WE are much pleased with the paper, the more so being isolated as we are from Friends, there not being one, so far as we know, of our membership, in this vicinity. We are not only isolated from Friends, but are quite aged, one of us being near 82 and feeble, and the other 77 and blind.

To turn from reading the ordinary paper of the day to the INTELLIGENCER is like a traveler turning from a hot and dusty road to a quiet and smooth path, in the shade of trees, and by a smiling brook. We think every Friend would be benefited by reading the INTELLIGENCER, all the articles being so calm and considerate.

THOMAS W. AND SARAH GREGG FAWCETT.

Our reply to such a question could be better stated, perhaps, in a longer article tha nthis reply. But in brief, the Friends do not place war in their list of possibilities. They believe that all men should treat each other justly and kindly, and that if this were done, peace would be the natural and continuing result. If men will not conform their lives to " the peaceable spirit of Jesus," and out of covetousness, hatred, prejudice, and other evil influences, determine to shed one another's blood, how can the Friends be appropriately asked to provide measures appropriate? The situation is not of their creating; on the contrary it is the result of conditions which they habitually testify against. The spirit of Christianity must prevail, and then war will not occur.

DECREASE OF FRIENDS IN OHIO YEARLY MEETING. Editors FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER :

The remarks in last week's paper by our friend James Whinery arise from a misunderstanding of the article quoted. The quotation from a prominent Friend in Ohio was intended for the whole Yearly Meeting, and not a part of it.

In the past year there appears to be no account in the INTELLIGENCER of the proceedings of Ohio Yearly Meeting, which is to be regretted, for though the meeting is small, there is the greater need of the sympathy, and it may be aid, of the other branches.

PERSONAL NOTES.

OUR friend John J. Cornell has been confined to his room for a fortnight, at his home in Baltimore, with an attack of rheumatic gout, but is better at this writing, though still unable to walk.

Sarah W. Magill, wife of Dr. Edward H. Magill, of Swarthmore, whose health has not been strong for some years, has been within the last fortnight lying extremely ill.

For Friends' Intelligencer. AS WINTER WANES. AH, let us fondly dream, as Winter wanes, Of his sweet child the sunny Spring, And long to see her rove adown the lanes Where early blue-birds sing!

Not many be the days ere we shall hear The brooks take up their ancient song, In purling cadence soft and silver-clear The forest-side along ;

And see the fragile crocus lift her face

From out her bed of freshening sod, Living her little life with happy grace And thankfulness to God.

The jocund robin from the tree will trill
His roundelays of vernal mirth,
And odors sweet arise where farmers till
The brown and mellow earth.

The first brave swallow o'er the silent pond
Will skim with dip of rapid wing,
And fill the beechen solitudes beyond
With tender twittering.

The water-willows budding by the brook
Will arch it with an amber screen,

And the long-cloistered scholar leave his book
For forest-alleys green.

Then grieve not, ye with drooping hearts who pine;
Soon will young Spring renew her birth,
Upspringing joyously as Proserpine

From out the fragrant earth.

Not always will the hills be hid in snow,
Not always will the skies be gray ;
Beyond our little hour of present woe
There waits some brighter day!

VALUATION.

THE old Squire said, as he stood by his gate,
And his neighbor, the Deacon, went by,

In spite of my bank stock and real estate,
You are better off, Deacon, than I.

J. R. H.

"We're both growing old, and the end's drawing near. You have less of this world to resign,

But in Heaven's appraisal your assets, I fear,

Will reckon up greater than mine.

They say I am rich, but I'm feeling so poor, I wish I could swap with you even : The pounds I have lived for and laid up in store For the shillings and pence you have given.” “Well, Squire," said the Deacon, with shrewd common

sense,

While his eye had a twinkle of fun, "Let your pounds take the way of my shillings and pence, And the thing can be easily done!"

Whittier.

THE statement is now made that nearly three hundred cities have adopted a curfew law, compelling every child under the age of fifteen to be indoors at a stated time in the evening, usually nine o'clock, or be subject to arrest and fine.

FRANCES E. WILLARD.

