We confess that in spite of a preface by Mr.
Ellery Sedgwiek the famous editor of the Atlantic Monthly, we opened Fighting Parson, the autobiography of Alexander Irvine, with a certain amount of prejudice. For Mr. Irvine appears to be a Socialist, an uplifter, a friend of the poor, an en- courager of forlorn hopes ; and when such -a man writes a book about himself the reader is often tempted to ask : "Yes, but why weren't you doing a job of work yourself, instead of talking about work ? ' When he was in France, for instance, keeping up the morale of the troops, he explains how he sat in a cathedral, meditating on the nobility of sacrifice: he could have taken a rifle in the front line trenches instead. Yet Mr. Irvine, who is a roving Irishman, unable, apparently, to stick to any one line of work for long, is so simple and sincere in his narrative that he ends by winning our respect. He shows himself to us nakedly, fiercely, exultantly ; and in the final chapter, surveying his life in retrospect, he has a certain proud humility that warms the heart. Here is a man, a whole man, and a true Christian. This curious book about a curious character is well worth reading : if it is not literature it is certainly life as seen from an angle that will be new to many.
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