Now, all along the line, is there not progress? and shall not at length evil be subdued, and justice and righteousness reign? S. R.

For Friends' Intelligencer and Journal.

IN giving a

OUR PROFESSION.

reason for the hope that is in us," and the ground upon which it rests, it is well always to bear in mind the fact that those who have not been reared in the simple faith that has satisfied our people, are slow to understand the shibboleths of our profession. These having for many generations inherited a creed or confession of faith that declares with emphasis, and the authority of long established precedent, certain doctrinal statements held as essential to a true and living faith in Christ Jesus as the atoning Saviour, all the lines of religious thought to which they are accustomed, radiate from this one central idea, a belief in which is, to them, the only ground of a saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. To dissent from the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice as believed in and taught by the evangelical or orthodox schools of theology, is to deny "the Lord who bought them, and bring upon themselves destruction."

It must be seen by all who reflect upon the subject, that our first duty in the presentation of Chris

consciousness, comparable to the light in the outward world, this light that "enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world," the hearty and unqualified allegiance to this doctrine, as the saving power,—the power that redeemed from all unrighteousness, that cleanses and purifies the soul from sin-it is this that saves and brings into fellowship with God, the Father, and his well-beloved son Jesus Christ, the great exemplar and captain of our salvation.

Planting our feet on this "rock," the same that was revealed to Peter, we may rest our cause, assured that it is the one foundation that will stand amid all the strifes and contentions that disturb the church, and the creeds and dogmas that may be formulated.

In the vision of "the new heaven and the new earth” granted the beloved disciple, he heard a voice saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

Let us, as a people, labor and pray for this, keeping steadfastly in view this great truth of the gospel, "As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." L. J. R.

For Friends' Intelligencer and Journal. SWARTHMORE'S FRIENDLY WORK.

the understanding we have of the relations of Jesus to the Church, as we find them recorded in the New Testament and in the writings of the fathers and historians of the church in subsequent times.

And in the revival of interest in the study of the Scriptures witnessed in all parts of our Society, and the desire it manifests that our children and youth shall become better acquainted with the truths therein contained, it is of the utmost importance that our fundamental doctrines shall be stated with that clearness and precision that shall give forth no uncertain sound to the inquirer, whether of our own or of another faith, and their accordance with Scripture testimony be placed beyond reasonable doubt.

We do not go to the Scriptures for instruction in the laws that govern natural phenomena. These remained unknown more than fifteen centuries after the canon of Scripture closed. Nor do we find in the social and governmental usages of the scripture ages models for our nineteenth century civilization; but we do find that in man's first thought of God,there is a sense of Divine communion, and of the accountability it involves, which increases as his knowledge of himself and of the world about him enlarges. And as the slow steps in the path of civilization and enlightenment by which he advanced opened a broader scope for development, seers and prophets and apostles have not been wanting to preserve and keep in perpetual remembrance this sense of intercommunion between man and his Maker.

It is this fundamental thought of religion, verified in every age by individual experience that forms the ground-work of our profession. An intelligent acceptance of it as the essential doctrine of the religion of Jesus, and a conforming of the life to the unfoldings of truth and duty, made known in the inner

course of this cherished institution, see much that is gratifying in the announced status. The earnest labors of the Yearly Meeting's Committee on Education have born valuable fruits even at Swarthmore. For our local schools have been so systematized and improved that students come better prepared to college, and are able to take a better grade upon entering; thus diminishing the time required to complete a satisfactory course of study.

We have evidence too, that an appreciation of higher education is widening among us, and parents are willing to take liberal views in regard to the symmetrical development of the spiritual, mental, and physical nature of the young.

A very serious responsibility rests upon the Faculty of the college and upon the Board of Management. Wise counsels should prevail, and it is by abiding under a weighty sense of this responsibility, and by seeking the guidance of the real helping hand that the best wisdom can be hoped for. Let all things have their right place.

