Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first travel book, bearing the rather infelicitous title,"The Wanderings of a Spiritualist," and narrating his adventures.in Australia, is closely followed by a new book giving an account of a pilgrimage the United States.
It is nothing fo the purpose here to express any views regarding that New Revolution" of which he has become the foremost missionary. The validity of his claim that a life after death has been scientifically proved must be decided elsewhere, and although his tour is mainly concerned with this question, it is only natural, the case of a writer so widemindsd—a true citizen of the world—that we should discover much of general interest in the story of his travels, Sir Arthur is an acute observer of men, and sd the book, like its predecessor in the same line, abounds in graphic bits of description, shrewd commentary and no little humour. Indeed, it is this quality of geniality combined with an attractive literary style that has gone far to win for his convictions as a Spiritualist a certain respect even from those who strongly disagree with them.
Unlike Bunyan's hero, our modi ern pilgrim went on his journey accompanied by a family keenly sympathetic with his aims. The record. opens with their arrival at Sandy Hook Point, and thence follow many pages of impressions, adventures, anecdotes and general notes, most of them revolving about the central theme. Every place visited receives some graphic touch of description whether og to its geography, its architecture, its history or its people. The author is no narrow zealot of a passionate creed. Indeed his catholicity of view is remarkable. He has the art of preserving the central relationships between all the matters he discusses, and he ranges from religion to the most matter-of-fact subjects with facility and grace.
There is plenty of the comic element as in the description of a Press interview in which a "very young and frivolous female report endeavours to entrap the pilgrim into an admission. that golf is played in heaven—this obviously in the interests of a good head-line for the paper. In vain the reputed authority seeks
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.