Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

EDITOR'S OUTLOOK.

OURS HAS has been called an utilitarian age; sometimes socalled by way of disparagement, and again in commendation. Compared with the past, certainly we live in a time when the word utility, as applied to knowledge, has a larger meaning than ever before. The time was, and long continued, when it was the policy of monk, priest and hermit, to monopolize whatever knowledge the world had, and jealously guard it from the masses. Things have changed. The schoolboy, now, knows more than monk or priest used to know. He may begin where Kepler, Newton, and Faraday left off.

Two chief causes have operated to produce our age of utility: one, that double revolution in Church and State which proclaimed freedom of thought and conscience; the other, the breaking away from the old-time scholastic studies, to walk the brighter paths of modern science. The tendency of scientific study is toward the practical. applications lead its students out into every industrial pursuit.

Its

It is to be expected, then, that in such an age, in a country like ours, the subject of industrial education will receive a large measure of attention. A people characteristically ambitious to excel, endowed by nature with special industrial possibilities and advantages, can not ignore such a question. Mr. J. Scott Russell, speaking from the standpoint of an Englishman, has defined industrial education as "that which shall render an English soldier better than a German; an English ship builder better than an American ship builder; an English silk manufacturer better than a Lyons silk manufacturer, etc." Whilst the ambition to excel is a commendable one, it is to be hoped that the movement for education in the industrial arts and sciences in this country will have a higher motive than mere national superiority or promotion of wealth. It should keep in view, as first in importance, the intellectual, moral, and social improvement of the masses. It is not to be wondered at that this branch of education in the United States is yet in its infancy. Europe, by reason of her age, and the necessity placed upon her to educate in this direction counts her industrial schools by the hundred. Many of them, as the polytechnic schools of Paris, the industrial schools of Switzerland, and others, have almost, in their methods and results, attained to the ideal institution. Necessity has compelled the states of Europe to attain to better results in the various industries. Their schools teach the agriculturist how to make the soil yield the most and the best; the miner how to dig from the earth its mineral riches, and the metallurgist how to use them; the chemist how to combine and separate with the most useful results; the manufacturer how best to convert the raw material into the finished product. European experience, in this as in other things, has its instruction for us. It shows how, by skilled labor, the problem of a dense population upon an often ungenerous soil, can be solved. It may be that the same problem with our vast domain and resources will not very soon press itself upon our attention. Nevertheless, we have the higher problem of developing the capacities and powers of our industrial classes for the sake of the effect upon the man himself. We want skilled workmen in every field of American industry, for America's honor, for her material prosperity, but above all, for the American character. It is gratifying to know that a good beginning has been made in schools of this kind. The Boston Institute of Technology, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, N. Y.; the Sheffield Scientific School, the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, and the Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Schools of Mines, are all institutions of excellence and are doing good work. Perhaps nothing in this line is more note

worthy than the recent enterprise under the direction of Bishop H. W. Warren, introducing the idea of the industrial school in its most practical form, that of a school of carpentry, among the freedmen of the South. But we need a a score of such schools to every one in existence. It is time to recognize that every calling implies training, discipline, development. Not to provide for this kind of education is a failure to respond to the spirit of our age and institutions.

THE PLEA of insanity has been set up in our courts of justice as a defense for capital crimes with alarming frequency during the past few years. The cases of Sickles, McFarland, Cole, and others, are still fresh in the public mind, and to these is now added that of the assassin Guiteau. Of late, also, much larger latitude has been accorded to the term insanity than formerly, by the so-called medical experts who have been called upon to testify in numerous instances, so that almost every kind of eccentricity, either mental or moral, has been classified under some form of mental derangement, and is assumed to constitute sufficient ground for acquittal, when entered as a defense for the commission of crime. No one denies that real insanity is a valid plea for irresponsibility of action; but it has come to such a pass that whenever atrocious crimes are committed, especially by persons of position or wealth, it is at once assumed that they must have been insane when the crime was committed, as no one in their position could be guilty of committing such foul deeds while sane in mind. History presents a record of a multitude of the most revolting crimes being committed by persons of position and wealth from sheer cruelty and wickedness, and which were in no sense the result of insanity or madness in any form. This persistent tendency in modern times to adjudge those insane who commit capital crimes arises from a vitiated sentimentality which regards all forms of evil as symptoms of disease, and sedulously ignores the deep depravity of the human heart. Hence, what is called moral insanity is often nothing more than intensified depravity, and is not so much the result of a diseased brain as of a wicked heart.

