The successful accomplishment of The Task of Happiness (Student Christian
Movement, .8s. 6d.) is, in the opinion of
the headmaster of Eton, largely a matter of good will. Assuming the truth of the Christian religion, in whose Founder " are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden," Dr. Alington proceeds to discuss those questions relative to " Home " and " Children " which most affect the happiness of the ordinary man and woman across whom his circumstances
bring him. He suggests to parents how to lay the foundation of a religious education whose corner-stone should be, he thinks, the first chapter of St. John's Gospel and what lines to go upon when it is necessary to open with children the question of sex. " There is no one definite age for such instruction " but " there can be no excuse for letting them go to school without something having been said on the subject " he declares. He discusses the value to be set upon amusements, and the extreme importance of letting children know the money position of the family, particularly if it is such as necessarily to curtail their pleasures. In regard to choosing a profession we feel it would have been more helpful if Dr. Alington had not seemed to take it for granted that " choice," in the sense of free choice, was usually possible. How is a boy to accept what the fates send him, in the way of a profession, and be industrious and happy in work for which he has not the slightest natural aptitude ? That is the problem which distresses nowadays so many good fathers and sons.
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