"A BISHOP AMONG HIS FLOCK"
Bishop Talbot's earlier book, "MyPeople of the Plains, attracted wide attention and was read with unusual interest, on account of its frank, free, breezy style, and the realistic descriptions of frontier scenes, in which cowboys and gospel preaching, saloons and chapels were delightfully mingled. The earnestness of purpose, the admirable breadth and warmth of human sympathy manifest in this energetic young bishop of the Western plains, made his book, stimulating and instructive as well as interesting.
One who had read the earlier volume would at once be struck by the marked contrast which this later work presents. Its. title would lead the reader to expect characteristics which he does not find. "A Bishop Among His Flock is distinctly a didactic work. There; is nothing in it of the narrative, or the descriptive, or the personal element. It is a series of sermons, or quasi sermons, covering such matters of a theological, ecclesiastical, and ethical nature, as an earnest Christian minister thoroughly practical and alive to present day conditions, yet distinctly conservative, eminently orthodox, might be expected to discuss with the people of his charge. His own words taken from the preface will best express the author's aim and indicate the general character of these discourses. "While many books have been written covering in the main the same ground and what has been said in the following pages has often been said more felicitously, yet the author eels abundantly justified in supplying his own people with what he feels every well-equipped churchman should possess."
The following chapter headings give one a pretty clear idea of the theological and ecclesiastical trend of the first half of the book. "Has God Spoken?"; "What Shall I Believe?"; "The Church and the Sacraments"; The Church and Public Worship."
Taking up the chapters in their order the reader would be likely to get the impression that the doctrinal note was the dominant one, and would wonder what had become of the breezy bishop of the Plains, who was so unconventional, so ready to adapt himself to the mental attitude of others, even those of his casual acquaintance. Can this really be the Bishop Talbot who some fifteen years earlier could enter a saloon in some mining camp and put himself on easy terms with proprietor and patrons and quickly secure their cooperation towards the success of a religious service presently to be held in a near-by dance hall? Is this the ''hustling" worker, the preacher of practical righteousness among a people none too observant of the plainest moral precepts? But as one reads the closing chapters, with such captions as "Religion and Business"; "The Church and Social Service"; The Church's World-Wide Mission", one sees that the practical side of religion is not over-looked. This may be after all the same man, grown a little older, become less unconventional, more reflective, more conservative.
It is in these closing chapters, as it seems to me, that Bishop Talbot is most convincing and effective.
Bishop" Talbot, though for the past eight or ten years an infrequent visitor to" Dartmouth and Hanover, was a familiar figure, and his voice a familiar voice, to the Dartmouth students of a somewhat earlier period, and be is today one of our most distinguished and most loyal alumni. The writer of this review counts it a great pleasure to have known rather intimately Ethelbert Talbot, the college student, and he has watched his progress in honors and achievement with very genuine admiration.
The Library has just received the following publications of Dr. Clark S. Caverly, 1878. Dr. Caverly is recognized as one of the leading physicians of Vermont and for many years has been President of the Vermont State Board of Health:
Notes of an Epidemic of Acute Anterior Poliomyelitis; Journal of theAmerican Medical Association, Jan. 4, 1896. Problem of the Prevention of Measles and Whooping Cough; American Medicine, Vol. VIII, No. 26, pp. 1094-7; Dec. 24, 1904. Tetanus and Vaccination; Vermont Medical Monthly, Vol. VIII, No. 85, pp. 4-6; Jan. 25, 1902. School Sanitation; Vermont, Education Dept., Circulars of Information, No. 3, Nov., 1901. Preliminary Report of an Epidemic of Paralytic Disease, Occurring in Vermont in the Summer of 1894; Yale Medical Journal, Nov., 1894. Medicine and Surgery; Vermonter, Vol. VIII, No. 10, pp. 311-335; May, 1903. Relation of Milk-Supply to Public Health; Atlantic Medical Weekly, Vol. VI, No. 6; Aug. 7, 1896. History of an Epidemic of Acute Nervous Disease of Unusual Type; Medical Journal, Vol. 46, No. 1256, pp. 673-7; Dec. 1, 1894. Problem of the Prevention of Measles and Whooping Cough; Vermont Medical Monthly, March, 1913. Report of Three Cases of the Cretinoid Condition in the Same Family, Treated with Thyroid Extract; Medical Record, April 10, 1897. Treatment of Litigation Neuroses; Vermont Medical Monthly, May 15, 1908; Anomalous Condition of the Kidneys; American 'Medicine, Vol. VII No. 8, pp. 296-7, Feb. 20, 1904. Opening Remarks at the Sixth Annual School of Health Officers of Vermont; Vermont State Board of Health, Bulletin No. 1, Vol V, Sept., 1904. Introductory Remarks at the Opening of the Seventh Annual School for Health Officers; Vermont State Board of Health Bulletin No. 1, Vol. VI, Sept., 1905. Address at Opening of Ninth Annual School for Instruction of Health Officers; Vermont State Board of Health, Bulletin No. 1, Vol. VIII, Sept., 1907. Address at Opening of School for Health Officers; June 29, 1908; Vermont State Board of Health, Bulletin No. 1, Vol. IX, Sept., 1908. Remarks at the Opening of the Eleventh Annual School for Health Officers; VermontState Board of Health, Bulletin No. 1, Vol. X, Sept., 1909. Address at Opening of the Fourteenth Annual School of Instruction for Health Officers; Vermont State Board of Health, Bulletin No. 1, Vol. XIII, Sept., 1912. Opening Address at Fifteenth Annual School of Instruction for Health Officers; Vermont State Board of Health, Bulletin No. 1, Vol. XIV, Sept., 1913.
"The Drama of Our Diplomacy in Mexico", is the title of an article by Professor Justin H. Smith '77, in the World's Work for January, 1914.
Gordon Hall Gerould '99, contributed a story, "Experience", to Scribner'sMagazine for March, 1914.
Rt. Rev. Ethelbert Talbot '70, Harpers, 1914
