evidently ceremonious and worldly; with such innovations and traditions of men, as are the fruit of the wisdom that is below; witness their numerous perplexed councils and creeds, with conform or burn at the end of them." The intolerance and persecution so much deprecated by Penn are the natural fruit of the theory that makes perfection in religion consist in believing and upholding certain fixed dogmatical theories. The mind impressed with this sort of religion, as a matter of course looks with disdain upon all others of different shades of belief. This feeling finds its natural expression in the oft quoted phrase, "I am more holy than thou!" Uncharitable intolerance is the inseparable adjunct of such a theory, for if goodness consists in holding such and such opinions, he who does not hold such opinions is less good of course, and if intolerance is not supplemented by persecution in some form it is apt to be for want of power. out of what they really have of this danger also, to escape in the future as well as now-the future for which some observers announce this danger as so certain and so formidable. Lord Macauley predicted that the United States must come in time to just the same state of things which we witness in England; that the cities would fill up and the lands become occupied, and then, he said, the division between rich and poor would establish itself on the same scale as with us, and be just as embarrassing. He forgot that the United States are without what certainly fixes and accentuates the division between rich and poorthe distinction of classes. Not only have they not the distinction between noble and bourgeois, between aristocracy and middle class; they have not even the distinction between bourgeois and peasant or artisan, between middle and lower class. They have nothing to create it and compel their recognition of it. Their domestic service is done for them by Irish, Germans, Swedes, negroes. Outside domestic service, within the range of conditions which an American may in SOME OF MATTHEW ARNOLD'S LATER CONCLU- fact be called upon to traverse, he passes easily from SIONS. one sort of occupation to another, from poverty to riches and from riches to poverty. No one of his possible occupations appears degrading to him or makes him lose caste; and poverty itself appears to him as inconvenient and disagreeable rather than as humiliating. When the immigrant from Europe strikes root in his new home, he becomes as the American. I had heard and read so much to the discredit of American political life, how all the best men kept aloof from it, and those who gave themselves to it were unworthy, that I ended by supposing that the thing must actually be so, and the good Americans must be looked for elsewhere than in politics. Then I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. Bancroft in A people homogeneous, a people which had to Washington; and however he may overlaud the pre- constitute itself in a modern age, an epoch of expanestablished harmony of American democracy, he had, sion, and which has given to itself institutions entirely at any rate, invited to meet with me half a dozen politi- fitted for such an age and epoch, and which suit it cians, whom in England we should pronounce to be perfectly-a people not in danger of war from withmembers of Parliament of the highest class, in bear-out, not in danger of revolution from within-such ing, manners, tone of feeling, intelligence, informa- is the people of the United States. The political and tion. I discovered that in truth the practice, so com- social problem, then, we must surely allow that they mon in America, of calling a politician "a thief," solve successfully. There remains, I know, the human does not mean so very much more than is meant in problem also; the solution of that, too, has to be conEngland when we have heard Lord Beaconsfield sidered; but I shall come to that hereafter. My point called "a liar" and Mr. Gladstone "a madman." at present is that, politically and socially, the United It means that the speaker disagrees with the politi-States are a community living in a natural condition, cian in question and dislikes him. Not that I assent, on the other hand, to the thick-and-thin American patriots, who will tell you that there is no more corruption in the politics and administration of the United States than in those of England. I believe there is more, and that the tone of both is lower there; and this from a cause on which I shall have to touch hereafter. But the corruption is exaggerated; it is not the wide and deep disease it is often represented; it is such that the good elements of the nation may, and I believe will, perfectly work it off; and even now the truth of what I have been saying as to the suitableness and successful working of American institutions is not really in the least affected by it. Furthermore, American society is not in danger from revolution. Here, again, I do not mean that the United States are exempt from the operation of every one of the causes-such a cause as the division between rich and poor, for instance-which may lead to revolution. But I mean that comparatively with the old countries of Europe they are free from the danger of revolution; and I believe that the good elements in them will make a way for them to escape and conscious of living in a natural condition. And being in this healthy case, and having this healthy consciousness, the community there uses its understanding with the soundness of health; it in general sees its political and social concerns straight, and sees them clear. So that when told that democracy is "merely a form of government," we may observe to them that it is in the United States a form of government in which the community feels itself in a natural condition and at ease; in which, consequently, it sees things straight and sees them clear.