BOOKS.
PRIEST OF THE IDEAL.* Aranouon it would be substantially true to say of Mr. Graham's new book that it was essentially the gospel of a mystic, we are afraid that the statement might convey a false impression to our readers. for the general conception of mysticism is that it is something un- practical, something that will not work. The mystic is usually not a business man, and it is therefore assumed that he does not under- stand business. But he understands one vital point about business which business men are too much inclined to forget he understands its limitations ; he realizes the importance of the sphere of human effort which is not touched by card-indexes and " follow-up " adver- tisement systems. The dramatic interest of Mr. Graham's book lies in the conflict between the men who believe ultimately in the power of money and the men who believe ultimately in the power of God.
The plot—for it is cast loosely in the form of a novel—is very simple. Washington King, an American citizen " representing a syndicate of some billions of dollars," comes to England on a peculiar mission :- " Our idea," lie explains, " is that there must be in England a great number of historical monuments, buildings, manuscripts, paintings, furniture and what not, that have ceased tohave any par- ticular significance or cultural value for you. . . . But we have none of these things. Our landscape is full of new houses, new monu- ments, and new churches, and it has no cultural or spiritual value. It provides no background for the new American race.. . . They say that many of your provincial cathedrals are now very foreign to the life and needs of the dwellers in your provincial towns. The people prefer a smaller, cosier, lees majestic church or chapel, or they prefer none at all. The cathedral is empty or nearly empty every Sunday—it seems an anachronism. But think what a place of pilgrimage it could be for us, what a source of spiritual awakening."
These historical relics the American proposes to buy and transport to his own country for the sake of their spiritual background. He does not expect, at first, to obtain anything so large and living as a cathedral, but he counts on buying at least some Christian ruins, the walls and foundations; of an abbey or so, a few tombs, a castle, a prison, a Wycliffe Bible—anything, in fact, that the English feel they have outlived and are ready to sell. He is introduced to Richard Hampden, a lay preacher, as the man who knows most about the spiritual values of England and is best fitted to help him on his quest. Hampden in his turn is interested in the American's mission ; be recognizes the grotesque sincerity of his point of view, and he agrees to accompany him on his pilgrimage. For Hampden, too, has an object he wants to find out what aro the national and religious things with which England will never part.
They visit in company Iona, Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, Durham, and York, Hampden expounding the inner meaning of the ruins and emblems they are shown, and the American trying, with little success, to buy them. The two men, however, have such radically different natures that the parting of the ways is bound to come soon. King's creed is explicit " If a man will do a thing, he'll do it. If be won't, then bid higher. Money has boundless power to persuade." He thinks Hampden's methods too slow and his ideals too old- fashioned for modern use. He is induced by Cosmo, a wealthy business men, to ally himself instead with Poldu, who is the autocrat • t a great newspaper syndicate; to buy a hundred thousand pounds' worth of newspaper space ; and to organize a proper " publicity campaign." Thus, and thus only, he is told, can his objects be achieved. He acts on the advice, and at first is delighted with the results ; he is " boomed " and lionized everywhere. But he dis- covers quickly that it is easier to unchain evil forces than to control them. An honest man has been defined in America as " a man who will stay bought," and once Poldu'e lieutenants discover that the new movement is unpopular they decline to " stay bought " ; they turn upon its unfortunate author and rend him. His motives are misinterpreted, his action') impeded, his person mocked at ; his failure in England discredits him in America, so that even the American Ambassador can do nothing to forward his mission or restore his prestige. Then, amid other more exciting topics, he is forgotten. He buys quietly from private persons much of what he wants, and much of it is sunk by German submarines in tranship- ment; finally, the boat by which he intended to return home, but which he fails to catch, is torpedoed and all on board of her lost, and King feels the war is brought near to him at last : " With that real generous enthusiasm which is so bright a quality of his countrymen, be gave up his material quest for asrideal one, crying—• All I have is
• Tried of the Ideal. By Stephen Graham. London Macmillan and Co. rio. Yd. net.f
England's, I will take nothing from her ; she is suffering, not for herself but for us "
Meanwhile Hampden has been going about his appointed work, making no long plans, but simply living from hour to hour as is the fashion of those who feel themselves, in a special and immediate sense, in God's keeping, and to whom it is given when to speak and when to remain silent. He is eyes to the blind and oars to the deaf and a tongue to the dumb. He sees the hero in every man, the Christ in every mart, and that he loves and worships ; but he has no reverence for the mere plainness of the plain man. He teaches and helps and comforts and gives back hope to those whom the war has broken with despair, until his own turn comes and he is called away to meet his death on the field of battle.
Although the two leading characters of the book are not so much persons as representatives of two opposed lines of thought, the lesser figures are skilfully and convincingly drawn. Even Poldu, the blatant exponent of a cynical opportunism, standing as he does for all that Mr. Graham dislikes, is nevertheless permitted to exhibit a little real human feeling when his sense of the sacredness of home is called in question. But the strength of the book lies, not in tho actuality of its characters or in any exciting stir of incident, but in its handling of the vital problem which is ever present and never completely solved—the conduct of our daily lives. Sometimes the framework of the story gives the author an opportunity to discuss one or other of its manifold details, but in general he pleads for worthy motives and high ideals rather then specific lines of action. His spiritual sympathy is wide enough to embrace anything that makes for nobler living, no matter how different the route may be from his own. He puts in, for example, a speech supposed to be delivered by a young Army chaplain, just back from the front ; it has none of the symbolic feeling, none of the reverence for the Church gas Church, which pervades the rest of the book ; it is colloquial, even slangy, in expression ; it is, in fact, the antithesis of Mr. Graham's personal method. And yet it is done as vigorously and truly that we feel it to be a fair and honourable and attractive pre- sentation of the particular case. On the other hand, wo think that Coamo and Poldu could have made a better apology for their attitude than he allows them. Even newspaper proprietors do not debase the moral currency without trying to make some show of justification.
We have one very minor and incidental point to urge against Mr. Graham before we finieh : he owes it to himself to pay more attention to the rhythm of his style. Some of his most impressive passages are spoiled by the suggested lilt of a verse metre. One sentence, which we print in the form in which it speaks to our ear, will illustrate the danger :- " Tho doubting Christian man was pressed, And nearly chose the fate The devil wished him take, when swift He spoke the name of God or Christ, And he wad saved."
A marked verse measure in prose is nearly as deadly as a prosaic line in verse, but it is only those who have much to lose who lose much by it. Nobody troubles about the prose rhythm of a sensational novelist ; and it is an indirect testimony to the fine quality of Mr. Graham's high-minded and beautiful book that we have felt this one defect in it so severely.
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