And yet the command, "Thou shalt not kill," the primary law of society, is broken more frequently in this country than in any other country, perhaps, in the world, that calls itself civilized. It will not do to say that there are very few murders in Massachusetts or Iowa; for South Carolina and Louisiana are equally parts of the United States, and we are responsible for the moral condition of all our country. In large parts of our country murders abound, murders of the most cruel sort. There are many towns of but two or three thousand inhabitants in which several people live unpunished and unmolested, who have committed murder. In Lake City, with three hundred inhabitants, there are probably fifty murderers living to-day who have no fear of the law for it was only a "nigger" that was killed, and he was killed by a mob.

He was a worthless man, say the Associated Press dispatches. He was not courteous to those who came for their mail; and we see some Northern papers which say this was probably the fact. The presumption is, not that such reports sent North will be true, but that they will be false. The presumption is that this murdered man was as intelligent and much more decent and moral than those who were too superfine to go to his office for their mail. When the United States appoints a postmaster, the presumption is in his favor; and that presumption is much stronger than that of the reports sent by men who excuse a murder. He had been a teacher, and the presumption is that he was a man of position and influence and some property in that rural community. That pre sumption is not destroyed by the fact that the people of Lake City refused to let him rent a building for a post-office in the village, and compelled him to set up the office outside its limits. Nor is it diminished by the fact that three times before an attempt had been made to kill him.

But the charges that Baker was ignorant, insolent to lady patrons of the post-office, and lazy, are not true. We have taken great pains to get accurate information from a man of character who knows the town and knew the man.

Frazier B. Baker was a man of good character and fairly intelligent. For a number of years he was a school-teacher, holding a commission from one of the county boards of the State. When complaints were made against him United States inspectors examined his office, and conduct, found his books well kept, and recommended him as faithful and efficient. His reputation was good, and he had no chance to be insolent to women, as the white men of Lake City sent the former postmaster to the office for their mail in bulk, and it was then distributed by him. At first he held his office in the parsonage of a negro preacher; but that was burned down. Then he secured the schoolhouse connected with another church, not a cabin, but a small frame building, a portion of which he partitioned off as post-office, and used the rest to live in with his family. Here he met his death. He was quite the equal of the average white man of the village in his intelligence, and it seems their superior in character and courage.

Is there no Presbyterian, Methodist, or Baptist church in Williamsburg County? Certainly there is; the census tells of eight white Presbyterian churches, twenty-two white Baptist, and twenty-nine white Methodist churches. This county adjoins the county in which is situated the City of Charleston; it has a population of nine thousand whites and eighteen thousand negroes. The county has its thousands of communicants, but, communicants or not, these lynchers. are not Christians; they are murderers, and murderers. are not Christians. There ought to be missionaries sent to Williamsburg County, not to the negroes, but to the whites.

FRANCES WILLARD'S SENSE OF HUMOR. A SURE, keen sense of humor, a contemporary says, was by no means the least of the late Miss Frances E. Willard's many good and great gifts. It was largely instrumental in her success as an organizer and leader. Many a trying moment or possible tension has she lightened and brightened by a good story or some appropriate or timely incident. She was always ready to join in a laugh, and often she laughed at herself, but she was never known to laugh at others. Her belief in those who worked with her was their inspiration. Like Pliny, she always saw the good in her comrades, it seemed as though she could not see the bad. If her glasses were now and then rose-colored, she refused to think so, and, no matter how much blame she might receive for that, went on her way with a serene spirit, believing that she had merely anticipated, and that "folks" would some day be as she thought them. Folks was a favorite word of Miss Willard's. Her kindliness extended to the smallest detail. She was

ever gracious to the autograph fiends, by whom in. late years she was much sought. Her Catskill home at Twilight Park was their haunt all summer long, but, no matter how busy or weary she was, the importunates usually got what they wanted. One morning while Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Willard were engaged in entertaining visitors at the cottage, a man presented himself with no other excuse than the autograph book under his arm, but with the utmost courtesy Miss Willard dropped everything, inscribed her name as desired, persuaded Lady Somerset to do the same, and then, instead of sending the book out by the maid, took it herself to the stranger. Miss Willard's belief in love and in the power of love was boundless. When asked for a motto for a girls' club some years ago she gave the following: "Nothing is inexorable but love."