-Nineteenth Century. WHAT is being religious but always seeing God's infinite love in everythhing, and loving him all the time? It is seeing his mercy in the sun and sky, in the hills and plains, in daily life, with its discipline and education; in the friendship of our friends; in our insight into new truths, in the grand opportunities of daily service of the human race which he affords us. It is hearing and answering his invitation to come to him to be inspired, to be filled with light, to be filled with love, to be filled with power.- Clarke. TRANSFIGURED. BY LUCY LARCOM. How changed in an instant! What was it? I cannot tell how, yet I know it,— To breathe for a moment in heaven, The heaven that is hidden within us Yet oh! so much more than these! A light and a life whence the freshness, An earth created anew! It came in the calm of communion As spirit responds unto spirit Without the sound of a word, And my soul was aware of a vision But I saw that the realm of our longing Yes, heaven has come down to meet us; Its beautiful, open secret Is whispered in every ear. And everywhere, here and always, If we would but open our eyes, CAN THEY MAKE SAHARA BLOOM? Can a desert he rendered fertile and fruitful by putting a portion of it under water? On the supposition that such a desirable result is attainable, the French are about to carry out the long talked of scheme of flooding that part of the Sahara which is below sea-level by means of a canal which will admit the waters of the Mediterranean to the depressed basins of the Great African desert which are immediatly South of the French possessions of the Tunis and Algeria. By this means it is expected to overflow about 9,000 square miles of sandy and waste territory and create an inland sea very nearly as large as our own Lake Erie. This will open up a waterway for French commerce into the interior of the desert and shorten the overland route to Equatorial Africa, but it is expected that it will, at the same time, convert a wide belt of neighboring territory, which is now a rainless desert, into a prductive and habitable country. Is this expectation warranted by the physical conditions which will be created by the partial flooding of the desert? The dry, hot winds of Sahara will lap up this water from above quite as eagerly as the sands will absorb it from below and with a more insatiate appetite, but will the vapor-laden air discharge its burden again on the higher land adjacent? Sahara is nearly or quite as much of a desert where it forms the shore of the Atlantic as in its super-heated interior. The narrow Nile Valley is productive only within the limits of the Nile overflow. The desert which bounds it on the East and West receives no appreciable benefit from the proximity of water which yet stays out of its reach. The shores of the Red Sea are little better than rainless deserts, and Arabia, probably the dryest inhabited country in the world, is washed on three sides by water. In our own continent the Colorado desert of Arizona extends into Mexico and skirts the Gulf of California on both sides without having its barren and forbidding char We should find, through their beaten footpaths, acter changed in the least by the splashing of the Our way into Paradise. We should walk then with one another, Nor halting, disheartened, wait To enter a dreamed-of City By a far-off shadowy gate. Dull earth would be dull no longer, And our hands at their commonest labor For the clear, cool river of Eden Flows fresh through our dusty streets, We may share the joy of God's angels waters which nature refuses to convert into rain for the land about, though it needs it sorely. The evaporation of water in the vicinity of a desert does not itself help the land, except to make its winds when off the water less parching than they would be if the water were not there. There must be mountains or cross currents of air of lower temperature to cool the saturated atmosphere and compel it to release some portion of its water, else the thirsty earth will feel the moisture-laden wind pass over it without receiving from it a single drop. The proposed Sahara lake cannot fail to greatly increase the rainfall of Northern Africa, where the Atlas Mountains act as a great condenser of moisture. Perhaps by this means the fertile belt which borders the Mediterranean will be considerably widened, and France be repaid thereby for its gift of water to the desert. At any rate, the project is a most interesting one, and we hope the French people will push it through and prove by actual experiment whether or not it is possible to reclaim and render habitable any considerable portion of the great Sahara desert.