rapidity and ease. Forty-four young women were seated around a table putting up sandwiches, and in one hour and twenty minutes the work was done and the food ready for distribution. There were used on this occasion one thousand loaves of bread and a similar number of loaves of ginger-bread, and other cakes, over five hundred pounds of ham and beef, one hundred pounds of butter, six hundred gallons of tea and coffee, both liberally sweetened, and about one hundred gallons of milk. There was also plenty of ice, and of other articles, all of which found a use. The dinner bell rang at eleven o'clock, and in one hour and ten minutes all had been served, and seemed refreshed and happy. In order to accomplish so much at a moderate expense, the most careful and systematic arrangements on the part of the Society are necessary. It has a board of directors and a full list of officers, and committees composed of earnest, active men and women. The city is divided into forty-four districts, to each of which one or more members are assigned whose duty it is to select such as are deemed proper persons to receive the care of the Society, and distribute tickets to them, and give them all necessary information on the subject. The President's report, dated May 1, 1883, contains the following: The Free Summer Excursion Society' is one that comes very near to the people, making easier and lighter the burdens of the poor in our midst; proving efficient in the saving of many lives; is non-sectarian, the members of every faith reaping its benefits and uniting in its management, and yet it has never asked nor received any financial aid from the city. Its support has come from voluntary contributions. For Friends' Intelligencer. MORE CHAUTAUQUAN DAYS-IV. As we yet linger on this wind-swept vantage-ground, beside the pure lake, 726 feet above Erie, it is natural to inquire what geological formation is beneath our feet, and what evidences of an earlier creation can be obtained from its gravelly sloping banks. But the lake waters are some two feet above the ordinary water line, and the rank grass reaches quite to the dashing wavelets, and makes a stroll along the strand of this unsalted sea an impossibility. The State geologists have given their scrutiny to this as well as to all other localities of their State, and pronounce Chautauqua a lake of excavation, as are Ontario and all the other New York lakes. We are treading upon the Upper Devonian, and that especial formation in it classified as the Chemung. The fruitful soil has been worn down from strata of thin bedded sandstones and flagstones, with intervening shales, and a slight intermixture of impure limestones. The cutting of the soil needed for the laying of the railroad to Chautauqua has revealed abundant geologic evidences of the age of the formation. Characteristic fossils are obtained of the Chemung period showing this to be equivalent to the Erie shale of Ohio, and to that found in Utah and Nevada by Clarence King and Arnold Hague. The grand old trees and the luxuriantly growing young trees attest the high fertility of the soil, but its 1,300 feet of elevation make this too cold and bleak to be especially desirable for a dwelling place except during the fervors of midsummer. The force of the thunder storms is sometimes, indeed very often, terrific. Lofty trees are feared near the houses, for if one of these ponderous giants were to "No other charity among us has ever been be prostrated across the flimsy wooden strucinaugurated or maintained with such spon- ture, the ruin would be complete and sure. taneous aid and hearty co-operation of the Strangers are often alarmed by the swiftpeople. The contributions of its friends, and coming tempests, which can always be seen the faithful personal services of many who approaching beyond the lake some time behave labored with us from the beginning, and fore they break upon these shores. Then the that of others who have joined the ranks pleasure boat sets its sail for shore without later on-nor would we forget the aid of delay, a fresh breeze hastening its motion. those faithful ones whose work for life is The passengers hurry up the bank and seek ended; all these, together with members of refuge in the house, and then very soon the the daily and weekly press (from whom came waves are roaring inland with fury, and the first contributions in money, and always the wind sweeps them and dashes them onwords of hearty approval), have combined toward as if some Manitou of mischief posrender its work a success in the past; and we hope there will be no relaxation of effort to render it still more comprehensive and useful in the future." E. B. Baltimore, Eighth mo. 5th, 1883. WE cannot live without influencing others by what we are, whatever we may seem to be. sessed them. The rain comes in driving sheets, as if the body of lake waters was hurled against the cottages. Every doorway and window has its tightness fairly tested, and woe betide the house which was built in a hurry, or built to sell. The lightning's flash and the sharp crack of the thunder bursts are phenomenal, times, we should see that nothing could stand before the shock. The Baptists now claim a membership of 2,290,000 in the United States, and these numbers, if they were united in effort, surely would be mighty to the pulling down of strong towers. But we are reminded that the congregational form of Church government causes each church to act separately, and there cannot be any of that force that comes of the movement of great masses. Individual faithfulness rather than combination of force must be the moving power still, at least with this people. and startle the most courageous; but Then, again, I listened with deep interest to the discussions