Welsh Journals

The silence of those years of pain become pregnant with their glorious end. We see just faintly what went to the makings of the greatest religious poet of the century. But space forbids us to linger in this fascinating country, other- wise we should like to examine with care what is perhaps the most valuable portion of this book-the chapter on Mysticism and Imagination. Mr. Meynell has carried to completion a work that however obviously a labour of love, was not leu obviously, extremely difficult. To write the life of a poet is a very different thing from writing the life of a man of action. He has to deal in hints and suggestions of complex moods, in the shadows of flickering shadows. But on the whole he has succeeded. We do not, it is true, know much more of the facts of the man's life than we did before, but we know more of the poet's soul. Incidentally we are also shown a good deal of the two great men who were Thomp- son greatest friends, Coventry Patmore and the author's father, Wilfred Meynell, and for this, as for the other we are thankful. R.F.W. "Indian Nationalism," by Edwyn Bevan. Macmillan & Co. 1913. Price 2s. 6d.' Mr. Bevan in this short and eminently readable volume has managed to express with wonderful insight the points of view on Indian Nationalism of very different sections of the nation and foreign population of India. More than that, he has formed an independent estimate of the situation which seems to me very sound, and which I fancy will be endorsed by a great many Britishers who like myself have lived in India, and have acquired a real love for the country and its people, and have the deepest sympathy with their national aspirations. He uses the simile right through the book of a man with dis- located bones and tom ligaments being medically treated by being incased in a steel framework. The injured man is India, the steel frame is the British Government. No one denies the distressing physical condition of the patient, few deny the efficiency of the steel frame. The question is Will the doctor prove an honour- able man ? When the patient is strong enough, will the doctor let him out of the frame ? Mr. Bevan thinks he will. There is a great deal of excuse for the Indians who think he will not. The time has surely come in India for a definite statement as to our intentions towards Indian Nationalism. This we have so far withheld, wrongly and stupidly withheld. It would ease the situation in India if we were to proclaim quite frankly our ex- pectation that at some future date India would be entirely self- governed. Until this is done we have no right to complain that Indians do not understand how amiable our intentions are. Mr. Bevan believes that in the development of commerce and the spread of education there lies the only hope for the cohering of the broken fragments of India, an indispensable condition of nationalism. He takes very little account of the greatest obstacle to such cohesion, the hostility of Hindus and Mahommedans, a hostility which in late years has certainly not diminished. The one defect of the book is the blind eye he has turned to the Mahommedan problem. Some of his observations are exceedingly keen and appeal instantly to the imagination and one has an impression of the author as a humorous and kindly, as well as a penetrating. observer. Personally I am convinced that India's golden age is some time ahead, that it will not come until the day when weapons of war have been laid aside as a method of settling disputes. In a socialistic state of the world the Indian, will take a leading place, for no more effiaient part of a Government machine was ever contrived than the babu. Under his vine and fig-tree, with no apprehension of fighting and no call for initiative or independent enterprise the Indian. given a sufficient quantity of red tape. will control the world. Towards that glorious destiny England is making smooth hi. path. G.D.T. Round about a Pound a Week," by Mrs. Pember Reeves. London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. 1913. Pp. viii.. 231. Price. 2s. 6d. net. Round about a Pound a Week is the outcome of research work carried out by a group of Fabian women investigating the effect on mother and child of sufficient nourishment before and after birth. Only cases where wages ranged between 18s. and 26s. a week were dealt with: after two years' experience the higher limit was raised to 30s. The care and exactness with which the investigation was carried out inspire us with confidence in the reliability of the facts disclosed. The book itself is fascinating. It is as though a huge searchlight had been turned on to the life- struggles of these quiet. decent, keep-themselves-to-themselves folk who are in full work, at a more or less top wage, young with families still increasing and who will be lucky if they are no worse off than they are now." Their weekly budgets are in- structive about one-third of the whole income goes in rent. The lower the rent the higher the deathrate of the children barn. Where the rent is over 6s.6d. a week the approximate deathrate of children born works out at about 12 per cent., whereas in cases where rent is under 6s. the deathrate is as high as 40 per cent. The question of furniture is a difficult one. Extra beds are too costly and the four-in-a-bed arrangement is common enough to need attention." It is remarkable what little money is left for food. The average for the women and children of eight families works out at less than Is. 3d. per head per week; of these ten died out of the 41 children bom. The average for the women and children of another group of three families works out at lOjd. per head per week or less than lid. per day. and of these only two children died out of 20 bom. If we remember that the sum allowed by some Boards of Guardians to foster-mothers is 4s. per head per week, we can but agree with Mrs. Pember Reeves that the diet of the poorer London children is insuffi- cient, unscientific and utterly unsatisfactory is horribly true." But that the real cause of this state of things is the ignorance and indifference of their mothers is untrue. The time-tables of mothers days are wonderfully complicated. Few of them ever get out of doors except to buy food. The book teems with curious incidents which show on the one hand, the hardships these people have to face, and on the other, the goodhumoured resourceful- ness with which they tackle difficulties. On one occasion the visitor noticing that a slight pressure was needed on a certain part of the baby's person, looked for a penny in her purse, found none, but was supplied by the interested father. The penny was quickly stitched into a bandage, and tied firmly over the required place. The next week saw the family in dire need of a penny to put in the gasmeter in order to save the dinner from being un- cooked. At the moment of crisis, a flash of genius inspired the father; the baby was undressed, the penny disinterred, and the dinner saved. The visitor, arriving in the middle of the scene, could but accept the position, sacrifice a leaden weight which kept the tail of her coat hanging as it should, and rebandage the baby." The book as a study of the home conditions of the London labourer is reliable, vivid and absorbing. M.S.R.