-Exchange. THE Son is the human side of the mind of God. DAY BY DAY. One of the great mistakes which people are constantly making is overlooking small opportunities and waiting for great ones. The divine plan of life which leads those who accept it higher and higher by slow and imperceptible stages is understood by few; to grasp it firmly and to live by it resolutely is to achieve success at the very start. There is a widespread faith in chance, luck, fortune; in some magical element in the affairs of the world which if one happens to possess bears him to prosperity. There is no magic in the growth of a tree; it rises out of the soil a fragile thing, gathers body and vitality year by year, spreads its great arms over the sward at last in century old vigor and permanence, by the operation of inviolable laws. In all the sweep of its expanding life not an inch of girth has been added, not a leaf unfolded, by chance, accident or fortune; a sublime order has encircled every hour of its growth. A little child's life is ordered from the first under a law not less pervasive and universal; its growth into power and permanence depends on the same loyalty to the laws which unfold it, and which are to it the unseen highways along which it may pass to the highest success. Slow growth, by hourly loyalty to the best impulses within us and to the smallest opportunities around us, lifts the weak life into a royal strength and beauty at last. It is not by great and sudden expansions that men and women are brought to the front and charged with the high and difficult work of guiding society; it is quiet, steadfast fidelity to the duties of obscurity that bring at last the shining crowns of fame, influence, and eminent usefulness. Any future of brightness which does not grow out of the present as a flower grows out of a seed is a mirage that will lure for a time and then fade into nothingness, and leave life tenfold more barren. Aspirations die only in souls that are disloyal to them; life promises nothing which it will not fulfill to those who set themselves to obey its law. Christian Union. HERE and there rises above the common level one who represents to the world what a human being can be and do by a faithful exertion of natural gifts, a diligent use of the discipline of circumstances, and a faithful improvement of the grace of God. . . . In no miraculous way they attain their superiority. By no strange and mysterious path they go upward, but in a way open to all, by steps which we all may take. What they do others might do as well as they. The instruments they use are within the grasp of every one. They obey laws which we also know and which we also might keep. They simply perform what most of us purpose. They learn the lessons which are set to all. By no shorter path, no royal road, they ascend the heavenly mount, but step by step, in patient progress, leave the world behind. They are simply true to duty, loyal to conscience, obedient to the will of God.-Chandler Robbins. His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.R. W. Emerson. THE LIBRARY. Natural Law in the Spiritual World. By Henry Drummond, F.R.S.G. We find this work, from the press of James Pott & Co., is thoughtful and suggescritics, and the reader is promised, that as he closes it, tive reading. It is very favorably noticed by the critics, and the reader is promised, that as he closes it, he will find the depths of his spiritual nature stirred. The last chapter closes with some thoughts that breathe," on the topic of Evolution, by which, out of the infinite complexity of the world of soul as of matter, "there rises infinite simplicity, the foreshadowing of a final unity, of that "One God, one law, one element, To which the whole creation moves.” This is the final triumph of Continuity, the heart secret of Creation, the unspoken prophesy of Christianity. To Science, defining it as a working principle, this mighty process of amelioration is simply Evolution. To Christianity, discerning the end through the means, it is Redemption. These silent and patient processes, elaborating, eliminating, developing all from the first of time, conducting the evolution from and unfaltering power, are the early stages in the remillennium to millennium with unaltering purpose demptive the unseen approach of that Kingdom whose strange mark it is that it "cometh without observation." And these Kingdoms rising tier above tier, in ever increasing sublimity and beauty, their and the direction of their progress, being facts in Nafoundations visibly fixed in the past, their progress, ture still, are the signs which, since the Magi saw his Star in the East, have never been wanting from the firmament of truth, and which in every age, with growing clearness to the wise, and with ever-gathering mystery to the uninitiated, proclaim that the King dom of God is at hand. Egypt and Babylon. By George M. Rawlinson.The object of this