SHE was the fourth in a family of five children in the home of Josiah Flint Willard and Mary Thompson Hill Willard, and was born Ninth month 28th, 1839, at Churchville, Monroe County, N. Y. Miss Willard's father descended from Major Simon Willard, a Puritan of Puritans, who in 1634, at the age of 31, emigrated from Kent County, England, to Massachusetts.

By the roadside in the suburbs of Concord, Mass., may be seen a large granite boulder, on which is the following inscription: "On this farm dwelt Simon Willard, one of the founders of Concord, who did good service for town and colony for more than forty years." Two presidents of Harvard University, one pastor of Old South Church, Boston, and the architect of Bunker Hill monument were among the immediate descendants of Major Willard. The mother of Miss Willard descended from a family in whose veins ran the best blood of Scotland and New England.

In 1841, at 2 years of age, little Frank Willard was carried in her mother's arms from Churchville, N. Y., to Oberlin, O., the family making the journey by carriage all the way. When 7 years old, in 1846, the family moved on. Three emigrant wagons constituted the Willard procession westward from Oberlin, O., to Forest Home, near Janesville, Wis., where "indoors," under the best training of a Christian household, and "outdoors" on the prairie, by Rock River side, among blossoming orchards, flowering shrubs and wide-spreading fields of wheat and corn, she spent twelve years of her girlhood. At 19, in 1858, the Willard family removed to the western shore of Lake Michigan, and settled down for a permanent home in Evanston, Illinois, then a flourishing town fours years of age, where had been located the Northwestern University, the Garrett Biblical Institute, and the Northwestern Female College.

From 1858 as student, teacher, traveler, and foremost woman in every good work" in America, Evanston was Miss Willard's home. The student life of this wonderful woman began in her very early childhood, when during the Ohio period of residence she came in contact with the spirit of Oberlin, listened to the rehearsal of the students' declamations and orations, and was inspired by the sermons of President Finney. At Forest Home, Wis., a home school for the children was established, where for five years Frances received instructions from the world's best teacher, an intelligent Christian mother, until the little district schoolhouse, a mile away, became to the ambitious girl "a temple of learning."

In 1857 she became a pupil at the Milwaukee Female College, at Evanston, where, in 1859, she graduated with high honors. Miss Willard's chief ambition Miss Willard's chief ambition during her school days was to become a teacher. Within the sixteen years between 1858 and 1874 she was a successful teacher in eleven separate institutions of learning, in six different localities, and made her impress upon two thousand students who to this day rise up and call her blessed, as in their strong manhood and womanhood they gratefully remember the school

days when Frances E. Willard inspired them to be somebody.

In 1870 she was chosen president of the Evanston College for Ladies, which institution was subsequently merged in the Northwestern University. Miss Willard was made professor of æsthetics in the University and dean of the Faculty. In June, 1874, she resigned these positions, the highest yet attained by any woman, and forever terminated her calling as a pedagogue. pedagogue. She turned her head and heart toward a work in which her achievements are without a parallel,

The Woman's Temperance Crusade, beginning in Ohio, in the closing days of 1873, had arrested the attention of Miss Willard, who had been rooted and grounded in the total abstinence faith. The crusade stirred her soul, and she made a solemn covenant that with God's blessing and guidance, she would become an active aggressive force against the drink habit and the liquor traffic, and would devote her every energy to the utter overthrow of the latter as the only cure of the former. She listened to the stirring words of Francis Murphy. She sat at the feet of Neal Dow, and studied the problem of legal prohibition. She received hearty, enthusiastic encouragement from Mary A. Livermore. She heard Jerry McCauley tell the story of his redemption. In Pittsburg she marched with the crusaders, knelt with them on pavements and on the sawdust floor of the saloon. Returning to Chicago she immediately began the work she has never for a moment laid down. She rejected many most tempting offers of high place at high salary in educational institutions. She at once became president of the Woman's Temperance Organization in Chicago, and opened the first headquarters known to Woman's Christian Temperance Union annals. She lived on half-rations, frequently on no rations, and walked many a mile that she might save the five-cent fare for the prosecution of her work, or drop a nickel in the hand of the drunkard's suffering wife or child.

