"So is it with music, in the highest degree, for it stands so high that no understanding can reach it, and an influence flows from it which masters all, and for which none can account. Hence, religious worship can not dispense with it; it is one of the chief means of working upon men miraculously. Thus the Dæmonic loves to throw itself into significant individuals, especially when they are in high places, like Frederic and Peter the Great.

All

"Our late Grand Duke had it to such a degree, that nobody could resist him. He had an attractive influence upon men by his mere tranquil presence, without needing even to show himself good-humored and friendly. that I undertook by his advice succeeded; so that, in cases where my own understanding and reason were insufficient, I needed only to ask him what was to be done, when he gave me an answer instinctively, and I could always be sure of happy results.

"He would have been enviable indeed if he could have possessed himself of my ideas and higher strivings; for when the dæmonic spirit forsook him, and only the human was left, he knew not how to set to work, and was much troubled at it.

"In Byron, also, this element was probably active in a high degree, whence he possessed powers of attraction to a great extent, so that women especially could not resist him."

EDITOR'S OUTLOOK.

THE Daily Globe, of Toronto, a ten page paper, recently contained an elaborate and carefully written two column article on the origin, methods, and aim of the C. L. S. C., bestowing much praise on its founder, the Rev. Dr. Vincent. What is said about the Circle in the Dominion is so near what we would write, if we were on the ground, that we give it the place of an editorial:

"Toronto is the center of the Chautauqua movement in Canada. The first Chautauquan was Mr. Lewis C. Peake, who joined the Circle at its original foundation and followed the course for one year without any associates in this city. A visit of Mr. Peake and Mr. Hughes, the Public School Inspector, to Chautauqua, led to the formation of a circle here, which by the close of the first year embraced about sixty members. The number of Torontonian Chautauquans is now 150 and is rapidly increasing. In this city the chief organization, which embraces all minor ones, is called the 'Central Circle.' Its officers include a managing committee, among whom are the President (Mr. Hughes), the Secretary-Treasurer (Mr. Peake), and the Vice Presidents of minor circles. The central committee meets every few weeks for a sort of literary conversazione and to hear lectures or essays on various topics. Minor circles are scattered over the city, members consulting the conven

they join, while many belong to no circle whatever. The members of the smaller circles meet occasionally at each other's houses, and it need scarcely be said that these gath

the Highest Being? Should I, like a Turk, name it with a hundred names, I should still fall short, and, in comparison with such boundless attributes, have said nothing."

Friday, March 18, 1831.-Dined with Goethe. I brought him "Daphnis and Chloe," which he wished to read once

more.

We spoke of higher maxims, whether it was good or possible to communicate them to others. "The capacity of apprehending what is high," said Goethe, "is very rare; and therefore, in common life, a man does well to keep such things for himself, and only to give out so much as is needful to have some advantage against others."

We touched upon the point that many men, especially critics and poets, wholly ignore true greatness, while they assign an extraordinary value to mediocrity.

"Man," said Goethe, "recognizes and praises only that which he himself is capable of doing; and as certain people have their proper existence in the mediocre, they get a trick of thoroughly depreciating that in literature which, while faulty, may have good points, that they may elevate the mediocre, which they praise, to a greater eminence." I noted this that I might know how to think of such a practice in future.

The Pope is at last thoroughly alarmed at the spread of Protestant Sunday-school work in Rome, and other large cities in Italy. He is determined to prevent, if possible, any further inroad of this work. Here is his fulmination delivered in his response to the recent address of the pilgrims: "Well aware, then, beloved children, of the audacious purposes of the sects, we feel the necessity and duty of declaring to you and all Italian Catholics the serious dangers impending. Let none deceive themselves, but let all be convinced that the intent is to tear you from the bosom of the most tender mother, the church, and withdraw you from the easy yoke of Christ, to give you into the power of those who are preparing calamity and ruin for your country. Against such enemies you must watch continually to elude their snares, and jealously guard at what cost soever the precious treasure of faith with which divine goodness has made you rich."

E.

able evening party.

