THIS book of Preparation for First Communion, which it is my privilege to introduce to the reader, was originally undertaken at the suggestion of the late Father John Morris, S.J., who as long as he lived took the warmest interest in its progress. Unhappily only a few chapters had been completed at the time of his lamented death, and in the sense of that great loss the work for a while was laid aside. It would have been a matter for much regret if the author had made this decision a final one. The book now completed has suffered, we cannot doubt, from the lack of Father Morris's always helpful criticisms, but the originality of its conception and the knowledge of child nature displayed in it can hardly fail to justify its publication. In the address "To the Children" which will be found further on, it is stated that the book is intended to aid the little ones to prepare themselves for First Communion. Perhaps it may be well to add a word of explanation here to anticipate possible misconceptions. It is not in any way the idea of the author that a child should be presented with a copy of this work and then cut adrift without further help, in the expectation that when the proper time comes the needful process of preparation will have worked itself out automatically. None the less, it is believed that many children are quite capable, under the supervision of parents or teachers, of reading for themselves instructions couched in simple child's language such as this book offers them, and furthermore the author has assumed that it may be helpful to some who have to prepare others for First Communion, and who, while conscious of the importance, are not a little embarrassed by the difficulty of their task. To cram children's minds with certain facts of dogmatic knowledge about the Blessed Eucharist is comparatively easy, to prepare their hearts so that they may approach this Divine Mystery full not only of faith, but of love, this is a duty sometimes relegated by teachers to a secondary place simply from a sense of helplessness and ignorance of how to set about it. While the method developed in this volume does not pretend to be better than many others which might be devised, it will be found, I believe, to possess many advantages of its own. And here I cannot do better than quote a few sentences from a Prospectus previously issued, in which the idea of the book is described in the author's own words: "To make the Life of our Blessed Saviour enter largely into prep