It must be agreed by all who believe in human responsibility that any one is blameworthy who allows himself to be overcome by evil passions which he could in any way control. To acquire self-restraint is one of the first duties of all. But it must be admitted that what is often allowed to pass for an "insane and uncontrollable impulse," betokening the existence of "emotional insanity," is nothing more than the fierce outburst of passion which the individual has never sought to control. But juries are told by lawyers and "medical experts" that such outbursts constitute unmistakable evidences of emotional insanity, and as a result of such declarations the criminals are adjudged irresponsible. It is high time that such dangerous and hurtful sentiments were abandoned, and that persons who commit heinous crimes, led on by passions which they might have controlled if they would, but which they never sought to subdue, should no longer be able to elude the demands of justice by pleading the flimsy pretext of mental or moral insanity. There is a vast difference between the utter lack of self-control, occasioned by serious lesion of the brain, and the occasional but fierce ebullition of passion which is the result of the absence of any attempt at self-restraint on the part of the individual.

The idea prevails largely that in most cases where the plea of insanity has been entered in defense of criminals, the evidences of mental derangement have been wholly or almost entirely wanting, and that the instances cited have been cases of sham insanity only. As a result of this belief, public sentiment throughout the country has become justly incensed against the insanity dodge, and any such plea made in defense of criminals at once begets distrust

and indignation. There is great need that the whole matter of insanity as a defense for crime should undergo a most thorough and careful examination, and that the laws of the land should be so amended that society may be able to protect itself efficiently against both sane and insane criminals.

THE THEOLOGICAL arena, for a score or more of years, has been the scene of a severe and continued conflict. Every phase of religious thought has in turn been assailed and defended. The champions of Orthodoxy, Liberalism, and Radicalism, have each been contending for the mastery, and for the success of their cause. This prolonged conflict has been the cause of much groundless alarm among timid religionists, who, at every onset, tremble lest the "faith of their forefathers" should suffer harm at the hands of its opponents. Of one thing, however, all may rest assured, and that is, that the cause of truth is always helped, and not hindered, by such conflicts and agitations. It is only the false and meretricious that is destroyed by the refining processes of the ages, while truth, like the pure gold, remains, and shines the brighter for the fiery ordeals which it undergoes.

It is well in this connection also to remember that Christ was not the author of a creed, but of a religion, and that he never formulated a series of dogmas to be accepted by his followers as a universal rule of faith. Theological dogmas are the institutions of men, and, like all human productions, are susceptible of change or modification, and each succeeding age must formulate its own rule of faith with the eternal words of Christ as its fons et origo. It is an unfortunate fact that each sect or theological party considers its own special forms of faith as constituting the sum and substance of Christianty, and if any of its special tenets are assailed it at once raises the cry that its opponents are seeking for the overthrow of the Christian religion, inasmuch as they can not conceive that the least tittle of their peculiar dogmas can be unessential to the existence of a true Christianity. We would not desire to be understood as placing no stress on dogmas whatever, or as being unconcerned about their perpetuity, but we must insist that Christianity is wider than any or all creeds, and that any one of them might disappear entirely, and yet Christianity remain intact. The doctrinal essence of Christianity is found in the fundamental dogmas which all orthodox Christian bodies accept in common, and which constitute a kind of spiritual consensus of Christian theology.

