The young doctor had not completed his sentence, when the mother rushed into the street, and stopping two poor girls, exclaimed: "My child is dying! Go to the convent to the shrine of our Lady of Loretto-begin a novena." The messengers of faith sped to the church. Arrived there they lit two candles, and commenced the novena. At the moment when they knelt before the statue, the young physician noticed a change in his patient, and a few hours later she slept calmly. On the following day at eleven o'clock A.M. she was brought, clothed in blue, and laid before the little black statue, where her parents consecrated her for seven years to the Mother of God. She was perfectly cured, one deep healed scar alone remaining to bear witness to the miracle. The physician declared the child had been restored

by an agency superior to human skill.

The Devotions of the month of May were completed with renewed fervor. At its close a small chapel was erected at the end of the church, the expenses of which were generously defrayed by the inhabitants of the town. A costly altar was erected upon which the "chère Dame" of the pilgrim knight was placed. A confraternity was established under the name of our Lady of Loretto. We had seen the little girl kneel perfectly well before the Altar of the Madonna, and were personally acquainted with the physician. Will our readers wonder that we were among the first who enrolled themselves as members of the confraternity of Our Lady of Loretto, or that we welcome the month of May as the anniversary of the happiest periods of our life?

THE PRIDE OF LEXINGTON. A Tale of the American Revolution. By Monseigneur William Seton, author of Romance of the Charter Oak, The Pioneers. New York: P. O'Shea. 1874.

We can cheerfully recommend any good thing that fans the flame of the Centennial excitement, and we know of nothing better calculated to do so than just such books as this. The plot embodies the sad and well-known story that has made the blood of many an American school-girl curdle, and fired the indignation of many a history-poring urchin, viz, the murder of Miss Jane McCrea.

Well do we remember the melancholy interest we ourselves were wont to take

in our juvenile days in the picture of that tragic event as printed in Goldsmith's history, and which represented the luckless lady being dispatched by two savages, who were dragging her through the woods and brandishing two tomahawks over her in a style that would put

to shame any of the startling pictures which decorate the playbills on the boards of our most sensational variety theatres. The climax of the tragedy is, however, skilfully kept in the background of this tale, while the romantic story of her affection and its ardent reciprocation is made the basis of a firstclass love tale. The sentimental side of

the amorous passion being thoroughly depicted by the heroine and her ambitious lovers, while the comical phase is developed in the courtship of the Colonial Hudibras, Billy Smith" with widow McNeal. There are also some spirited descriptions of the early battles of the Revolution and other historic events of the times. The reverend and distin

guished author is well known as a relative of Archbishop Bayley, and the author of the serial novels mentioned in our heading. They are all purely historical, and we think it a pity that a writer who possesses Monseigneur Seton's taste for the patriotic, together with his

well-known devotion to the church, and facility with the novelist's pen, does not give us a series of first-class novels on Catholic-American history.

The book is poorly printed on coarse paper, but is very handsomely bound. ISABELLE DE VERNEUIL, or the Convent of St. Mary's. By Mrs. Charles Snell. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1873.

Our delay in noticing this little book has not been due to any demerits on its part. It is a very gracefully written story of convent life, tending to show the happy influence of a conventual education in restraining the passions and moulding the crude characters of young girls, so that they may show forth in after-life amid the worldly follies of the social circle the graces of Christian womanhood. It is printed on rich tinted paper, and attractively bound in blue and gold.

SNATCHES OF SONG. By Mary A. McMullen (Una). St. Louis : Patrick Fox, 14 South Fifth St. 1874.

Some books should be ignored by the critic because of their utter worthlessness, and some should merit the same fate because they are above criticism. Miss McMullen's book belongs to the latter class. Readers who have for years past been delighted with "Una's" delightful poems as they appeared from time to time in our Western Catholic journals, would almost laugh at our attempting to say anything in the way of blame, or at our hope of adding anything to their so-deserving popularity. They are rich in imagery, noble in diction, and perfect in metaphor. We have carefully perused the entire volume to find one poem, which if presented to our readers would give them in a special manner an idea of the authoress's powers, but we confess that the rare equality of merit has baffled our purpose, though perhaps, the story of "Eva" concentrates within itself most perceptibly the versatility of the writer's talents, and our Irish friends will be specially pleased with the many stirring poems which refer so gloriously and so tenderly to their native land, while the few brief verses, "What would my mother say?" though probably the least poetical in diction, are the most touchingly eloquent in sentiment.

