GREAT COMPANIONS,

Vol. II, by RobertFrench Leavens *01, Beacon Press, Boston,Mass., 1941, pp. 643 (plus indexes, etc.).

IN THE DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE of November 1927, the late Professor Charles D. Adams reviewed Great Companions, not only praising highly the impeccable taste and broad vision of the editor, but predicting that this unique anthology would find a mulitude of grateful readers. That prophecy has been ful filled, for it is now in its 9th edition. Contain- ing as it does much of the best thought of all the ages, it stands in the eyes of many second only to the Bible. My own copy is dog-eared from hard use.

Any attempt to harvest a second crop of "companions" must have given pause to Dr. Leavens and his sister-collaborator. Had they not already spent years to find the richest cream? Would not further quest merely reduce them to a skimmed-milk diet? An examination of the second volume, however, shows both that they knew their peril, and that their effort was rewarded. Their old rigorous standards of selection, verification, and abridgement, are scrupulously maintained. The second volume is a bit larger in size, and in literary quality of passages chosen it is on a par. The present arrangement of material is similar, though the titling is even more effective. In each of the two books, more than two hun dred separate "voices" are cited, yet eighty per cent of the 1941 chorus are entirely fresh. Most of the newcomers are contemporaries (including, for example, Presidents Tucker and Hopkins), and they are representative of the finest thinking of our times. Indeed, it is an excellent and valuable job. To conceive and produce the first anthology was a masterly piece of work; to complete successfully a sec- ond, which is not inferior to the first in either quantity or quality, seems to be well-nigh a miracle.