Marvellous and significant indeed are the lessons which we can learn from it--lessons which can be applied every day to our own lives and the lives of those about us, who are groping blindly in “the dark wood,” yet who are longing to get out of their vice, or doubt, or despair. Is it self-indulgence? Is it inordinate ambition, or is it greed of possession (not always money possessions) which stands in the way? Must we pass through an inferno of suffering, and learn by experience that God’s way is the best way, or, can we learn that the way of the transgressor is hard from this great drama; learn, as it were, by “vicarious experience” instead of actual experience? Rightly understood, this is the office of every great soul, to save its fellow-mortals if possible from sin and suffering. Thus the Divine Comedy becomes the shield of Perseus in which the terrible gorgon head of evil may be seen and comprehended without withering or turning to stone the life that comes in contact with it. I know of no study more helpful to mothers than this same study of Dante. The nature of every sin is pictured forth by its symbolic punishment. The sharp distinction between sins of impulse and sins of intent is made, and the close connection of the will power with right and wrong doing is clearly shown. ELIZABETH HARRISON. End of Project Gutenberg's The Vision of Dante, by Elizabeth Harrison