he left to his followers. In connection a poem was read, "Tauler," by John G. Whittier.

William J. Hallowell continued the reading of the " Life of George Fox," dwelling particularly upon his message.

Conduct and Conversation,' was the subject of the extract taken from the Discipline, and read by Kate T. Smith. On account of an absentee, voluntary readings were given by James Q. Atkinson and Ella Webster.

Mary Webster recited "The Water and the Flower." After the Executive Committee's report and a general response with sentiments, meeting adjourned, each one feeling they had been highly rewarded by the lofty sentiments uttered, and the freedom and sincerity with which they were expressed.

A. M. G.

PAPER BY ISAAC H. CLOTHER.—Our friend Isaac H. Clothier has lately prepared a paper on David and Solomon. We understand that in reply to inquiry he has expressed a willingness to read it before Young Friends' Associations or other bodies of Friends, where it may be of service, at such times and places as may be convenient to him.

EDUCATIONAL.

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE NOTES.

ON Second-day, Dr. Appleton gave the second of his series of eleven readings from Shakespeare. The rendition of "Love's Labor's Lost was thoroughly enjoyed by all present. It is realized as a great privilege to be able to hear him read, and the opportunity is greatly appreciated by the students as well as many visitors from the village.

The new Swarthmore College Catalogues for 1897-98 have made their appearance. No decided changes are to be noticed in the book.

On Fifth-day evening Professor Hoadley entertained the College with an illustrated lecture on Nansen's travels in the Far North. The stereopticon slides were obtained from the original photographs in Nansen's "Farthest North.”’

The reading of Tennyson's "Princess," by Emma Hutchinson, '95, was listened to and enjoyed last Sixth-day evening by a large gathering of students and friends of the College. This is the first opportunity the students have had of hearing Miss Hutchinson since her graduation. While in College she represented Swarthmore in the inter-collegiate oratorical contest in which she won second place. Her manner of reading is very pleasing, and she carries the audience with her. She will read in Moorestown next Seventh-day.

The main feature of the Phenix for First month 20 is an article by each of the society presidents in reference to the work and aims of the respective Literary Societies. The articles show a very healthy growth of the societies this year, and signs of an increasing interest in them by the student body.

The Philadelphia Record recently gave a very favorable account of the work of Mary Kirk, '89, as translator of the Portuguese in the Bureau of American Republics at Washington. Miss Kirk acquired her perfect familiarity with the Portuguese language, while employed as teacher in a girls' college of Rio Janeiro.

Dr. Hull has been elected Vice-President of the Philadelphia History Club, and made an address before that Society on the 5th inst., on "The New England Historians and the Pennsylvania Indians.'

Tickets are now on sale for the Halcyon, the College Annual, published by the Class of '99. A decided change has been made in the design and size of the book, which will make it one of the finest ever published at Swarthmore, and a credit to our College.

On Seventh-day evening occurred the Junior-Freshman reception, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all present. The entire lack of the usual formality of such occasions was especially noticeable.

With this week ends the first Semester of the College year, and examinations are the order of the day. The half-year just past seems to have been a most prosperous one from every point of view, the usual high standard of scholarship having been maintained.

'99.

LITERARY NOTES.

Russell SturGIS, a distinguished architect and architectural writer, contributes to the Atlantic Monthly an article upon the Education of Architects. He takes radical ground as to the decadence of the art at the present time, claiming that practically nothing has been done since the beginning of the century that is worth preserving, still less studying and imitating. He considers that almost all recent teaching has been misdirected; that there is a growing tendency to treat architecture as the art of making drawings in accordance with certain rules, when the architect's first duty is to know how to build. Sound and ready knowledge of building; dexterous readiness and some approach to excellence as a freehand draughtsman ; and some skill as a modeler,—these are the three things which the student should first be taught.

"The author of 'Hugh Wynne, a correspondent writes, "has a good many admirers here, in our Society and outside of it. I think, without doing him injustice, we should see that Friends get justice."

