Welsh Journals

appeared to be the work of gods. Every flower was a word, or thought. The grass was speech the trees were speech; the winds were speech. They were the Army of the Voice marching on to conquest and dominion over the spirit." And if we only threw away the weight of our dead beliefs and our selfish desires, and returned into communion with reality, with Earth the great mother of us all "we also would feel the influx of power as with one who had touched the mantle of the Lord." "We are all lost children of the stars." A.E. is the modern Oisin, returned on his white steed from Tir-nan-og and sadly complaining of the greyness and the heaviness that has fallen upon all the lands. There is no joy, no exaltation, no high purpose or desire, among his people and, almost like Oisin himself in the legend, he complains that it is all due to the destruction of the old gods and their powers by the sound of many bells and the droning of many chants without any corresponding verity accompanying them. And yet, he cries, if you but heighten the imagination, but intensify the will it will all be changed and you will be freed from the tyranny of the Iron Age. Return by way of meditation, contemplation, and spiritual discipline to the sacred beings in the true home of man," and "the darkness in you will begin to glow, and you will see clearly, and you will know that what you thought was but a mosaic of memories is rather the froth of a gigantic ocean of life, breaking on the shores of matter, casting up its own flotsam to mingle with the life of the shores it breaks on. If you will light your lamp you can gaze far over that ocean and even embark on it. Sitting in your chair you can travel farther than ever Columbus travelled and to lordlier worlds than his eyes had rested on. Are you not tired of surfaces ? Come with me and we will bathe in the Fountains of Youth. I can point you the way to Eldorado." Although many wise people have expressed their astonish- ment at the entry of this strange mystic and philosopher into the practical affairs of Ireland, it surely was the most natural of developments, for the prophet who believed that everything was the creation of the soul must ultimately have concerned himself with the life of his country. The fundamental principle of all his nationalist thinking is this that Civilisations are externalizations of the soul and character of races. They are majestic or mean according to the treasure of beauty, imagination, will and thought Jaid Plygu ei ben wna 'r blod 'yn blydd A'i emrynt yn cau ar dertyn dydd. Cuddio ei ben wna'r mynydd mawr Mewn cwmwl goleu hyd doriad gwawr. Pwyso ei ben wna'r mebyn Hon Mal angel gwyn ar esmwyth fron. Felinheli, Arfon. up in the soul of the people." The meanness, the ugliness, the squalor of national life are all manifestations of in- tellectual vacuity and unconcern. What we require more than men of action at present are scholars, economists, scientists, thinkers, education- ists and literateurs, who will populate the desert depths of national consciousness with real thought and turn the void into a fullness." These men might then accomplish what the poets and artists of Greece did for the Athenians,- create national ideals which will dominate the policy of statesmen, the action of citizens, the universities, the social organisations, the administrations of State departments, and unite in one spirit urban and rural life." The creation of this national tradition is his great ideal- tradition that raises the individual citizen above himself and leaves its mark on all the work of toilers in whatever fields, and gives to it a character and a grandeur and a relation to the works of fellow citizens," so that all the individual does conspires with the labours of others for unity and magnifi- cence of effect." He ponders over the average Irish farmer,-Patrick Maloney he calls him-his race and his country, brooding whether there is the seed of Pericles in Patrick's loins. Could we carve an Africa out of Ire- land ? Obviously he believes that it can be done and 'The National Being," is his inspired contribution to- wards the solution of the problem. His message is again that life in spite of all its diver- sities, is one, and that the main thing to do is to restore this belief to its legitimate throne in the individual and national life. Eliminate conflict, create an identification of interests, aim at a Society where people will be at harmony in their economic life," and you will have taken the first step towards a solution. It is the co-operative ideal. The sin which is destroying the world is the sin that made Cain raise his hand against Abel, that marked Ishmael as the outcast, that moved Absalom to conspire against his father, that made Judas sell his Master. But there-it is not possible to give any idea in an article of this nature of the contents of two of the greatest books written by one of the profoundest philosophers of our age, and one of the most eloquent of living writers of English prose. I hope, however, that I have said enough to convince every thinking Welshman that he can do no better than go into a retreat with these two books as his companions. T. Durston. Y CYSGOD A'R SYLWEDD. Plygu wna'r sant wrth gario'r groes Plygu a chredu ar hyd ei oes. Cuddio ei ben wna r sant mewn ffvdd Drwy ddunos y bedd hyd dori ad dydd. Codi wna'r r sant i orphwys ei ben Ar fynwes yr Iesu mewn "gloeywach nen." John Williams. (Deilen.)