At Cleveland, in November, 1874, convened a company of women who organized the National Wom¬ an's Christian Temperance Union, and elected as corresponding secretary thereof Miss Frances E. Willard, Miss Willard continued in the office of corresponding. secretary until her resignation in 1877. At Indianapolis, in 1879, Miss Willard was elected president of the National Woman's Temperance Union, and waş re-elected annually, by a substantially unanimous vote.

When Miss Willard was 50 years old a purse of $3,000 was given to her by members of the Woman'ş Christian Temperance Union. This money she laid aside, as she pleasantly expressed it, " for her old age.' Within a few months, when the agitation to free “The Temple" in Chicago from debt was begun, she took this money, which was all she had for a "rainy day," and gave it to the fund. She had one other possession, a beautiful home at Evanston, Ill. "Rest Cottage" was known to temperance workers all over the world. Many a tired and worn-out advocate of temperance principles received an invitation to make "Rest Cottage " a temporary home. The cottage was valued at $10,000,

Sergeant Vaughan went up on the roof. The smoke was so dense there that he could see little, but through it he heard a cry for help, and made out the shape of a man standing upon a window-sill in the fifth story, overlooking the courtyard of the hotel. The yard was between them. Bidding his men follow they were five, all told-he ran down and around in the next street to the roof of the house that formed an angle with the hotel wing. There stood the man below him, only a jump away, but a jump which no mortal might take and live. His face and hands were black with smoke. Vaughan, looking down, thought him a negro. He was perfectly calm.

It is no use," he said, glancing up. You can't do it."

"Don't try.

The sergeant looked wistfully about him. Not a stick or a piece of rope was in sight. Every shred was used below. There was absolutely nothing. “But I couldn't let him," he said to me, months after, when he had come out of the hospital a whole man again, and was back at work-"I just couldn't, standing there so quiet and brave." To the men he said sharply:

"I want you to do exactly as I tell you, now. Don't grab me, but let me get the first grab." He had noticed that the man wore a heavy overcoat, and had already laid his plan.

"Don't try," urged the man. You cannot save me. I will stay here till it gets too hot; then I will jump."

"No, you won't," from the sergeant, as he lay at full length on the roof, looking over. "It is a pretty hard yard down there. I will get you, or go dead myself."

The four sat on the sergeant's legs as he swung free down to the waist; so he was almost able to reach the man on the window, with outstretched hands.

Now, jump-quick!" he commanded; and the man jumped. He caught him by both wrists as directed, and the sergeant got a grip on the collar of his

coat.

The

"Hoist!" he shouted to the four on the roof; and they tugged with their might. The sergeant's body did not move. Bending over till the back creaked, it hung over the edge, a weight of two hundred and three pounds suspended from and holding it down. cold sweat started upon his men's foreheads as they tried and tried again, without gaining an inch. Blood dripped from Sergeant Vaughan's nostrils and ears. Sixty feet below was the paved courtyard; over against him the window, behind which he saw the back-draft

coming, gathering headway with lurid, swirling smoke. Now it burst through, burning the hair and the coats of the two. For an instant he thought all hope was gone.

But in a flash it came back to him. To relieve the terrible dead weight that wrenched and tore at his muscles, he was swinging the man to and fro like a pendulum, head touching head. He could swing him up! A smothered shout warned his men. They crept nearer the edge without letting go their grip on him, and watched with staring eyes the human pendulum swing wider and wider, farther and farther, until now, with a mighty effort, it swung within their reach. They caught the skirt of the coat, held on, pulled in, and in a moment lifted him over the edge.

They lay upon the roof, all six, breathless, sightless, their faces turned to the winter sky. The tumult of the street came up as a faint echo; the spray of a score of engines pumping below fell upon them, froze, and covered them with ice. The very roar of the fire seemed far off. The sergeant was the first to recover. He carried down the man he had saved, and saw him sent off to the hospital. Then first he noticed that he was not a negro; the smut had been rubbed off his face. Monday had dawned before he came to, and days passed before he knew his rescuer. Sergeant Vaughan was laid up himself then. He had returned to his work, and finished it; but what he had gone through was too much for human strength. It was spring before he returned to his quarters, to find himself promoted, petted, and made much of.

THE CROW.