A social question of perennial interest, discussed in Servant Scribner's Magazine (Second month), is that of the Girl," the writer being Helen Watterson Moody. She tells of "Maria," who was a model household help, tlil she determined to take lessons on the banjo. She thinks that in the "intelligence office," the girl might ask questions, as well as the mistress, that-in the large cities-the apartment houses are breaking up the homes, and that if she were a working girl she would never go out to service,—“never"! The defect in all such articles is that they are written as if the social conditions of the large cities, especially New York, were those of the whole world.

An interesting feature in the current issue of Harper's is an article by United States Senator David Turpie, on Projects for an Isthmian Canal." He speaks of the great canals of the world and their cost, of why a Nicaraguan canal should be built, of why the United States should control it, and of the present project of the Nicaragua canal. Another interesting paper is that by Kirk Munroe, "Some Americans from Oversea," in which he describes his observations among the Russian and Icelandic colonies of North Dakota. He makes it evident that though the manners and customs of these new-comers, and the atmosphere they live in, belong largely to the Old World, they readily absorb American ideas.

Dr. Nansen, the Arctic explorer, contributes to this issue of McClure's Magazine an article giving his ideas and hopes for the future of North Polar exploration. As no other man has yet got so near the Pole, by 195 miles, as Dr. Nansen himself, with his companion, Johansen, the article will be read with interest. It is fully illustrated with photographs and drawings from life (most of them hitherto unpublished), by Nansen, Greely, Peary, the Arctic artists, William Bradford, and Albert Operti, and others.

The important and much-discussed question of “ Physical Training in Colleges" is treated by Dr. F. E. Leonard, of Oberlin College, in Appleton's Popular Science Monthly for the coming month.

COMMUNICATIONS.

THE SOUTHERN SCHOOLS. Editors FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER : SEVERAL letters have come to me, asking why the Laing and Schofield Schools have not had funds from the $1,000 bond given last Fifth month by Aikens Palmer. Perhaps it will be most satisfactory to reply through the pages of the INTELLIGENCER, as many who have thought about it and have not written will then have the information. The bond has not yet found a purchaser. It is of Wilkes County, North Carolina. The interest, amounting to $29.85, has recently been. paid. It is hoped that the bond may be sold in the near future, and half the proceeds will go to each school.

They had each a use, in fact an imperative need, for this

For Friends' Intelligencer.

BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH.

DIED, First month 16th, 1898, of kidney disease, at Thomasville, Georgia, whither he had gone to favor his recovery from an attack of pneumonia, Benjamin Butterworth, who for many of its last years was a member of the late Cincinnati Monthly Meeting, and since its discontinuance, of Miami Monthly Meeting.

He was born Tenth month 22d, 1837, in Warren County, Ohio, a birthright member with Friends, and so continued during his life, and though not diligently attentive to the duties of that relation, was well acquainted with, recognized, and admired the essential views of that people, and I, who knew him from his very infancy, have often expressed the view that if his other pursuits had not so engrossed him and he had chanced to mingle more with Friends, in their meetings and elsewhere, his voice would have been heard with power and efficacy among them, for he would have responded in his masterly way to his sense of truth and duty.

Something like it, indeed, appeared at the time when the remains of his long-time faithful friend, Warner M. Bateman, who had died suddenly at Washington City, were about to be removed to Cincinnati for burial. As set forth in a Columbus, Ohio, paper, Benjamin and a few other warm friends of the deceased had gathered at the undertaker's to accompany the remains to the railroad station, and General W. W. Dudley, who was one of them, remarked that he did not like to let their old friend leave like that, without a word of sorrow and sympathy, and proceeded to pay a tribute to Warner Bateman's qualities as a friend and gentleman. "As he sat down Butterworth stepped to the head of the casket, and talked for ten minutes as no one ever heard him talk before. He was a man of jests and humor, with a cheery and sanguine disposition. He used to say that he never shed a tear. He always looked on the bright side of life, and his friends sometimes complained that it was difficult for him to be serious, but on this occasion, in the presence of death, he spoke to ten or twelve of his intimate friends, in a manner that brought tears to their eyes as well as his own. It was a personal confession, and a personal appeal, too sacred to be quoted, and so impressive that no one present will ever forget a word he uttered. Since his death the scene is recalled, and even greater force is added to his words.” ·

I have no need to add here an account of his public career. Of that ample mention has been made in the daily public prints of the country.