TISSOT, the French illustrator of the life of Christ, has been in New York, arranging for an exhibition of his original paintings, which will be given next fall at the galleries of the American Art Association on Madison Square, opening November I. There will be 365 paintings, and also a large number of pen-and-ink drawings and landscape and figure studies made in Palestine. Tissot's great work has been reproduced in book form in Paris, at a cost of $200,000; the ordinary edition sells at $400 a copy, while the last copy of the special edition of 25 copies sold for $2,000. There is to be an American edition of the book.

In the State of New York there is one saloon for every 285 persons, and only one school for every 650 persons.

CATTLE INDUSTRY IN THE WEST.

Harper's Weekly.

It is within two or three years that the industry has taken the form it now has. Briefly stated, that form is the embodiment of the following facts: the best breeding-places for cattle are probably Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and the Indian Territory, where the climate is mild; the best grazing-places for cattle are Montana, Wyoming, Western Kansas, and Western Nebraska, the home of the native grasses on which the great herds of buffalo used to graze; the best feeding or fattening places for cattle are Eastern Kansas, Eastern Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa, where the corn that ripens them is grown; the best killing places for cattle are nearest the feeding places, where the finishing process in food preparation is put on, providing freight facilities are adequate.

In a broad way this movement in the cattle industry is now followed. Vast herds are produced in the warmer regions to the south of the Middle West. After reaching a suitable age they are sent to the great grazing-grounds in the Middle West-grounds apparently designed by nature for this purpose. When they reach the age for killing they are forwarded again to feeding stations, most of which are within 200 miles of the packing houses, and after a stay there to acquire flavor, weight, and fat, they are slaughtered near the stock yards. The great trains of cattle that followed the disuse of the cattle trail are being duplicated today, but in a different way. They are used to transport the cattle to the grazing-grounds. I met a stock man in Kansas who had made, in 1897, no less than six round trips to Oregon, where he purchased native cattle, and, in special trains, had sent them into Wyoming on the range. Hundreds of such special trains went speeding over plain and mountain in 1897, as they had been doing for several years, and as they will continue to do for several years to come.

The statistics of the year show that 295,000 cattle were brought into this country from old Mexico in response to this movement, and an estimate has been made by the cattle experts at Kansas City that in the same year, 1897, no less than 925,000 cattle were brought into Kansas to go upon the grazing-grounds or to be fed for killing. A Dodge City correspondent of the New York "Evening Post" told, in an article published in the middle of December last, of the trip of a wealthy young Kansan to Texas to buy cattle to place upon the range. He bought 45,000 cattle. The correspondent added, “ Ten trains brought the first instalments of the herd northward, and the animals are now eating Kansas grass.

This movement takes place in great magnitude when the national quarantine is lifted. One of the officials of the Sante Fe Railroad in Topeka told me that in the first seven days after the quarantine was lifted that railroad alone brought into Kansas no less. than 35,000 head of cattle, and that the other railroads brought in about the same number. These cattle were distributed in all parts of the State.

SHOE-MAKING FOR GIRLS.

Schofield School Bulletin, Aiken, S. C.

