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is of vital importance for our satisfying need, without showing a disposition to share it with others."

On behalf of the Discipline Committee, the portion treating of Conduct and Conversation was read by Evan T. Worthington. Considerable comment followed, especially on the exhortation to maintain a strict watch over one's self against "the subtle and mischievous spirit of tale-bearing and detraction."

In the Current Topics section the Audubon Society's work was read from FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER by R. Anna Reeder : also some portions of the report of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Girard College. Pertinent remarks followed.

The committee which had been appointed at the last Association to make inquiry what means to adopt in furtherance of the extension of the Society, as suggested by the report of the New York and Brooklyn Association, presented a list of suggestions which, being adopted, a lookout committee, consisting of seven members, was appointed, and also a publication committee, of three.

This Association has never borne the name of the "Young" Friends' Association, being more largely composed of the older members. At this meeting several young Friends signed the Constitution.

After a period of silence the meeting adjourned, to meet at the home of Mabel W. Worstall, Second month 3d.

S. J. R

RISING SUN.-At West Nottingham, on the 2d of First month, the Young Friends' Association met at the close of meeting, and was opened by the president reading the 3d chapter of John. After calling the roll, the minutes of last meeting were approved as read.

The regular exrcises being next in order, Edwin Buffington presented some helpful thoughts as to "The Efficacy of Prayer." He said: “We picture the hereafter, and we picture God, but to transfer our own nature to Him is very erroneous. The change must be within ourselves. And it is only when we have come into that humble condition, receptive to his influence, through the unfolding of our soul's life, that we know something of the efficacy of prayer.”

A biographical sketch of Elias Hicks was read by the secretary, in the absence of the one appointed, impressing the thought that the promotion of spiritual holiness and practical righteousness in the earth was the object of his constant solicitude.

Elizabeth A. Lincoln read a synopsis of one of Elias Hicks' sermons, as prepared by Maggie W. Scott, she being absent.

The question for discussion was : "How will the Young Friends' Association affect the Society of Friends?" The general thought was that if we will give the true service unto which God calls us, in every field of labor, it would bring strength to each of us, and to us all collectively.

The time for adjournment having arrived, the program for our next meeting was read, the usual silence observed, and the Association closed to meet the first First-day in Second month.

ELLA F. HUNT, Cor. Secretary.

PENN'S GROVE, PA.-Penn's Grove young Friends' Association met at the home of S. H. Broomell, First month 2, with quite a number present. Our meetings seem to be on the increase. The superintendent read the 51st Psalm. M. G. Hoopes represented the Literature Committee, and read an original article, "That Naughty Boy." Edgar A. Muse produced a paper in which the prevailing thought was the evils of Intemperance and the Tobacco habit. Carrie Pusey represented the History Committee, and wrote of the of Bayard Taylor."

The question for Friendly consideration was : "Can we be consistent and useful members of Society and not attend our meetings for worship and discipline with a good degree of regularity, when health permits?" Samuel H. Broomell opened this question by producing an excellent paper. Anna Broomell recited "True Victory."

Hiram Cooper read articles entitled Questions as to War," and "Endorsements of Total Abstinence."

The roll was called, members answering with sentiments. The hymn, “Let the Lower Lights be Burning," was sung. After a period of silence adjourned to meet the fourth Firstday in First month, at the home of Pusey Coates.

H.

EI.

Kennett SQUARE, PA.—The Young Friends' Association held a very interesting meeting on Fifth-day evening, the 4th inst. It was gratfying to note the good attendance, and also so many young people present. M. Pennock Barnard, who had been president of the Association ever since its existence having deceased, Mary Wilkinson was chosen to fill that office. The first part of the program was occupied by exercises from local members of the Association, the latter part by an interesting and instructive talk by Mary Travilla, of West Chester. She gave a brief account of her recent visit to Illinois.

*

CINCINNATI, O.-The Friends' Association met First month 2, at 3 p. m., at the home of Dora C. Gallegher. There were only fifteen Friends present, the small attendance being attributed to the very severe weather, Friends are widely separated here, and it is impossible to have our meetings at a very central place.