It is remarkable that, beginning with Tenth month 7th, 1897, four Friends who were members of the late Cincinnati Monthly Meeting have passed away, out of a membership of only fifty-two,-Thamisen M. Rees, of Mobile, Alabama, Frances M. Moss and Robert W. Carroll, of Cincinnati, and Benjamin Butterworth, of Washington, D. C. The latter two were, in three lines, fourth cousins to each other, descended alike from William and Susanna Terrell, from the parents of two sisters named Chiles, and from Christopher and Penelope Clark, whose families in large part became Friends, along from about 1730 to about 1770, and lived in Louisa, Hanover, Albemarle, Caroline, Amelia, Bedford and Campbell counties, Virginia, and perhaps in other counties, among whom Margaret Cook traveled and labored extensively, as shown interestingly not long since in the INTELLIGENCER. The Terrells, Chileses, and Clarks intermarried with each other and with the Moormans, Lynches, Johnsons and Anthonys, and some of these with the Butterworths, and became very numerous and widely scattered.

The grandparents of the Benjamin just deceased were Benjamin and Rachel (Moorman) Butterworth, and were noted far and wide as the large people." From Campbell

County, Va., and from South River Monthly Meeting, in 1812, they came, with most of their children, to Warren County, Ohio, and Miami Monthly Meeting. Said Benjamin, at the time, weighed about 300 pounds, and his wife fully 400. David Brown, my much-valued old Friend, now long deceased, told me he weighed them at his store in Waynesville, after they came, and found their joint weight over 700 pounds. Among their daughters was one, Milly Dyer, who attained to the same great weight as her mother. Said old Benjamin was 61⁄2 feet high, had a son, Moorman, my father, 61⁄2 feet high, a grandson, Dr. Samuel M. Ballard, late of Council Bluffs, Iowa, 61⁄2 feet high, and another grandson, Samuel E. Dyer, 6 feet 5 inches in height.

The parents of the now deceased Benjamin, were William and Elizabeth (Linton) Butterworth, both several years deceased. William possessed strong, sound and cultured vocal organs, a large vocabulary, and fine graces of speech, and could say what he meant as if he meant what he said, as forcibly, appropriately and elegantly as one in a thousand, and I never knew a more thorough master of English gramCLARKSON BUTTERWORTH.

mar.

Waynesville, Ohio.

FROM MT. PLEASANT SCHOOL. Private letter from Anna M. Nichols, Teacher of Industries. ANNA M. JACKSON: Dear Friend: You will remember that during your visit to the “Laing School” and its associated mission work in April, 1896, I took you over my especial plot of ground, which I purchased of the Town in 1893, and showed you the lots and small houses that some of the more thrifty colored people were buying of me. I also pointed out to you, the corner lot, which I had reserved for an Old People's Shelter," when I had sold all my other lots, and had received back the larger part of the money that I had loaned out on the houses. As that had been accomplished, soon after our return south in the autumn of 1897, I began to move in the matter. The house was completed the latter part of November. I know that you will be interested in hearing about it, and its present inmates.

As you know, the most pitiful class of southern negroes, is the aged and helpless one. They have either outlived their children, or had them sold from them, thirty odd years ago. We have always done a great deal for them, in the way of food and clothing, but had no place to give them to live in. Their greatest need was a shelter for their trembling old bodies from the frosts of winter, and the heat of summer. They take shelter with others in their crowded cabins, having no other claim upon them than that they once belonged to the same master. Or they move into the most wretched of outbuildings if they are not able to rent a room. Thus they lose sight of all comfortable clothing and bedding, and the next year come like children for more. We have always longed for some rooms into which we could put a few of those who were so feeble and lonely, whose feet were near the verge of the grave.

During the past summer, while visiting at home in Toledo, O., I secured among friends the sum of $163.50, with which to begin the four-roomed house which I had designed for the purpose. The amount was only half enough to complete the modest structure, but the need seemed so great that we finished the building, so that those who had the promise of a home there could move in before winter set in. A plain porch was run across the front for the old folks to sit and sun themselves upon in the "free fire." The nearest pump was so far away that a new one was placed in the yard. On Monday, November 22d, we sent a cart around to move three good, old ebony Christians into their new quarters, there to live until carried to their last bed in the humble potter's field. The two old women were placed in Room No. I. Two men were given bedsteads on the opposite sides of the end window of their room, and the fireplace, with its new dog-irons," threw them into transports of delight. They laughed and cried, and embraced each other, and mutually promised to share everything together. They are very old, but both consistent members of the colored Presbyterian Church in this village.

