mourning and fasting arose in her mind in view of the passing away of a Friends' meeting of long standing from the list of congregations which make up this quarterly meeting. Many dear and valued Friends representing Evesham Monthly Meeting, have mingled with us in these our solemn days of remembrance—our quarterly meetings-many have been removed by death, and others by change of residence,

but this laying down of an ancient Friends' meeting has for us the deep sadness which attends the death of a beloved brother.

John Parrish spoke for some moments with tenderness and power of the matter of Divine Love; having experienced its elevating, comforting and sanctifying influence through all his life from youth to old age.

Dr. Franklin Haines next addressed the meeting in regard to the nature of the true gospel ministry. The minister is not one raised up above his brethren, but the servant of all,-who is willing to be the mouth-piece of the truly gathered and baptized worshippers.

He cautioned against an anxious striving after words. The holy anointing will and does furnish the right and all-sufficient word of instruction.

Thomas Foulke closed the services of the first meeting with a word of fervent thanksgiving and of earnest prayer, after which the usual business of the Quarterly Meeting was entered upon.

The routine business assigned to this season was proceeded with. In view of certain acknowledged deficiencies on the part of one of the constituent meetings, there was a very warm expression of loving care and of sympathy for those who feel they have not, as a body, been able to keep steadfast to the noble requisitions of our discipline in all the important matter of brotherly love and true christian unity. Many wise and tender words were spoken which must have had a tendency to heal breaches and restore lost concord.

A brief impressive visit from Joseph Horner to the women's meeting touched many hearts. The simple and direct warning to some now present was that they are not coming up to the divine requirements by zealous works in directions shown them in the Mount. He briefly, simply, and eloquently, depicted the joy of the life of perfect dedication to the Divine will.

After the brethren retired, Mary S. Lippincott set her seal to the testimony of Joseph Horner. She feared lest some were in danger of separating a part of Friend's testimonies from the rounded whole of the counsel of God. She desired the gathering of Friends into a consistent and broad testimony-bearing to the principle of a perfect christian life. This we must see, if Christ is our leader; and none can be his ministers but those who are baptized by Him by the spirit and by fire.

The committee to nominate Friends to serve on the temperance committee in conjunction with the committee of the Yearly Meeting, reported a list of the names of Friends acceptable to the meeting, and these were promptly assigned to the service indicated. These Friends were desired to meet with the mem

bers of the Yearly Meeting's committee now present, in the east end of the house, at the rise of this meeting. Under a feeling that this had been a time of great blessing to many minds the meeting closed.

S. R.

MONTHLY MEETING OF FRIENDS OF PHILA-
DELPHIA.

THE Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia,

was held on the 16th inst., at Race street. David Newport, of Abington, was in attendance and spoke in the ministry. The committees having the oversight of the indulged meeting at 17th and Girard avenue and the school at the same locality reported them satisfactory. At the latter the attendance the past year was 155, of whom 54 were members or children of members. As the number of these connected with the Green street meeting was about onethird the whole, it was agreed that the deficiency, ($254.85), should be paid by the two monthly meetings in proportion to the number of pupils connected with each.

The joint committee of this and Green Street Monthly Meeting on the subject, reported in favor of one evening meeting for the coming winter to be held at Girard avenue. After consideration, as women Friends proposed deferring the decision till next month, it was concluded to refer it back to the committee for further attention.

The committee on the Central school reported 229 boys and 313 girls attending the past year, about

one-third of whom were Friends' children. In connection therewith it was stated that never had the school opened with such bright prospects as this fall, and the higher classes were larger than ever before,

