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a reproach too often and too indiscriminately leveled by foreigners at our painters. Indeed, a certain set of young men, in particular, Mr. Bellows, Mr. Luks, and Mr. Henri, now go to the opposite extreme; they deliberately and conscientiously paint the ugly wherever it occurs; holding that only so can they delineate life as it really is. This idea is also accentuated in the department of landscape. Nature is now being treated not only in some but in all of her moods; Mr. Ochtman's austere "December" or Mr. Redfield's impressive "March "will serve as example. The quality increasingly apparent, however, is the atmospheric that something which makes one "breathe the picture, that fidelity to primal tones, that exact iridescence of color which, as seen in the canvases of a Claude Monet, spells the final word in landscape painting thus far. In American art, if Mr. Childe Hassam has not Monet's peculiar power of imagination, he is equally interesting to the student, for he reveals precisely how nervous American appreciates the quivering vitality of the physical world.

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Excommunication?

According to the New What is Greater York Sun's special despatch, Pius X., in his campaign against Modernism, has pronounced the Greater Excommunication against all in any way concerned in the production or reading of the Italian liberal monthly review, Il Rinnovamento. Excommunication, as practiced by the Roman Catholic Church, may be either temporary or perpetual, partial or total. Total or greater excommunication involves the loss not only of the sacraments but also of the society and fellowship of the faithful in this world and the next, and makes the offender, as far as the Church has the power, an outlaw. The greater excommunication was pronounced by the Council of Nicæa against the Arians, and in the Middle Ages by the Council of Trent against all heretics. Throughout the Middle Ages excommunication was used with tremendous emotional effect both on heretics and believers. The awful words were solemnly read at evening by the

bishop, surrounded by priests bearing flaming candles, who at the last word simultaneously cast them on the floor and trod out the flame as though they were human souls snuffed out in eternal night. But the weapon was too frequently used, and this constituted one of the many causes for the Protestant Reformation. In Scotland, for instance, if a poor husbandman failed to pay his tithes, he was excommunicated. In Germany, for the contumacy of some citizens, a whole city was excommunicated, as in the case of Nuremberg. In England and Italy Papal excommunications had already provoked immortal protests. Wyclif declared, "No man can be excommunicated who does not excommunicate himself;" and Savonarola wrote, in protesting against his own excommunication: "We ought to obey our Superior in so far as he holds the place of God. But he does not hold the place of God, and he is not our Superior, when he commands what is contrary to God." In the struggle for Italian unity, half a century ago, though Cardinal Antonelli, Secretary of State to Pius IX., declared that the greater excommunication had not been put into force since the Middle Ages, and would not be used against the revolutionary Piedmontese who had brought about the loss of the Province of Romagna to the States of the Church, the Pope did launch that excommunication against all who had promoted or abetted that separation. A decade later, Pius IX. similarly anathematized all who had taken part in the downfall of the Papacy's temporal power. Such a decree now strikes, if we may believe the Sun's despatch, not only the proprietors and editors, but the whole staff of printers and others employed in producing the Rinnovamento, as well as its every contributor, subscriber, and reader. The Rinnovamento is not antagonistic to religion, but opposes the Vatican's present policy, as other protesting Modernists have done. The sentence was communicated on Christmas Eve to the directors of the review by Cardinal Ferrari, Archbishop of Milan, who, so says the despatch, was also ordered to publish the edict from the pulpit of his cathedral,

been formulated. A request that the correspondent be allowed to interview Mr. Tchaykovsky was at first refused; but later it was intimated that the almost unheard-of privilege might be granted.

Church and State

in France

whence, it is stated, no similar manifesto been finished nor had any indictment has ever before resounded. The decree will certainly sadden many Roman Catholic Liberals who, like Signor Fogazzaro, the author of "The Saint," have felt that they could combine loyalty to their Church with liberty of learning. It is a satisfaction to note, however, that their sadness does not overcome their sense either of justice or of their right to be heard. According to the despatch, the proprietors of the Rinnovamento have replied to the Papal fulmination by an announcement of their intention to continue a firm but respectful resistance to the Vatican's policy, which, they declare, is crushing the liberty of research embodied in the aim of their review. It may seem to them and to us as if the punishment were disproportionate to the crime. In reality, however, Pius X.'s action shows a keen appreciation of the Rinnovamento's real influence. The fact that he would not discharge his highpowered gun at a mosquito is the clearest possible recognition of his adversaries' strength.