The meeting proved to be an unusually interesting one. The general subject was, "Friends in Active Life.' George N. Merryweather spoke on John Bright. Our friend, who is himself an Englishman, had often met John Bright at the home of Joseph Sturge, and his address was remarkable for the vivid and feeling way in which he described the Quaker statesman. Charles Johnstone read a paper on Friends in Science.' Edna Hopkins, on behalf of the Committee on Discipline Study, presented the subject of the Ministry.

The next meeting will be at the home of Sarah (Evans) Lippincott, on the 30th, at 3 p. m.

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The subject will be George Fox and the Beginnings of Quakerism," introduced by an address by George Bailey, and a paper by Cora T. Murray. R. B. S.

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LITERARY NOTES.

THE latest issued of Dr. C. C. Abbott's out-door studies is his The Freedom of the Fields," in which he deals, in his accustomed breezy and lively way, with subjects appropriate to that title. His chapters include "An April Day Dream," "The Changeful Skies," "Indian Summer," "The Witchery of Winter," etc.

In a chapter on the "Passing of the Blue Bird," he says that, in the year of his observations, he noticed no bluebirds in the month of May. The sparrow, he believes, has appropriated their nesting places. They have, however, not disappeared altogether, but have taken to the woods, which were formerly their home, for refuge from the sparrow. He makes some interesting and entertaining observations on the extended drought of 1895, when from the 6th of Seventh month to the 31st of Tenth month, (in his vicinity, in western New Jersey), the rainfall was very deficient. There was a general emigration of insects, birds, and even the lower order of animals from the dry fields to moister grounds. He remarks also upon the extreme heat of 1896, which made all animal life inactive and torpid. He thinks the periods of drought recur more regularly each year, and suggests whether it indicates that our seasons are growing to be alternately wet and dry, rather than cold and hot.

The publishers, J. B. Lippincott Co., have made a handsome book. There is a frontispiece illustration, “ April Day Dreams," by Alice Barber Stephens, and other pictures. ($1.50.)

Joseph R. Jackson, of Washington, D. C., well known to many readers of the INTELLIGENCER, has published a small work, in pamphlet, (32 pages), "A Message from the Silence to the Men and Women of the Great Republic." It bears upon the general subject of Purity, and the effectual control of the passions, and is intended for private reading. (Price, 30 cents.)

The concluding portion of Prof. Cesare Lombroso's article on "Why Homicide Has Increased in the United States," appears in this month's "North American Review." The remedies suggested by this eminent criminologist for the suppression of homicide in America are the establishment of colonies for incorrigibles, the multiplication of institutions similar to the one in Elmira, and the constant combating of the saloon influence by temperance and religious societies. In the same number Prof. Fabian Franklin, of Johns Hopkins University, has an excellent essay on The Intellectual Powers of Women," it being in substance a reply to the spirited article by Mrs. G. G. Buckler in the September Review entitled "The Lesser Man." Professor Franklin is of the opinion that it is impossible to determine the relative powers of man and woman; that it will be long before experience can show, even with a moderate degree of probability, what limits there may be to the possibilities of woman in the realm of intellect. In the meanwhile, he pleads, let us not belittle the actual work of women, in pursuance of a baseless dogma of essential inferiority.

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A recently issued English book, with the title, Churches, and Why We Belong to Them," has a chapter on the Friends, contributed by Thomas Hodgkin. The London Daily Chronicle," commending the chapter, says: "It is impossible to read Dr. Hodgkin's able exposition of the principles held by the Quakers without being convinced that the humble Leicestershire peasant who founded this remarkable Society was as great a prophet as Carlyle has made him out to be. George Fox was one of the heroes of a heroic age, but he differed from the other heroes of his time in that he sought to regenerate the world by spiritual influences and not by brute force."

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In the "Popular Science Monthly," for this month, the leading place is given to an important article by George M. Sternberg, Surgeon General of the United States Army, on the Causes and Distribution of Infectious Disease." Dr. Sternberg, among much other interesting data, gives a brief history of the more serious epidemics of the century. Under the title “Aborigines of the West Indies," Lady Edith Blake describes the natives of these islands and their customs as they existed at the time of the landing of Columbus. That event, she remarks, was the first meeting of modern man with prehistoric man, of which we have any account.

