THE FEAST OF ST. FR [END.*
THE reader will lay down Mr. Arnold Bennett's essay on Christmas with a feeling of considerable bewilderment. It begins with the statement of Mr. Bennett's conviction that Christmas has lost much of its charm. In parenthesis it may be said that the question whether Mr. Arnold Bennett is wrong or not does not matter to the present criticism of the contents of the little volume. Mr. Bennett then goes on to prove that this is a great pity, and that the festival should be revitalized. This, he says, is to be done by making it the feast of friendship, and in his description of the actual method
necessary for the cultivation of goodwill Mr. Arnold Bennett puts highest what be calls " the gift of oneself." This is his description of how goodwill for a fellow-creature should be cultivated :—
" To increase your goodwill for a fellow-creature it is necessary to imagine that you are he, and nothing else is necessary. This feat is not easy, but it can be done. Sonic people have less of the divine faculty of imagination than others, but nobody is without it, and, like all other faculties, it improves with use, just as it deteriorates with neglect. Imagination is a function of the brain. In order to cultivate goodwill for a person, you must think fre- quently about that person. You must inform yourself about all his activities. You must be able in your mind's eye to follow him hour by hour throughout the day, and you must ascertain whether he sleeps well at night, because this is not a trifle. And you must reflect upon his existence with the same partiality as you reflect upon your own. (Why not ?) That is to say, you must lay the fullest stress on his difficulties, disappointments, and unhappiness, and you must minimize his good fortune." _ Does Mr. Arnold Bennett imagine that be has made a new
discovery in this as to the keeping of Christmas ? If we turn to the teaching of Christianity we shall find that this prac- tice, this gift of oneself, is the very foundation of the Christian's rule of life. Do we not all remember what the
Scribe said to our Lord?— "There is one God, and there is none other but He, and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
Again, we remember the comment of our Lord on the Scribe's words when he saw that he answered discreetly. We know that whosoever loves his neighbour as himself " is not far from the kingdom of God." Where, then, is the novelty in The Feast of St. Friend which is to reconstitute and revitalize a festival which the author considers outworn ? Mr. Arnold Bennett has produced an excellent little ethical pamphlet, but his principles are largely those which lie at the root of our Christian festival. The reader will feel inclined to adapt the famous phrase of Yorick and exclaim, " I can read it as well in my Bible !"
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