hated of men, and against her was waged a war of prejudice which in the light of to-day seems irreconcilable.

Said their beloved President Fairchild, "The repugnance to Oberlin was complex and varied-social, political, ecclesiastical, theological and educational uniting the good and the bad, the intelligent and the ignorant, in a common reproach; but we may congratulate ourselves to-day that there is not enough left to mar our jubilee." The community was self-dedicated to an aggressive Christian work, spreading the Gospel through the new West of our own land and all abroad. Under the guidance of instructors of rare qualification there has passed out a continuous stream of men and women whose works do praise them.

Passing through the College buildings, classes were, as late as Sixth-day, found at work. Fine collections of pressed plants attested to the careful labor spent in the study of botany, and an exhibition of microscopy work, each student describing his or her own work by the aid of an instrument, deeply interested the observers. The collection of artistic work testified to pure as well as cultivated taste.

The mornings were given up to commencement exercises. An address from ex-President Hayes added to the interest of the forenoon, set apart to the theological graduates, who were eleven in number. On the 2d sixteen young women received literary degrees, and on the 3d a class of thirty-four, six of whom were girls, passed to the world from the classical department. Every graduate had a creditable thesis. These exercises were, in the cases of classical graduates, limited to five minutes, a test very successfully borne, each speaker bringing a clear, succinct line of thought before the audience. The various alumni reunions which occupied different afternoons, and an anti-slavery reunion, afforded opportunity for an outpouring of reminiscences of the stirring times of the past fifty years rarely afforded. The occasions are not frequent where mind of such high order and varied experience is brought together in expression. Calm-faced women, from pinnacles of usefulness in varied fields of service, handed forth rich stores from memory and experience. Men, from posts of honor in College, Church and State, are grave and gay until the great audience of thousands gathered in the immense auditorium prepared for the temporary need, prove how close indeed lies laughter to the fountain of tears.

Survivors of the Lane Seminary students pictured the fervor enkindled by Theodore Weld's famous discussion, and one, the ven

erable Amos Dresser, recounted the story of the inhuman lynching he received in Nashville, Tenn., soon after his withdrawal from Lane Seminary. Under the glow of the hour came story after story of underground railroad experience, sometimes thrilling, sometimes amusing. Though hundreds of escaping slaves passed through Oberlin yearly, it is her pride that not one was ever returned to slavery.

The reunions of the forty-seven classes formed one of the most delightful features of the occasion. Under the broad shade of campus trees that their own hands had planted, in old rooms hallowed by precious memories, at the homes of resident members, they revived the bygone days and recounted the joys and sorrows of intervening years.

One picture is indelibly stamped on memory, the lingering setting sunlight streaming across lawn greenness of home after home, where, drawn in close circles, social flow charmed the short hour, as host and hostess dispensed substantials for the body. On one lawn three such groups indicated the three classes represented in the household.

One with the "warning flowers of time blooming white above her brow," who had lately been bereft of a lovely daughter, told afterwards how one after another of her Class recounted a similar experience. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (who was at this late day elected a member of the theological alumni), read before her Class, that of '47, a beautiful poem written for the occasion.

The Sabbath exercises were also full of interest. First exercises for all the children, with the story of the Oberlin Sabbath school, from its inception in the wilderness cabin ; then the Baccalaureate sermon from the text, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it," which must ever be held in vivid remembrance by many of the audience of 4,000 who listened so intently while President Fairchild delivered it in his own simple benign manner.

From 9 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon of the 4th, the great audience was held eagerly listening, with only a short recess for lunch, provision being made for old students and guests without leaving the building. Arranged in groups representing decades, fifty years of college life was, under one roof, served with food distributed by Oberlin students, reviving memories of the days when homely serving was a part of the student's daily life.

The Jubilee Address by General Cox, Class of '51, was equal to the hour. Comprehensive and scholarly, bold in statement, but in nothing extravagant, it instructed while it pleased.

val of still other bolts and bars held between women and her possibilities for helpfulness in solving human problems. But it fails the pen to adequately record what made the day one of absorbing interest. Wit, wisdom and pathos lent their powers as Oberlin's honored children from afar offered tribute to her fostering care during fifty garnered years.

Representatives from various colleges, our present State Governor, also members of present faculty, gave addresses, and only the imperative demands of the late hour reconciled to the cutting off of much that the spontaneity of the occasion suggested. The evening was given up to a rendering of the oratorio of Elijah by the College Conservatory, which gave unquestionable evidence of the success it has in its especial culture of sacred music. To the average observer a marked peculiarity throughout was the intermingling of sexes, but to one accustomed to even a better state of things, the hesitancy to accept women's call to the ministry and ignoring her in the theological department seems a strange inconsistency. But the good, brave women are so rejoiced over all that has been won for them since the times when, year by year, they were refused the privilege of reading their own essays in public, that they hope for all good yet.

the sun.