work is to consider in their proper sequence the references to Babylon and Egypt in the prophetic books of the Bible, and to compare these with the statements of profane history, proving the sacred record, or confirming it, by the concurrent testimony of other authorities. The present facts, actual and tangible, are shown to confirm remarkably the prophetic insight of the Jewish seers in their denunciations of these two ancient monarchies. Eighteenth and beginning of the Nineteenth Century. The Literary History of England in the end of the By M. O. W. Oliphant. We have here an interesting literary delineation and criticism enough of personal memoirs of the authors discussed to satisfy most readers. Cowper, Burns, Crabbe, Southey, Landor, Lamb, De Quincey, Scott and Campbell, are the principal agreeable, lively writer. Wordsworth is the great authors who are reviewed and commented on by this light who receives largest space, but all the coterie of Lake Poets, Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth are treated with so much sympathy that they take deeper root in our affections. But the whole book is delightful and instructive to the general reader, and especially to the young. FROM D. Appleton & Co. comes a work of ten short and Hygiene. By James Johonnot and Eugene Bouchapters on the various topics of Anatomy, Physiology, ton, Ph.D. It is entitled How We Live, and is adapted to use in public schools everywhere. The physiological effects of Alcohol and Narcotics should be briefly, but scientifically explained to the youth of the land. nicious that a knowledge of them would seem to be a In this little work their effects are shown to be so persafeguard against the temptations and evil examples to which our youth are exposed. At the close of each chapter are a series of about twenty suggestive ques- | have determined to resist this forcible attempt of tions which might be used for a conversational lecture President Barrios to become Dictator of Central Amerby the competent teacher, and serve to awaken research ica, and hostilities are likely to take place. on the part of the learner. We commend this neat little book. SECRETARY WHITNEY has sent instructions to the U. S. Commander Mahon to extend any needed proANOTHER of the Greenleaf Mathematical series en-tection to U. S. citizens resident in Central America. titled The Complete Arithmetic, is prepared with special reference to training in business, prominence being given to subjects of the most practical value. It is from Leach, Shewell & Sanborn. A BEAUTIFUL text book on Chemistry is from the pen of Sidney A. Norton, and comes to us from Van Artwerp, Bragg & Co., New York and Cincinnati. The Franklin Speaker, for Declamations and Recitations, comes to us from Taintor Brothers, Merrell & Co. It consists of extracts from the words of statesmen and orators of our own day as well as of those whose works are now classic. THE Mexican Government has taken decisive action against General Barrios. THE quiet retirement of a President to private life has again furnished several English papers with a subject for approving comment, and some of them think it would be possible only in the United States. his law office, without any fuss, as better than CinThe Liverpool Post regards the return of Arthur to cinnatus and his plow. FROM Ginn, Heath & Co., Boston, we have Scott's Lady of the Lake. This beautiful classic poem is pre-in 1862 to pay for certain improvements upon the Kaw pared for the use of children by Edwin Ginn, and is one of a series by means of which it is hoped children of from nine to eleven may be introduced to the study of the poets of our literature. A Condensed Webster's Dictionary of near 800 pages comes to us from the publishers in New York and Chicago which has so many good points that might be commended for family or student's use as well as for the counting house. In this case, as in others, practical use must determine values. WE read with some dismay the pamphlet by Josiah W. Leeds, entitled Concerning Printed Poison.-There is so much excellent literature, so cheaply offered, and the inducements to buy good books are so great that it would seem that the evil would find little acceptance. Yet we have full sympathy with all the sentiments expressed by J. W. L. CURRENT EVENTS. Domestic.-The United States Senate, on the 18th, removed the injunction of secrecy from the following resolutions, introduced by Senator Edmunds, and agreed to: "WHEREAS, The Senate of the United States has learned that the government of the republic of Guatemala has set on foot or threatens to set on foot an invasion of the territories of the republics of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and San Salvador, with the professed object of consolidating into one government the republics of Central America by force of arms and against the wishes of the several republics concerned; and “WHEREAS, There is pending between the United States and the republic of Nicaragua a treaty providing for the construc tion of an inter-oceanic canal across the continent and in the republic of Nicaragua, for the general benefit of all the Central American