THE LIFE OF BLESSED MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE; with some account

of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart.

By the Rev. George Tickell, S. J.

New York and Montreal: D. & J.
Sadlier & Co. 1874.

THE NEW MANUAL OF THE SACRED HEART. Compiled and translated from approved sources. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1874.

The literature of the Sacred Heart

promises to form a Catholic library of

itself. Month after month its works crowd our table, an almost exhaustless treasure of beautiful sentiments and devotions, as though the hearts of the faithful were endeavoring to reciprocate in as much as possible the boundless tenderness of the Heart of Jesus.

These latest additions are certainly most valuable. Blessed Margaret Mary was the propagator of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, she having been specially selected by our Lord as the recipient of its most special graces. Admitted to the

most intimate union therewith and commanded at the same time to reveal its tender mercies to men, and cause as far as possible the spread of a devotion thereto, which by the divine blessing has now become as limitless only as Catholicity itself, surely then the desire to know something of the origin and growth of this devotion, as well as the personal history of the amiable and favored daughter of St. Francis de Sales, on whom such rich honors were lavished from the source of the divine bounty, should insure its special perusal.

To meet the special want of confraternities and devotees of the Sacred Heart, is the province of the second work, and most admirably does it fulfil its mission, presenting a variety of beautiful devotions which cannot fail to quicken the piety of the faithful. We have especially noted the number of beautiful litanies and devotional methods of hearing

mass in honor of the Sacred Heart. We recommend, however, that in future editions the binding be of a less gaudy style and more suitable for use in public. We venture to assert that if any person were to carry one of these books to High Mass the glaring red and gold binding

would make the bearer a centre of attrac

tion and a source of distraction to the surrounding congregation, for which very grievous sin Messrs. Kelly & Piet would have to answer in the valley of Jehosaphat. There is but one day in the year on which the book could be apprepriately displayed, and that is the Feast of Pentecost. Apart from this external defect, we not only cheerfully but earnestly recommend so admirable a collection of prayers.

In the multiplicity of studies that claim attention, there is one which is strangely neglected in modern culture and education. We refer to the study and analysis of human character and motive. It ranks third in the paramount subjects that demand from all some thoughtful and earnest examination. The knowledge of God, of ourselves, and of our fellow-men, constitutes noble philosophy, the patient searching into which at once affords the highest moral, intellectual, and social discipline, and the most abiding and satisfactory results.

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Strange as it seems, however, the majority of men go to their graves with the vaguest notions, and sometimes in complete ignorance of the relations in which they stood to their Creator and their fellow-men. From carelessness, or the irksomeness of self-study, or positive unwillingness to learn the position and responsibilities which as men they were bound to know and to assume, they VOL. VII.-5

live in the world, and depart from it with a haunting sense of having failed of their destiny, and made shipwreck of life. They shuffle out of existence with a helpless and pitiable retrospect upon a lifedrama, formless, confused, and inconsistent.

It is a blessed thought that God has come to our rescue in our ef forts to master some knowledge of himself.

Whilst there is such a thing as natural religion, experience and history have demonstrated its inadequacy. The Creator has marked out for us a road in which the wayfaring man, though a foo cannot go astray. But though this glorious truth cheers the child of the Church, to him the unerring interpreter and guardian of divine truth, it brings not its comfort to those outside the household of the faith. Hence the apathy into which most non-Catholics settle down because of the troublesomeness of religious study and controversy, and

the limited and vague knowledge of God, which unaided reason can acquire. The mass of mankind have no taste for religious speculation, and in order to shirk the trouble of investigation they will accept any theory which does not exact deep thought; any sentimentalism which will satisfy the heart without tasking the head; or any preacher who can manage to soothe and put to sleep the spirit that clamors for argument and proof.

If we had not the Church no doubt we should be just as reluctant to undertake the task of Moore's Irishman, who set out in search of a religion. Speculation in matters of religion is to the average mind repulsive, and to all minds barren unless it leads into the Church. The way of authority is the only way in which man, in religious matters, can be led safely, satisfactorily, and (what is of great moment to such a naturally lazy creature), with great comfort and convenience to himself. So far from the authoritative way being a slavery or despotism, it is our redemption from complete thrall to the few who would relieve us of the trouble of thinking for ourselves.