on temperance day. Here these Baptist people are inquiring if there is anything more for them to do to emancipate their fellow-men from a bondage which destroys the body and debases the immortal soul. Very strongly the disuse of intoxicating Sacramental wine was urged, and several cases were cited when the wine used at communion had been the means of overcoming the earnest resolves of the reforming drunkard. The clergy were called upon to advocate this step, when a lay brother reminded the people that the minister was constrained in his labor to acquiesce in the wishes of the congregation. If he undertakes to be a leader and a reformer he must soon find himself deprived of his office, and of his influence too. Here one sees demonstrated the necessity of a free Gospel ministry. Only that which the people are willing to hear can be declared to them from any ordinary pulpit. But I am sure that some of the more dedicated ones are so clad in the armor of the Highest as to be able to do undaunted battle for any truth, and to scourge the most darling sins of the people. If the imagination can picture the vast powers of any of the numerically great bodies of Protestant Christendom directing their united forces against a crying evil of the Among the voices which were raised against the use of alcoholic liquors was that of Adele M. Field, a missionary whose station is Swatow, China. She said that in the region where she labored in the interior of China-where spirituous liquors are hardly used at all, she could travel anywhere withBut if she approached any treaty port where intoxicants are used, she felt it needful to seek the escort of some brother missionary. This lady, who has lived many years in the Empire of China, has a right to bear witness in regard to that people, and we were much interested to observe that she showed deep sympathy and love for the Chinese, and that she strove to do them justice before her own nation. As in all temperance meetings, we are impressed by the weight of testimony borne in regard to the drink demon. Some of the enthusiastic brethren favored the formation of a third political party, declaring that a giant evil is not to be overcome by preaching, talking and praying against it, so long as we continue to uphold it by our votes. The experience of the fight of 40 years against slavery was cited as evidence of the power which resides in the ballot. It is only when coalition with this third party gives the power into the hands of a great national party that the righteous principle embodied can come to be fully incorporated in its acknowledged code of political ethics. It certainly is a good sign of the times that this denomination finds itself called to earnest counsels and to practical labor in so great a cause. We hope to find the lines of light extending out into every part of professing Christendom ere long, and that this will compel such legislation as will put to an end all licensing of the crime of making drunkards. Many an evil has fallen before the Hosts of the Lord, and no one should despair of victory here. A remarkably elaborated panorama of the city of Jerusalem and of the Jewish Temple as it existed in the time of Christ occupied one evening at the Tabernacle. I had never had so good an idea of the exceeding magnificence of this famous edifice and of its wonderful extent, and Prof. Haegle, in a lecture of great excellence, explained the panorama in detail. A rich series of stereopticon views, representing choice scenes in England, Egypt and India, gave illustration to a course of lectures, historical and topographical. These, to persons living at a distance from educational centers, were not only an acceptable entertainment, but a means of much instruction, particularly adapted to awaken an interest in young minds, and to lead to a course of reading and of study. I listened with deep interest to a lecture by Philip Moxom, of Cleveland, Ohio, on the New Theology. By the new theology the speaker means the amended ideas of the Divine Being and of human responsibility, in view of the great accession of light in many directions which recent times have enjoyed. He plead for the abandonment of hideous dogmas, dishonoring to the Eternal Goodness, and for that faith and trust which reposes safe and content in the conviction that the Lord of all the Earth will do right to the children of His love. I listened with delighted amazement to hear this popular and brilliant young Baptist preacher unfold his views of true Scriptural exegesis, and of the reasonableness and the necessity of giving due place to the testimony to eternal truth which God-illumined men and women of every age have borne, and to which Nature as well as Revelation points. The instincts of the pure-hearted among the sons of men, the teachings of love, wisdom and sweet reasonableness, with which the whole visible or sensible creation are filled, inspires the principles or tendencies which are generalized as the "New Theology." May all wisdom be with the seekers after true light and guidance! One reverts to the noble stand taken by Channing and his spiritual brethren, a generation ago, and to-day we have views parallel with theirs solemnly and powerfully affirmed by an honored teacher of the Baptist communion, who retires from the rostrum amid the plaudits of his ministerial and other brethren. I ventured to inquire of Moxom if we should have an opportunity to read his paper at leisure in any accessible journal. He replied that he thought he should offer his essay to the "Princeton Review.' Princeton Review." Thus he will fully commit himself to the liberal views, and become the target of those who cling to the cruel dogmas of the dark ages. Channing expressed the serious