Assurances of a

Under the caption
"Revolutionists and

Fair Trial Patriots" The Outlook last week described the efforts made in this country to secure the release or at least open trial of Nicolas Tchaykovsky and Catherine Breshkovsky. An Asso ciated Press despatch from St. Petersburg now reports that the Russian Premier, Mr. Stolypin, has received the American petition, to which now some five thousand names have been affixed. It is gratifying to add that Mr. Stolypin, after personal inquiry into these cases, authorized the Associated Press correspondent to say from him that "the American public

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A correspondent of the New York Sun has recently given a very interesting résumé of conditions in the Roman Catholic Church, as he sees them, after two years' separation from the State. When that separation took place, many Catholics feared that it might result in the disorganization of the Church in France; others believed that it would be followed by a reawakening of faith among the members of that Church. In the judgment of the correspondent, neither the fears nor the anticipations have been entirely realized. The Church, he says, has gained independence in ecclesiastical appointments and more freedom in the exercise of its religious ministry, and it has suffered a serious loss of property and finds itself deprived of legal status, since the State no longer takes legal cognizance of its existence. There has been no outburst of religious fervor, but a large number of bishops report that their dioceses have lost nothing by the separation, from the religious point of view, and that progress has been observed in various directions since the separation went into effect. It was feared, among other things, that the number of candidates for the priesthood would be diminished. As a matter of fact, in some dioceses it has actually increased. Many bishops are pressing the necessity of concentrating in important parishes in order to make them missionary centers, freed from administrative interference and from the propagation of political ideas. The priests, according to some reports, are taking on more and more the character of evangelists, and devoting themselves to social duties. "My ideal," says a leading ecclesiastic, "is this: that the priest should be the teacher, the public benefactor, rendering to his fellow-citizens all the moral and material service in his power, and devoting himself to them

unconditionally with entire unselfishness." Another ecclesiastic puts his finger unerringly on one of the most disastrous blunders of the past when he says, "We must abandon our isolation, get again in touch with the nation, appear among our contemporaries as useful factors, be not the men of a religious party, but the men of all, the men of God."

Reorganization

According to this correspondent, the two neces

two years of separation, the Sun's correspondent declares the results seem to indicate that the process of reorganization is well on its way, but that its progress must be slow, and that persevering efforts will be required to bring order and solidity into the church organization. It is significant of the Pope's anxiety to help in the movement of reorganization that the number of French cardinals has been increased from five to eight.

sary tasks awaiting the Church are the A New Year's Homily

development of religious teaching, and the spirit of association. The Church is now obliged to substitute its own organizations for that which the State formerly furnished. In many dioceses a double organization has been arranged, one administrative, taking the place of the former administrators of church property, the other of propaganda, taking the place of Catholic committees on religious activity, the former having as their first duty the financial administration, the latter the founding of schools and mission work through the press and by lectures. An admirable step has been taken in the direction of publicity, and almost everywhere the Church is receiving and giving openly, and according laymen a large share in the management of collections and the uses to which they are put. "Since the public is called upon to pay the expenses," writes Monsignor Ricard, "it is clear that it may consider it has the right to know the budget of receipts and expenses." Reports from many quarters show that the receipts collected by these improvised organizations are sufficient for the annual maintenance of worship. A broader participation in the life of the Church on the part of laymen appears to be one of the features of the present condition; and another promising feature of that condition is the apparent determination of the bishops not to form a Catholic party. That idea the Sun correspondent characterizes as "chimerical and dangerous," and declares that it is no longer to be feared. It has been rejected by a majority of authoritative Catholics and by the bishops.

After

The praises of memory have been often sung. But to be able to forget what should be forgotten is as advantageous as to be able to remember what should be remembered. We praise a good forgettery.