Suppose God had established no teaching authority to which in doubt or ignorance we could go, but had imposed on us the terrible task of finding out his truth, say even by our private judgment and interpretation of the Scriptures. Who of us would or could devote his life to hunting up Hebrew verbs and Greek particles, the knowledge of which would prove necessary to the complete understanding of the Scriptural text? What absorbing amusement would we find in poring over Biblical lore of every description; in burrowing among the ruins of Jerusalem in search of Scriptural antiquities; in interviewing Jewish Rabbis on Hebrew customs; in reading the ponderous tomes of all the commentators; and even after

this course, holding ourselves in readiness to abandon an interpretation if some German Bible-student, after twenty years' search, should find a punctuation point in some of the manuscripts which completely changed the received reading! We would not have even the satisfaction of following in the wake of learned doctors, for they disagree more than any other class. Our study would begin at nowhere, and, after an exhausting pursuit, would end where it began.

Wherefore we do not wonder at, and scarcely find it in our heart to blame, our sectarian friends for meekly and wearily folding their hands, and allowing their favorite minister to do all the work of the Pope and Ecumenical Councils, in expounding faith and inculcating morals. It is refreshing to hear Brother Jones, who has had the witness of the Spirit, discourse in the most assured manner on themes of tremendous import and consequences. It is pleasant to believe that the brother, to borrow a usual phrase of his, knows all about the "great Gospel plan of salvation." Perhaps some of his hearers would like to share in the enthusiastic glow of his devotional fervor, and the plenitude of his religous knowledge, and wonder how he got both, but the congregation accepts the brother without question. It is so much easier to feel than to reason; to believe than to examine the grounds of belief! And so we have millions of men throughout Christendom that believe in, with and because of Jones and his brethren in the ministry.

Whatever justification listlessness in religious study may claim, there is, however, no reason for carelessness in the examination of the social, political, and merely human tendencies of the age in which we live. To study mankind is a duty which we owe both to them and to ourselves. This study

should not be prosecuted in the spirit of obtrusive curiosity, much less with selfish or malicious intent, but for our own guidance in dealing with men, and the good which our knowledge of their bent and disposition will enable us to do for them. Our essay is designed to point out, particularly to that class of our readers whose youth and inexperience expose them to the danger of fanciful notions about life and men, certain helps and hints in the study of the average human character encountered in our day and land.

Viewed simply in a seifish light, this study is pre-eminently advantageous. The man that can read his fellow-men is always their master. It was the boast of the first Napoleon that he was never deceived in his estimate of a man's character, and hence the incomparable and invincible array of military and diplomatic talent that supported and guarded his throne. We find that the successful politician, lawyer, editor, and business man is always one who controls his fellow-men by his superior knowledge of character in its general and individual manifestations.

It is a flattering delusion which all of us cherish, that we possess the key which unlocks the secrets of hearts. We plume ourselves upon our penetration; and it frequently takes several severe shocks to rouse us from our complacent infallibility. The truth is, the study of human character is a science, with fixed laws requiring close studies, and with experimental processes which each student must carefully watch. How frequently we are surprised at the discovery of baseness and treachery in trusted friend; how frequently amazed at the discovery of depths of affection and regard, in a seemingly indifferent acquaintance. Our first lesson should be, that human nature is full of surprises; surprises, however, which follow certain laws.

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Yet one would think that nothing is easier than the portrayal of human character. Mankind spreads before us as a vast book, which we never tire of reading. Every revelation of a phase of character interests us. This revelation is the attraction of history, biography, and romance. It lends a peculiar charm to the tea-parties of Mrs. Grundy. It forms the soul of conversation. If we talk to a friend on the sublimest themes and most momentous events, in the discussion of which the element of human character only incidentally enters, he hears us listlessly, compared with the eager attention with which he will learn that Brown, the cashier of such a bank, has absconded with a half million.

Personal observation holds the chief place in our study. An illiterate man, who uses his eyes and ears, can pass a shrewder judgment than the learned philosopher, whose spectacled eyes see only books. Each in his own sphere is forced to develop powers of special observation. A police detective instinctively notes. One clergyman can almost invariably recognize another, even independently of his peculiar dress.

It is remarkable that a Catholic can generally distinguish one of his church from a sectarian. We fail to benefit by this intuitive perception, because we never reflect upon its law or cause, or seek any explanation of the immediate judgment we form. There is likewise a subtle instinct which moves us to trust in some and distrust others. Whilst the law of sympathy and antipathy should always be subjected to and ruled by reason, it is remarkable how wonderfully and even providentially correct are judgments so formed. A man that fights down the instinctive antipathy which he forms to another, does so at his own peril, unless the reason of the dislike be trivial, sinful, or unfounded.