The High Calling. By Charles M. Sheldon. (Hodder and Stoughton.
6s.)—It falls to our lot to read many novels, but it is not often that we find one which could be read chapter by chapter as a Sunday evening lecture to a congregation of young people. Such, we are told in the Foreword, was the first appearance of Mr. Sheldon's High Calling. We certainly think these young people had a better time than a congregation can commonly expect, and had at least a good chance of being benefited by what they hoard. Paul and Esther Douglas have three children—Walter, Helen, and Louis. Walter has a taste for engineering and goes to a famous college in one of the Eastern States—the scene of the story is laid in America—where this taste may be developed into a practical power. Here he meets with the ordinary temptations of college life and with a special difficulty that arises out of his line of study. It has to do, we may say, with the authorship of an inven- tion. The daughter is beautiful and ambitious. The problem before her, briefly put, is this : Shall she marry for wealth and position P Louis, a commonplace lad, has what may be called commonplace troubles, but are not the less serious for that. The story is how their battles of life are fought out, how the com- batants are helped by the spirit of the family training and the example and counsel of wise and God-fearing parents. "A novel with a purpose !" some one may object. It is true ; but there is no cant or false sentiment about it. It is a fine, manly bit of work from beginning to end. And as for purpose, what are we to say of the purpose to please by an appeal to the sensual and the base P
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