The Story of Santa Claus. By S. R. Littlewood. (Herbert
and Daniel. is. 6d. net.)—This little book is well worth reading, for though it is about a subject of which we all probably think we know something, it is so pleasantly written, and the familiar and the strange are so well blended, that we have reason to thank Mr. Littlewood for giving it to us. The first chapters are about Santa Claus at Bethlehem" and the Magi ; then St. Nicholas, the good bishop of Myra, and the doings at the Council of Nika are described with a lively sense of humour ; then comes Santa Claus the Pagan, who is identified with Odin ; and a last chapter bringing Father Christmas down to our own times. The author says that his aim in writing has been unsectarian, "but that it is hard to touch upon doctrine without offence." He has shown how the spirit of love or "The Santa Claus of the For-ever," as he calls it, is to be found in all times and places. "Why, after all, should there be any foolish regret that Christmas should have borrowed its date and so much of its meaning from a pagan feast, and that Santa Claus himself, for all his sainthood and his bishopric, should be nothing better than an old sun-god? Is not this Christmas of ours the continuance, the interpretation, the fulfilment of the dream of all men from the beginning of the world?" From his list of "acknowledgments" we see that he has consulted such authorities as Sir Thomas Browne, Dasent, Frazer, and Mrs. 'Jameson, to mention a few chosen at random. There are four full-page coloured illustrations by S. Filmore and G. Leake.
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