None of these fundamental concepts of the Christian faith, which constitute the essentials of all true religion, have suffered the least harm from the prolonged agitations through which they have passed. The doctrines of the Church Universal concerning God, Christ, the Bible, the Church itself, Christian experience, and the future life, have remained unchanged amidst the changing times, and as far as they are embodied in the theology of the day, it will be permanent; for from their very nature they are eternal, and are part and parcel, not of a creed, but of the Christian religion itself. These doctrines which constitute the soul of evangelicalism, can only be destroyed by destroying Christianity, which is impossible. Yet even some of these may need restatement to put them in complete harmony with the thought of the age, as the body must change at different periods of the life in order to enable it to fulfill its functions more perfectly. Such changes, however, are not indicative of death or destruction, but rather of more abounding and vigorous life.

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION must be pronounced to have been in every respect a complete success. Industrial exhibitions have become quite common of late, and are indicative of the business enterprise and prosperity of the

[ocr errors]

country, and frequently serve to give an increased impulse to manufacture and trade in the vicinity in which they are held. The exposition at Atlanta, though devoted chiefly to the display of the cotton production of the South, included also the agricultural, mineral, and other productions of that section. Four large buildings and a number of smaller ones were filled to repletion with the exhibits displayed in the various departments, the number and variety of which could not fail to impress the beholder with the great resources of the southern section of our country.

The exposition attracted to Atlanta crowds of visitors from all parts of the land. Representatives of the press, capitalists, business men (especially those interested in the production and manufacture of the great southern staple), commercial travelers and cotton spinners, were present in great numbers. In conjunction with the cotton exhibits there was a display of all kinds of machinery used in the manufacture of cotton goods, such as has never before been brought together in this or any other country, and which served to show to what a high degree of perfection the mechanical contrivances for the manufacture of all kinds of cotton goods have attained.

The Atlanta Exposition betokens a new era in the history of the South, and is indicative of the energy and enterprise which free and educated labor always begets in business channels. The capacity of the South for the production of cotton is practically unlimited. Last year, with only onetenth of its area under cultivation, it produced about five million bales. With the introduction of better methods of agriculture, and the judicious use of fertilizers, within five years the cotton crop could easily be increased to eight million of bales per annum, and even this large yield could, in subsequent years, be largely augmented to meet the everincreasing demand. The South is possessed of the finest and most extensive region for the production of cotton on the face of the globe, and in this department of industry need fear no competition. The cotton crop is one of the chief sources of profit to the South, and is now annually worth $250,000,000. Double that amount will doubtless be yearly realized from the same source in the near future.

There

Not only is the South possessed of unequal advantages for the production of cotton, but it has also unsurpassed facilities for its manufacture, which will doubtless be utilized at no distant day. The present system of conveying raw material from one to three thousand miles to the factories is both expensive and wasteful, and costs the South, in the aggregate, not less than $100,000,000 per annum. is no reason why the South might not compete successfully with the North, and even with England, in the manufacture of cotton. The water power of the Southern States is almost without limit, labor is cheaper, and the cost of living is less than at the North. A few cotton mills are already in operation, and most of them, at least those at Atlanta, Columbus, and Augusta, are doing a successful business, and are paying handsome dividends on the capital invested. But at present only 200,000 bales are manufactured in the South. If the Atlanta Exposition only gives a new and powerful impetus to its manufacture in the South, it will amply repay all it has cost in time and money, will wonderfully advance the business interests of the Southern States, and will largely promote their future prosperity.

Dr. John Hall uttered his protest recently against designating a church by the name of its pastor. "It is not Dr. Hall's church," he said; "I hate the very name. I am a servant and not the owner of a church." This is a Boston fashion. It is common to hear of Dr. Webb's church, Dr. Gordon's church, etc. It is a good reform, but it ought to begin in Boston.

EDITOR'S NOTE-BOOK.

Joseph Cook was expected to reach Bombay about the first of December.

The Hartford Courant says: "Moncure D. Conway, the well-known correspondent and magazine writer, is an advanced liberal, and preaches in London. An American recently returned from Europe was asked if he heard Conway. 'Oh, yes,' he said. 'Were there many there?' 'Oh, no. Only three persons and no God.''