The committee on the new marriage law made a report, and verbal consent was given to its being offered to the INTELLIGENCER AND JOURNAL for publication. (See report below). It may not be out of place to mention that some years ago a law was passed, (at first for the whole State, but afterwards restricted to Philadelphia, requiring the registration of births, deaths, and marriages by the Board of Health, and in order that committees to oversee marriages should not overlook this duty, printed blanks are used, and it is now proposed to add thereto this new legal requirement. Whilst a marriage without conformity to this law is still a marriage, yet as the new enactment is in the line of the proper care which Friends have ever endeavored to exercise, it is right that our members should avoid any risk of litigation by a conformity to its provisions. There is another point worthy of remembrance by those who, owing to the exclusiveness of our disciplines, or otherwise, cannot be married in the order of the Society, and who sometimes mistakenly think that for this reason they can only be married legally by a minister or magistrate: the new enactment not only confirms the legality of marriages by Friends' ceremony, (not under the care of meeting), but facilitates their record in a more accessible way and at much less cost, for if the parties desire nothing more elaborate, the certificate of the event, (of which a duplicate is furnished to the clerk of the Orphans' Court), is just as much of

a marriage certificate as any given by a minister or magistrate, and the only expense is fifty cents paid for the original permit.

VISITING IN WESTERN QUARTER.

A VERY interesting and no doubt profitable series of visits have been made in Western Quarter, by members of the Yearly Meeting's Committee appointed to that duty. The visitors were Charles and Harriet E. Kirk, Martha Dodgson, Jane D. Satterthwaite, William C. Parry, Franklin T. Haines, Jeremiah Hayhurst, Ezra Fell, and Samuel S. Ash. They took an afternoon train from Philadelphia, on Seventh-day, the 5th inst., for Toughkenamon, Chester county, where they were met about dusk by kind friends with conveyances. On First-day, they attended New Garden meeting, both morning and afternoon, and in the evening were at Mill Creek meeting, in Delaware. During the week, they attended all the monthly meetings,—one each day,-in their order: Chester, held at Hockessin; Kennett, at Kennett Square; Londongrove; New Garden, at West Grove; Pennsgrove, at Homesville; and Fallowfield, at Doe Run. But besides this appointed meetings were also held each afternoon, as follows: On Second-day, the 7th, a parlor meeting at John and Lavinia P. Yeatman's; Third-day, at Old Kennett meeting-house; Fourthday, a parlor-meeting at Avondale; Fifth-day, parlor meeting at West Grove; Sixth-day, at Pennsgrove, meeting-house; Seventh-day, at Fallowfield meetinghouse. On First-day, the 13th, they attended meeting at Unionville, in the forenoon, and Marlborough in the afternoon, making seventeen meetings in eight days.

-The following is an extract from a private letter in reference to the visit of the Yearly Meeting's committee at Ercildoun meeting, (Chester county, Pa.), on the 12th inst: "We came home to attend the meeting appointed in our own meeting-house. There was not a very large number gathered; but our members generally who are in the way of attending our meetings were there. The word had been sent us that they would hold a conference, but it was truly a solemn religious meeting, I cannot doubt owned by the great head of the church. After the meeting was properly over, a Friend made reference to the word having been given of a conference, and said the committee held themselves ready if such was desired. I could feel but the one desire and that was that we might separate under the precious covering that was then over us; it was as a canopy under which words, as mere words could not be uttered, and thus we parted, I trust feeling praise and thanksgiving to the Lord in this acknowledgment that He can and does still anoint his servants and empower them to preach the glad tidings of the gospel."

-The Yearly Meeting's Committee on Temperance and Intoxicating Beverages held a meeting at 15th and Race streets, on Seventh-day, the 19th inst., with the attendance large, and the interest in the prosecution of the work evidently increasing. The need of laboring amongst ourselves to awaken a deeper religious concern in behalf of those who have

not the strength to withstand the temptations that so abound in our midst was presented, and all were encouraged to work in this and in every other proper direction for the suppression of the traffic in intoxicating beverages. The book committee recommended several works for distribution, including that by Axel Gustafson, "The Foundation of Death; A Study of the Drink Question."

—Several members of the Yearly Meeting's Visiting Committee, (of the sub-committee for Concord Quarter), attended the meeting at Providence, near Media, on First-day morning last, by appointment. Matilda E. Janney and Samuel S. Ash spoke in the mecting for worship; afterward, a conference was held, continuing for an hour, in which Clement M. Bidale and others spoke, and it was decided that a further conference would be held at the same place on the third First-day of next month, to be attended by members of the committee.