conviction that Christianity had more to gain by the removal of degrading errors than it could by | armies of missionaries who should bear with them a corrupted form of the Gospel. Love and light-hatred and darkness. Just as far apart as these are the opposing tenets of the two schools of theology. A gray-haired missionary, of grave and gentle face, sits opposite to us at table. Of course we delight to lead him to speak of his experience during his years of labor on behalf of the children of the far sunset land. Like all intelligent and reliable observers whom I have seen, he speaks respectfully of the Chinese, praises the virtues in which their race is rich, and admits that Buddhism is the noblest religious cult that the earth has known, with the exception, of course, of that which was incorporated into Judaism by the blessed One of Nazareth. Idol worship and the childish superstitions pertaining to it are only corruptions and degenerations, and find no warrant in the teachings of the princely sage whose message was the light of Asia long centuries before the incomparable pattern of human perfectness, in whom was shown the fullness of the Divine illumination, taught God's fatherhood and man's brotherhood in the land of Israel, and sent His disciples forth to give to the Gentiles the light of truth and the Gospel of peace and love. Upon being inquired of as to whether Edwin Arnold's beautiful poem is a faithful picture of Buddhism, our missionary replied that it seemed to him overdrawn, but not false. Every country which has received the Buddhist faith has extinguished caste, and none more remarkably than China. The treatment of the Chinese in our country filled his heart with indignation and grief, and both the missionary and his wife contrasted the gentle and courteous demeanor of the heathen they have labored for with the cruelty, injustice and violence of the men of their own race, who smite with the fist of wickedness the patient toilers who come to us from beyond the broad Pacific. But it is not my purpose to gather up too much of this summer-time talk, nor to presume to give a journal of graver utterances which have diversified our hours here and given food for thought for many days to come. There is something in these gatherings, and this friendly converse by the fireside and around the hospitable board, that is most precious. As the pebbles are worn into harmonious form by their mutual friction on the lake shore, so do the children of men grow more gentle, more wise and more appreciative of each other as they meet thus passively on these heights, and are swayed to and fro by the winds of opinion and the waves of discussion and conversation. Prejudice is ground away, minds are enlightened, hearts are warmed, and a certain unity of purpose is developed that can never in the coming time be lost sight of. "What are the best days in memory?" asks the sage. Those in which we met a companion who was truly such," he replies instantly. But all these chance encounters by the sanctuaries of earth are soon over, and we say farewell to silvery lake, emerald slopes and musical forests. Farewell, too, to our companions on the heights. We go our several ways joyfully, and yet with a certain regret for the dissolving of our midsummer truce at Chautauqua. Our last evening at Point Chautauqua was beautiful exceedingly. After a rough, windy day, a calm came with the setting sun. The evening sky glowed with extreme radiance, indicating the purity of the atmosphere. Then, as the shades of night descended, we noted the unwonted radiance of the stars and planets, increasing as the night advanced. At length the streamers of the Aurora Borealis dart up from the northern horizon, almost if not quite to the zenith. Very soon the streamers increase in number and in extent, until the full half of the northern sky is clothed in white light, almost like the light of day. A mass of dark cloud comes over from the west at length, and a somber pall obscures the magnetic glory of the north. A symbol it seemed of tragic ending to some deed of splendor—a pall of gloom and depair closing down upon glowing hopes and heavenly aspirations. The wind rises, and a storm bursts again on the astonished world so late bathed in splendors ineffable. The last morning (that of Seventh month 30th) dawns in brightness and beauty upon Point Chautauqua, and we depart toward Lake Erie, and thence northward along its shores till we reach Niagara, where we hope again to pitch our tent and tarry a season. S. R. Point Chautauqua, 7th mo. 30th, 1883. I love my God, but with no love of mine, I love thee, Lord, but all the love is thine, I am as nothing, and rejoice to be From thee the streams of blessedness proceed, In thee the blest abide. Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace, Our source, our centre, and our dwelling-place! -Madame Guyon. Love is my master. When it breaks, The morning light, the rising ray, To Thee, O God! my spirit wakes, And love instructs it all the day. -Madame Guyon. WHERE WILD FLOWERS GROW. Where wild flowers grow the sun smiles down The things of beauty and of mirth; Each breeze is like a soft caress In gentlest ministry of love; And spread their beauty forth above, Haste eagerly and skip and run, It seems like Sabbath all the week; His voice amid the hush is heard, And the whole world is full of God. From noise of wheels, and dust of streets, And see now spring has come again, What rest there is in God's retreats; And how like heaven is earth below In places where the wild flowers grow. -Marianne Farningham in the Christian World. SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF OBERLIN COLLEGE. Except to those who hold in sympathetic remembrance the dark days of the antislavery