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Under this title Dr. Williams has brought together a number of articles and addresses which have been scattered over the years from 1921 to the present; some of them deal with adolescence, some with the problems of maturity, some with the larger social problems which are the responsibility of the community. All of them are written in Dr. Williams' breezy and refreshing style, that permits him to lambaste his audience and bring it in penitence to its knees, where he can then assure it that its sins are sins of ignorance and that its recognition of that fact is the best guarantee of its ultimate salvation. However, Dr. Williams is in no terrible hurry, as so many mental hygienists seem to be, to thrust salvation down our throats. He even tells us a good many times that there is small hope of attaining it in this generation, and if we stand still a moment to get a perspective and take our bearings, we are actually in no danger of being destroyed by hell fire.
This ought to be good news to the much-berated modern parent, who is often so bewildered by the conflicting opinions and advice hurled at him that he does not know which way to turn. Stop a minute, says Dr. Williams in effect, you can be serious over all these matters without having “conniption fits.” Nature has taken care of the human race for “Lo, these million years,” and will no doubt continue to do so. We are in a position to-day to understand more of nature's ways, and to walk more easily with her along the steep road toward human maturity; it behooves us to learn all we can and then go forward serenely, for thus are her purposes best served.
One would like to enter into a discussion of the various chapters; all of them are good and some excellent. The first section, under the caption “Putting Away Childish Things,” deals with the difficulty all of us experience in consistently maintaining ourselves upon an adult emotional level and some of the reasons for it. The second section, “Educating More than the Intel