17 JUNE 1899, Page 24

The Legend of St. Mark. By the Rev. John Byles.

(T. Fisher Uciwin. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Byles follows up two admirable volumes of " Sunday Morning Talks to the Children" by a third of equal merit. Possibly he has already availed himself of the very best and most apposite tales and legends (" The Boy and the Angel," it will be remembered, was founded on the beautiful apologue of the chorister boy translated to the popedom), but there are many good things left, and Mr. Byles avails himself of them with .dmirable skill and taste. Findelkind, the boy founder of the hospice of St. Christopher on the Arlberg Pass ; Constantine, with his vision of " In Hoc Vinces"; Atalanta ; Joseph, with his " coat of many colours," alias "coat with long sleeves " ; Queen Margaret in the wood after Hexham, St. Dorothea the Martyr, St. Catharine of Siena, and St. Theresa are some of the personages by whom he takes occasion to preach his lessons of duty and kind- ness and faith to his young hearers. The book ought to be a blessing in many households Let any father or mother take these stories in, and then give them out again. They will find the "Sunday problem" at least on the way to be solved.—With this we may mention Comrades, by the Rev. E. C. Dawson (Andrew Melrose, 2s. 6d.) Mr. Dawson's subjects are not so picturesque nor gathered from so wide a field, but they are well chosen and aptly treated. " Straight Talks with Boys," he calls his discourses, and the description is a good one. His method is somewhat more severe than Mr. Byles's ; but it promises well. A preacher who could speak in this fashion, with such directness and good sense, ought certainly to make his mark.