We have often heard the sentiment expressed, that had Friends before the "separation" exercised the same forbearance toward one another that is now shown, the Society might to-day be a united body, going forward in solid phalanx in the promulgation of its fundamental principle and the testimonies that have grown out of it. But of "it might have been," we know nothing. The only matter for regret is the bitterness of feeling then shown; and may not the sorrow for it which has come with the lapse of years have been needed to teach us the lesson of toleration.

Some of us who can look back upon the attendance of many of these annual gatherings, may acknowledge with grateful feeling, that we have made progress in "patience, forbearance, and love of each other." Let us who will soon come together to consider the state of the Society, and to legislate for the promotion of its welfare in this part of the heritage show by our cheerful readiness to find and to fill the place assigned us in the body, that we have laid aside our selfish interests and opinions in the earnest desire for the advancement of the Truth we profess to hold, a practical adherence to which can alone preserve us a united band.

HERESY.—On hearing the charge of heresy brought against R. Heber Newton, of New York, the mind turns to the days when such a charge proven deprived a man of his liberty or his life. To-day nothing more serious will occur than his disownment by those in whose fellowship of faith he now stands. Thus we can measure the advance made in freedom of thought. When a man's standing was decided by “what dost thou believe?" and his religious thought made to correspond to an established standard, there was but little opening for a general diffusion of the truth. Only those of the strongest convictions dared to stand by their faith, and those were speedily put out of the way to prevent the spread of heresy. Notwithstanding this, liberty of thought made some progress, for the exercise of thought must bring about growth and no bonds are strong enough to prevent the giant from struggling until freedom is obtained. Herbert Spencer truly says, "Fearless in

quiry tends continually to give a firmer basis to all true religion. The timid sectarian, alarmed at the progress of knowledge, obliged to abandon one by one the superstitions of his ancestors, and daily finding his cherished be-liefs more and more shaken, secretly fears that all things may some day be explained, and has a corresponding dread of science; thus evincing the profoundest of all infidelity the fear lest the truth be bad."

The liberal and growing minds in all the churches feel that the truth is good, and that neither they nor their creeds embrace the whole of it. Following this thought comes a display of toleration and brotherly love, and if old-time theology suffers by such lapses from constancy to its decrees, the cause of humanity advances and the simple religion of Jesus gains enduring strength.

A PLEA FOR JUSTICE AND MERCY.-The recent sad intelligence from the south western frontier of our country, announcing the desperate and bloody deeds of the Apache Indians, has called forth much expression of sentiment from different standpoints. On the part of those who chiefly desire possession of the valuable lands set apart for the tribe by the national authorities, there has been a bitter cry for vengeance and a demand for the extirpation of 'a whole people, without any distinction as to age or sex, or as to guilt or innocence of these especial crimes. This betokens a most cruel spirit of injustice on the part of an element in the far off portions of our domain which is the exact reverse of what we understand by the spirit of Christianity. But the dangers of the frontier population always tend to generate cruelty and injustice, as has been a thousand times demonstrated in our annals.

The demand for wholesale massacre of the tribe, simply and solely on account of their being Indians (and some Indians having committed great crimes), is shocking to the Christian sentiment of America. But in charity, the difficulties, sufferings and dangers of the situation ought all to be acknowledged, and the precautions and safeguards which the situation demands should be applied. In the meantime, what say the military commanders on whom is laid the responsibility of the

clear and the sky cloudless they may be seen

On the 14th, at 5 o'clock in the morning, he reaches his greatest eastern elongation, and is then 21 degrees 75 minutes east of the sun. He sets at that time about 9 o'clock, nearly two hours later than the sun, a very rare occurrence in his experience. The observer must have an uninterrupted view of the western horizon, and a perfectly clear evening. He will be sure to find the beaming planet about six degrees north of the sunset point, fifteen degrees west of Jupiter, and twenty degrees south of Capella. An idea of Mercury's rapid motion may be gained from the fact that, on the 1st he was between Saturn and the Pleiades, and on the 14th he has traveled far away. Instead of being south of the Pleiades, he is about twenty degrees northeast of them, while slower-moving Saturn has scarcely changed his pose. Mercury's right ascension is 3 hours 38 minutes, his declination is 21 degrees 26 minutes north, and his diameter is 6 minutes.

Mercury sets on the 1st about a quarter after 8 o'clock in the evening; on the 31st he sets a few minutes after 8 o'clock.

Nepture is evening star until the 9th and morning star for the rest of the month.

Saturn is evening star until the 20th, and morning star for the rest of the month. On the 20th, at 6 o'clock in the evening, he takes his turn and comes into conjunction with the sun, ten days after Neptune. He carries out the conditions already described for his brother-planet, excepting that he is not so far off, his distance at conjunction being, 1,014000,000 miles. Saturn's right ascension is 3h. 40m., his declination is 17 deg. 44 min. north, and his diameter 15 sec. .4.