Swarthmore should be a powerful agency in preparing a truly scholarly element in our membership. which will be effective in strengthening our organization, and rendering it more and more useful to mankind as time goes on.

By its fruits will the college be estimated. Its coveted fruits are the noble minded and thoroughly trained men and women who will go forth from its halls, to take up the earnest work of life. We confidently hope that the students will here learn to value and venerate the Christian testimonies of our church, and become effective instruments in their advancement.

It is our full belief that sound culture and liberal learning does not in the least antagonize the true en

lightenment and growth of the religious nature, nor the development of the religious sensibilities. Our faith, so simple and so sufficient, is the proper sustenance of all that is pure and noble in human life and character. It is fully accordant with highest reason, it promotes every good work of love for man, it is a bond which unites us in loving allegiance to the divine essence which is man's salvation.

By some it has been conjectured that the mission of the Society of Friends is about accomplished, but we see abundant reason te be assured that we have a glorious field before us, arming ourselves with the whole armor of truth, righteousness, peace and faith. The sword of the spirit which Paul declared is the word of God, will not be withheld from the champions of truth who are so armed and are ready to stand fast. S. R.

WE

For Friends' Intelligencer and Journal.
PAST MERIDIAN.

are sometimes surprised and grieved by hearing that a married couple whom we have long known and supposed to be happily mated, have separated." We are truly astonished, and wonder how it could be, after spending so many years in apparent content and happiness with each other, having raised a family of children,-possibly having seen one or more married, and having had, perhaps, a common sorrow side .by side over the grave of a beloved child.

Many cases of notable people in the literary and social world will be recalled, as well as of those in humble life. City or country, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, it remains equally true and equally sad that "Betsey and I are out.”

In looking back to cases, I can recall where if not actual separation, alienation seems to have taken place. I have been led to some reflections upon the subject, suggested also partly by the reading of a diary kept by an English woman of her life from girlhood to old age. She was happily married, reared a large family of children, with the joys, cares, and anxieties which that implies. Finally, health and strength began to fail as middle life was passed. She and her husband were growing gray, their shoulders were beginning to stoop. They were no longer erect, their steps were not so firm and elastic, their spirits began to flag, and a frequent expression of weariness would creep over their faces, They were less demonstrative, but no less sensitive. And just here she discovered that they had the same need of self-control as in years past. In early and middle life their dispositions were under government, and self-control was comparatively easy, but as they grew older and weaker physically, they were inclined to relax their hold upon themselves, as well as upon other things, and more easily yielded to their weaknesses. They became more irritable, were easily annoyed, and it seemed harder to repress the vexed feeling or expression; recrimination was sometimes indulged in, and sore places, which were supposed to be healed, were touched and made to bleed afresh as reminiscences began to be in order. This confession caused me to reflect, and offered in some measure a solution

of the often alienated conditions of couples after middle life. If husband and wife would remember this tendency of age, and continue to observe selfcontrol and regard for each other's weakness,—would try to avoid all sore subjects, and the annoying word or act which breeds heartburnings, and would continue their efforts to please, perhaps very much unhappiness might be avoided, and much grief and mortification would be saved themselves and their children, the latter being sufferers from the opposite course as well as the former. Alienation really occurs, I believe, as often from excess of affection as from lack of it. The wife imagines that her husband has ceased to care for her, that his love was only for the time of life when she was young and fresh and joyous, but could not bear the test of advancing age and infirmity; and her loving heart imagines little slights that were never intended. So, on the other hand, the husband is broken somewhat in health, is not so vigorous as he once was,-the cares and responsibilities do not always grow less with decreasing ability to bear them, and he forgets to give the loving attentions or expressions of earlier years, or thinks they should be taken for granted; sees with annoyance the little faults of his wife which are possibly more pronounced as she grows older, and so they gradually grow apart and "pity 'tis, 'tis true."