"The membership in Canada is widely scattered. British Columbia has its Chautauquans, and in Manitoba and in the far posts of the Northwest there are solitary students reading the course. In the Province of Quebec, Montreal has its little circle, while a scattering membership in the towns and villages bring up the total for Quebec to about fifty. In New Brunswick there are twenty Chautauquans, in Newfoundland-mostly in the capital-are twenty-five, and in Nova Scotia, with Halifax as the chief center, are forty. The Province of Ontario, outside of Toronto, has about two hundred Chautauquans. These are not most numerous in the cities, but are found distributed in greatest numbers sometimes where they would be least expected. Brantford has a large circle, lately formed; Ingersoll, Thorold, Mitchell, Caledonia, Milton are well represented in the list of members; and Picton, and a small village called Anderson, better still. Among other localities where

Chautauquans are found are Kingston, Ottawa, St. David's, Niagara Falls, Strathroy, Woodstock, Clinton, Petrolea, Collingwood, Kirkton, Plattsville, Whitby, St. Mary's, and Parry Sound.

"It is interesting to find what classes of people in Canada have joined the Circle. In Toronto the list includes many teachers, commercial and insurance men, with a fair number of lawyers, doctors, bankers, and clergymen. Fiveeights of the members in the city are ladies, and the gentler sex elsewhere appear to maintain the same ascendency. Lawyers all over the Province appear to favor the course; and both where circles are found, or where there are only two or three members, a lawyer is found among the number. This is hopeful. Among the most interesting features of the Circle is the number of people in thoroughly rural sections who find time and possess the taste to follow the Chautauqua course, a very large percentage of the Ontario membership outside of Toronto being found on farms and in small hamlets. Farmers' wives and daughters are indeed in considerable number, a fact which shows that the agricultural classes are rising to that social and intellectual

time must yield precedence to the revival services. Lectures, church fairs or suppers, and social parties in church circles must be dispensed with during the season devoted to special services. These things, though harmless in themselves, and useful at other seasons of the year, distract attention and hinder the progress of revival work. Concentration, both of mind and heart, is essential to success in this department of church work.

There is great need of a mighty and wide spread revival all over our country. All denominations are in need of it to deepen and intensify the spiritual life of their membership, and to qualify them for their work in the world. Let the churches everywhere "bring all the tithes" into the storehouse of God and prove him, and he will "pour them out such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."

WE LIVE in a reading age. Everybody knows how to read, and everybody reads something. The annual production of new books in England and America is estimated to be not less than twelve thousand. The supply argues the demand. Examining this immense flow of literature, we find it to consist of a main stream with here and there a struggling rivulet. The main stream is fiction and the little side currents are the historical, philosophical, critical, and scientific works of the day. Of the great mass of fiction in the hands of English and American readers little can be said but in condemnation. It is emasculating mind and body wherever read. If we "dip" into the average novel, unless our taste has already been depraved by such food, we shall discover it to be insipid, sentimental, brainless, and often immoral. New York City alone has twelve weeklies sending their weekly installments of disgusting, degrading trash to three million readers. Ask the librarian of the public library and he tells you that from eighty to ninety per cent. of the books read are novels, and of these the majority is not of the higher class. So that whilst many of our people read, much of the reading is not elevating and more of it is positively injurious and debasing.

But what is to be done to better such a condition of things? Shall we condemn all novels, all fiction, and endeavor to stop the stream? Shall we attempt to utterly dry it up? Nay, not thus. We can not. There is a divine principle in fiction. It is native to the human mind and imagination. Even our Savior recognized and appealed to it in his immortal teachings. We could not do away with it if we would, and we would not if we could. There are novels and novels. Like physical food, some good and some bad, some wholesome and some poisonous. Bunyan wrote fiction which has carried immortal truth and life to a million hearts. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" struck the blow that severed the chains of four million slaves. There are novels whose influence is elevating, from the reading of which no one can rise without nobler purposes and higher resolves. There are novels historical, which are the best histories of the times treated in the language. No book of history is comparable to "Ivanhoe" as a history of the conflict between the Saxon and the Norman, in England. There is nothing better on the state of the South after the war than "The Fool's Errand." Charles Kingsley's "Hypatia" is noble history.

But how turn the public novel-reading appetite away from the ninety-nine per cent. of the bad to the one per cent. of the good? O, that we knew how to answer this question! It is one of the "burning questions" of our time. How to annihilate the sickly, the impure, those that debauch the imagination, that inflame passion, that set up false standards of life, that alienate man from God. Thus much at least: It can not be done without destroying the demand. While the demand exists the stream will rush

on. Outside of the changing, transforming power of Christianity, we know nothing able to cope with this problem. Christian ministers, Christian people of all names, must band together, and by means of an antidote in good, pure books, and by organizations like the C. L. S. C., elevate the taste and moral tone of the masses. The moral character of the popular book is an index of the popular moral sentiment. Give society a moral up-lift and impure books can not live. When we bring the power of the Gospel to bear everywhere as Paul did at Ephesus, it will be written of these times as it was then, "Many of them, also, which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men." O, for such a conflagration!

