"Here a man is defiled by many sins, ensnared by many passions, held fast by many fears, racked by many cares, distracted by many curiosities, entangled by many vanities, compassed about with many errors, worn out with many labors, vexed with temptations, enervated by pleasures, tormented with want. When shall I enjoy true liberty without any hindrances, without any trouble of mind or body?" Many famous writers have borne testimony to the great influence of _The Imitation of Christ_ upon their spiritual development. Matthew Arnold often refers to the work of Thomas a Kempis, as do Ruskin and others. Comte made it a part of his Positivist ritual, and General Gordon, that strange soldier of fortune, who carried with him what he believed to be the wood of the true cross, and who represented the ideal mystic in this strenuous modern life, had _The Imitation of Christ_ in his pocket on the day that he fell under the spears of the Mahdi's savage fanatics at Khartoum. Perhaps the most eloquent tribute to the power of the _Imitation_ is found in George Eliot's novel, _The Mill on the Floss_. The great novelist makes Maggie Tulliver find in the family garret an old copy of the _Imitation_. Then she says: "A strange thrill of awe passed through Maggie while she read, as if she had been wakened in the night by a strain of solemn music, telling of beings whose souls had been astir, while hers was in a stupor. She knew nothing of doctrines and systems, of mysticism or quietism; but this voice of the far-off ages was the direct communication of a human soul's belief and experience, and came to Maggie as an unquestioned message. And so it remains to all time, a lasting record of human needs and human consolations; the voice of a brother who ages ago felt and suffered and renounced, in the cloister; perhaps, with serge gown and tonsured head, with a fashion of speech different from ours, but under the same silent, far-off heavens, and with the same passionate desires, the same stirrings, the same failures, the same weariness." Many editions of _The Imitation of Christ_ have been issued, but for one who wishes to make it a pocket companion none is better than the little edition in The Macmillan Company's _Pocket Classics_, edited by Brother Leo, professor of English literature in St. Mary's College, Oakland. This accomplished priest has written an excellent introduction to the book, in which he sketches the life of the old monk, the sources of his work and the curious controversy over its authorship which raged for many years. Buy this inexpensive edition and study it, and then, if you come to love old Thomas, get an edition that is worthy of his sterling merit. THE RUBA'IYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM POPULARITY OF AN OLD PERSIAN'S QUATRAINS--SPLENDID ORIENTAL IMAGERY JOINED TO MODERN DOUBT FOUND IN THIS GREAT POEM.