Shans at Home. By Mrs. Leslie Milne. (John Murray. 15s.
net.)—Mrs. Milne has had an excellent opportunity and has made an excellent use of it. The "Shams at Home" make a very pleasant picture. They are happily dispositioned people, behaving to each other in a way that is beyond all praise, and almost as admirable in their way with strangers. There are lessons, indeed, which we might do well to learn from these good-tempered children of the East. A village, for instance, will have an official peace-maker ; here there is not unfrequently to be found an unofficial scandal-monger and stirrer up of strife. Such persona are not known to the Shams. Then there are the monks, useful as arbitrators and advisers. Let us hope that we have something here which we may compare without shame. A not unprofitable observation is that the Shan child distinctly shows the advantage of religions education. Mrs. Milne displays the whole course of a Shan's life, and makes a very interesting picture of it. She tells us, too, something about monastic life and religious belief. One significant story is that of the Hindu mendicant to whom the monks gave a hospitable welcome. They admired his renunciation of the world, but did not appreciate his forms of penance. "Our Lord Gautama," they said, "also tried all penances, and found there was a better way : yet each must work out his own salvation." That seems a reascnable attitude. Altogether, this is a delighful book, and well illustrated.
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