Book Review

8C4 IMPR O VEMENT ERA. promoters of a railroad from Milford to Stateline was signed in Salt Lake City. The signers are officials of the Oregon Short Line on one side, and A. W. McCune, David Eccles, C. W Nibley and others, on the other side. It is stated that the road as far as Sulphur Springs will be completed within five months. BOOK REVIEW. PREACHING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING. Very few people care to be told their shortcomings, and consequently, it is quite possible that the work on "Preaching and Public Speaking, " just from the press of the Deseret News Publishing Company, by N. L. Nelson, professor of rhetoric and elocution in the Brigham Young Academy, Provo—is not likely to please the present generation doing the preaching in The Church. The professor decidedly, not to say harshly, points out the faults of the past and present generation of preachers; but not with the hope, as he assures us in his preface, of changing the mental habits of the older generation, and certainly not with the view of hurting their feelings; but with the intention of benefiting the young men who, in the future, will become our preachers and public speakers This somewhat relieves the work from the charge of being harsh in its criticism which otherwise it could not escape. We should say that exceptional advantages are possessed by the professor for writing such a work, since, in addition to some missionary experience as a preacher himself, in the Southern States, he occupied the position of clerk at Sabbath meetings in the Provo Tabernacle for three years, where he was required to place on record the substance of sermons delivered there, and in addition to that, has been in contact with young men for some fourteen years in the classes of the Brigham Young Academy; and therefore the especial faults of the present generation have been constantly before him. We half regret that he has not been a little more kind to the faults of the past, since exceptional conditions, in the midst of which the ministry of the church has labored, go very far towards excusing the lack of system and polish in preaching. But since the professor merely points to these defects in speech, not to ridicule the past, but to benefit the generation that is to come after us, we trust that no exceptions will be taken to what he has said in that division of his most excellent work; and we trust that those who will be inclined to criticise the book on the ground indicated, will remember that if knowing our faults is not equivalent to correcting them, still, before correction can take place, both the individual and a community must know their results, and in this spirit they should view Prof. Nelson's book. Fortunately, the greater part of the book, consisting of about 450 pages, is constructive in its character, and if studied with attention, and its suggestions reduced to practice it will no doubt go very far towards correcting the prevailing errors in preaching and public speaking We regard it as being a positive help to our young men, and therefore welcome the professor's book as a very valuable contribution to a subject altogether too much neglected; and commend it to the serious attention of our yonng men.