INQUIRIES are frequently sent to the Pennsylvania Audubon Society (114 South Twenty-first Street, Philadelphia) as to what attitude the Society assumed toward the crow. Is it possible that he, too, is to be protected? Does he not pull up the sprouting corn; destroy cultivated fruit, and feed on the eggs and young of other birds? Surely, such a reprobate as this deserves no mercy. However, there are two sides to every story, and after years of persecution people are beginning to find out that even a crow is not always as black as he is painted. In 1895 the Department of Agriculture published a report on the food habits of the crow, based on the examination of the contents of nearly a thousand stomachs. In the letter prefacing this report, Dr. C. Hart Merriam says:

"In order to ascertain whether the sum of the harm done outweighs the sum of the good, or the contrary, the different kinds of food found in the stomachs have been reduced to quantitable percentages and contrasted. The total quantity of corn eaten during the year amounts to twenty-five per cent. of the food of the adult crows, and only nine and three-tenths per cent. of the food of young crows. Leaving the young out of consideration, it may be said that in agricultural districts about one-fourth of the food of the crow consists of corn. But less than fourteen per cent. of this corn, and only three per cent. of the total food of the crow, consists of sprouting corn and corn in the

milk; the remaining eighty-six per cent. of the corn, or ninety-seven per cent. of the total food, is chiefly waste grain, picked up here and there, mainly in the winter, and of no economic value." To counterbalance his bad habits, the crow can be credited with the destruction of a vast amount of noxious insects and injurious animals. Of the former may be mentioned cut worms, grasshoppers and May beetles, and of the latter mice and young rabbits. It will be seen by this that the crow having, as it were, appeared before the tribunal at Washington, is exonerated, as, although he does some harm, still the good outweighs, and therefore it would not be to our benefit to be without him.

As to the charge of nest robbing, this comes more under the province of the Audubon Society; but even here the case is exaggerated. In the report quoted above Dr. Merriam says: "In the case of cultivated fruits the loss is trivial. The same is true of the eggs and young of poultry and wild birds, the total amounting to one per cent. of the food." When one comes to think of it, the crow has not had a very high standard given him by his human neighbors. We have no record of any of these crimes as committed by him before the landing of the Mayflower. We all know that example" is better than precept." Certainly, in the last two centuries, no example of "hands off" where nests are concerned has been set to anyone, much less to the crows. Many stories are told of the extreme cleanliness of this black-coated rascal, and the farmer who would keep him off the premises finds that he has a keen wit to deal with. Of all the methods for protecting the corn, it has been found that dipping it in tar before planting is the best. This, of course, refers only to the sprouting corn. When it is in the milk many intelligent people, who realize the money value of the services of the crows, feed them with old corn, which insures their crop from injury, and at the same time gains the help of the birds. As the Audubon societies spread from State to State (there are nineteen organized now), it is to be hoped that some of the kind feeling will extend to the crow, and that his real usefulness will be recognized.

A SAND-STORM IN THE DESERT. R. TALBOT KELLY writes and illustrates an article en

titled, "My Bedouin Friends" for the "Century Magazine." He says of the dreaded sand-storm:

The air is hot and sulphurous, while the sun becomes lurid and sickly in its glare. At first the hot wind comes in slight puffs, like breaths from a kiln; but each moment it increases in velocity, carrying with it more and more fine drift-sand, which, blinding the eyes and choking the lungs, gradually produces a most distressing feeling of depression and suffocation. By degrees, as the storm gains strength, little splinters of rock and small pebbles are lifted up and hurled at one like hailstones, cutting the skin like knives, until eyes and ears are full of blood, unless one has been able to protect himself against the blast. The native cufia, or silk scarf, wrapped round the head and face, and

leaving only the eyes exposed, is the most effective protection; but the heat is suffocating, and quickly reduces one to impotence. As the storm continues perhaps for several days, the sun becomes totally obscured, while the ever-moving sand gradually assumes the appearance of billows, threatening to overwhelm everything. Nothing can be distinctly seen above or around; and the moving sand-drifts, splashing and breaking like surf upon rocks, are slowly but surely enveloping everything in camp, and piling up tons of drift against tents and baggage.