H

From the Boston Traveller.

HELEN HUNT JACKSON.

ELEN Hunt Jackson, better known as Helen Hunt, and by the talismanic initials "H. H.," died in San Francisco on the evening of August 12, after a lingering illness of many weeks. Mrs. Jackson was the daughter of Prof. N. W. Fiske of Amherst College, and was born at Amherst, Mass., in 1830. When about 25 years of age she married Captain Edward B. Hunt, who was in the engineer service in the United States army. Captain Hunt was killed by the premature explosion of a torpedo. Her only child, a son, died when about 8 years old, and in the loneliness of her double bereavement she was first led to literary expression. Her gift had hitherto been an unconscious one. She had been occupied with life itself, not with its description or analysis. She had, apparently, little of the introspective faculty. She was a keen observer of men and their affairs, and she had an almost passionate love of nature; but it was the love of the artist, not of the scientist, and it has been noted as an anomaly that one who has written so much and so accurately of the flora of the West knew nothing of the botanical names or properties of flowers. Her gift of observation, united with the natural fluency of expression, at once established her success from the moment she made her first venture in authorship. A series of letters from California to the New York Independent was almost, if not quite, her first essay into the literary field. Later she established herself at the Brevoort House in New York, and passed several years there, with interludes of travelyears which were rich in productive work. Somewhere about 1870 her first volume of poetry, “Verses by H. H.,” was published by Messrs. J. R. Osgood & Co. It struck a note of success. It was poetry for the poets. Recognition, enthusiastic while finely discriminative, came to her. Emerson said of them: 'The poems of a lady who contents herself with the initials H. H., have rare merit of thought and expression. She has been called our finest woman poet. The woman might well be omitted." In 1873 Messrs. Roberts Brothers bought from the Osgood house these

·

'plates, and with 97 pages of new poems added by the writer, brought out a new and enlarged edition of these "Verses." The poems are work of extraordinary originality and power. They bear no trace of the subjective and emotional cast that has come to be almost an unfailing characteristic of women's poetry, and to which H. H. and Edith Thomas furnish marked exceptions. A subtilty of thought and true -spiritual insight, rather than merely æsthetic feeling, inform the "Verses" of H. H. to a degree that insures them poetic immortality. The publication of her "Resurgam" alone assured her the title of poet. In it these lines occur:

It was by the solicitation of R. W. Gilder, the editor of the Century Magazine, that Helen Hunt first tried her power in fiction, and her initial work in this field was 66 Mercy Philbrick's Choice," the opening volume of the "No Name Series" of Messrs. Roberts Brothers. Bringing them this manuscript she wished to publish it anonymously. Mr. Niles talked the matter over with her, and the result of the consultation was the devising of the "No Name Series," to which H. H. also contributed "Hetty's Strange History." Her other books, all published by Roberts Brothers, are "The Story of Boone," a poem ; "Bits of Travel," Bits of Travel at Home," "Bits of Talk About Home Matters," "Bits of Talk in Prose and Verse," "Nelly's Silver mine," "Letter from a Cat," "Mammy Tittleback," "The Hunter Cats of Connorloa," and her last and greatest work, "Ramona." Century of Dishonor " was published by Messrs. Harper & Bros., but at Mrs. Jackson's earnest request the Roberts house has just purchased the plates from Harpers and with the addition of much new matter from the author-matter received within the last ten daysthey are about to issue a new edition of this work. A few years since Helen Hunt was married to W. S. Jackson, a banker of Denver, Col. They had a beautiful home on a height at Colorado Springs, and she traveled much through the western country, and