Forget your enmities. Forget the wrongs that have been done you, the insults that have been offered you, the injuries you have suffered. Or remember them only to seek out some occasion for helping him who has wronged you. You have vowed that he shall never have an opportunity to insult you again. Right. One way is to avoid him; the other way is to make him your friend.

Forget your faults and failures. Or remember them only to learn the lesson they have to teach, the frailty or folly or wickedness of spirit which they should disclose to you--the vanity that weakens, the pride that hardens, the greed that corrupts. Let your past be not a ball and chain tied to your ankle to keep you back, but a journal to tell you what road you have traveled. Then, looking back only long enough to see where you are and what your course should be, forget the things that are behind and press forward.

Forget not your sorrows. You cannot forget them. You do not wish to forget them. But forget their bitterness. Forget the despairing, failing battle against them. Forget the doubts of God's goodness and life's value which they awakened in you. Remember the alleviations, the consolations, the love of the loved one in the past, the sympathy of friends in the present, the comfort of

God's presence in all. Call to remembrance your songs in the night.

To remember the enmities of the year is to cultivate the spirit of hate; to remember the sins of the year is to indulge in the bitterness of remorse; to remember the unavailing struggles against approaching sorrow in the year is to continue the struggle after the issue has been determined.

Only a little of our life is spent in the present. Most of it is spent in memories of the past or in anticipations of the future. You can make these memories sorrowful or joyful, these anticipations fears or hopes. You can make your New Year a happy New Year by forgetting the enmities and remembering the friendships, forgetting the failures and remembering the successes, forgetting the defeats and remembering the victories, forgetting the bitterness in sorrow and remembering its consolations.

supplied with water, this village and its surrounding farm lands are to be flooded. From this lake, and from one to be formed in the other basin, water is to be conveyed in an aqueduct which will extend southward, piercing the Shawangunk Mountains, crossing the level country to the Highlands of the Hudson, climbing half-way up Storm King above West Point, diving hundreds of feet beneath the bed of the Hudson River, and then winding for fifty miles or more down to the thirsty city. In order to make the lake of West Shokan, an enormous dam of stone and earthwork must be built. This is already named the Ashokan Dam. The whole enterprise requires daring, skill, and well-adjusted co-operation on the part of the engineering force.

An engineering force that is characterized by daring must be composed of men with enthusiasm for their enterprise ; one that is characterized by skill must

The Outlook wishes you a Happy be composed of men of education; one New Year.

that is characterized by co-operation must be composed of men inspired with an esprit de corps. The Board of Water

Mayor McClellan and Supply in charge of the planning and

the Aqueduct

Mayor McClellan, of the city of New York, is the official head of one of the greatest public works, if not the greatest, ever undertaken by a single municipality. This enterprise, which he has organized so auspiciously, is in danger of serious if not irreparable injury.

In contrast to many undertakings which have brought upon American municipal government the reproach of inefficiency and corruption, the engineering organization which has been created for the purpose of constructing the great Catskill Aqueduct has been conspicuous as an example of efficiency and public service. In the midst of the Catskill Mountains there are two huge natural basins. At the bottom of one of these lies the charming little village of West Shokan. On almost every side rise some of the highest peaks of the Catskill range. Pleasant farm lands, many of them with substantial and well-proportioned old houses, stretch out from the village toward the wooded heights. That New York City may be amply

construction of this aqueduct has created such a force. By exercising rare judgment in selecting men, and by imparting to them a spirit of confidence and pride in their work, the Board has put at the service of New York City an engineering organization which in character and competency has probably never been equaled.

To indicate how genuine is the enthusiasm of the force a single instance must suffice. One of the subordinate engi neers, a man of varied experience in hydraulic work, had contributed certain plans that improved very materially the design of the aqueduct. After the work was under way he received from a private company the offer of a position not only paying twice the salary he was receiving but also affording opportunities for most interesting professional experience. He declined and stuck to his post, not merely out of a sense of duty, but also because of his faith in the work he was doing and a quiet pride in the whole project. To indicate how much expert knowledge has been put to the service of the city it must suffice here simply to refer to the

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