THE QUEST OF HAPPINESS.
The Quest of Happiness. By Newell Dwight Hillis. (Macmillan and Co. 6s.)—The pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, is an inveterate optimist. He indeed regards pessimism as so dis- tinctly "intellectual mediocrity" that he ventures lightly on such superficial and adventurous criticism as :—" James Thomson has two talents and Robert Browning ten; therefore Thomson writes 'The City of Dreadful Night,' while Browning writes— 'God's in his heaven,
All's right with the world.'"
There is a good deal of the delightful spirit of Emerson in Mr. Hillis's writing, which, although it includes much moralisation, it would be stretching a point to term "philosophy." Do plenty of hard work, take abundance of rest and recreation, above all be cheerful. This is the not specially original teaching of Mr. Hillis, eked out with such chocolate-cream recommendations as :— " Parents need to make their homes so beautiful that their sons and daughters pass by the dub to bring their friends to their dearly-loved home." This is a pretty book to look at as well as a cheerful book to look into ; indeed it is rather too pretty and cheerful.
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