Satira Buckley, whose only daughter was sold in slavery times, and carried into another State by her new owner, makes a few pennies by selling “ground-nut cakes" about the town, and in the school-yard. She came from a leaky garret. Mary Palmer, who also is without relatives, is unable to go out to work, but knits a little, and patches men's working clothes, for which she receives a few nickels to buy an occasional quart of hominy. She was removed from a damp, dark basement. Each one had to pay 50 cents per month for those places to call home. By begging of friends, and doing what they could, they eked out a scanty subsistence in summer; but they well nigh perished in winter. We cannot house the sick, as we have no means to pay for a physician, medicine, or nurse.

The third inmate is Daddy Peter" Washington. He was settled in Room No. 4, and given charge of the whole place. He is brother-in-law to Mary Palmer. His great anxiety about his few little possessions, until they were safely deposited in his room, was amusing. Then he looked about, and chuckled and laughed, and shouted, "Oh, de chimbly and dog-irons,' and danced about in childish ecstasy. He, also, is a good Presbyterian, and much gifted in prayer, and sings until late at night to keep himself company. The rooms are all in a row, facing the south, and are large and airy, and each has an attic room. They will shelter eight people, and more if need be by putting three cots in a room. Such destitute ones are used to cooking their simple meals at some one else's fire, and will easily settle to their own part of the room and become companionable. We shall be very careful about filling the house. Only quiet, respectful old folks, without children to care for them, will be taken in.

The third day after the opening of the house being Thanksgiving Day, we invited the colored ministers to bring their congregations with them at the close of the morning services, and hold short religious exercises with the people, as a sort of dedication to the "Old People's Shelter." Room No. 3 was seated for the occasion.

The meeting was well attended, each minister bringing a visiting brother, until six different ministers assisted at the service. Would that we could write down the enthusiastic words and prayers, and phonograph that singing! The dedication of Solomon's Temple was the portion of Scripture read. We failed to see the resemblance to the poor, rough walls; but as the intention was sincere, and the appreciation genuine, we did not feel called upon to criticise.

Miss Munro had proposed giving a general lunch at the close, consisting of good beef soup, with rice and white bread for dessert. The day was perfect, and this was carried out, everything coming on in good time. Every one enjoyed the treat, and a portion was left to be sent to the sick. With a sort of happy, tired feeling, but a sense of great peace, we returned home to eat our own Thanksgiving turkey. ANNA M. NICHOLAS. Mt. Pleasant, S. C., First month 6th.

A PIONEER FRIEND'S LIFE. THE death of Joshua Brown, of Holder, Ill., has been noticed under the proper heading. A Bloomington newspaper gives the following interesting sketch of his pioneer life.

Joshua Brown was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, August 11th, 1809. He was the son of William Brown, who removed his family to Illinois in the fall of 1828 and settled in Tazewell County. Joshua was then a young man of 19, but the experiences of the journey overland made an impression upon his mind which was retained vividly in his old age. The family was composed of Isaiah, who has since died in California; Milner, Daniel, Mrs. Miriam Bailey, Mrs. Jesse W. Fell and Miss Rachel Brown. Of the above all are now dead except Mrs. Fell. They followed the only route open to home-seekers, making about twenty miles a day. They had one four-horse and two two-horse teams, with beds in the wagons. This method of traveling was slow, but it was healthful and gave the immigrants a definite idea of the vast extent of the then known west, which is not ap