In the "Century," this month, Martha Littlefield Phillips contributes a chapter of "Recollections of Washington and His Friends," as preserved in the family of General Nathaniel Greene. Mrs. Phillips was the adopted child, and for many years the constant companion, of her grandmother Cornelia, who was next to the youngest daughter of General Greene. Cornelia Greene visited the Washingtons at Mount Vernon when she was a little girl, and later she spent two winters with the President and his wife at Philadelphia.

IN a Dublin brewery seventy millions of capital are invested, and only three thousand men are employed in the work. The same amount of capital in the Belfast linen trade gives employment to a hundred thousand.

REMARKS UPON "HUGH WYNNE." Editors FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER :

I WISH to congratulate the INTELLIGENCER upon rendering a valuable service to the Society, in its recent review of " Hugh Wynne." I gave the book a careful reading, and to my mind it has no moral value, the only favorable words that can be fairly applied to it are "entertaining and interesting." If this is really the “Great American Novel," then the days of greatness in fiction have passed.

So far as the book can be regarded as having any purpose further than that of profit to the author, it would seem that that purpose is to attack and belittle the Society of Friends, No doubt it will be impossible for the book to have any weight with thoughtful and intelligent people. "As to changing their opinion of the value of Quakerism, or its fruits in advanced Christian character," the Society of Friends is too well known by the character of its people, and its principles have been too well attested by the "peaceable fruits of righteousness," for it to be hurt by the derogatory testimony of a work of imagination; but the effect of the book upon thoughtless, indifferent people, who might have been helped by a fair, friendly presentation of Quakerism, must of course be hurtful. For such results Dr. Mitchell is justly responsible, and I doubt whether even the returns which the book will bring in to him will be in any sense a fair equivalent for the harm his book may do,

Of course Dr. Mitchell is not qualified in any way to present Quakerism or Friendly teaching to the world; to do. that would require both an intimate and a sympathetic knowl-. edge of the Society, and both of these he lacks. But how any person of even average intelligence can read anything of the history of the Society during the latter half of the 18th century and then present the character of John Wynne as that of a typical Friend, is more than I can understand, That very period covers the life of John Woolman, of whom Dr. Mitchell may perhaps have heard. A religious body that could produce such a character as John Woolman can hardly be represented to the world, even in a work of fiction, as being fairly represented by such a personage as John Wynne is made to be. Those who know Quakerism through its; teachings, and have seen only a little of its fruits in ripened character, will not be apt to accept the harsh, cruel, cold, repellant character of John Wynne as in any sense properly. representative of Quakerism.

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Something better might have been expected from Dr. Mitchell. He has known of the Friends by association with some of them. For some time, I think, he was associated with well-known members of our body at the Orthopedic Hospital. The first treasurer of that institution was Joseph C. Turnpenny; another well-known Friend was Dillwyn Parrish. There was nothing like John Wynne in men like these.

Aside from its treatment of the Friends, I find the work unsatisfactory as to its art. The heroine is a disappointing person. We are assured again and again in thę story that Darthea was bright, quick, and witty, but the character as presented gives no internal evidence of this. If she had quickness and wit, it would have been at least fair to her to allow her to show it for herself here and there. But of course it was easier for the novelist to give his readers such assurance, than to give a few specimens of the wit itself, which might not, after all, have been satisfying. R.

MORE ANECDOTES OF JOSEPH HORNOR, DURING the sitting of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, several years ago, after the opening minute had been read on Fourthday morning, Joseph Hornor said that a message had been given him to deliver to the sisters in the other side of the house, and asked approval and permission to go. A discussion followed, many Friends thinking that the time of the women's meeting should not be so taken up, and the matter was about decided against Joseph's going. At this point a Friend in the body of the meeting said that Joseph's message was doubtless of Divine authority, and we assumed a great responsibility in thus deciding. The matter was then taken up by the body of the meeting with a strong approval of his being set at liberty to go. But nearly an hour had been spent in reaching this decision.