IN EVERY section of our land there are marked evidences of continually increasing activity in the cause of temperance. Able advocates of temperance reform are at work in every State in the Union, and as a result of their labors a great popular awakening on the subject has taken place, and temperance sentiments are taking a stronger and, we trust, a more permanent hold upon the people than ever before. In the opinion of all right-thinking people the time has come when this terrible curse should be swept from our land. Different methods are advocated for putting an end to this giant evil. This is not to be wondered at; neither is it to be deplored. The evil is so strongly intrenched that perhaps the adoption of no single method would accomplish its overthrow; but a combination of methods might successfully accomplish what any one alone might prove utterly inadequate to perform.

The great advance in temperance sentiment in the country is due to various causes. For more than a quarter of a century John B. Gough, the veteran lecturer, has been advocating the cause of temperance upon the platform with energy and enthusiasm, and although he is not the leader of any special movement, nor the representative of any particular organization, his eloquent words have not been in vain. Francis Murphy, the modern apostle of temperance, who is ever active and earnest in the good work of reform by moral suasion, has been, and still is, a mighty power in the temperance reform movement, but lacks in organizing ability, and the work which he has so happily begun in many communities must be continued and perfected by others in order to be made permanent. Neal Dow is the representative of the prohibition movement, the success of which in the State of Maine is largely due to his strenuous and persistent efforts. Prohibition of the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits is the only effectual method of freeing the country from the curse of intemperance. Each State has it in its power to enact such prohibitory measures as its citizens deem best suited for this purpose. The success of the movement in Kansas will doubtless inspire many other States to follow her example in adding prohibitory clauses to their constitutions. As each State has ample authority to settle this matter for itself, the formation of a national prohibition party is not necessary to insure the success of the temperance cause.

Women, from the beginning of the agitation of this subject, have taken an active part in the work of reform. The "Women's Crusade,” though but of short duration, exerted a powerful influence on public opinion in favor of temperance. The Women's Christian Temperance Union is one of the most efficient temperance organizations in the field to-day. Through their efforts coffee houses are being established in the neighborhood of saloons in almost all our cities, and temperance principles are being instilled into the minds of the pupils in the public schools and elsewhere. Their organ, Our Union, is one of the best temperance papers of the land. The literature of the National Temperance Publishing Company is exercising a silent but mighty influ

ence in favor of this great cause. The National Temperance Advocate, The Youth's Temperance Banner, and them any excellent books and tracts issued from their press most effectually supplement the efforts of temperance lecturers and teachers, and constitute an important factor in securing the success of the temperance movement.

The prospects of the temperance cause were never SO bright and full of promise as now, and if all temperance workers will but combine in harmonious efforts, and persevere in the good work in which they are engaged, before the close of the nineteenth century intemperance and the liquor traffic will be largely under control.

EDITOR'S NOTE-BOOK.

The lecture on "Jesus Christ in Chronology," published in this number as part of the Required Reading, takes the place of "God in History" in the course of study for the C. L. S. C. This lecture fills an important place in the literature of the church, and it is the only one ever delivered on that subject at Chautauqua. The author, Rev. Ira G. Bidwell, made it the subject of study and thought for many years. It is surprising how poor the literature of the church is on this subject. A lecture by Dr. Chambers, of England, delivered about thirty years ago, and this one by Mr. Bidwell will be conspicuous, because as popular efforts they are rare. Mr. Bidwell died a few months after he lectured at Chautauqua. "Being dead he yet speaketh."

The expulsion of the Rev. Dr. Thomas. of Chicago, from the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church for heresy, is notice to all preachers of the same kind that the Church will not condone this offence. The erring brethren will make a wise choice if they leave their doubts out of the pulpit, and preach a positive gospel.

Another idea has been suggested by the C. L. S. C. and its marvelous success. It is to read a book a month. The Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, of Plainfield, N. J., is to select the books. It is not a substitute for the C. L. S. C., but to be an appendix. The class that graduates next year will be invited to take up the course. The C. L. S. C. is established and it is growing beyond all precedent. There have been 10,000 applications received during the fall months by Dr. Vincent, at the office in Plainfield, asking for circulars giving information about membership, the course of study, and other matters.