republics as well as the United States, which treaty, it is understood, the republic of Nicaragua has ratified; therefore, be it "Resolved, As the judgment of the Senate, that in view of the special and important interests of the United States, in conjunction with those of the republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, in the inter-oceanic transit across the continent so in progress of adjustment, any invasion of the territory of Nicaragua or Costa Rica, by the forces of Guatemala, under the circumstances and with the purposes before stated, is regarded by the Senate, and ought to be treated by the United States, as an act of unfriendly and hostile interference with the rights of the United States and of the republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica in respect of said matter." In accordance with a provision of the last Indian Appropriation Bill, the Commissioner of Indian AfThis scrip, to the amount of about $100,000, was issued fairs is preparing to pay the holders of Kaw scrip. reservation in Kansas. Since that time the accumulated interest has swollen the total value of the scrip to $200,000. The net proceeds of the sale of the Kaw lands, now in the United States Treasury, amount to $57,386, and will be immediately applied to a partial redemption of the scrip, which will, in this manner, be redeemed, from time to time, with the proceeds of the future sales of Kaw lands. It is necessary that the scrip outstanding be filed with the Interior Department within ninety days from March 3d last. THE President has received a communication from the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, asking the retention of Felix A. Matthews as Consul of the United States at Tangier, Morocco, in the interest of humanity and as a recognition of the distinguished services which he has rendered to a persecuted race, and as a tribute to the honorable and praiseworthy manner in which he has discharged his consular duties. 'Owing to the influence Mr. Matthews bas acquired with the Government of Morocco," the letter states, "he has been able to befriend the oppressed Hebrews in that country." The President assured the committee which presented the matter to him, that their wishes would be complied with. THE statement of the Bureau of Agriculture estimates that fully 37 per cent. of the last crop of corn remains in farmers' hands, or about 675,000,000 bushels. The exports thus far have been 28,000,000 bushels, against 32,000,000 bushels for the same date of cheap animal food for the country during the comlast year. This ought to insure an abundant supply ing year. But unhappily the influence of the speculative markets is such that it is by no means certain with the supply of food for animals. that the supply of meat food will be commensurate We learn from Washington that "Red Cloud," the Sioux chief, is in this city for the purpose, it is said, of having another agent appointed in place of Agent McGillicuddy, with whom he is dissatisfied. The agent, it seems, wrote a letter to the Department stating that Red Cloud was away from the agency without authority from the General Council. To-day Red Cloud gave his side of the case. He said, through Interpreter Todd: .. When I decided to come to Washington to see the great father, I called my people together. We held a council, 300 head men being present. They told me to come to Washington and tell the great father that we wanted a new agent-that the present one (Mcfood. They have not received any coffee, sugar or Gillicuddy) is not liked. My people are suffering for flour for three months." PRESIDENT BARRIOS, of Guatemala, has proclaimed a union of the States of Central America, and announced himself as the Commander-in-chief of the combined military forces of those States. The gov- THE United States Congress has announced to the ernments of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and San Salvador | President that it has no more business. THE front of the State Capitol of New Jersey, at Trenton, was destroyed by fire early on Seventh-day morning. The fire started in the Quartermaster General's office, and soon after its discovery two explosions took place, said to be from samples of powder kept in the office. The Chancery office, Geological Museum, and office of the Labor Bureau were burned. The loss is estimated at from $50,000 to $75,000. The insurance is $250,000. THE loss by the burning of the Boston Machine Company's works in South Boston last Sixth-day night is now estimated at $250,000. A large amount of valuable machinery was ruined. The insurances aggregate $120,000. OTHER destructive fires have occurred in different parts of the country. ITEMS. THE Supreme Court, of Iowa, has by a unanimous decision, affirmed the constitutionality of the Prohibition law of that State. The decision "sustains the validity of injunctions to abate the nuisances which exist as saloons." INFORMATION is received that prominent peachgrowers of Delaware " are almost unanimous in the opinion that there will be an average crop this year if there are no severe late frosts. Last year 3,631 car loads, each car containing about 550 baskets, were shipped by railroad to the North and West. The largest yearly shipment since 1867 was in 1875. when the total was 9,672. The aggregate number of car loads from 1867 to 1884 is 58,063. The crop in Maryland, so far as heard from, is in as good condition as that of Delaware. THERE is now on exhibition at the Baldwin Locomotive works in this city, a locomotive which is claimed to be one of the largest ever constructed. It is a freight locomotive of the "Decapod" type, and is designed for the Dom Pedro railway of Brazil, the Foreign.