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The incident described above (by C. D. L.), vividly recalls that memorable yearly meeting, and the prelude to it is of sufficient interest, we think, to be related in connection therewith. Previous to Joseph Hornor's concern being expressed in the men's meeting, Martha Sheppard, a well remembered minister of our (women's) meeting, asked and obtained permission to visit men Friends. When her concern was laid before the men's meeting they declined to receive her, as their business was pressing, and they sent this word back by our messengers. No sooner had our meeting settled to its work, than two men Friends appeared to say that their meeting had set Joseph Hornor at liberty to pay us a visit, as he had told them he "had a message from the Lord for us. This caused a little feeling of surprise, as our minister had just been refused the delivery of her message to them, and there was a deep silence for a few seconds. Then Lucretia Mott, with her unwavering regard for equal privileges, arose, and with great dignity, said: When Martha Sheppard can take Joseph Hornor's place in the men's meeting, Joseph Hornor can take Martha Sheppard's place in the women's meeting. proving silence overspread the meeting, when Sarah Hoopes, another revered minister, in her beautiful and reverential manner arose, with these words: "If his message 'is from the Lord' we must receive it," and the meeting approved his coming but the messengers had not passed out, when two others arrived to say, that their meeting had reconsidered Martha Sheppard's request and were now prepared to receive her visit. But (like her brother) her "concern" had been removed. Directly there appeared two other messengers to give us the result, as told by C. D. L., relative to Joseph Hornor. Subsequently, as above stated, we had J. H.'s message, and the concern of Martha Sheppard was also revived for the men's benefit.

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Having seen of late several communications of interest in the INTELLIGENCER concerning Joseph Hornor, who was a father in the Israel of our Society, and his gift of discernment in following the "Light," I recall a remarkable incident which occurred in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting some twenty years ago. A Friend earnestly protested against allowing any one, of men's meeting, who was a member of the meeting, to visit the women's meeting during the business sittings, urging that such liberty interfered with the business, and should be accorded only to visiting Friends from other Yearly Meetings. The introducing of this concern, and its approval by many other Friends, made an evident impression. Whether or not this restriction was the usage, claimed, in other Yearly Meetings, it had not of late been so in Philadelphia. The Yearly Meeting did not at once decide the matter; it was deferred to come up later.

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At this time, just as the sitting was about to close, Joseph Hornor, not being aware of the concern before the meeting, owing to his deafness, arose and said that he had a message to deliver to the young men, but first he had one to deliver in the other end of the house to the women. This increased the interest in the subject, amid which the meeting adjourned. But on re-assembling, Joseph was set at liberty to make his visit, and his concern was sent to the women Friends, and report came that they would receive him at once. Accordingly two Friends were named to accompany him. One of them arose, but the other sat still; presently some one called his attention to the appointment, and he then said, without

raising his head, that his mind was under deep travail of spirit, this, I think, was the expression. Just then Joseph Hornor arose and said that his concern to visit the women Friends was taken away from him, and he would then deliver his other message to this meeting." The concern for the men's meeting was to warn young Friends against using tobacco in any form, saying in part that it was in many cases the first stepping-stone toward intemperance, etc. I well remember his animated delivery. He raised his head, and pitched his voice so high that we sitting below could not catch all his words. Afterwards, I was informed, the Friend who sat next to Joseph had promised him that if he spoke at any time too low he would pull his coat-tail. But in this instance he had pitched his voice so high at first that the Friend bore it awhile, and then thinking perhaps by touching him Joseph might lower his voice, he did this, but as no agreement had been made between them to check his voice, his touching him had the contrary effect, and his voice went up still higher.

But it was so remarkable a coincidence that Joseph Hornor's concern at a critical time, and later the concern of another Friend in connection therewith, settled so easily this whole matter before the Yearly Meeting.

WM. T. Kelley.

PERSONAL NOTES.

"

In a private letter from William J. Hall, at Albuquerque, New Mexico, he says: The weather out here has been very fine indeed, ten to fifteen degrees above zero, every morning, but heating up to seventy degrees nearly every day. We are out daily, from 9 a. m. until 5 p. m., excepting the time we take for dinner. I weighed last Sixth-day 145 pounds, the heaviest I ever weighed in my life. If I keep on gaining, I must get better. I certainly feel well."

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Number of days on which .o1 inch or more of rain or snow fell, 12.

