CATCH-MY-PAL
By Rev. R. J. Patterson, LL.B. Geo. H. Doran Co. 192 pp. Price $1.00; by mail of The Survey $1.07.
The author, a Presbyterian minister, in the north of Ireland, catches enthusiasm from a Catholic priest, and a temperance movement of great significance results, enrolling 130,000 men in a year’s time, chiefly by the work of ex-drinkers for their former “pals.” The book is a glowingly Irish account of what has been a unique illustration of the power of sheer brotherhood, applied after the method of the Gospels and in the unconventional spirit of the Good Samaritan. The material given here is to be classed for significance in interpreting religious experience with two recent publications—Varieties of Religious Experience and Twice-Born Men.
Perhaps the core of the book is the conclusion phrased in words previously and independently used by Professor Horne: “Sometimes conviction leads to action.... Sometimes action leads to conviction.” The experience of the mystic seems incalculable; the religion of the Gospels and of this book reveal a constant, lawful and infinite power, a source of true miracle, latent until men take its challenge and by a brotherly act of will allow it to work its wonders through them. “All our attempts to save a man,” says Mr. Patterson, “should be made at the point where he understands.... [Jesus] began at the blind man’s eyes, at the lame man’s feet, at the deaf man’s ears, at the dumb man’s tongue.” This movement has given also another proof of the pressing necessity of social centers for men, equally attractive and unconventional as the saloon, and the author has interesting things to say about “Temperance saloons,” public opinion, and legislation.
J. F. Bushnell.