[ocr errors]

From the "Bird's Nest," in Maryland, where dwell two or more of the members of the C. L. S. C., comes pleasant words: "Father (the dear old man) and myself have not

In the First Baptist Church of Indianapolis is a band of young gentlemen and ladies who are united under the title of "The Yoke-fellows," who are doing a church work much needed everywhere. They recently held their second anniversary. The object of the "Yoke-fellows" is to visit young men in the city who have no associations, are compara-only enthusiasm for the course, but a little deeper in our tively strangers or entirely so, and interest them in a religious life, invite them to attendance upon church service, to the reading of the Bible, and finally to membership. They commenced with but a very few members and workers, but now number seventy-five, and point with pride to the work they have done. Many strange young men in the city have been brought into the Sunday-school and church. It is worthy of imitation.

Appleton's Journal has been suspended. It was started on its career in 1869 as an illustrated weekly, and afterwards abandoned illustrations and became a monthly. It was an historical and literary magazine of great merit.

A stronger argument in favor of the Women's Silk Culture Association than any which they have yet advanced, was furnished by a dispatch from Cheyenne, Wyoming, the other day. Four Italian merchants, it stated, passed through that place in charge of 250,000 cards of silk worms' eggs, each card containing 30,000 eggs. The total value of the eggs was $250,000. They came from Japan, and were en route for Milan. Now, the eggs raised in this country are of as good quality as those thus conveyed at such enormous outlay of trouble and money around three-quarters of the globe. If it pays the Italian middlemen to go to Japan, buy the eggs and transport them across this continent and two oceans to Italy, it would surely pay the American farmer's daughter to raise the eggs and sell them in New Jersey.

Somebody sends us this good item. We fought the Indians from 1865 to 1879 at a cost of twenty-five millions. We appropriated two millions in 1870 for the peace policy and have not exhausted it yet. Which costs the most? "Let us have peace."

There have co e across the ocean to settle in the United States during th. vear 1881, 432,635 persons. This is the largest influx of population from foreign countries in one

hearts wells up thanksgiving to our God. He surely does know that we are glad of those things, and he has sent to us after the gray hairs have come, and the school days are over, the wisdom that we lacked. If the interrogation should come to us: 'Are you loyal to the Circle?' our answer would be, "To the heart's core.' It may be true that our course of study is but cursory, that we get, as it were, too much of the superficial, and do not go deep enough into each subject. However that may be, beside the studying we have our homes to build, and not only the houses but the hearts where the children grow up to manhood and womanhood, whence they go out to make their homes-homes that shall be pure and true, that shall help to keep our country free and a glory in all the earth. Then we have society to look after, and help churches, and Sunday-schools to aid, and, as is the case with many of us, there is small means to do all this, and we can not be true helpmeets if we do not study and plan to save and aid the father and husband who shields us and fights the battles for us. Father and I will work with you as well as we can. We will get the shells, and we feel that God will give us the kernel. . . . . Father and I have been over the entire course, hearing each other recite, reading our papers to each other. We have enjoyed the study thoroughly."

Mr. Whittier, in a note to The Sword and Pen, says that for the last two or three years the state of his health has compelled him to decline all requests for poems for public occasions. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' Apart from this, at the age of seventy-four, the poetical machine is likely to be out of order, and the sound of the

grinding is low. Dr. Holmes is an exception: he, despite his years, could do admirably what thee asks."

We have received a unique C. L. S. C. circular from the Rev. A. M. Courtenay, Secretary of the General Circle of Baltimore, M. D. It represents nine local circles, in as many different churches of the city, with their names

year we have had in the history of the nation. Germany printed, besides explaining the object and methods of the

heads the list with 188,255; next comes Ireland with 62,406, and then England and Sweden close together, the former sending 36,552 and the latter 35,335. The migrating impulse has seized upon only one of the Latin countries, Italy, which contributes 13,209. It is feebly felt in contented and prosperous France, from which come only 3,908, and still more feebly in Spain, which is by no means prosperous and is in a state of chronic discontent, for but 1,556 of her people are on the list.