The Women's National Christian Temperance Union are making an effort to raise money to honor Mrs. President James K. Polk, of Tennessee, by placing her portrait beside that of her husband in the White House at Washington. "Her noble character of which the womanhood of the nation is proud," is the text for the appeals.

We write emphatically: there have been two, and only two, lectures that were published in the CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY HERALD, in years past, reproduced in THE CHAUTAUQUAN—“God in Natural Law," by Rev. Joseph Cook, published last year, and "Jesus Christ in Chronology," in this number. These will be found in the Required Reading, hence the counselors of the C. L. S. C. are responsible for their appearance on our pages. As editor, we never publish a lecture in THE CHAUTAUQUAN that has appeared in the ASSEMBLY HERALD-never! We must be excused from doing it, because a great many people take both periodicals.

The study of art by the C. L. S. C. is making a run on the houses in this country that publish autotype and heliotype engravings.

The Rev. D. C. Knowles, whom we know to be good authority, writes from Clifton Springs, N. Y., to Zion's Herald, Boston: "I am boarding with a very intelligent minister of the 'Church of the Disciples,' a pupil of our late lamented President, and a class-mate of his wife. I recently called his attention to a statement of Dr. Miner, of Boston, in the Boston Journal, that the Church of the Disciples, of which Mr. Garfield was a member, rejected the evangelical views of Christ's person and atonement. He expressed great astonishment at such a statement, and asserted that two of the strongest doctrines of their church were the deity of Christ, and the sacrificial and substitutional atonement made by him. 'One of the strongest arguments,' said he, 'which I ever heard for the absolute divinity of Jesus, I heard from the lips of Mr. Garfield.' Dr. Miner was probably led astray by confounding the so-called 'Bible Christians,' who are avowedly Unitarian, with the 'Church of the Disciples,' sometimes called 'Christians.' These sects are nowise related."

The article "Christianity in Art," in this number, lost its regular place because the copy was delayed too long in reaching us. It is so good that we urge all to read it with

care.

President Seelye, of Amherst College, has proposed a new scheme for the government of the students, which is supplementary to that in successful use during the past year. His proposition is that instead of the faculty passing judgment on cases of discipline, as is now the custom, the matter be left, to a great extent, in the hands of the students themselves, who are to elect a representative board of ten men, four being from the senior, three from the junior, two from the sophomore, and one from the freshman classes, with a member of the faculty as presiding officer. The duties of the board are to receive evidence in case a student has disobeyed the laws of the college, weigh it carefully, and render a decision which, of course, is liable to be overruled by the faculty, but will stand as the judgment of the students themselves. Thus it is hoped to perfect a scheme for self-government. The college is considering this proposition, and at present some of the classes favor it, while others are opposed to it.

Speaking of the atheistic and hopeless inscription placed on Prof. Clifford's tomb in Highgate Cemetery, England: "I was not, and was conceived; I loved, and did a little work; I am not, and grieve not"-the Spectator asks significantly, "Many will think that epitaph fine, but would it not be even finer inscribed above a horse?"

A "Chautauqua Time Record" is the latest invention for the C. L. S. C. It is a neat book mark made of pasteboard, covered on one side with silk, bearing the initials C. L. S. C. On the other side we have printed the mottoes of the Circle, names of the months in the year, and a system of figures, with an elastic running round the card, held by niches on either edge of the mark, with which the reader may keep a record of the minutes per day that he reads, etc. It is an ingenious affair, and S. W. Sabin, of the class of '84, is the inventor.

The editor of Harper's Bazar says: "Girls are daily learning more and more thoroughly the use of their hands and brains, and this knowledge gained, another point is soon reached, namely, that any work well done is worth its price. Hence ladies do not scruple to take money for their painting, work, etc., and girls are learning more fully than they did of old that the necessity for work does not lower the worker."

Miss Eunice Tuttle, of New York, sends us "A plea for the C. L. S. C. year to begin with the first of September." She says: Of the "busy people" for whom the C. L. S. C. work was planned, a large number must depend entirely upon evenings for time to read. To illustrate a difficulty in the way of this class of readers, a fact may be stated from the experience of one who delights in the C. L. S. C. work. While no trouble was found in "keeping up" with the reading during the winter, it has been impracticable during the three years of the course to finish the work by the first of July. Possibly, extra reading might have been done during the long winter evenings, had the books been ready to anticipate the "hurry of spring work" with the short evenings, but the first two years certain books were not published until spring, and the memoranda came late.