preciated in these days of rapid transit. At Richmond, Ind., the party visited with relatives for ten days. After crossing the Wabash River they entered upon the almost unbroken prairies of fertile Illinois. Few indeed were the inhabitants at that time, in what is now an empire of itself. October 19th they reached the valley of the Mackinaw in Dillon township, where John Wilson had settled the previous spring. Here the men in the party, of whom there were five, slept in the wagons until December 25th. Meanwhile search was made for a location, but it was difficult to find, as those who had preceded the Browns had claimed every acre of timber land, the only soil then considered of value. On December 26th, the elder Brown purchased of Enoch F. Orendorff a claim consisting of two log cabins, one 16 by 20, the other 10 by 12—the latter containing a weaver's loom. Twelve acres was in cultivation, and the remainder of the 160 acres was in the forest primeval. Everything was primitive. The boys slept on a shelf arranged against the wall. There were no windows to the house and the door had wooden hinges. Venison, wild turkey, prairie chicken and fish from the river kept the family larder well supplied. To these were added each spring the ducks and geese that passed from north to south and back in vast numbers. The timber was also full of wild hogs, that had sprung in the first place from domesticated stock. The family raised corn and wheat for bread, tapped maple trees for sugar and molasses, while the women spun and wove the material from which their clothes were made.

The elder Brown and Joshua were blacksmiths. They had patrons who came from as far as Drummer's Grove in Ford County. They had brought steel for smith work from Pennsylvania and the charges for work were based on the weight of the material used. There was little comunication with the outside world, but the bounty of nature provided for all actual needs. Early in the thirties the town of Tremont, six miles north of the location made by the Browns, was laid out by people from New England and New York. With the advent of this colony prosperous times came, as the wants of the new-comers were many. In 1834 Mr. Brown and his brother, Milner, had saved enough money to purchase 200 acres of land each.

On December 12th, 1840, Joshua married Miss Hannah Russell. She died in 1855. Two sons, now alive, were born of this union, Marshall and William, both of whom are living on farms near Anchor.

In 1856 he was married to Miss Julia A. Cook, and to this union four children were born. They are, Allen, living near Benjaminville; Milner, near Saybrook; Charles, living in Louisiana, and Mrs. Susan Welch, of LaFayette, Ind. In 1866 Mr. Brown moved to Normal, where he engaged in the lumber business with Jesse Blackman, and from there to Holder in the spring of 1874. There he has lived quietly on a farm since. His widow survives him.

Mr. Brown has accumulated quite a large estate, and leaves a half section of fine McLean County land to each of his children, besides other property. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and lived and died, in the strict tenets of that religious organization. He was a man of great force of character and the most decided convictions. In his death the temperance cause has lost a most earnest and enthusiastic advocate. Like all the early pioneers he was selfreliant and undaunted in whatever work he set his hand to accomplish, and in every effort for the public weal his place was in the van. A kind-hearted, earnest and honest man has gone to his reward, ripe in years and loyal to all those moral and social principles by which the progress of the race has been marked.

PROF. M. G. MULHALL, the English statistician, who recently wrote of this country's industrial progress, treats of Germany in the North American Review. Considering the development of Germany in the last two decades, he asserts that in every particular it exceeds relatively that of any other country in Europe. Taxation, he says, is lower than in other Europeon countries, but higher than in the United States.

For Friends' Intelligencer.
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE?
WHAT is worth while? The hill of life is steep,
And as we slowly climb its rugged side
What flowers shall we take the time to pick

That to our hearts we may their bloom confide ?
The glad spring guides our baby feet part way
O'er velvet path of moss as soft as down,
And lets them rest by every sparkling stream
That mirrors childhood's happy smile or frown.
Now summer meets us with her welcome sweet,
And though the azure sky is bright and clear,
The clouds will come to darken all our path,
And on our troubled hearts let fall a tear.

The night drops down, but day will dawn, we know,
We stumbled on our way, but with new strength
We'll climb on toward that summit where we hope
A wider range of vision looms at length.

And have we time to walk out to the brink

Of that great precipice that yawns below; To carry with us the fair flower of faith,

Which calmly blooms through summer's heat or snow,

Onward we go, still pressing to our heart

The bud of hope, which ever nestles there

To furnish balm to every nettle sting,
And if once lost, leaves but a blank despair.

We look sometimes and find our path cut off
By weeds, which try to win us with a smile,
And say they're friends, but let us pass them by,
They can but do us harm,-'tis not worth while.

But when we see a sweet and modest bloom
All radiant with that pure Inner Light,
Let us not pass it by, 'tis worth our while

To cherish all true friendship without blight.

And let us learn to be in truth sincere,

True to ourselves, hence true to all the world, Too noble to pass on to ready hands

The stones that at a brother, one has hurled.