Saturn sets on the 1st about a quarter after 8 o'clock in the evening; on the 31st he rises at ten minutes after four o'clock in the morning.

Jupiter is evening star during the month. He is following in the wake of Neptune and Saturn toward the same goal, but is behind them in the race.

Venus is morning star, and has so nearly approached the sun that she rises only an hour and a quarter before him. On the 10th she is in conjunction with Mars. The planets make their nearest approach at one o'clock, but they will be far apart when they appear above the horizon. They rise on the 10th about halfpast three o'clock. Venus will be easily found, and about forty-eight miuutes south of her a small red star will be seen, which is the planet Mars. The right ascension of Venus is Oh. 18m.; her declination is degrees 12 minutes north, and her diameter is 14 seconds.

Venus rises on the 1st at 39 minutes past 3 o'clock in the morning; on the 31st, she rises at 10 minutes past 3 o'clock.

Mars is morning star. We have referred to his conjunction with Venus. His right ascension is Oh. 32m.; his declination is 2 degrees 16 minutes north and his diameter is 4 seconds .8.

Mars rises on the 1st about a quarter before 4 o'clock in the morning; on the 31st he rises a quarter before 3 o'clock.

The Moon.

The May moon fulls on the 21st at twentyseven minutes past 10 o'clock in the evening.

The waning moon is in conjunction with Venus on the 4th, and on the same morning, four hours later, with Mars, showing how near the planets are to each other. On the 6th, the moon, four hours old, is in conjunction with Neptune. On the 7th, at noon, the one-day old crescent is very near Saturn, being eighteen minutes north. The moon sets then at a quarter after 8 o'clock and under the best conditions of atmosphere and sky, planet. and crescent may possibly be seen, though the moon travels so fast, they will then be several degrees apart. On the 8th the moon pays her respects to Mercury, on the 9th to Jupiter, and on the 16th to Uranus. The study of the moon's conjunctions with the planets affords an interesting as well as an easy way of impressing upon the memory their relative position in regard to the sun and the earth.

The planetary records of May are full of matters of exciting interest. Two of the giant planets, Neptune and Saturn, reach conjunction. Mercury arrives at eastern elongation, and is visible as evening star during nearly the entire month. Venus and Mars are in close conjunction. Every planet. in the system, viewed from the earth, is in the northern declination. The moon comes

in for distinguished honors. She is very near Saturn, she occults Beta Scorpii, and she gets up for a favored few in the far away region of the Southern Pacific ocean, the grandest, most sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle that terrestial observers ever behold, when for nearly six precious minutes, her dark shadow conceals from view the glorious orb of day.

ENGLISH PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The question is often asked among our people, "What are the English Public Schools?" A writer in a recent number of the Christian Union gives a clear account of these famous institutions. From this article these particulars are gleaned.

What are called public schools in the United States are radically different from the institutions so denominated in England.

Eton and Rugby, Harrow and Winchester, are the four great "public schools" of England. These are richly endowed, but are very expensive places of education, nevertheless. The cost of attending them ranges from $730 to $1,200 or $1,500 a year; and of course, the privilege of an education in one of these famous old schools is in reach of only the wealthy or the well-to-do.

But there are free scholarships which are thrown open to competitive examination and are generally the reward of special excellence.

Eton was founded by King Henry VI., in 1446. It was originally an endowed school for about 70 boys, and has 700 stipendary scholars. It was and is a feeder for King's College, Cambridge, the fellows of which are entirely elected from Eton scholars. The right of the foundation scholars descended along with land, title, etc., in certain favored families from one generation to another. Though there was no tuition fee, it was customary at the end of the term for the pupil to leave a gift proportioned to his means, and indicative of his gratitude. The hereditary privilege of going to Eton for nothing was at length abolished, and the 70 free scholarships were thrown open to competitive examination.

It thus happens that the boys most capable of utilizing the higher education are the ones who have the best chances of getting it; and the English system has developed an upper educated class for England much better than our system has trained one for America.

We may claim, however, that our education averages far better. The village of Eton is situated just across the Thames from Windsor Castle. The town consists of one long, winding street, and the College buildings are two noble brick quadrangles with towers,

cloisters and gateways in the Tudor style. There is a fine chapel and hall, a valuable library, two statues of its royal founder, and beautiful pleasure grounds.

Eton is a conservative English school, retaining ancient usage with great fullness; but Rugby is a thoroughly modern institution, and has a really nineteenth century life. It was founded in the time of Elizabeth, and in 1808 was rebuilt in the Tudor style. The visitor who enters its fine cloistered quadrangle must feel that there is a sacredness attaching to the place, for here lived and labored that model and prince of teachers Dr. Thomas Arnold. As head master at Rugby; it is claimed for him that he raised the character of that school by the influence of Christian principles, enforced by his own example; and that he diligently cultivated a sense of duty and responsibility in students.

