The late Mrs. Mackay, Strathy Point.—It is with deep regret that we briefly record this month the death of Mrs. Mackay, Strathy Point, well known and highly esteemed as a mother in Israel. She passed away on the 26th day of August, at a ripe age. Her removal has caused a great blank in the district in which she lived and the Church at large, and the loss is greatly mourned by a wide circle of friends. The deepest sympathy is felt for her sorrowing family. We expect to have a fuller notice in next issue.
Librarians and the Supply of Fiction.—At a meeting of the Library Association, held in Brighton near the end of
August, the subject of the relation of public libraries to fiction was discussed. Mr. A. O. Jennings, chairman of the Library Committee, Brighton, spoke on the subject of fiction in the public library. He pointed out that every public lending library in the United Kingdom issues for home reading more works of fiction than any other class of literature. Pressure was brought to bear on Library Committees to go further and further in this direction. It was important, therefore, that a definite policy should be adopted on the question of the supply of fiction. In the public lending library they pandered to this taste, and they would establish a habit extremely difficult to break. There was no justification for a Library Committee expending money raised compulsorily from the ratepayers in the purchasing books of neither educational nor literary value, but merely serving to amuse. No doubt, lending libraries must contain examples of all literature, including the classics of fiction, but they ought not to assist in debauching the public taste by satisfying the low aim for mere amusement, thus extinguishing or paralysing all higher aims and abrogating their function of assisting in elevating the social organism.
The Bible in Many Tongues.—The Bible is now printed in 412 different languages. This information is furnished by the annual report of the British and Foreign Bible Society. During the past year sections have been printed in Lengua, a language spoken by the Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco; in Lu-Nyankole, the speech of a tribe inhabiting the region south-west of Uganda; and in Hindu-Sindi, a dialect current among the Hindu inhabitants of Sindh. During the year, 5,688,381 volumes have been issued by the Society, as follows:—Bibles, 864,247; New Testaments, 1,136,565; portions, 3,687,569. The receipts during the twelve months totalled £239,550, including £93,727 from sales and £145,823 from contributions, legacies, &c. The total expenditure was £227,457.
Dr. Hay Fleming’s Forthcoming Book.—Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton in their recent announcement of forthcoming publications mentions Dr. Hay Fleming’s The Reformation in Scotland: Its Causes, Characteristics, and Consequences. The substance of the book was delivered as the Stone Lectures for 1907-8, at Princeton Theological Seminary. From the syllabus printed at the time of the delivery of these lectures, and from the well-known painstaking thoroughness which characterises the historical work of Dr. Fleming, we look forward with pleasure to its perusal. Further reference may be made to it in these pages later on. The price is 7/6.