IN THE STYLE OF KING DAVID
PSALMISTS by the hundred
have submitted compositions for the great Christmas competition, due to be decided this week. Many have added a note to say that they like writing in the style of King David and find it the easiest way to pray. Our second competition for the first issue of January offers readers a chance of calling attention to any subject they like. To date competitors in the main have written about foreign missions and books.
A wonderful book -THE ROAD TO FROM[" by Christopher Hollis was published recently and reviewed in the CATHOLIC HERALD last week. Let me add a word of praise as one who was sitting in the back row of the class 32 years ago when our distinguished history master, Chris Hollis, published his first book Since that time Mr. Hollis has written well on many subjects, but never before has he spoken so openly and so effectively about Catholicism. Mc has not lost his delightful sense of humour which so pleased us as schoolboys, but he has added to it a maturity and tolerance which makes this autobiography one of the most pleasing that I have ever read. The last chapter %sill be of lasting value to converts and to middle aged people generally. Rarely have the problems of middle age been better expressed.
The Marionettes
As I write this. the Marionette Company must be bowling along the road to Manchester in its enormous bus. The reception in London was magnificent, with more than 1.000 spectators at St. Pancras Town Hall and Streatham Assembly Rooms, and packed halls everywhere else. Adverse criticisms have centred on the inadequacy of the halls for so intimate and beautiful a performance. Praise for the company and for the play has been impressive, and the most pertinent comment came from a nofi-Catholic gentleman at St. Pancras whose criticism ran: "My only complaint was that they switched the lights up at the interval and caught me cie in."
Fr. Duval's tour AN audience of nearly 2,000 filled the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. for Er Duval's first concert of his tour. People came from as far as St. Helens, Warrington, Blackpool, and Chester to give the good man a wonderfully warm reception. He was in great form and alone, with no gimmicks, held the great audience for two hours. The "Liverpool Daily Post" next morning paid a graceful tribute to his skill. In praising his artistic merits the reporter seemed to criticise his playing of the guitar. I know nothing about gui tars myself, but it is worth recording the comment of a very distinguished English musician who assured me that Father Duval's playing was quite wonderful and far better than the normal strumming which is popular today.
Manchester