I have thought if married people could know and remember this as their years increase, and this period approaches, it might save them from much occasion of hard feeling and unhappiness.

way,

A little incident came under my notice, a few days ago, which will illustrate my meaning, partially. A couple who were nearing their sixty-one, indeed had passed it,—were in the library, where the husband was engaged at his desk with some accounts, a little perplexing possibly, when his wife in passing brushed some dust from his coat sleeve, which her vigilant eye detected. This seemed to produce an unaccountable irritation, and he spoke up in a vexed "I do wish you would let me alone; you never come near me but you are picking at me." His wife said nothing, but turned sadly away and began adjusting the curtains, but I saw the tears coursing down her cheeks which were brushed quietly away. In their early married life he had been fond of such attentions. But as she grew older, it developed into a habit. She became nervous, and the act which was once an indication of neatness, now became a nervous tendency, and she could not sit still or rest while anything was dusty, or in the least disorder. When ill-health comes to both, and self-control and forbearance seems hard to attain, possibly separate apartments, or at least an opportunity for frequent retirement may be well, more especially for people of nervous temperaments, who are sensitive to the presence or atmosphere of other persons. It is not a question of the spirit oftentimes as much as of the flesh or the nerves. So let us not misjudge, but draw charitable conclusions from these facts, recognize them, and do what we may to reconcile such conditions. I desire to add that I gladly believe these cases are exceptions to a happy rule. Many

For Friends' Intelligencer and Journal. TEMPERANCE AMONG THE INDIANS IN PENN'S TIME.

AS the subject of alcoholic beverages is now large

ly occupying the minds of Friends, I have thought a little account of a temperance society among the Indians in the early history of Pennsylvania, gleaned from the "Perns and Penningtons," might at least possess a historic interest, and I offer it for the columns of the INTELLIGENCER AND JOURNAL. It may seem strange to us now, with the long experience of the desolating effects of spirituous liquors, that one of the articles stipulated by W. Penn in payment to the Indians for their lands, should have been six anchors of rum, but the author above alluded to kindly remarks, it was without due experience as to its evil effects on these natives of the forest. Some years later however, when its fearfully demoralizing influence became manifest, Friends endeavored to establish total abstinence societies among these Indians. Though not known by that name, yet they embodied the principle the name now represents.

At one of these meetings, it is said, eight Indian kings were present, and one of them made the following speech, and as the history of the Indian is always so interesting to Friends I give the speech entire :

"The strong liquor was first sold us by the Dutch, they were blind, they had no eyes; they did not see it was for our hurt. The next people that came among us were the Swedes, who continued the sale of strong liquors to us; they also were blind, they had no eyes, they did not see it to be hurtful to us, but if people will sell it to us, we are so in love with it that we cannot forbear it, then we drink it, it makes us mad, we do not know what we do; we then abuse one another, we throw each other into the fire. Seven score of our people have been killed by drinking it, since the time it was first sold us. These people who sell it have no eyes. But now there is a people come to live among us, that have eyes, they see it to be for our hurt. They are willing to deny themselves its profit for our good. These people have eyes; we are glad they are come among us. We must put it down by mutual consent: the cask must be sealed up, it must be made fast; it must not leak by day or night, and we give you these four belts of wampum which we would have you lay up safe by you, to be witnesses of this agreement, and we would have you tell your children that these four belts of wampum are given you, to be witnesses betwixt us and you of this agreement."

It would be interesting could we pursue this subjeet and learn how long this agreement remained unbroken, and the extent of the influence of these societies, but the writer does not inform us. M. M. R.

A MORAL PURPOSE.

HERE are large numbers of people who go through life without any definite purpose. They seem to be simply the victims of circumstance. They are battered about here and there by contending forces. Yet the mastery of circumstance—such, for instance, as the possession of wealth, health and favorable situations, under refining, social, and intellectual influence-does by no means insure a purposeful life. Very frequently it is the man who has the most money, the most leisure, and the most opportunities, who displays the least degree of serious purpose in living out his life. If the privations of want, the straitened exigencies of a narrow opportunity in life, forbid men to execute purposes which they would gladly form, the temptations of abundant leisure and the enervations of luxury furnish their own allurements and barriers.