" A

passed seasons in New Mexico and Southern California. Mrs. Jackson united, in a marvelous degree, the reformer's instinct with the power of literary expression and the artistic feeling that made her expression vital and graphic. Her versatility was a perpetually renewing surprise. She was eminently sympathetic with all forms of human life. The Indian question enlisted her active championship for the oppressed, and after the publication of her remarkable exposition of these outrages in "A Century of Dishonor,” she was appointed special Indian Commissioner by President Arthur. To other authors she was a generous, faithful friend. 'It would be interesting to know," wrote Alice Wellington Rollins of Mrs. Jackson," how many of the younger writers of the magazines have owed their success, not to that instant recognition of genius by the editor which is popularly supposed to be the secret, but to the generous appreciation and recognition of Helen Jackson, who has approached many an editor with manuscript in hand and insisted: 'You don't want any more poetry, I know; but you shall listen to this!' and who will lend to the poems of the 'Ox-eyed Daisies' by one of the Goodale sisters, or to the 'Frost,' of Edith Thomas, a depth of expression, a loveliness of meaning, and a grace of rendering which she would never try to give to her own work; exclaiming, as she finishes, 'I would give anything-anything—if I had written that myself?""

There is no literary woman of the age of whom so little has been written as of Helen Hunt Jackson. She deprecated all personal notice, and her feeling about this is well expressed in a little essay she wrote on "Literary Hysteria," in which she says regarding this mania for publicity:

"Where may be the remedy for this widespread and widely spreading disease among writers we do not know. It is not easy to keep up courageous faith that there is any remedy. Still, nature abhors noise and haste, and shams of all sorts; quiet and patience are the great secrets of her force, whether it be a mountain or a soul that she would fashion. We must believe that sooner or later there will come a time in which silence shall have its dues, moderation be crowned king of speech, and melodramatic, spectacular, hysterical language be considered as disreputable as it is silly."

It is too early to make any proper critical estimate of Helen Hunt Jackson. She was a woman as well as author, and her literary work is but the partial expression of a life that was in itself greater than anything she has written. It is now an open secret that she was the author of the "Saxe Holm "stories. Poet, novelist, and reformer, she was,-perhaps, greatest of all-a good friend, and no words can so truly interpret her nature as those of one of her own exquisite sonnets, entitled "Last Words." [This sonnet was published in the INTELLIGENCER AND JOURNAL of Ninth mo. 5th.-EDS.]

Dull people think it fortune that makes one rich and another poor. Is it? Yes, but the fortune was earlier than they think, namely in the balance or adjustment between devotion to what is agreeable today, and the forecast of what will be valuable tomorrow.-Emerson.

WE

THE

WE MEAN TO DO IT.

E mean to do it. Some day, some day, We mean to slacken this fevered rush That is wearing our very souls away.

And grant to our goaded hearts a hush
That is holy enough to let them hear
The footsteps of angels drawing near.
We mean to do it. Oh, never doubt,

When the burden of daytime broil is o'er
We'll sit and muse, while the stars come out
As the Patriarch sat at the open door
Of his tent, with a heavenward gazing eye,
To watch for the angel passing by.
We've seen them afar at high noontide,

When fiercely the world's hot flashings beat,
Yet never have bidden them turn aside

And tarry awhile in converse sweet, Nor prayed them to hallow the cheer we spread, To drink of our wine and break our bread.

We promised our hearts that when the stress

Of the life-work reaches the longed-for closeWhen the weight that we groan with hinders less, We'll loosen our thoughts to such repose

As banishes care's disturbing din,

And then-we will call the angels in.

The day that we dreamed of comes at length,
When tired of every mocking quest,
And broken in spirit and shorn of strength,
We drop, indeed, at the door of rest,
And wait and watch as the day wanes on-
But the angels we meant to call are gone!
MARGARET J. PRESTON.

MY LEGACY.

HEY told me I was heir. I turned in haste,
And ran to seek my treasure,

And wondered, as I rau, how it was placed—
If I should find a measure

Of gold, or if the titles of fair lands.
And houses would be laid within my hands.