The Newcastle (Eng.) Chronicle says of Moody and Sankey: "In point of numbers, the present visit of Messrs. Moody and Sankey has been characterized by attendances at least three times larger than those witnessed in 1873. The aggregate number of persons addressed must have exceeded the populations of both Newcastle and Gateshead put together; but as many persons attended several of the meetings, it is fair to assume that the number of different persons who heard Mr. Moody preach and Mr. Sankey sing would reach about 100,000—-the largest number that has ever attended any series of services held in the district."

C. L. S. C., and on the back of the circular we find the course of study with the names of the books to be read. Here are three items we copy:

"The entire cost of the books will average less than two cents a day during the term of nine months." Think of that. Again it says:

"We wish to urge and to aid our young men and women to make acquaintance with the best literature, to cultivate a pure taste, to improve their faculties, to acquire right aims in life, to seek helpful society, and to make the most and best of themselves."

For meetings they publish this plan:

"The classes may or may not meet, as they please, but the local circles will meet monthly, and the whole Baltimore Circle quarterly. At both of these there should be lectures, addresses, class-drills, blackboard exercises, readings, etc., all confined strictly to a review of the reading of the month, or quarter, as the case may be. The churches are grouped in circles to increase the interest, to develop the social influence, and to secure for weaker charges the benefit of asso

ciation with others. The pastor of the first-named charge in each group is requested to call together the pastors and several laymen from the other churches, to organize the circle."

We recommend this plan to members of the C. L. S. C. in other cities.

"Home Protection" means a new political party-woman suffrage. No license, or local option, but total abstinence and prohibition. Some influential people are making an effort to unite all the temperance forces of the country under the "Home Protection" banner. If it is accomplished, the Women's Christian Temperance Union will deserve the honor of massing the forces.

The London World pays Mr. Oscar Wilde, who is now visiting the country, this compliment of caricaturing him and printing beneath this verse:

Albeit, nurtured in democracy,

And liking best that state Bohemian,

Where each man borrows sixpence and no man
Has aught but paper collars; yet I see
Exactly when to take a liberty.

Better to be thought one whom most abuse
For speech of donkey and for look of goose,
Than that the world should pass in silence by.
Wherefore I wear a sunflower in my coat,
Cover my shoulders with my flowing hair,

Tie verdant satin round my open throat,
Culture and love I cry; and ladies smile,
And seedy critics overflow with bile,

While with my Prince, long Sykes's meal I share.

The school authorities of Washington, D. C., by a vote of thirteen to three, have decided against the admission of colored children to the schools attended by white children. Congress ought now to enact a law that would give colored children the same privilege in white schools in the District of Columbia, that colored Senators and Representatives have in the Senate and House. That would be poetic justice.

carefully consider this idea, and to communicate their views
concerning it to you through THE CHAUTAUQUAN, on the
subject. Please do not consider me in any way pragmatic,
but simply very, very interested in the welfare of the C. L.
S. C. Yours, W. C. T."

Madame Perree, who has been admitted to the practice of medicine, is the second woman so honored by the faculty of Paris. She is married, and the mother of a family. An East Indian Princess recently sent a secret letter to the Queen, telling her of the incalculable good female physicians were to work in the zenanas, where no male doctor was allowed, and women suffered tortures through the ignorance

of attendants.

The C. L. S. C. has excited a good many people to imitate
its organization. We have the Baptist, Law and Po-
litical, and Book-a-Month societies, all at it.
The more
the better. The C. L. S. C. has been planted, and it has
passed the first stage of its being. It is now developing,
hence it is in the second period, and there is every indi-
cation that its development will be healthy and vigorous.
When the first class of several thousand members graduates
next August, it will be hailed as the largest class that ever
received diplomas from an educational institution in this or
any other country.

At the meetings of the "Association for the Advancement of Women," held in Buffalo last month, Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, of Boston, Mass., said: "THE CHAUTAUQUAN is simply admirable. Its subscribers should count by thousands. The articles are fully equal to the articles in the best magazines of the country." We might fill several pages of THE CHAUTAUQUAN with extracts like the above from letters we have received from our readers, but we forbear.