Greatest precipitation in any 24 consecutive hours, 1.99 inches of rain, on the 14th.

Number of clear days 6, fair days 14, cloudy days 11.
Prevailing direction of wind from the Northwest.
Snow fell on the 3d, 20th, 22d, 23d, 24th, 26th.
Sleet on the 26th.

Solar halo on the 10th.
Lunar halo on the 2d, 6th.

Meteor on evening of the 23d.

SENSIBLE TEMPERATURE DATA.

Maximum temperature of wet bulb thermometer at 8 a.m., 50 on 11th.
Minimum temperature of wet bulb thermometer at 8 a.m., 15.5 on 24th.
Mean temperature of wet bu b thermometer at 8 .m., 32.5
Maximum temperature wet bulb thermometer at 8 p. m., 54.5 on 11th.
Minimum temperature of wet bulb thermometer at 8 p.m., 18 on 24th.
Mean temperature of wet bulb thermometer at 8 p. m, 34.7..
Mean temperature of wet bulb thermometer for this month, 33.6.

Note. The total snowfall during the month was 1 6 inches—one inch of which fell on the morning of the 22d-it soon melted. No snow on the ground on the 15th, nor at the end of month. The mean temperature of the month was slightly above the average for Twelfth month. There was more than the usual amount of precipitation. JOHN COMLY, Observer. Centennial Avenue, Philadelphia, Twelfth month 31.

THE SKEIN WE WIND.

IF you and I to-day,
Should stop and lay

Our life-work down, and let our hands fall where they will-
Fall down to lie quite still-

And if some other hand should come, and stoop to find
The threads we carried, so that it could wind,

Beginning where we stopped; if it should come to keep

Our life-work going; seek

To carry on the good design
Distinctively made yours, or mine,
What would it find?

Some work we must be doing, true or false;
Soms threads we wind; some purpose so exalts
Itself that we look up to it, or down,

As to a crown

To bow before, and we weave threads Of different lengths and thickness-some mere shredsAnd wind them round

Till all the skein of life is bound,
Sometimes forgetting at the task
To ask

The value of the threads, or choose
Strong stuff to use.

No hands but winds some thread;
It cannot stand quite still till it is dead

But what it spins and winds a little skein.
God made each hand for work-not toil-stain

Is required, but every hand

Spins, though but ropes of sand.

If love should come,

Stooping above when we are done,

To find bright threads

That we have held, that it may spin them longer-find

but shreds

That break when touched, how cold,

Sad, shivering, portionless, the hands will hold

The broken strands and know

Fresh cause for woe.

-George Klingle.

THE INCREASE OF WEEDS.

Meehans' Monthly.

O. H. W., Mountair, Lawrence County, Pa., says: "We are troubled much in our hay and pasture fields by weeds of various kinds, which spread more from year to year. They make the farm look unsightly, spoil the hay, and require much labor to keep them subdued. Could you give us any information on how to exterminate common farm weeds ?' This correspondent has touched on a matter that presses itself on general attention. Thousands of acres of pasture land are occupied by buttercups, daisies and other plants which cattle will not touch, and among which desirable grasses have a hard time to exist. The writer recently saw a ten-acre lot so profusely filled with buttercups, that there was not more than an acre of grass. Only think of nine acres of absolute waste! In almost all cases the weeds could have been eradicated by employing a boy to pull them, when they first appeared, at a cost of a few cents per acre.

When by this early neglect of the proverbial stitch in time the weeds have secured absolute possession of the ground, the only remedy is to plough it up, put in corn, or some crop needing the hoe, and keep thoroughly clean for two years, when the pasture grasses may be again sown.

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NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

A DISPATCH from Bombay, India, dated on the 9th inst., announces that the bubonic plague is again terribly prevalent there. The returns for forty-eight hours preceding the dispatch recorded 142 new cases, and 105 deaths. 'There is a general exodus of the population, and a suspension of business is threatened."