I journeyed many roads; I knocked at gates;
I spoke to each wayfarer

I met, and said, "A heritage awaits
Me. Art not thou the bearer

Of news? Some message sent to me whereby

I learn which way my new possessions lie?"

Some asked me in-naught lay beyond their door;
Some smiled and would not tarry,

But said that men were just behind who bore
More gold than I could carry ;

And so the morn, the noon, the day were spent,
While empty-handed up and down I went.

At last one cried, whose face I could not see,
As through the mist he hasted :

"Poor child! what evil ones have hindered thee,
Till this whole day is wasted?

Hath no man told thee that thou art joint heir
With one named Christ, who waits the goods to share?'

The one named Christ I sought for many days,
In many places, vainly;

I heard men name his name in many ways,
I saw his temples plainly.

But they who named him most gave me no sign
To find him by, or prove the heirship mine.

And when at last I stood before his face,

I knew him by no token

Save subtle air of joy that filled the place;
Our greeting was not spoken;

In solemn silence I received my share,
Kneeling before my brother and "joint heir."
My share! No deed of house or spreading lands,
As I had dreamed; no measure

Heaped with gold; my elder Brother's hands
Had never held such treasure.

Foxes have holes, and birds in nests are fed-
My Brother had not where to lay his head.
My share! The right like him to know all pain
Which bearts are made for knowing;

The right to find in loss the surest gain;
To reap my joy from sowing

In bitter tears; the right with him to keep
A watch by day and night with those who weep.
My share! To-day men call it grief and death;
I see the joy and life to-morrow;

I thank our Father with my every breath
For this sweet legacy of sorrow;

And through my tears I call to each, "Joint heir With Christ, make haste to ask him for thy share." H. H.

THE FIRST-DAY SCHOOLS.

THE NEW LESSON-LEAVES.

FRIEND who has been engaged in the study of the materials for the new lesson-leaves thus writes: "This work has not been undertaken one moment too soon for our dear youth. It would be antagonizing our whole testimony to the divine fatherhood over all men to put such construction as the International lessons do upon the barbarous acts of the Jews of distant time. My whole religious nature revolts at the misconception. In our lessons we must try to be moderate, and as far as possible to remember, 'that God himself condescends to the low estate of his creatures' and they who interpret him must copy his leniency and forbearance. Long-suffering and full of compassion are the attributes of his character."

THOROUGH WORK.

A CONTEMPORARY journal says: There is no part of church work more important than that of teaching in the Sabbath-school. No position which requires more honest labor, more thorough preparation, more earnest prayer, or more devoted Christian living. Not only are we training those under our care for "their immortal home," but we are training them to be men and women, citizens and heads of families, that they in their turn may teach the coming generation. And he who is not conscientious and thorough in his teaching should immediately begin a reform, or resign his position. A young man had been the teacher of a class of boys for a few weeks. The sister of one of these boys inquired how her brother was getting on. "Your brother?" questioned the teacher. 'Yes, Charlie —.” Oh," was the reply, quite as though it was a thing to be proud of, "I do not know the names of my scholars." Said the young girl, relating this incident, "I would not for the world tell Charlie this. But we have hard work to get him to

go to school. He will do anything for his mother, and he only goes to please her." What a mistake this young man is making! What an opportunity for good he is losing! This boy, who "would do anything to please his mother," would be in the hands of this teacher as clay in the hands of the potter. He could mould him at his will for good. Yet, unconsciously, he is counteracting much of the good result which comes from Bible instruction by his indifference and lack of thoroughness. Teachers, be thorough. Thorough in the preparation of the lessou, thorough in keeping the class record, thorough in your knowledge of the dispositions, temptations and surroundings of your pupils, that when in the great day the Master shall bid you give an account of your stewardship, you may say with joy, “Here are those whom thou hast given me."