-The Paris Nationel says that instructions have been sent to M. Patenotre, the French Ambassador in China, to renew negotiations with the Chinese Government, with a view to securing peace. Concerning the reported peace negotiations with China, the Liberte to-day states that France is willing to abandon her claims to indemnity if China will ex-gauge of which is 5 feet 3 inches. It is intended for ecute the Tien-Tsen treaty. THE Austrian Geographical Society has decided to send an expedition, under Dr. Oscar Lentz, to explore the watershed between the Nile and Congo rivers for traces of the explorers who, it is supposed, were prevented by the Mahdi from continuing their homeward journey. VIVISECTION in Germany is hereafter to be subject to the following provisions of a decree issued by the Minister of Public Instruction: (1) Experiments with live animals are only admissible for purposes of scientific investigation or instructive demonstration; (2) at lectures these experiments are only allowed in so far as they may be required for a full understanding of the instruction imparted at such lectures; (3) the preparations for experiments at lectures are, as a rule, to be made previous to actual demonstration, and in the absence of the students; (4) the experiments shall only be made by professors or teachers, or under their special supervision and responsibility; (5) experiments which, without detriment to the result, can be made on animals of a lower order, shall only be practiced on such, and not on more valuable animals; and (6) in all cases where it is not absolutely incompatible with the end and aim of the experiment, the animals must previously be anæstheticized. heavy freight service on steep grades, and possesses many novel features of construction. It has five pairs of Driving wheels, while an ordinary locomotive has but two, three or four pairs, and its heating surface and weight on driving wheels are fully double that of an ordinary locomotive. THE following announcement from the office of the Maritime Exchange gives the details of an important new aid to the commerce of this port : Negotiations have been concluded between the United States Signal Service and the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange whereby the latter Association will in the course of a few days assume control of the Reporting Station on the Delaware Break water." It is the intention of the Maritime Exchange to make the Station first-class in every particular. It will be kept open day and night with a competent man in charge, for the convenience of masters of vessels, pilots and others interested, and will be fully eqnipped with shipping records, newspapers and other conveniences. A special feature of the new station will be a boat service for the delivery of messages to vessels in harbor at reasonable rates. THE dangers of electric light wires were freshly illustrated at Cincinnati the other day. Joseph Bohlman, a machinist, was sent by his employer to take an order from the engineer of the Gibson House for a condenser for the steam pipe over the laundry. It was necessary for him to visit the laundry roof, where he went, accompanied by the engineer. The roof has considerable slope. And while proceeding to the point of observation Bohlman slipped and was about to fall, when he instinctively caught hold of a wire, in the way. It was an electric light wire, and the shock caused him to release his hold and clutch with the THE news from Egypt during the week has been of other hand, when he instantly fell dead. The time slight importance. The Arab attacks upon Suakim must soon come when these and all telegraphic wires have no military value, though annoying. General will be placed underground. The risk to firemen in Wolseley is occupied in preparations for summer the large cities must be very great.-Boston Journal. headquarters. Later.-An engagement has occurred near Suakim, with victory for the British. FROM Suakim, under date of Third mo. 21st, comes the intelligence that Graham has received the pipe | line apparatus needful to furnish his army with water on their march to Berber, and the construction of a railway between Suakim and Berber. THE Mudir of Dongola seems to be acting in concert with the English. NOTICES. A Conference of the Burlington Quarterly Meeting's ELIZABETH A. ROGERS, Clerk. At the Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, Belmont and Girard avenues, a Meeting for Worship THE relations between Russia and England are still will be held to-morrow at 3 P. M., to which Friends strained and anxious. are especially invited. |