minds into
contact with what is vital in religion, and this leads to many a sharp
comment both on the dogmatism of sects and the rationalism of critics.
Dr. Bushnell always seeks that in religion which not merely illumines
the mind, but invigorates the will. It is not the form of a doctrine,
but the force in the believer, which engages his attention. In pursuing
this method he displays alternately the qualities of an interpreter and
of an iconoclast; but his object is the same, whether he evolves
unexpected meanings from an accredited dogma, or assails the sense in
which it is generally received. And so tenacious is his hold on the life
of Christianity, and so vivid his mode of presenting it, that both
dogmatist and rationalist must feel, in reading his volume, that he has
given its proper prominence to much in Christianity which their methods
tempt them to overlook.

_The Morrisons, a Story of Domestic Life._ By MRS. MARGARET
HOSMER. New York: John Bradburn.

Full of improbabilities, and becoming lurid with domestic tragedies at
the end, this story has yet a sincerity and earnestness of style that
may entitle it to be called respectable, among the mass of American
stories. Novels are being sold by the five thousand which have far less
ability in characterization or in grouping. The persons remain in one's
memory as real individuals, which is saying a good deal; the dialogue,
though excessive in quantity, is neither tame nor flippant; and there is
an attractive compactness in the plot, which is all comprised within one
house in an unknown city. But this plot soon gets beyond the author's
grasp, nevertheless; she creates individualities, and can do nothing
with them but kill them. The defects, however, are those of
inexperience, the merits are the author's own. The value of her next
book will probably be in inverse ratio to the success of this: should
this fail, she may come to something; should this succeed, there is
small hope for her.

_Studies for Stories._ By JEAN INGELOW. Boston: Roberts
Brothers.

These narratives are probably called "Studies for Stories," as the
catalogue of the Boston Public Library is called an "Index to a
Catalogue": this being a profession of humility, implying that a proper
story, like a regular catalogue, should be a much more elaborate affair.
Nevertheless, a story, even if christened a study, must be criticized by
the laws of stories and no other.

Tried by