SOME BOOKS OF THE • WEEK.
[Nottee in this column due )10: neezestrili pretclab eu5sairmal rericel The Second Report of the War Victims' Relief Committee of the Society of Friends (Spottiswoode and Co.) is a reminder that many Quakers, including those whose consciences unfortunately forbid them to fight even in a just cause, have been stirred by the sufferings of our invaded Allies to devoted labour upon the battlegrounds of the war. In Belgium and France and among the Belgian refugees in Holland they have saved the lives of many destitute persons and of infants born under the evil star of war. They have also encouraged and supplied means of re- starting agriculture and other arts of peace in devastated districts. This Report shows how their labours and some £50,000 of their money have been expended.—The Acicworth Old Scholars Association, Annual Report, 1915, is mainly of domestic interest, but it is distinguished by the admirable speech of the President, W. Trevelyan Thomson, at the annual gathering of past members of this well-known Quaker school. In a reasoned appeal to the teaching of the past leaders of the Society, from George Fox to John Bright, he shows that peace at any price was not an essential doctrine of these lovers of peace. After recounting the origins of the war and our obligations to Belgium, he says : "Its the olden days a Quaker's word was his bond. The breaking of a pledge is surely as fundamentally opposed to the spirit of Quakerism as is the taking up of arms in defence of a weaker nation " ; and he rejoices that "over 150 old Ackworth scholars have felt it their duty to choose the lesser rather than the greater of these two evils and have volunteered for active service at the front."
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