SOME time ago, in one of our barrels, we were pleased to find a shoe-maker's hammer which we kept carefully until we opened our shoe shop to teach students. We had to buy tools and the hammer that came in the barrel is so much better than any we have, and is so fully appreciated by the foreman, we wish to offer special thanks to the donor. We have an excellent special thanks to the donor. Instructor, and every afternoon and Saturdays girls and boys are learning a most useful trade. The shoes that many of them buy seldom wear three months without needing repairs, and a girl with a bench in her own home will be able to make some money during the summer, and it will be more sure than hoeing cotton all day, as money earned in that way often goes for fertilizer and other expenses. Some of the girls show the same care and neatness as in other work, and have reached the place where they can put on a patch, sew a rip, or put on a half sole in a most creditable manner. They learn to make wax ends and do all the necessary work so that a neat job is done. We were enabled to open this long-wished-for department through the kindness of Phebe A. Thorne, of New York, with the help of what we can spare from the sale of clothing, as leather and material have to be bought, as well as the Instructor paid. There is so much work brought in by children from the school that shoes that come in barrels have to wait to be repaired, but as soon as they are done bring much better prices, and can be sold at once. The demand for shoes is very great and those of good material, mended, last much longer than new ones bought in these stores.

THE "VEENDAM" RESCUE.-The story of the rescue of the passengers and crew of the Veendam, on February 7, in mid-ocean, by the St. Louis, makes delightful reading, of the sort that puts us all into conceit with human nature. It is pleasant that an American liner should have had this opportunity, and should have proved so admirably equal to it. To transfer 212 people in so short a time-three hours and ten minutes-in mid-ocean, with a high sea running, was an exploit to be proud of. Indeed, the whole transaction seems to have been creditable to every one concerned in it, and not less to the rescued than to the rescuers. There were order and discipline aboard the sinking ship, and very skillful and willing work by the men of the St. Louis.

It came

so near to being a tragedy, and, as it was, not a life was lost. That was grand! Fine things happen at sea, where the obligations of human brotherhood seem somehow to be much more imperative and more readily acknowledged than ashore.-Harper's Weekly.

In one way, as I look back over the past year, it has been a hard year, but in another light there are so many things to be glad for that a spirit of gladness predominates. I mean to dwell upon all the good things and to try to forget the sad things in my lot, or transmute them into good. Pessimism is such a bad habit of mind.-P. A. H.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

THE number of cases of suicide among Germans has long been noted. Prof. William Z. Ripley, in the Lowell lectures of 1896, refers to this. He says:

Another social phenomenon has been laid at the door of the Teutonic race of northern Europe; one which even more than divorce is directly the concomitant of modern intellectual and economic progress. We refer to suicide. Morselli devotes a chapter of his interesting treatise upon this subject to proving that "the purer the German race-that is to say, the stronger the Germanism (e. g., Teutonism) of a country—the more it reveals in its psychical character an extraordinary propensity to self-destruction." On the other hand, the Slavic peoples seem to him to be relatively immune. These conclusions he draws from detailed comparison of the distribution of suicide in the various countries of Western Europe, and it must be confessed that he has collected data for a very plausible case. There can be no doubt that in Germany the phenomenon culminates in frequency for all Europe, and that it tends to disappear in almost direct proportion to the attenuation of the Teutonic racial characteristics elsewhere."

Professor Agassiz of Harvard has arrived at San Francisco after an absence of some months on the South seas, spent in studying the formation of the coral islands. It is said that he is now prepared to demonstrate, in opposition to the theories of Darwin and Dana, that the coral islands are not built up from the bottom, but are formed by a comparatively thin crust of coral upon tops of submerged mountains at points where the ocean is comparatively shallow. In nearly every instance where borings have been made in the coral, the coral has been found to be shallow. At a few places where it seems to have great depths Professor Agassiz says that the material into which deep borings are made is lime of a former age of the earth.

Reviewing the progress in archæology made in the present century, Ludwig Büchner says, the existence of the fossil man, which had been doubted so long, has been proved, and the geological age of the human race established. The series of discoveries coming under this head was opened in the years 830-240 by the discovery, made by the French scientist Boucher de Perthes, of man-made diluvial flint axes in the Somme Valley in the north of France. Since then the researches concerning the age and the preliminary history of mankind have become the favorite study of the time and of scholars, and there has come into being within a comparatively short time a literature on this subject the wealth of which can hardly be surveyed. The discoveries in this vast and interesting domain are accumulating from year to year to such an extent as to give rise to a new and successful science of archæology. While on the one hand this science teaches us that the existence of man on earth must be shifted back into hoary ages to which the historical period cannot be compared at all, it shows us, on the other hand, that this period considered geologically-i.e., when compared with the periods of evolution of the earth-is of itself a very recent and new one. It is for this reason that the origin of man must be regarded as the crowning or culminating point of the whole organic evolution—a point beyond which the development of the world was no longer carried on by Nature, but by man.