Prof. W. T. Harris, author of the admirable papers in THE CHAUTAUQUAN on Christianity in Art, has just finished a course of four lectures, in Boston, Mass., on the "History of Education," given under the auspices of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women. His subjects were: 1. Education as Found in Savage Tribes, in China, in India. 2. Education in Persia, Egypt, Phoenicia, Judea. 3. Education in Greece, Rome, and in the Early Christian Times and in the Middle Ages. 4. Education in Europe and in America, in Modern Times.

We have been hoping against hope for a number of years
that the chief executive of some state where a prohibitory
law was on the statute books, would boldly and couragously
take the people at their word and require the officers to
enforce the law. We now have the man, Governor St. John,
of Kansas. The New England states must make obeisance
to Kansas. Governor St. John deserves the support of the
people of his state in this fight, as well as the encourage-
ment he is receiving from the temperance and Christian
press of the country. It will require just such blows as
this to break the power of the rum traffic, and we hope to
see other states with their governors falling into line and
keeping step to the music of total abstinence and prohi-19, 1839. She was a lady of much culture, a beautiful char-

bition.

We shall have splendid music at Chautauqua next August. Dr. Vincent has contracted for a powerful chorus pipe organ to be built for and put up in the Amphitheater, whence its sweet strains will float out over Chautauqua Lake. Geo. H. Ryder & Co., of Boston, Mass., are the builders. The fame of their chorus organs is the pride of musical people in Boston.

A correspondent of Dr. Vincent writes from Patterson, N. J., as follows: "I desire to take the liberty of suggesting that in addition to your admirable list of special courses you add a well selected, clear, and comprehensive course of reading on law. Through the columns of THE CHAUTAUQUAN I would like you to invite all the young gentlemen members-in fact, all the members of the C. L. S. C.-to

Our co-laborer on the CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY DAILY HERALD, Mr. C. E. Bishop, suffered a great bereavement recently in the death of his wife. She was the daughter of the Rev. Henry Benson, and was born in England, January

acter, and possessed many noble qualities of soul. She made
a strong impression on society wherever she moved, by her
example and the good influence she exerted upon all who
associated with her.

The Rev. Dr. Talmadge has been converted to the plan of renting most of the pews in the Brooklyn Tabernacie. We have observed that education has much to do with adopting this custom. In the East it is more common than in the Middle States or the West. "Free seats" is a good plan in some churches and in some communities, while there are other congregations that utterly fail to pay their current expenses on the "free seat" plan. Rented pews bring each family together in the congregation. It has its advantages just as the other system has.

President Arthur is reported as being opposed to women

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

for postmasters.

It is too late; public opinion is educated

to look upon it as all right, and we trust the President is misrepresented. If not, he will be likely to hear from several thousand women, and men too; they may cause him to change his mind. A woman should not be proscribed in the postoffice any more than in the public schools or departments in Washington. The general government can not afford to be placed in a false relation to intelligent and worthy women; it owes too much to this class of people to snub them.

Mr. John Bright, in a recent speech, urged that schoolchildren should be taught self-respect, respect of their playmates, respect of their parents, kindness to animals, a love of truth, a love of industry, and an idea of what is meant by prudence. The "Look Up Legion" clasps hands with Mr. Bright across the sea. He has stated the mission of this organization well in the things he mentions. Now, add "temperance" and "lending a hand” in all good work, and you have the creed complete.

George Law, who died a millionaire, began life in Troy, N. Y., without a friend in the world. One day, while passing along River Street, a hod-carrier, who was carrying bricks for the masons on an unfinished building, fell from the ladder and broke his leg. Young Law stepped up to the foreman and said: "Can I have that man's place?" "Did you ever carry a hod?" asked the foreman. "No." "You will break your leg, and perhaps your neck." "I will run the risk," said George Law, and from this beginning he became one of the wealthiest builders in the United States, always"running risks," but for many years everything he touched turned into gold.