-Salem First-day School Union assembled at the Meeting-House in Salem, N. J., on the 12th inst. Representatives from five schools were present with reports from each, which showed that there are 40 teachers and 454 members of First-day schools within the limits of Salem Quarterly Meeting. The libraries contain 1417 volumes, which are reported as only partially meeting the wants of the children. Four hundred copies of Scattered Seeds are distributed. The reports and meetings evidenced a steady growth in numbers and interest in First-day school labor. Ten representatives were appointed to attend the Firstday School Association, to be held in Philadelphia in Eleventh month next.

ORTHODOX FRIENDS.

T Ohio Yearly Meeting, at Mount Pleasant, which began Eighth month 28th and closed on Ninth month 3d, the Representatives Committee reported a minute, (in response to a request sent them by three of the quarterly meetings), disapproving the water baptism and "Lord's supper." This gave rise to extended discussion on the afternoon of the 2d instant, and morning of the 3d. In its report of the discussion Friends' Review mentions John Butler and Israel P. Hale as favoring the report, and D. B. Updegraff as opposing it. The Christian Worker says there was a debate for five hours by three of the strongest speakers in the yearly meeting. The end was that the minute was disapproved, “by a rising vote,” the opponents of it being about two to one.

The proposed minute was as follows:

We feel called upon at this time to reäffirm the Scriptural views always held by Friends upon the subjects of baptism and the supper.

We believe that the baptism which appertains to the present dispensation is that of Christ, who baptises His people with the Holy Ghost, and that the true communion is a spiritual partaking of the body and blood of Christ by faith. Therefore no one should be received, acknowledged or retained in the position of minister or elder amongst us who continues to participate in or advocate the necessity of the outward rite of baptism or the supper. Monthly meetings should enforce this rule.

Friends' Review makes the following report of the speech of D. B. Updegraff: The way out of the trou

A harvest ble, is that we judge one another no more. of disintegration is to be reaped from an attempt to require uniformity in doctrine. Only 41 in Indiana passed the act against us; the 20,000 are not yet heard from. He was baptized about three years since to try his faith; had partaken with others of bread and wine fin loving remembrance of our Lord's death, and for this a price is set upon our heads. He compared himself and others to the martyrs. He believes in denominationalism; reads R. Barclay's remarks on the disuse of the ordinances, and claims that Barclay thought it right, that those Friends who were conscientious about it might partake of the bread and wine and be baptized, and still be Friends. Baptism with water was not Jewish, but was instituted by John the Baptist; who said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." He claims water baptism as practiced by John as belonging to the Christian dispensation; to separate those who received the declaration of John from those rejecting it. He read a lengthy argument in favor of water baptism, holding the great commission to mean or include water baptism, and that the Apostles believed Jesus meant water. In arguing thus, he said that before God he is endeavoring to promote the best interests of the Society of Friends. It is high time to reäffirm the practice of Christ and the Apostles in their use of these practices.

In reference to the action on the ordinances, Friends' Review editorially says: "This action places Ohio Yearly Meeting in direct antagonism with the recent united declarations of New York, New England, and North Carolina Yearly Meetings, and of the Representative bodies of Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings. The position of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on the same subject is well understood. Baltimore, we have no doubt, will fully unite with those above enumerated; and there is no reason to suppose any change in the feeling concerning ordinances in London or in Dublin Yearly Meeting. Canada, suffering somewhat under the cloud of a late separation, has uttered no voice on the subject. But two other of the coördinate bodies, those of Iowa and Kansas, remain to be heard from in regard to it. There needs therefore no 'rising vote' to show the painful attitude of Ohio Yearly Meeting, in accepting, for the first time in the history of the Society of Friends, the allowance of a ministry under its acknowledgment, in which it is taught that water baptism and the ritual partaking of bread and wine are necessary ordinances in every Christian church at the present day."

The statistics of Ohio Yearly Meeting show the number of members to be 4612, a net gain of 389. The Home Mission report showed a large number of meetings held, prisons visited and 1844 families visited for spiritual and temporal relief.

Moorestown, (N. J.) Meeting-House has been enlarged to accommodate 60 more persons. The Meeting-House at Media has been nearly doubled in size so as to accommodate Concord Quarter, which will be held there twice in the year.