Camp-equipage is hastily packed and loaded upon the terror-stricken animals, and the party starts to ride obliquely through the storm toward the nearest high ground or mountain spur. To remain still means 'to be covered and entombed. Even should water-skins not be cracked or dried up, in any attempts to drink the sufferer absorbs as much dust as water, and his plight is worse than before. Eating is out of the question; smoking is equally impossible. Forty-eight hours have I ridden in such circumstances, changing horses from time to time as they became too much distressed for further use, and until I had hardly power to mount. After such a ride as this it may well be imagined how we relished our first halt in the shelter of a friendly hill, and enjoyed the luxury of a dish of sour milk, and, above all, a smoke.

Fortunately, the khamsin, though supposed to last for fifty days, is intermittent in its energy, three days' blow being usually followed by a few fine days; and, as a rule, its violence is not sufficient to be a source of danger. As showing the velocity of wind sometimes attained, I remember seeing in the Delta a palm-tree, probably sixty feet in height, bent over by the wind until its crest swept the ground and excavated a large hole in the course of the day. Besides the khamsin, there are other forms of sand-storm, which, though of shorter duration, come with a suddenness and vehemence that almost defy protection. The most curious of these is perhaps what is locally called "a devil ”—a sudden gust of wind eddying down the mountain gorges, and bursting on the desert like a whirlwind, carrying pillars of sand with it.

Another curious phase of the sand-storm is one that I experienced in the Libyan desert. The weather was perfectly fine, and I was working comfortably at my picture, when suddenly I noticed in the horizon what appeared to be a cloud, black in its upper region and orange below. Before I had time to realize what was happening, a blast of cold wind whirled away picture and easel, and enveloped me in dust and flying pebbles. A moment later dust had turned to dropping mud, which in turn gave place to torrential rain, drenching me to the skin, and effectually washing the sand out of my system; after that were peace and genial sunshine once more.

PUBLIC manias come and go. They are often virulent while they rage; but, like all contagious diseases, their force is soon exhausted. Wise men take warning and avoid the succeeding craze. Fools pass on, and are punished. —Christian Register.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

ERNEST INGERSOLL, in Harper's Magazine," considers the shape of birds' eggs. It is noticeable, he says, that the more spherical eggs, as those of owls, trogons, and the like, are usually laid in holes in the earth, rocks, or trees, where they cannot fall out of the nest, and that the eggs of the ordinary song-bird, which makes a well-constructed nest, are oval, while the slim, straight-sided, conoidal eggs, tapering sharply to a point, belong to birds that construct little or no nestto the shore-birds, terns, guillemots, and the like. Why? Because these last drop them in small clutches, and with little or no preparation, upon sand or rock, where, were they spherical, they could only with difficulty be kept close beneath the sitting bird; but conical objects will tend always to roll toward a centre. An additional advantage is that eggs of the latter shape will take up less space-form a snugger package to be warmed. In the case of guillemots the single egg laid is especially flat-sided and tapering, and the species owes its perpetuation largely to this circumstance ; since, were it not for the egg's toplike tendency to revolve about its own apex, the chances are that it would be pushed off the ledge of naked sea-cliff where the careless or stupid bird leaves it.

This suggests a word in reference to the popular fable that sitting birds carefully turn their eggs every day, or oftener, in order to warm them equally. No such thing is done, because unnecessary, since, as we have seen, the germinal part always rises to the top, and places itself nearest the influential warmth of the mother's body.

During the year 1897, says Meehans' Monthly the botanists of New Castle county, Delaware, chiefly Tatnall and Canby, discovered 104 species of plants that had either entered their territory or had been supposed to have wholly disappeared during recent years. Plant wanderings are very interesting. The Kew Weed, Galinzoga parviflora, became wild there from Mexican seed. From Kew, it has been distributed freely.

The working of a plan of ventilation of rooms devised by Dr. Castaing, a French physician, is highly commended. It consists in the use of double windows, with openings at the bottom of one and at the top of the opposite one, through which the air comes in freely without anyone feeling it. The system is said to possess simplicity, efficiency and cheapness.