Dr. Sternbergh, Surgeon-General U. S. Army, speaking of the terrible disease known as the " Black Death," which prevailed over Europe in the Middle Ages, and almost caused depopulation of parts of England, in the 14th century, says. it is now believed by experts to be "identical with the bubonic plague of the Orient. No doubt, other pestilential maladies, and especially typhus, or 'spotted fever,'. were confounded with the prevailing epidemic disease. The last mentioned disease is sometimes known as 'famine fever,' on account of its liability to prevail in epidemic form during periods of scarcity of food. Typhus was not recognized by physicians as a distinct disease until about the end of the fifteenth century, and typhoid fever, which prevails as an endemic disease in all parts of the civilized world, was not differentiated from typhus until the early part of the present century. But there can be no doubt that bubonic plague was one of the chief causes of mortality. It continued to prevail in various parts of Europe during the sixteenth century, and during two-thirds of the seventeenth; but during the latter part of the seventeenth century it became more and more rare.'

ARRANGEMENTS are progressing for the Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska, this year, and a bill has passed the United States Senate providing for a Congress of representatives of the Indian tribes, as one of the features of the affair, and appropriating $45,000 to pay the expense. The idea of the Congress is to exhibit the past and present condition of the Indian tribes of the country, and to show what advancement they have made in education and civilization. It is to be hoped that it will be managed with good judgment, and that it may truly represent the Indian conditions, without unnecessary display or sensationalism.

THE Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long, of Massachusetts, in an article in the Woman's Journal, of Boston, is moved by the account in the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, to some reflections on the drudgery of women's household life in old times. "Those of us, he says, "who were brought

up in country homes and can look back half a century, recall similar pictures-the mother of the household engaged in every sort of labor; at once mistress of the house, head of the family, cook, washerwoman, scrubber, a drawer of water if not a hewer of stone. It makes my heart ache to recall it. I think I can say that nowhere, even among the poorest of our poor, do I now see more grinding toil. While with the great mass of our women there has been an overwhelming improvement in this respect, I regard it as due to the mechanical inventions of modern times, the convenient and ample supply of water which everybody now has, better methods of lighting, and of doing almost all the drudgery of housekeeping, and especially the increased means which, while undoubtedly there are greater inequalities of wealth, have made everybody better off in that respect than they used to be."

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CURRENT EVENTS.

CONGRESS reassembled on the 5th instant. In the House, an attack upon the Civil Service system was led by Grosvenor, of Ohio a Republican member, who has made himself conspicuous lately by his activity in this direction. He was very ably replied to by H. U. Johnson, representative from the Richmond district of Indiana, also a Republi can member. The discussion was continued on several different days. At present, the prospect seems to be that no important change will be made in the law. In the Senate, this week, the treaty annexing Hawaii was taken up. It was decided not to consider it with open doors, but in "executive session,” as usual.

THE Condition of many of the people in Cuba is reported to be desperate. Congressman King, of Utah, who came to Tampa, Fla., from Cuba, on the 9th, asserts that numbers of "reconcentrados " are dying in the towns of starvation. Secretary Sherman, of the State Depart ment, issued a proclamation on the 8th, renewing the appeal for charitable aid, made on the 24th ult., naming ex-Mayor Charles A. Schieren, of Brooklyn, as treasurer of the fund, etc. The first distribution of supplies from the United States was made at Havana, on the 9th.

IN the Chinese complications, it appears that the Kiao Chau Bay has not been "ceded" to Germany, but leased, for a period of fifty years. This gives Germany the actual possession desired, but saves to China the nominal sovereignty. China has decided not to raise a loan in Russia, but in England instead, and one report has it that England will herself advance the money, $80,000,000, part of which will be used to pay off the balance of the war indemnity due to Japan. The Japanese fleet, a dispatch from Shanghai says, has been virtually placed under command of the Engltsh admiral commanding on the Chinese station.

THE returns show that the foreign trade of Great Britain during 1897 was the largest in history. The total exports, imports, and re-exports amounted to £745,423,000 ($3,727,115,000). The increase, however, was entirely in imports and re-exports, the decline in exports amounting to £5,795,000 ($28,975,000). The growth of the imports is almost entirely due to the huge purchases of produce in the United States, amounting to £114,600,000 ($573,000,000). The greatest quantity of the exports was textiles.