Be brave, be strong to rise up for the right,
The weak will call you blessed, will name you friend,
The harder that you struggle for the goal,
A brighter glory will the sunset lend.
And when the autumn leaves begin to fall,

And winter comes upon us cold and bleak,
Our hearts will glow with warmth and light of love,
As fuel upon the grate, our deeds will speak.

It matters not what all the world may say,
Or looks upon us with a scornful smile,

If we but live in nearness to our God,

And let him guide our steps, that is worth while.

L. T. S.

COMPLAINING OF THE WEATHER.-It is easier and more common to find fault with the weather than with anything else in the range of our experience. Yet we have less personal responsibility as to the weather than as to almost anything else, and we know very little about what we or the community needs in the line of the weather. When the thirsty earth longs for water, or the springs need filling up before winter sets in, if a rain comes at the time when we want a clear day, we call it "wretched weather." It is well for us and for others that we are unable to have weather to suit our tastes. We should destroy or harm both ourselves and others if we could have our own way. It is well that the weather is not at our disposal.-S. S. Times.

WOULD NOT WEAR A SWORD.

From the Farmer's Sun,anada.

SOME time ago reference was made in "The Sun" to Joseph Allen Baker, the son of an Ontario farmer, near Trenton, who went over to London (England), to push his fortune. Mr. Baker not only succeeded so well in business that he became the head of a large manufacturing establishment, employing several hundred men, but he is now a member of the famous London County Council.

Last spring it was arranged that one of the features of the great jubilee celebration at London should be the presentation of an address from the county council, and it was further arranged that all the members of the council should attend and be presented to her Majesty. The members were informed by the Court officials that they would be required to appear in Court dress, and that each member would have to wear a sword dangling by his side. A Court dress is not easily described, but it is something that few Canadians, except those who attend carnivals and fancy dress balls, have ever seen, and it does not become a plain citizen. Now, Joseph Allen Baker is not only a Canadian, and as such, a believer in democratic simplicity, but he is a member of the Society of Friends, and the plain living, plain dress, and plain speech of his ancestors have not been forgotten by him. When, therefore, Mr. Baker was informed that he would have to wear a Court dress and a sword, he respectfully but firmly declined to do so. His objection was made known at Court; messages flashed backward and forward between London and Windsor, and Mr. Baker was at length informed that John Bright had been permitted to appear at Court without wearing a sword, and he also might appear without wearing that weapon. The Court officials, however, further informed Mr. Baker that John Bright had worn a Court dress, and that he also would be required to. But times have changed, even since John Bright's time—perhaps Mr. Baker's Canadian blood made him more resolute— however that may have been, he did not abate one jot in the stand he had taken, but informed the officials that his conscience would not permit him to dress in the style prescribed, and that if he were not permitted to appear in plain civilian's dress, he must remain away.

The time before the day fixed for the presentation was now growing short, and messages passed between London and Windsor more rapidly than ever. It seemed as if the existence of the British constitution was at stake. At last a message came stating that the date for the presentation was so near that there would not be time for Mr. Baker to have a Court dress made, and, therefore, he would not be required to wear one. It is needless to say that this did not satisfy Mr. Baker. He did not wish to go to Court and be admitted, on the false pretence, as it were, that he had not the necessary time to procure a Court dress, when the officials and every one else knew that he had received ample notice. So the deadlock still continued. It is not known whether a Cabinet Council was called to discuss the situation and decide whether the British con

stitution could bear the wrench it would receive if Mr. Baker were allowed to attend in plain clothes. The London papers, however, took up the subject and debated it with great earnestness, and “The Chronicle," a leading Liberal paper, strongly supported Mr. Baker in the stand he had taken. The labor members of the county council were with him to a man. As the day for the presentation drew near the interest increased.

