IN A FEW WORDS

A Job for the Young and Beautiful
I DON'T know whether you have ever noticed in odd corners of London worthy Catholics selling Catholic papers hard by other ladies and gentlemen selling papers that are ansthing but Catholic. I sin
told that it is surprising how many
people will stand and look at a good Catholic poster. Sometimes they
buy and sometimes they don't. But a definite impression is very often made. and such an impression must be deepened, say, when a seller takes up a pitch outside a suburban tube station where he is seen more than once by the same travellers. I get a great many letters from readers who despair of finding any concrete form of Catholic Action in their parishes. Well, here it a spare-time job for the ardent, young and healthy, not to speak of good-looking when the seller is of the more devout sex, which, apart from its utility. must be full of surprises and, may be. interesting contacts with what they call " the world and his wife." If any of my readers would like to have a shot at it, would they please let me know. If you care to make an exception and read our
Editor's " leading article " just above, you may see that it is urgent that we do something.
Dorothy Sayers and Dante for Half,a,Crown IT is always a relief to find some thing wholly good, wholly useful and wholly worthy of praise in our present-day diffusion of culture to the whole people. If you had heard that Dorothy Sayers had translated Dante's D:vine Comedy and written a magnificent essay on Dante and his immortal work. you would naturally assume that hero is a literary event of the first magnitude which you must look into, however much it might cost you. Actually it will cost you the very modest sum of half-a-crown—at any rate for the Hell part, plus the 66 pages of small-print introduction which will probably help you to understand the poet as you never understood him before. The Penguin Classics have made this possible. I have not as yet had time to do more than glance at the translation which certainly carries you on, (I wish they could have printed the original also, but that is crying for the moon) in a truly Dante swing; but the introduction. written with great knowledge, virilely, theologically, sanely, is a masterpiece. Please get it and get to know Dante, the greatest C,atholie poet.
A Charming Lullaby APROPOS of Catholic production, Edmund Rubbra has set to music a charming Latin lullaby, "Dormi, Jou." It is called, in the Oxford Book of Carols, " The Virgin's Cradle Hymn " (No. 175 in Ox.
Bk. of Carols). It has the most haunting tune, and is for several
voices. It might even encourage some Catholics to buy the Oxford Book of Carols, rather than some of the very indifferent " Catholic " carol books produced last year; these had both music and words of some good old carols distorted. if I remember rightly.
The Sailor's Farewell IF we are accused of being too "soft" towards our Anglican friends, which we sometimes are, here is a true story to redress the balance. In a Welsh town there is a very " high " Church of Wales which looks to the superficial chap more Catholic than the Pope. One Sunday morning a Catholic seaman from a ship that had itist docked found his way to the church, having been told it was a Catholic Church. He entered and saw a clergyman walking about with what looked like his Breviary. The sailor asked him when Mass began, and was told it would begin as soon as a server arrived.
" Oh! I'll serve for you, father," the sailor said. He vested, set out the water and wine and got everything ready. The clergyman and he then came to the foot of the " altar" and both signed themselves. Then came forth the words: " I will go unto the altar of God." The response? " You will, will you? Then you can go by yourself."
Patron of Bees SINCE my recommendations of St Rita of Cascia and St. Benedict as patrons of bees and beekeeping. I now have confirmation of the the suggestion that St. Ambrose is the long-established patron on whose feast day (December 7—coming soon) Continental Catholic bee associations have special meetings end lectures, having of course been to Mass together in the morning. St. Ambrose's title is based on the Breviary Nocturn in which it is related that when he was a baby, a swarm of bees is said to have alighted on his chin and round his mouth: a sign of the divine eloquence of the "mellifluous " doctor. Another candidate is St. Imelda, for the rather unconvincing reason that the Latin Meaning of each syllable of her name / Mei Da can be construed to mean: " Go, give honey."
Stonyhurst Martyrs I AM glad to see in the latest
Stonyhurst Magazine that the Sacred Congregation of Rites has granted permission for a special Mass and Office in honour of the Stonyhurst Martyrs, that is, the St. Omers Martyrs, whete Stonyhurst first saw the light of day. The Feast (and of course holiday) will be kept at Stonyhurst on February 13.
The Little Child's Prayer MY priest friend remains worried about the little child's prayer to the Blessed Sacrament which I quoted last week, and asks, " I wonder how you can approve of the desire of seeing, touching, talking, hearing and kissing. . ." Surely these are precisely the natural emotional ways in which a little child instinctively makes contact with persons around him, and what more natural than to wish to do the same with Our Lord in the Real Presence? Remember that children live in many different worlds simultaneously owing to the peculiar quality of their imaginations. It is silly to ask a child whether he believes in fairies. He does. And be does not. In the same way a child believes the truths of faith; but he also lives them in a half real and half unreal world beyond our groan-up imaginations. It is objected, too, that the prayer suggests doubt: " is it true?" But for little children most doubting is rhetorical doubting, confidently expecting the answer " yes."
Two Recommendations I AM asked by one who has a right to ask to draw attention to the St. Cecilia's day recital at Farm Street (November 22 at 8 p.m.). As there is no hall with organ, violin and organ and mezzo-soorano will be heard in the church itself in aid of the exiled Czech Catholic Actionists. Some time ago I asked for prayers for a person very closely connected with this paper who was seriously ill He is now well. and so I am grateful. Alas. we need prayers again for another person also closely connected with us who has had to have, quite suddenly, a very serious operation. fSoorge.ptlease don't