The Romance of Missionary Heroism. By J. C. Lambert. (Seeley
and Co. 5s.)—Possibly some readers may say that there is more of adventure and the strenuous life than romance in the story of famous missionaries. It is, however, the single-handed courage and intrepidity of these men which appeal to the imagination, and are even more marvellous than their adventures. How men like Paton preserved their lives at all passes comprehen- sion. The older missionaries had nothing but individual courage and personality to rely on, and complete isolation was then a fact. A man might have been dead for years when the last news of him came, as a star whose light still reaches us may be extinct. They are a noble band, the living and the dead,—Paton, Arnot, Gardiner of Tierra del Fuego, Selwyn, Patteson, Hannington, Westwater of Liao-Yang fame. The missionary is an explorer too, and stands side by side with the Braces and Stanleys of African exploration. Young people who read these chapters from a great story may well echo Dr. Temple's words when describing the starting of Selwyn and his missionary recruits for the South Seas. "I think it one of the noblest things England has done for a long time ; almost the only thing really worthy of herself." We like to think that boys, though attracted by the adventurous tinge of these chapters, will not forget the magnificent unselfish- ness and sense of duty they inculcate.
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