In a discussion of Education in Animals, in the “Popular Science Monthly," M. C. Letourneau says: "When lions were still numerous and easily observed in southern Africa, they were sometimes seen instructing one another in voluntary gymnastics, and practicing their leaps, making a bush play the part of the absent game. Moffat tells the story of a lion, which had missed a zebra by miscalculating the distance, repeating the jump several times for his own instruction; two of his comrades coming upon him while he

was engaged in the exercise, he led them around the rock to show them how matters stood, and then, returning to the starting point, completed the lesson by making a final leap. The animals kept roaring during the whole of the curious scene, 'talking together,' as the native who watched them said. By the aid of individual training of this kind, industrial animals become apter as they grow older; old birds, for instance, constructing more artistic nests than young ones, and little mammals like mice becoming more adroit with age. Yet, however ancient in the life of the species these acquisitions. may be, they have not the solidity of primordial instincts, and are lost rapidly if not used."

The necessity of coverings in sleep is thus explained by a medical publication: Nature takes the time when one is lying. down to give the heart rest; and that organ consequently makes ten strokes less a minute than when one is in an upright posture. Multiply that by sixty minutes, and it is six hundred strokes. Therefore, in eight hours spent in lying down, the heart is saved nearly five thousand strokes; and, as the heart pumps six ounces of blood with each stroke, it lifts thirty thonsand ounces less of blood in a night of eight hours spent in bed than when one is in an upright position. As the blood flows so much more slowly through the veins. when one is lying down, one must supply, then, with extra. coverings, the warmth usually furnished by circulation.

The growth of cities is one of the marvels of our time. The European cities have not only grown like those of America, but many of them faster. Berlin has outgrown New York, in less than a generation, having in twenty-five years added as many actual new residents as Chicago, and twice as many as Philadelphia. Hamburg has gained twice as many in population since 1875 as Boston; Leipsic has distanced St. Louis. The same demographic outburst has occurred in the smaller German cities as well. Cologne has gained the lead over Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburg, although in 1880 it was the smallest of the four. Madgdeburg has grown faster than Providence in the last ten years. Düsseldorf has likewise outgrown St. Paul. Beyond the confines of the German Empire, from Norway to Italy, the same is true. Stockholm has doubled its population; Copenhagen has increased two and one-half times; Christiania has trebled its numbers in a generation. Rome has increased from 184,000 in 1860 to 450,000

in 1894. Vienna, including its suburbs, has grown three times over within the same period. Paris from 1881 to 1891 absorbed four-fifths of the total increase of population for all of France within the same period.

CURRENT EVENTS.

THE apprehension of war with Spain has continued to be the most serious and absorbing topic. The Board of Inquiry in the Maine disaster has not concluded its labors; there are suggestions that these are being prolonged to give time for more military and naval preparations by this country. Such preparations have been made, night and day, for the past few weeks. The United States Senate passed the fifty millions appropriation on the 10th, by a unanimous vote, without debate. On the 12th it was announced that two war-ships building in England for Brazil, the Amazonas and Admiral Abreuall, had been purchased by the United States. Japan has definitely refused to sell the United States the two war vessels building in this country,-one at Philadelphia, and one at San Francisco,—as she wishes to increase her own strength for a possible contest with Russia. It is said that Spain has been unable to buy war-ships, and especially that Chile and the Argentine Republic have refused to sell to her.

