called ' separation ' of Church and State, the inventories, etc., down to the close of 1906. In the circumstances of our time, Mr. Brodhead's book deserves a wide circulation, and a place in every public and parochial and society library, where its plain and direct narrative vdll serve as an antidote to the misrepresentations that have been for so long oozing; from the cables into our secular papers. (Pp. viii— 26o, Bvo., cloth gilt, ss). The ' Aye Maria ' Series. The admirable series of ' Aye Maria ' publications have been time and again recommended by us for the family bookshelf and the school prize-list. The latest addition to the series is entitled ' Essentials and Non-Es-sentials of the Catholic Religion.' The author 1 of the book is the Uev. H. G. Hughes (Sheffield, England), who has been long and favorably known to readers of our bright contemporary, the ' Aye Maria.' The object of the work is (says the author) 'to aid in the removal of a very common misconception amcne;st those not of the household of faith— a misconception arising from a confusion of those things in belief and practice which are of obligation, and those things in which Catholics are left free.' The author answers the following four questions : ' (|1) What are Catholics bound to be" lieve ? (2) What are Catholics free to believe or not ? (3) What are Catholics, bound to practise ? (4) What are Catholics free to practise or not ?' The answers are, for the scope of the book, given in a clear and concise way ; and those within, as well as those without the fold of the faith will find Father Hughes's hook instructive and helpful. Some common misconceptions of our separated brethren, and even of many Catholics none to o well instructed in their faith, "are, for instance, clearly dealt with under the headings ' (I) Opinions of theologians ; (II) Pious beliefs ; (III) private revelations ami particular ecclesiastical miracles.'^ (Price 75 cents

retail, 3s ; obtainable from ' The Aye Maria,' Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S.A., or through any Catholic bookseller).