Last year the evenings were growing short when the memoranda came, and THE CHAUTAUQUAN could not be read in advance of publication. In country homes, at least, where farmers rise with the sun to begin work, and continue it throughout the long June days, there is little inclination for study when evening comes. The weary body claims the time for absolute rest, in view of the next long day. The "spring work" is always "driving," and however beautiful the picture of a "perfect day" in June, with leisure to read while drinking in its glories, it is a picture of the imagination only, and not a reality in the farmers' homes with which I am familiar. With the beginning of September our evenings correspond in length to those of March and April, and if our C. L. S. C. year were to begin then, instead of October 1, we should have June, July and August for vacation months, and possibly a larger number of C. L. S. C. mem'bers "on time" with their work at the end of the year.

The American Sunday-school Union is abundant in labors. In five months the past season it organized three hundred and fourteen new schools on the frontiers of the West and in neglected places.

A distinguished naturalist, professor in one of the leading universities of America, says: "The Chautauqua HandBook was received to-day. I was not aware that so much good and solid reading and study was carried through the year. It will be a grand means of elevating and instructing those who have little leisure for reading and study. It is a great thing when so many in this country are struggling for money and position, to draw them off for awhile from business and daily labor to the pursuit of truth for its own sake."

Messrs. Moody and Sankey are having great success in their evangelistic work in England. Audiences of over three thousand people meet them four times a day in New Castle.

A candidate for a civil-service appointment, while undergoing examination, came to the question respecting the distance of the earth from the sun. Having in mind the changes made in astronomical figures and measurements made with modern instruments, he wrote: "I am unable to state accurately, but I don't believe the sun is near enough to interfere with a proper performance of my duties if I get a clerkship."

A friend of the old version says: "In the four Gospels upwards of six thousand changes have been made, and in the whole New Testament over fourteen thousand. It is this wholesale breaking up of the crystallization of over two hundred years that we complain of."

for the preparatory course of the C. L. S. C. are the following: Uarda; Ben Hur; Afloat in the Forest, by Mayne Reid; Planetary and Stellar Worlds; Science Primer, Geology; Science Primer, Physiology; Snow Bound; Higginson's Young People's History of the United States; How Plants Grow, by Dr. Gray.

A man may be too literary in his preaching. The New York Independent says that "a theological professor, not a thousand miles from New York, lately preached a sermon in which he declared that the representation of hope by an anchor was first introduced by Spenser, who was followed by other poets, and that it is by no means the best emblem that could be selected. That was in cold blood, all written out and read from the pulpit, quite forgetful of Paul's 'which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast.'"

Persons who desire to correspond with one another about their studies in the C. L. S. C. should write to Dr. Vincent, at Plainfield, N. J. He has the names of several persons who desire to open such correspondence.

Mr. Stornay, 1516 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., has just received from Europe a few splendid copies of "The Last Judgment" by Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. These copies are considered the best ever taken direct from the original. Size 274x374; price, $20.

Congregational seminaries seem to have a penchant for the Revised New Testament. The Chicago Seminary has followed in the wake of Yale, and adopted the new edition.

Mrs. A. H. Birch, of Lindsborg, McPherson County, Kansas, has not only been studying the C. L. S. C. course, but she has prepared some games of English and Bible history which have met with favor by those who have used them. The price is only fifty cents for each game.

That electricity will one day supersede all the motive powers used by man, and surpass them, is the opinion of M. D'Arsonville.

A new arrangement has been perfected for notifying passengers on railroad trains of the names and stations along the line. At either end of the car is to be placed a case containing canvas rollers, upon which, in large letters, is printed the name of the stations, and by a lever the engineer upon leaving a station can change the indicator so as to show the next stopping place.

When Mr. Gladstone said wearily one day to Lord Houghton, "I am leading a dog's life," the reply was: "Yes; the life of a St. Bernard dog, spent in saving the lives of others."

There are 92,500 names on the pay-rolls of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

[We solicit questions from our readers to be answered in this department.]

Q. What is the present state of the question of an international copy right between England and the United States? A. Our government still holds aloof from the proposition of an international copyright. Many of our leading publishers, however, make a liberal allowance to well-known authors whose works they have republished.

Q. Who was the first woman novelist who wrote in the