No events of importance have oecurred in the Cuban war. It is said that the Spanish commander, Gen. Blanco, is seeking an interview with the rebellious commander, Gen. Gomez, and will go to meet him. This is denied, but still believed. The "autonomy" scheme has been nominally put into operation, but has had little effect, if any, upon the insurgents. Spanish officers in Havana are reported as expressing the opinion that the end of the war is near, and will result either from war with the United States or through the purchase of independence by the Cubans.

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THE contest in Ohio over the election of United States Senator came to a crisis this week in the Legislature, at Columbus. M. A. Hanna, Rep., of leveland, who was appointed by Governor Bushnell to the vacancy caused by Senator John Sherman's acceptance of the portfolio of State (Third month, 1897), received just enough votes, in the balloting on the 11th inst., to elect him, being 56 in the House and 17 in the enate The separate ballot was expected to be confirmed when the two Houses met jointly on the 12th. The contest has occasioned great excitement, as a faction of the Republicans, headed by Governor Bushnell, opposed Hanna.

NEWS AND OTHER GLEANINGS. CHARLES DENBY, JR., Secretary of the United States Legation in China, writes forcibly in the current number of the North American Review of "America's opportunity in Asia.” Treating the theme from a commercial standpoint, he says: "American merchants and manufacturers should insist on American representation of their interests in China. A German or an English agent of an American firm will sell German or English goods first, then American if he can. The methods with which American manufacturers have hitherto been content in China are in marked contrast to the methods they have used to push their business in other quarters. Nothing is so badly needed as aggressive American business methods.' -Mrs. Ballington Booth, the wife of the "Volunteers leader, who has been so ill, in New York City, was on the 10th pronounced out of danger." But it was added that "it will be several weeks before she regains her full strength. "General" William Booth, father of her husband, and founder of the Salvation Army organization, sailed from London, on the 8th inst., for New York.

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-The biennial convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs will be held in Denver, Col., Sixth month 21, 1898. The chairman of the committee is Mrs. Edward Longstreth, of Philadelphia, an active leader among the women's clubs of Pennsylvania. She, with Mrs. Henrotin, of Chicago,. the president of the General Federation, will make the arrangements.

-In consequence of the discovery of dangerous counterfeits of the $100 silver certificates, five of which were recently accepted as genuine by two Philadelphia banks and the Custom House, Secretary Gage has decided to stop issuing and to call in all $100 silver certificates. There are about $26,000, ooo outstanding.

-Judge Murphy, in St. Louis, on the 8th inst, sustained a motion to quash in the cases against the street railway Presidents who were recently arrested for failure to obey a Legislative enactment compelling them to provide vestibules for the protection of motormen on street cars. They were discharged.

-The Creek Indian Council, in spite of the message of Secretary Bliss warning them not to do so, has passed an act appropriating $20,000 to be used in employing attorneys to fight the constitutionality of the act of Congress giving the United States Courts full jurisdiction in the Indian Territory.

-Alice M. Longfellow, daughter of the poet, writes to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. that the pronunciation used by her father was 'He-a-wa'tha,' the accent on the first syllable being slighter than on the "wa," the "a" sounded like "a" in " mar," not not " war," as sometimes used.

—A university for women is to be established at Tokyo, in Japan. The plan, it is said, has the support of the principal officials and nobles, and the emperor and empress have contributed money towards it. It is estimated that about $175,000 will be needed to start the university.

-Lady Henry Somerset is reported very unwell. All her engagements have been cancelled, and she is to go to Nauheim as soon as she is able to travel. She has resigned from the presidency of the British Women's Temperance Association. -A Victoria (British Columbia) despatch says that, "in the opinion of sealing men, there will be no pelagic sealing in Bering Sea during the coming season, and only one schooner, the Director will go to the Japanese coast."'

-There has been much concern over the extreme illness of Prince Bismarck, and one London journal, on the 1st inst., printed a report of his death. He has a severe attack of gout, and is dropsical. He is 82 years old.

-Prince Albert Leopold, the heir presumptive to the Belgian throne, will make a tour of the United States and Canada.

WHEN Dr. McKenzie spoke to the captain of an ocean steamer about the great responsibility of such a position, the reply came calmly, "Responsibility is pleasant when you arẹ equal to it.''

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