People do not always distinguish between the things which they vaguely dreamed of and those which they really desire. Those floating fancies in the brain are not incarnated, those brilliant castles in the air are not built on the solid earth, because men have really not decided to embody or to build them. If there are many who go through life without any definite purpose, there are others who go through it with purposes of which they are not wholly conscious. The intense, hard-working business man, who cuts off social pleasure and intellectual advantage which are easily within his grasp, to devote himself wholly to the opportunities of trade, does not always see that his desire for wealth is shaping the course of his life to the exclusion of other and larger claims. The society woman, who seems to flit about as aimlessly as a butterfly, is stimulated by rivalries and excitements which feed a craving for social and personal recognition. Perhaps she has set before herself the ambition to lead in society, and is pursuing it with an irrepressible ardor. And so men and women are driven or attracted by the desire of gain; the craving for power, the thirst for fame, or the intellectual hunger for knowledge.

And this we present as no gross indictment of the life choices which men and women make. Multifarious choices in life spring not only from the wealth of human desires, but from the abundance of the objects which may gratify them. Life, to be large and abundant, must utilize its varied opportunities for development. Yet nothing is more certain than that men and women need to learn how to choose, need to learn the true value of the things which they seek. An essential element in all thrift is that children should be taught to save, but it is quite as important that they should learn how to spend.

There are scores and hundreds of wasted lives, because men and women have not learned how to expend their own energies in a way to secure their own development. Their lives are thrown away. They toil for things which do not pay for the getting; they expend power wastefully.

There is nothing which will give greater unity or consequence to one's life than to have running through it a constant and high moral purpose,—a

purpose to study out and accept moral distinctions, a purpose to fulfill that moral law in one's life and to help others to fulfill it in theirs. The history of the noblest and most successful lives is a perpetual illustration of this truth. Fortunately, the conditions and laws of human life are so adjusted that moral distinctions cannot be wholly ignored. Men who set out in life heedless of them are brought face to face sooner or later with moral penalties. They learn that moral distinctions are as real as anything in the universe. Fortunately, also, a moral idea is something which every one, whatever his circumstances, may personally cherish and persistently pursue. The limitations which one meets here may vary, but they are never such as to thwart his life. No life which is a moral success can be a failure in a universe in which moral realities have the permanence of God.— Christian Register.

THE

COMFORT.

HE most pleasant impression that any house or home can give, or that any individual can give, is that of being suffused with or diffusing a sense of comfort. There are homes which give an impression of comfort immediately when one enters the door. There are people who without any particular charm are charming because they impress us with a feeling that they are comfortable people to live with. There are homes of abundant means where there is an entire absence of an air of comfort or repose.

Fortunately for the great majority of home-makers, comfort depends but little on the possession of large means. In fact the homes of the rich on the average are remarkable for the absence of an appearance of comfort. Great parlors with costly furniture and curtains and upholstery that one almost fears to use, deserted for the most part by the family, chilly and forbidding, are the most striking features of many a costly mansion. The visitor in such a home will generally find the real comfort-center of the house to be some room with plain furniture and carpets, devoted perhaps to the children or to some department of household work. On the other hand the real comfort-maker with a mininum of things to work with, can invest an almost bare room with the appearance and reality of comfort. Given a good stove, a few rugs or a plain carpet, and a very poor room may be made comfortable. Paper or cotton will shut the wintry wind from its entrance through the open window sashes; a few boards and nails and some bright colored chintz will be sufficient material out of which to evoke the comfortable lounge; the same inexpensive material will cushion the easy chair; a very cheap table is as good as mahogany or marble if it has a cover on it; a good wood-box can be gotten for a few cents at any corner grocery; a brightly burning lamp with a clean bright lamp chimney, for comfort throws the best gas in to the shade, and with these cheap materials any person with the gift of making things comfortable can make an attractive and comfortable room.