"Prof. E. Ray Lankester has taken the pains," says the "Popular Science Monthly," to contradict an assertion that There is not a parhe was opposed to amateurs in science. ticle of truth in it," he writes; "the members of the Marine Biological Association are mostly amateurs; Darwin was an amateur; it is rare indeed to find a professional naturalist of any merit who is not in the true sense of the term an amaI have never despised the efforts of amateurs on teur. the ground that they were made by amateurs; but, on the contrary, have been occupied entirely with organizing those efforts, and in making and recording observations myself as an amateur. On the other hand, I have but little toleration for incompetence, pretense, or fraud, whether in an amateur or a professional man."

A good illustration of the effects of culture on the health of vegetables is seen in the Bermuda lily, so much used and admired. It has become seriously diseased. A. F. Woods, Assistant Chief of Vegetable Physiology in Washington, has been studying the nature of its diseases, and finds there are several of them, and they destroy every year from twenty to sixty per cent, of the hot-house crop. The causes are principally forced culture. The bulbs have been weakened by improper selection and improper propagation. They are no longer able to resist the attacks of fungi. The only remedy appears to be more hygienic culture. Thus do we see the need of hygiene, not only for preserving the health of man, but also of plants.

I. B. Cappoch gives in the " Herald of Health " "his views on the potato. It has the following composition in parts per 100: Water, 75.77; albuminoids, 1.79; fat, .16; carbohydrates, 21.31; salts, .97.

Here the nutriment may be looked upon as about 23 per cent., consisting of the albuminoids, fat and carbohydrates. The fat and albuminoids are very low, but if served up with milk and cream, these two substances would be increased, and the combination rendered a more perfect food from a scientific point of view.

Those potatoes are the most digestible and nutritious. which in boiling break down into a floury mass. This is due to the breaking up of the starch. Young potatoes that do not undergo this process of breaking are in the highest degree indigestible, and should not be eaten by those who are not good starch digesters.

In the preparation of potatoes for the table the following points should be taken notice of:

The albuminous matter surrounds the skin of the potato, and if the skin is removed one cannot help but remove this albuminous matter at the same time; it follows, therefore, potatoes should be boiled in their skins, which makes it possible to remove them without the albuminous layer underneath. Moreover, the skin acts as a membrane resisting the soaking out of the valuable salts. If potatoes are peeled they should not be allowed to soak in cold water or warm water before boiling, as this helps to dissolve out the soluble salts. Remember that the dissolving out of the salts is reduced to a minimum by baking or steaming the potatoes; both are preferable to boiling.

CURRENT EVENTS.

THE Maine disaster has continued to be the chief topic of discussion in all quarters. Many sensational reports have been printed, which were no sooner printed than denied. The weight of evidence open to the public has gone to establish the belief that the ship was not wrecked from any explosion inside, but by one outside. The several theories of an internal explosion were substantially all disposed of negatively. The Naval Court of Inquiry sat at Havana until the 27th ult., when they went to Key West. It was expected that after staying there two or three days they would return to Havana. Their report, it is said, may not be given out for a fortnight or more. Divers have been at work on the wreck continuously, and the wrecking companies will begin operations as soon as possible. There is no thought, apparently, that the ship can be raised and floated.

THE work of the divers on the Maine has developed the fact, it is said, that her keel is broken, and that the two pieces lie detached. This indicates an external explosion of great force, perhaps a "mine." mine." Many bodies of the dead seamen have not been recovered. Divers employed by the Spanish authorities will inspect the wreck. Plans of the ship have been furnished them. The Spanish warship Viscaya, which was at New York some days, reached Havana on the 1st inst. Reports from Havana continually refer to the excitement in that city, and the danger to American residents of a sudden outbreak.

THE Spanish Cortes (Parliament, or Congress), has been dissolved, and new elections are to take place at once-the Deputies on the 23d inst., and the half of the Senators who are chosen by popular vote on the 3d proximo. The new Cortes will meet on the 24th. According to the Spanish system, the party in power, the Government, always controls the elections, and chooses such a majority as it desires. It is presumed the present Ministry, headed by Sagesta, will follow this system. The so-called elections, except in the chief city, Barcelona, and some other places, are matters of form. The finances become increasingly desperate. Every sort of expedient is resorted to to raise money, the "monopoly" of petroleum being now offered for sale to the highest bidder.