inker "of whom the sceptics were greatly proud" who has of late
years been converted to Christianity. It is easy enough to impose on an
ignorant congregation, and Dr. Hitchens is probably aware of the lengths
to which a reckless pulpiteer may carry his mendacity. But candid
investigators will conclude that "converted infidels" cannot be very
plentiful, when the majority of them are so ancient; nor very important,
when an obscure youth has to be advertised as "a leader" of whom the
sceptics (nine out of ten of them never having heard of him) were
"greatly proud."

We should imagine that Dr. Hitchens is rather new to this line of
advocacy. In the course of time he will learn--if indeed he has
not already learnt, and is concealing the fact--that the "converted
infidels" will not stand a minute's scrutiny. The only safe method is to
drop questionable cases and resort to sheer invention. Even that
method, however, is not devoid of peril, as one of its practitioners
has recently discovered. The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes must by this time
be extremely sorry he circulated that false and foolish story of the
converted Atheist shoemaker. The exposure of it follows him wherever
he goes, and illustrates the truth of at least one Bible text--"Be sure
your sin will find you out."

MRS. BOOTH'S GHOST.

The Booth family have all keen eyes for business. If they shut their
eyes you can see it by their noses. It is not surprising, therefore,
to find Mrs. Booth-Tucker capping Mr. Stead's ghost stories with a fine
romance about her dead mother. While the "Mother of the Salvation Army"
was dying, the Booth family made all the capital they could out of her
sufferings; and when she expired, her corpse was shunted about in the
financial interest of their show. Perhaps they would be exhibiting her
still if there were no law as to the disposition of corpses. But as that
avenue to profit is closed, the only alternative is to make use of Mrs.
Booth's ghost, and this has just been done by one of her daughters.

Mrs. Booth-Tucker contributes her ghost story to the Easter number of
_All the World_. No doubt Easter was thought a seasonable time for its
publication. Christians are just then dreaming about the great Jerusalem
ghost, and another "creeper" comes in appropriately.

Mr. Stead catches up Mrs. Booth-Tucker's ghost story and prints it
in the _Review of Reviews_. He admits the want of evidence "as to its
objectivity," which is a euphemis