cause, and the contemporary struggle of woman to secure the recognition of her just claim to acquire a liberal education, the enthusiasm attending the demonstrative celebration at Oberlin may seem phenomenal. One needs to come into direct contact with the devoted, consecrated spirit of the College and the intense love of her sons and daughters for their alma mater to realize how this ingathering assumed a significance above the level of mere social rejoicing, in harmony with the Levitical command, "And shall ye hallow the fiftieth year. A jubilee shall that | the streets and college grounds were newly fiftieth year be unto you." Having had that peopled. Gray hair, spectacles and canes privilege during the week of jubilee I am im- appeared on every hand. To the looker-on pelled to forward a fragmentary account of meetings and greetings between the boys and the reunion which brought to Oberlin her girls of the old time were of deep interest. sons and daughters not alone from positions Such spirited hand grasps between those who of honor throughout our own country, but had not met for twenty, thirty, forty or more from Africa, India, and the Isles of the sea. years. Such querying and reciting of what Taking passage on the Cleveland, Lorain, life had brought. Such reviving of old time and Wheeling railroad, a few miles west of memories, living over again the joys and selfthe Ohio river, the journey of one hundred denials of the years when to know Oberlin and fifty miles in a northwesterly direction was to know privation of no common order. was quickly made. Although the brooks The "wonderful story of Oberlin," told over were still "complaining" from heavy rain- and over can but be touched upon in this falls, page. That without means or experience, with only faith in a divine calling, a few devoted men and women in the unbroken wilderness, under material disadvantages that the present age can scarcely picture, could in a few months organize a school of high order seems now like a mythical story. In the light of experience, privations were blessings. The ideas which were wrought out in the wilderness could not have been accepted where social influences were already organized. The essential feature of the enterprise was a college in the midst of a Christian community. Again the sodden forest floors With golden lights were checkered, And sunshine danced and flickered." Grasses and grains stood an unbroken phalanx, erect and green until a few more suns should mature them for the broad, waiting barns. The beeches trailed their long branches, draped in silken foliage, oak leaves reflected the light from each glossy surface. Hill, vale, farm and spired village whirled from sight. Passing the watershed between river and lake, we were in prairie level. As the day waned clouds again gathered, and the rain like a long line of spears, brightly Believing that the Lord had given the burnished and tall," shut out the view, hasten-charge, the founder went his way, nothing ing the evening shades. Changing at Elyria doubting. The opening of the higher educato the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern tion of women was in the germ not fully road, we fell in with the perceptible current comprehended by the founders, but ready to of Oberlin influx. Soon landed on the plat- develop and take form. The manual labor form of College station, we are welcomed as feature of the plan made Oberlin possible. cordially by friendly hands and voices as The prospect of self-support brought students though years had not passed since hands had from the East, West, North and South, and the clasped and lips exchanged greeting. possibility of it enabled them to hold on their way. At the end of two years there seemed no visible means of sustaining the enterprise. Then came the unexpected enlargement. The students of Lane Seminary, forbidden to discuss slavery, had withdrawn, and were devising some plan for completing their theological studies, under the assurance that no existing institution would receive them, but under the same restrictions. The Tappans and others in New York, in view of, to them, an evident need, were contemplating an organization of some plan for educating young men for the ministry. The three movements became one. The vigorous young men from Cincinnati, whose names are now historic, imbued with anti-slavery principles and burning with zeal, the new religious movement, backed by capital in New York, found in Oberlin the favorable conditions. From 1835 Oberlin became a known power. The pioneer in opening her doors irrespective of race or sex, and in religions rejecting Westminster rule on one hand and skepticism on the other, she came to be indeed not only peculiar but The village, situated thirty-four miles west of Cleveland and twelve miles from Lake Erie has a population of between three and four thousand, to which is added during school year one thousand students. It It is emphatically a college town, having no business advantages beyond those growing out of college demands. Fifty years of intellectual culture leave an indelible stamp. Streets lined with comfortable homes surrounded by shaded well kept lawns, and filled with the rare and beautiful things that elevated taste appreciates, are in striking contrast with the portentious show which parades its obtrusive elegance in moneyed centres. The broad campus, with smooth turf and lofty trees around and in which the college buildings cluster, is a pride and delight of the town. The programme for the Commencement and celebration covered a week, extending from June 28 to July 4. Commencements of different departments alternating with reunions of alumni and alumnæ associations and other exercises. By Sixth day the 29th |