THE report of the Board of Inquiry, it is said at this writing, may soon appear. Many intimations have been given that it will state that the cause of the destruction of the Maine was external, and not an accident. The crew of the wrecking tug Right Arm which has returned from Havana to Norfolk, say it is an open secret among all the divers and officers at Havana that the big magazines were intact, and that

Last

the Maine had been destroyed by a torpedo or mine. week's issue of the Army and Navy Register contained a remarkable statement. It said: "The Maine was destroyed by a Government submarine mine planted in Havana harbor and deliberately exploded. More than this, it appears that the Maine was purposely moored in the vicinity of the mine, and that the explosion occurred at the moment when the ship had been opportunely carried by wind and tide directly over the mine." The captain of a German ship at Newport News, Va., says that he saw mines and torpedoes being placed in Havana harbor, two years ago, when he was there with his ship, the work being done by order of General Weyler.

IN the prospect of a possible war between Spain and the United States there has been much speculation as to the attitude other nations would take. In England there have been many expressions of sympathy with this country, and the calmness and moderation of the Government and people have been much praised, especially by the Liberal newspapers, but also by Conservatives, including the London Times. The London Daily News hopes that, in case the United States engages in another war, the English government may not repeat any of its "historic mistakes," of acting as if it considered America's troubles England's opportunity. Japan appears friendly to the United States. It is declared by a Vienna correspondent that Austria and Germany sympathize with Spain, the former being actuated by family ties between the two reigning houses, and the latter by a grudge against the United States. It is said Emperor William of Germany is warmly seconding the efforts of Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary to induce the European Powers to present to the United States the danger to Europe of their carrying any further their interference in Cuban affairs.

A FLEET of six Spanish torpedo boats, (small steamboats, very swift, to destroy larger warships with torpedoes), has left Cadiz for the Canary Islands, and will proceed thence to Porto Rico, and from there to Havana. The Board of Inquiry in the Maine disaster left Havana on the 15th for Key West. A dispatch from London reports the Prince of Wales as definitely urging an alliance between England and the United States. Sir William Robinson, Governor of Hong Kong, advocates an understanding between England and the United States on the Chinese question. The insurrection against the authority of Spain in the Phillipine Islands has again broken out.

WHEATLET

DELICATE DELICIOUS S

THE news at the closing of these notes appears to encourage somewhat the hopes for a peaceful solution of the Spanish troubles. Dispatches from Madrid say there is a strong desire to avoid war. A proposal is sent out from Washington, perhaps as a test of public feeling, that Congress be persuaded to adjourn early, so as to leave the President and his advisers a freer hand, and that Cuba be bought from Spain for $300, 000,000. Senator Hanna and others are said to favor this. The Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger, "J. M. C." (John M. Carson), in a dispatch, on the 15th, says: "Behind this effort to secure an early adjournment for the purpose indicated, it is alleged, stands the money power of this country and Europe, and that this potential influence is being used to operate upon the Madrid as well as the Washington Government."

THE elections for members of the County Council, --the local governing body, corresponding somewhat to our City Councils,-of London, have just been held. The contest was very animated, there being a strong effort by the Conservative or "Tory" leaders to procure a majority favorable to their views. The present Government, the Marquis of Salisbury and some of his associates, are said to have used all the influence they could bring to bear. The result, however, was a complete defeat for them, the new Council having a majority of about 24 Progressives (or Liberals) in the total membership, which is 118. A special effort was made to defeat John Burns, the labor leader, in the Baltersea district, and the Earl of Denbigh particularly exerted himself to that end, but he was rechosen. A dispatch says the excitement over the election. exceeded that of parliamentary elections. "Cabinet minis

ters, peers and peeresses, commoners, clergymen, officers, diplomats, judges, etc., have attended the scores of meetings which have taken place nightly. The two parties placed about 240 candidates in the field, and the issues discussed involved many national questions."

THE herd of reindeer purchased for the United States by Dr. Sheldon Jackson, in Lapland, and which left New York on the 1st inst. to go overland to the Pacific Coast, duly reached Seattle. A dispatch from there on the 13th stated that the deer, and all the Laplanders, would be sent north in a steamer, to Pyramid Harbor, and from there would go into the interior of Alaska.

A. J. WEIDENER,

36 South Second Street, Philadelphia.