The Atlantic Monthly for 1916 THE SYRIAN CHRIST By Abraham Mitrie Rihbany Readers of The Atlantic well know who Mr. Rihbany is. The son of a Syrian carpenter, he was brought up under external conditions almost precisely those described in the New Testament. Two thousand years have left untouched custom and superstition, manners and ways of livelihood, in that changeless land so indelibly pictured in the imagination of all of us. However familiar we may be with the beauty of Christ's parables, they take on fresh significance as Mr. Rihbany interprets them, showing us how inevitably they spring from the commonplaces of Syrian life and making us realize how perfect was their appeal to the peasant audiences crowding along the shores of the Galilean lakes. The speech familiar to Mr. Rihbany's youth, its luxuriant imagery, its absence of reticence, its warmth and color and passion, sounds in our ears, as he quotes it, as the very language of the Testament. To the author, "the Bible sounds," as he says, "like a letter from home"; and to everyone who reads and loves the Book of books, these chapters of Mr. Rihbany's commentary will prove a permanent and rich acquisition. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW The Atlantic and the essay have always been good friends. The most personal form of literature, the most varied, and, perhaps, the most expressive, the essay has long seemed to us ideally adapted to a magazine which aims to stimulate ideas. and to discuss the questions of the time we live in. The field of The Atlantic essay for 1916 will be wide and worth cultivating. The old favorites will, we hope, contribute to a list in which new names will appear as the months run by. STILLWATER By PAUL SHIVELL "Paul Shivell is a veritable farmer, though. - whimsical, gallant, tragic,— in many Board binding. 75 cents net. Merry A VALUABLE ADDITION TO ANY LIBRARY * The Atlantic Monthly Index VOLUME I. 1857-1888, Inclusive, $3.00 VOLUME II. 1889-1901, Inclusive, $2.00 * SPECIAL PRICE TO SUBSCRIBERS $4.00 Including Shipping She Is Just One in a Conquering Army If YOU help-and you means everyone-the AMERICAN The Tuberculosis Death Rate decreased 50% in the last 25 years. He who gives quickly gives doubly. RED CROSS Christmas Seals If you cannot buy Red Cross Seals in your town, write to the AMERICAN RED CROSS, Washington, D. C., for as many as you want at lc each. 1 "A rare artist in the unfailing perfection and vividness of his descriptions, a delightful friend, philosopher and guide among the Italians and their country." — New York Mail. The Works of "Mr. Howells is a finished artist, and never has the sureness of his touch shown to better advantage than in his comedies." - Brooklyn Eagle. William Dean Howells "The attractiveness of Mr. Howells's writings is in the ease and grace of diction, the picturesqueness as well as truthfulness of description, the quiet glow of portraiture, the flashes of wit and the touches of genial humor, — all united to a painstaking accuracy that does not allow fancy or imagination to neglect detail or such elaborate finish as the subjects respectively demand."- Boston Transcript. Contributors to the December Atlantic W. L. George ("Notes on the Intelligence of Woman") has been for some years one of the leading spokesmen of the English feminists, and will be remembered as the author of two recent Atlantic articles of radical tendencies: "Feminist Intentions" (December, 1913) and "Uniforms for Women" (November, 1914). He is also a novelist of ability, his most recent piece of fiction being The Second Blooming, published in this country by Little, Brown and Company. His investigation of woman's intelligence will be concluded in the January issue. Robert Haven Schauffler ("Fiddlers Errant") is an essayist and poet of Greenbush, Massachusetts, whose musical papers and essays on the cultivation of enthusiasm are as well known to readers of this magazine as his notable poem, "Scum o' the Earth" (November, 1911). John Koren (“Drink Reform in Europe") is a publicist who has been extensively employed as a statistical expert by the United States Government in the investigation of liquor legislation abroad, and was commissioned by the Committee of Fifty to write its memorable report. He was also recently appointed by President Wilson United States Commissioner to the International Prison Commission. Persons who disagree with Mr. Koren's views are advised to read his entire series before definitively closing their minds. Henry Sydnor Harrison ("Poor America"), who in this article comes to the rescue of the American reading public, so sharply criticized by Mr. Owen Wister last June ("Quack Novels and Democracy"), has himself good reason to understand the elements of popularity, through the immense success of Queed, V. V.'s Eyes, and Angela's Business. H. G. Dwight ("The House of the Giraffe") is an American story-writer happily well known to Atlantic readers. Mr. Dwight has grown well versed in Turkish character through a sojourn of many years in Constantinople. Obliged to return to this country on account of the war, he is now living in New Jersey. He is the author of an interesting and handsome volume recently issued by the Scribners, on Constantinople, Old and New. John Masefield ("Two Sonnets") is generally acknowledged as the leader of the present generation of British poets. It is safe to say that no poet since Byron has achieved fame so swiftly as Mr. Masefield upon the appearance of "The Everlasting Mercy" a few years ago. Harry Huntington Powers ("My Chinese Fan"), formerly Professor of Economics and Sociology at Smith College and later at Leland Stanford Junior University, has been President of the Bureau of University Travel ever since its organization in 1897. Inez Gillmore's THE DOROTHY CANFIELD'S THE BENT TWIG Too fine and big a novel to be crystallized into pat phrases. It stands out in its OLLIVANT Like Mrs. Gillmore's "Phoebe and Ernest" These three young men and their three sisters have all the fun of healthy young Americans, but they have to face and work out the problems of adolescence by themselves. Frontispiece by Flagg. $1.35 net LILLIAN D. WALD'S HENRY STREET An absorbing, personal story by the Contains much material not in Miss "Fiction, even at its best, could hard- With 24 full-page illustrations and Walter Lippmann's NEW BOOK THE STAKES OF DIPLOMACY By the author of Drift and Mastery and A Preface to Politics $1.25 net Julie M. Compiled by BURTON E. STEVENSON. BOOK OF VERSE Small octavo, boxed. Sold in sets only. $12.00 net. INDIA PAPER EDITIONS: I vol., cloth, $7.50 net; 1 vol., half morocco, $12.50 net; 2 vols., cloth, $10.00 net; 2 vols., leather, $18.00 net |