At length, just before the great day arrived, came a message from Windsor that the Queen had granted permission that not only Mr. Baker, but all the members of the county council who so desired, might appear in civilians' clothes. When the day came it was seen that nearly half the members had availed themselves of the Queen's permission. In their plain clothes they were more manly; were none the less loyal to the Queen, who had shown once more the great tact she possesses, and they were, no doubt, much more at their ease. Some may think that Joseph Allen Baker made much of a small matter. But it is not a small matter to maintain plainness and simplicity of life, especially when to do so is to establish a precedent which many others will gladly follow. To enable many to dispense with a foolish and foppish practice is something gained. It is never wrong to maintain a right principle. It is of especial interest to Canadians that the man, who thus stood out against what he believed to be a wrong practice, is a farmer's son, born and bred on an Ontario farm.

BIRD LIFE IN ALASKA.

John Muir, in Atlantic Monthly.

Not only do strong-winged hawks, eagles, and waterfowl, to whom the length of the continent is only a pleasant excursion, come up here every summer in great numbers, but also many short-winged warblers, thrushes, and finches, to rear their young in safety, reinforce the plant bloom with their plumage, and sweeten the wilderness with song, flying all the way, some of them, from Florida, Mexico, and Central America. In thus going so far north they are only going home, for they were born here, and only go south to spend the winter months as New Englanders go to Florida. Sweet-voiced troubadours, they sing in orange groves and vine-clad magnolia woods in winter, in thickets of dwarf birch and alder in sum

mer, and sing and chatter more or less all the way back and forth, keeping the whole country glad. Ofttimes in New England just as the last snow patches are melting, and the sap in the maples begins to flow, the blessed wanderers may be heard about orchards and the edges of fields where they have stopped to glean a scanty meal, not tarrying long, knowing they have far to go. Tracing the footsteps of spring, they arrive in their tundra homes in June or July, and set out on their return journeys in September, or as soon as their families are able to fly well.

THE United States is the only great industrial power which produces cereal food sufficient to maintain its labor and sell a surplus to other countries.

GERMAN PEOPLE KEPT IN THE DARK.

George D. Petersen, in The Independent, N. Y. THE Government, indeed, is like a high and mighty and irresponsible arbiter, who treats with the people not confidentially and directly, but indirectly, and with the aim rather to influence than to enlighten them. As a people, the Germans at any given moment are in the dark in regard to the true state of their foreign affairs; and this fact, I think, should be remembered, in order to mitigate one's judgment of their doings. Not all Germans are alike; nor are all Germans Prussian. What is Prussian par excellence, that is to say aggressive, is the Hohenzollern Government. Let us bear this in mind charitably. If I said a moment ago that they think they know what they are about when they bully Haiti and China, I had modifications, ameliorating facts and excuses in my heart for them.

For, first of all, they are still living under the influence of Bismarckism. The success of Bismarck's example and teaching awed their conscience and their private judgment into silence, and keeps them so, in the present rampant Jingo reign. Futhermore they do not hear the naked truth about political affairs and events, as has been said, until years later, and not always then. Thus, Prince Bismarck now says quite bluntly that "he determined from the first to have Schleswig-Holstein," for the reason that the Prussian Government needed the Kiel harbor. And similarly with the Kingdom of Hanover, he "meant to have it," because it lay between Berlin and the North Sea coast. But at the time these brutally cynical determinations were closely kept secret from the people. Agents were sent instead into Schleswig-Holstein in order to cause an agitation and a demand for union with the German States; and the German people, unsuspicious, trustful, patriotic, like all others, got fired with sympathy; and believing that the poor Schleswig-Holsteiners were suffering from Danish persecution, became ready to fight for their deliverance." The masses are kept ignorant, their lives long, of inside manipulations of diplomacy. So they cherish faith, poor fools, in the holiness of their motives in slaughtering their neighbors and exposing themselves to slaughter.

Do you think Prussians to this day know that Frederick the Great broke his vow, as given by his signature to the Pragmatic Sanction? Not a bit of it!

Their school histories-the Government controls the schools and decides what text-books shall be usedPrussian school histories suppress that fact, out and out, and say, instead, that Frederick had an hereditary claim to Silesian duchies, so took Silesia with good right.

And so with nearly every event in recent history. The people have fought the events out, but never with a real knowledge of the facts. Instead of such facts they have had the illusions which the Government has foisted upon them, for the double purpose of forestalling any natural uprising of conscience and of instigating ireful or selfish passions. When the French province of Alsace was to be grabbed (Bismarck proposed to Austria to do it in 1866 instead of fighting with one