Among those who came under the care of the eminent head master of Rugby, was Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, afterwards, as Dean of Westminster, one of the purest and brightest lights of the English Church. The illustrious pupil has written an admirable life of his great teacher, which is accounted one of the best of all biographies. Thomas Hughes, in his story "Tom Brown at Rugby," has given us such a living picture of the great school, its master and pupils, as to leave little to be desired. The writer in the Christian Union says of Rugby:

"Its school buildings have doubled in the last twenty years. It has excellent facilities for the study of Chemistry, a practical laboratory, a fine library, museum, and art building, an observatory, and a workshop, where I saw some very good carpenter's work in process of making by pupils under a practical instructor. It has two hospitals, one for contagious cases. The latter is entirely cut off from the community, only the attendant physician being allowed to go in and out; even the food for the patients being brought to the door and left to be taken in by attendants within. What most impressed me was the abundant and estimable provision made by the school for the physical development of the pupils. Until a comparatively recent period. the body has been regarded by American schools, as it still is by some of our public schools, as a necessary evil, and the demand for recreation as a sign of infant depravity. The English public school regards the end of education to be a healthy mind in a healthy body. At Eton is a swimming master, who examines every boy, and certifies him to have passed a swimming examination, before he can join one of the numerous boat clubs which enliven the river Thames in the season. Rugby is an admirable swimming-bath, the

At

water of which is made warm in winter, and in which I found some boys in the month of February; a tennis court and a racket court, erected at considerable expense by the school, for the boys; while, as every reader of 'Tom Brown' will remember, the games that need little or no apparatus, such as foot-ball, cricket, fox and hounds, etc., have as much enthusiasm of approbation and appreciation from the teachers as the more serious work in Latin, Greek, and mathematics.

"Perhaps one who has had only a glimpse of English schools, and little more than a glimpse at the analogous institutions in the United States, ought not to institute a comparison between the two. My deductions may, however, go for what they are worth, and I judge that while in adaptation of studies to the needs of modern life our best public schools are quite equal to the best in England, and in direct personal moral supervision over the pupils by the teacher are superior, in wealth of equipment, in liberal compensation to the teacher, in provision for physical development, and in wise scholarships serving as real and healthful stimulants to excellence in study, we have nothing in the United States to compare with Rugby, Eton, Harrow and Winchester.'' S. R.

INTELLIGENT USE OF TIME.
BY JOY VETREPONT.

In order that life may be a success there must be purpose in it; and, in order to the accomplishment of that purpose, there must be an intelligent use of time. Many men have risen to eminence simply by a good use of spare moments. We all have some time in each day which we could use for some special purpose. If it is only half an hour, it amounts to one hundred and fifty-six hours in the year. Even if we have plenty of time we cannot probably read or study to advantage more than three hours a day. Half an hour a day would equal in a year fifty-two days of three hours each. Coming with untired brains to our half-hour's reading or study, we learn to read quickly, and our minds assimilate thoroughly what we read.

treacherous; and about that honorable King: John who returned to England voluntarily, when he found that his sons had broken the terms of his release. By taking up French history and with it some book or books bearing on the home life of its people, its poetry, and literature, we shall acquire this information. At the end of two years we shall find that we have accomplished much in the way of mental culture and the acquirement of knowledge.

In other three years we can have United States, Roman, and Jewish history. Thus, in five years, we have a good knowledge of fivecountries and peoples. We shall almost certainly have looked up in our atlases the places. in which great events have occurred, and thus we shall know much of the geography of the world.

But supposing we have not been broad in our method of studying, but have devoted ourselves almost exclusively to simple history; then, for a year, we may take places which have been famous for great events. An encyclopædia will help us much this year, and we may spend some of our halfhours at the public library, looking over one and getting in condensed form the history of each place. We want to know more about Rome. Some one says, "Read 'Corinne,' by Madame de Staël, and 'The Marble Faun,' by Hawthorne They will bring the places. home to you." So we read those books along with some more solid work.

We want to know something about Athens and Corinth; and, before we know, we are delving into some book on Grecian art, and another field is open to us.

But, before we turn aside, we must read Layard's "Nineveh." With what breathless interest we read about those wonderful old pieces of sculpture found there, and those stones covered with hieroglyphics! So the subject of antiquities is opened to us, and our year is too short. Thus, we are lead from book to book; and, as the years creep on, we become well read men and women.

Suppose that after this we become interested in the French. We want to know more about that Philip who was so selfish and

Will there not be a world of difference between, him as he is now and what he would