The comfort dispenser in a home is usually a woman. Sometimes it is a man. There are few men in the world who have a genius for helping make things

comfortable around home. They are the ones who keep an eye to little things that break or go wrong or get misplaced about a house, and who are not above remedying such difficulties at once. The swollen door that will not shut, or the broken pane of glass, or the door knob that has worked off, or the storm door that needs to be put on, or taken off, or the pump that needs a new handle or a new valvenone of these things are beneath their notice and attention. They are the ones who keep an eye to the wood pile and the coal bin, and above all to the kindling, and feel a sense of responsibility in having these things provided. Happy the wife whose husband, if need be, takes care that she is provided with kindling. Such a man is almost sure to be a model husband and a true comfort dispenser. One of the most touching and characteristic incidents in the life of Lydia Maria Child is her home-coming after her husband's funeral. They had been a devotedly attached and remarkably happy couple. She had striven to bear up under the blow of his loss, and had to some degree been able to do so. But on returning to her widowed home her eye caught sight of the many little things done by her husband that showed how he planned for her comfort. He had banked up the foundation of their little cottage; he had covered her flower beds with straw and filled the little outside kitchen with wood and kindling, ready to her hand. And the sight of all these things done for her comfort filled her heart and overwhelmed her with a sense of love and loss.

Comfort and repose go together. No person is comfortable to live with who is always "on the go," always planning or executing some work. The work of the comfortable person is done "without observation." But little is said about it. As with good manners, unobtrusiveness is one of the prime elements in comfort. "Nothing in excess" is one of its fundamental rules. Truly it is one of the best and most laudable ambitions of life to surround one's self with and to be a source of genuine comfort.- Weekly Magazine.

TENTH

For Friends' Intelligencer and Journal.

VISIT TO FRIENDS IN KANSAS. ENTH month 16th. Took train for Chanute, in Neosho county. After an all night's ride in a common crowded car, without the privilege of a sleeper or even a chair, we arrived at 4 A. M., at Chanute, tired and dull, and after resting a few hours at a restaurant we found the residence of Eunice Haines, widow of the late William Haines, of Ohio, where we were refreshed with a good breakfast, and the cheer so characteristic of our reception everywhere. here reside T. R. Hogue and family, William G. Smith and family, Enos Tennis and family. Wilmer Walton, of Parsons, and Thomas Lamborn and wife, of Yates centre, met us here. There was a meeting established here a few years ago, but was discontinued. They are quite in earnest, now, and we believe can, and will support a meeting in the near future. The young life that is looking forward for light is certainly of a character that only needs fostering care. Can they

Near

not have it? We attended an appointed meeting in the village which owing, (as we believe), to the cold hard rain was small. An account of our further exercises here has been given recently by our friend Wilmer Walton.

This is rather a level country, compared with many other parts that we visited. Portions of it are quite productive. We believe it to be a good fruit country. Land ranges in price $15 to $40 per acre.

Tenth month 20th. We took train for Eldorado, Butler county, where George Hollingshead lives with his two daughters, also his son and family. W. O. Brown, A. H. Brown, D. R. Shinn, William Rufus, Edward and Israel Shinn, reside at Duracken PostOffice, sixteen miles north-east. They were all visited. Weheld a meeting at W. O. Brown's on Fourthday evening, also on the following evening. Both, as far as we could judge, were favored seasons. A. H. and W. O. Brown are sons of George Brown, of Benjaminville, Ill.; they all gave evidence of being earnest, active workers. At present they are working with another society; they need the care of Friends. Lands here are beautiful, rolling and fertile; prices range from $7 to $20 per acre.