A hitherto unknown portrait of Luther has recently been discovered in one of the old churches of Leipsic, which is conjectured to have come from the family of Luther's eldest son, Paul. It bears on the lower margin the words: "D. M. Luther, ætat. XLIX. 1532. Restaurator Libertatis Evangelii," and in the upper corner two flaming suns, with the inscription: "Vox Dei vera lux." The picture is stamped upon gilt letter. It is in an excellent state of preservation, and is said to be both a good likeness and a fine work of art.

The following is from the pen of Walter Scott, on literature as a profession, written while he was at work on "The Fair Maid of Perth:"

"Will you excuse my offering a piece of serious advice? Whatever pleasure you may find in literature, beware of looking to it as a profession, but seek that independence to which every one hopes to attain by studying the branch of industry which lies most within your reach. In this case you may pursue your literary amusements honorably and happily, but if ever you have to look to literature for an absolute and necessary support, you must be degraded by the necessity of writing whether you feel inclined or not, and besides must suffer all the miseries of a precarious and dependent existence."

That literary capacity and culinary knowledge may be united in the same woman is no longer denied by the most captious misogynist. The days of inky fingers and ill-cooked dinners have gone by, and the woman of brains is often admired as the best housekeeper of her circle. Mrs. Bayard Taylor is known to her many friends not only as a woman of trained literary taste but as a domestic authority of distinguished attainments. Her practical articles on "German Cookery," are commended to all who appreciate the science and the refinements of the kitchen.

TO LOCAL CIRCLES:-Leaders of local circles are respectfully requested to forward immediately to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J., answers to the following questions: (1) How many years has your local circle been in operation? (2) About what number of regular members, (recorded at Plainfield, N. J.,) attended your local meeting last year? (3) About what number of members, not connected with the local circle, attended your meetings each year? An immediate reply will furnish important information, for which I shall be very grateful. J. H. VINCENT,

Superintendent of Instruction of the C. L. S. C.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

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

Q. Why is a small "a" placed before Kempis in Thomas à Kempis?

A. The family name of à Kempis was Hæmerken (Little Hammer). The name Kempis is from Kempen, the name of his native village, and the letter "à" is the French preposition still used in that language before names of towns

and cities.

number? Q. Why do we give three cheers instead of some other

A. Because one is not enough to express the enthusiasm and heartiness of the average American, and after the third his throat is weary. This theory will do till some one comes forward with a better.

Q. Can you tell me where I can get information in form of a book or extended article upholding the English side of the Irish Question?

A. The English magazinés of years past have abounded in able discussions of the question pro and con. Our inquirer will probably find the desired information in recent volumes of any of the English quarterlies. The Nineteenth Century of last year will furnish several articles on each side of the question.

Q. Is there not somewhere published in the form of stereoscopic views, or otherwise, copies of celebrated paintings, sculpture, etc.? I have looked through all the collections of this city, and can find none.

A. We think they can be obtained of James W. Queen & Co., 924 Chestnut street, Philadelphia.

Q. Why is the sky blue?

A. The vapor of water in the air absorbs part of the light, giving the blue tinge. It may be observed that the blue varies with the amount of vapor, becoming deepest when the sky is seen between two rain clouds. With a very dry state of the atmosphere the sky is almost gray.

Q. Where in the Bible is found the theory of Paul's martyrdom?

A. After his last apprehension and imprisonment at Rome he writes to Timothy in the second epistle that he is no longer treated as an honorable state prisoner, but as a felon. He tells him that he is ready to die, and the time of departure is at hand. Beyond this we have the concurrent witness of ecclesiastical antiquity.

Q. Where did William the Conqueror die? There seems to be a difference of opinion among historians.

A. He died at Rouen, and was buried at Caen.

Q. In Miss De Forest's "Outline of History of Art" we are told that the pyramids were probably built about the time of Abraham. The Historical Chart says about the time of Solomon. Will you please inform a member of the C. L. S. C. through THE CHAUTAUQUAN which is correct? A. The word "probably" is very appropriately employed in connection with this uncertain period of Egyptian history. We fail to find any evidence or historical support of a date

« PredošláPokračovať »