Tenth month 22d. Parted with Friends, feeling that we would be permitted to return to our respective homes, leaving Edward to visit another day, and attend an appointed meeting. We came by the way of Florence, to Emporia, where my nephew, Albert R. Taylor, resides, he being the President of the Normal University at that place. We had a pleasant visit, including a call at the house of a family of Friends by the name of Edgerton, of the Gurney branch of Orthodox. There are those of the Wilbur branch also there, and each branch has a meetinghouse. Emporia is situated in a beautiful location, but not having had time to visit the country surrounding it, I could not give a correct judgment as to its value.

Tenth month 23d. Near noon, I joined my friend Edward on our way home by Kansas City, reaching

there about 6 P. M. Near 7 o'clock we took train on the Chicago and Alton road, crossing the state of Missouri, and reaching Bloomington and Normal, Ill., about 9 A. M., when we parted for our respective homes, having traveled together for more than four weeks and traversed a distance of two thousand miles. When starting we felt that our concern was pure and mutual, and as each was obedient to the manifestation of duty, it was given each to know a peaceful mind that the world cannot give, neither can it take away. The oneness of feeling that attended us during the entire journey has strengthened the bonds of fellowship, that I feel neither time nor distance will diminish. The little we could do is indeed very limited in comparison to that which needs to be done. The vastness of the field, the distance to travel, the money that it takes for traveling, the time taken from home duties, and the willingness to spend and be spent, will cause many valiant laborers at home to shrink from its undertaking. Knowing what I do, I am free to say to the membership of Friends, there is a way, and the ability in our beloved Society is sufficient to carry it out. Those in the Eastern

as well as in the Middle States, are mutually interested. ABEL MILLS.

Mt. Palatine, Ill., 11th mo. 26th.

A God who offers terms of communion only to the passionate and to the conscientious will not touch the springs of worship in perceptive and meditative men. Their prayer is less to know the published rules than to overhear the lonely whispers of the eternal mind, to be at one with his immediate life in the universe, and to shape or sing into articulate utterance the silent inspirations of which all existence is full. Their peculiar faculties supply them with other interests than about their sins, their salvation, and their conscience: they feel neither sufficiently guilty nor sufficiently anxious to be good, to make a religion out of the one consciousness or the other; but if, indeed, it be God that flashes on them in so many lights of solemn beauty from the face of common things, that wipes off sometimes the steams of custom from the window of the soul, and surprises it with a presence of tenderness and mystery,-if the tension of creative thought in themselves, which can rest in nothing imperfect, yet realize nothing perfect, be an unconscious aspiration toward him,-then there is a way of access to their inner faith, and a temple pavement on which they will consent to kneel.-James Martineau.

It is a measure of culture, the number of things taken for granted. When a man begins to speak the churl will take him up by disputing his first words, so he cannot come at his scope. The wise man takes all for granted until he sees the parallelism of that which puzzled him with his own view.-Emerson.

There are two ways of reaching truth: by reasoning out, and feeling out. All the profoundest truths are felt out. The deep glances into truth are got by love. Love a man, that is the best way of understanding him. Feel a truth, that is the only way of comprehending it.—Robertson.

ALL that you and I have to do is to put our soul, to breathe our spirit, into our lives, to draw down the spirit of God and breathe that into them; and they shall be large and beautiful. Know ye not that ye are the temples of God, and that such temples can be built only of the common stones that lie about us? Love and faith and purity, a noble heroism, a nobler patience, can round the poorest life into the perfect proportions of the largest and best; and, without these, that which is richest in outward opportunity consists of beggarly elements, and of these alone.C. C. Everett.

THE desire to be in harmony with nature, to have the will at one with the Divine will, is the all-essential thing in Christian prayer. Though you never use words of prayer, nor have stated times when you are accustomed to pray, yet if you find in your heart a feeling of submission, a sense of the Divine goodness, an aspiration for purity of life and nobleness of character, then have you the spirit of prayer, and do truly pray.-A. T. Bowser.