All bright things must end. So the goodbyes were spoken, and in common with the multitude, my face turns homeward. The scenic panorama reverses. Soon the flat country is past, and low ridges spur into the broad bottom lands, until, as we near the Ohio, they press close on one hand or the other as we follow the clear, swift streams. The corn which scarcely rippled a few days ago, now tosses its willowy blades glinting in The wheat stands golden, or in hooded shock waits the convenient season for housing, and Nature waits not while we loiter away from her workshop. The wild rose blooms in lavish abundance and an array of summer blues, whites and yellows gladden the eye, and crowning all the elegant, erect stalk of the meadow lily with its cluster of pendant blossoms carries thought quickly to other sweet meadows which have matured many harvests since the ravages of plow and scythe doomed the wildling to extinction.

ITEMS.

THE William Penn House built for the founder of Pennsylvania on Letitia street, near Second, Philadelphia, has been torn down and will be re-erected in Fairmount Park in as nearly its original style as possible.

of next month.

culture in California is olive growing. It is ONE of the most interesting features of agrithought that the State could easily raise a crop as large as that of Italy, which sells yearly for $50,000,000. One ranch owner at Santa Barbara has derived a profit of $22,000 an acre from his plantation.

Cassamicciola, on the Island of Ischia, near ON the night of the 28th ult., the town of Naples, was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake. The neighboring towns of Forio and Lacceameno were greatly damaged. Prof. Palmieri, Director of the Meteorological Obserdisaster on the island of Ischia by which three vatory on Mount Vesuvius, states that the towns were destroyed and a great number of lives lost, was not due to an earthquake, but to the subsidence of the ground. The latest estimate places the number of deaths at between 4000 and 5000.

A meeting for the advancement of the cause of Temperance will be held at Londongrove 18th instant, to convene at 10 o'clock, and conFriends' Meeting-house, on Seventh-day, the tinue through the day, with a suitable recess for basket lunch and social mingling.

This meeting is called by the Committee of Western Quarterly Meeting, for the purpose suppression of the manufacture, sale and use of interesting the entire community in the of intoxicating beverages and the evils attendant thereon, and all are invited to come and participate; but in an especial manner is it hoped to enlist the sympathies and interest of

the youth and children.

Eminent friends of the cause from other fields are expected to be in attendance.

Train leaving Broad street at 7.43 A. M., will be met at Toughkenamon, if previous notice of Friends coming be sent to

ELLWOOD MICHENER, Tough kenamon. Toughkenamon. Eighth mo. 6th, 1883.

VOL. XL.

No. 27.

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY AN ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS. 00】MUNICATIONS MUST BE ADDRESSED AND PAYMENTS MADE TO JOHN COMLY, AGENT,

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Entered at the Post-Office at Philadelphia, Penna. as second-class

matter

GENESEE YEARLY MEETING.

The Extracts from the Minutes of Genesee Yearly Meeting have been received, and such portions as have general interest are offered to our readers.-EDS.

Report of the Committee on Temperance. We, the Committee upon the subject of Temperance, report that we have given the appointment careful consideration, but way has not opened for any action other than by individual effort, and by signing petitions asking of the New York Legislature the passing of an act, to submit for the suffrages of the people, an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicants; and a few public addresses upon the subject by a member of the Committee; and no expense has been incurred by them the past year.

was feelingly expressed that we should all be found willing to exercise our various gifts for the benefit of the whole, comparing them to the different timbers on a building, the smaller and less conspicuous ones being needful to strengthen and sustain the whole, so in like manner the younger members of Society, who may have clear and discerning judgments as well as their elder brethren, might be found willing to come forward and bear their allotted portion of the work.

In the circumstance of the withered hand

healed by Jesus, the command was to "stretch it forth" in order to have it healed. So we on our part should comply with the requisition of the Master, in order to be healed.

as exhibited by the answers to the Queries, In the consideration of the state of Society the meeting was brought into deep exercise, and much pertinent counsel was handed forth.

We were feelingly counseled to keep up all our religious meetings in the power of Divine Truth-not in a mere outward form, but with minds desirous of entering into spiritual communion with our Heavenly Father, that we might thereby witness a preparation to wor

five dollars.

would not fail of being benefited and refreshed, as is the flower by the dew that falls upon it in the night season, invigorating and reviving it and keeping it alive until the gentle rain and refreshing shower descend to water the earth.

We were exhorted to be ever watchful over our spiritual nature, and to avoid those things which so insiduously and almost imperceptibly dwarf and destroy our spiritual growth, and which, like the worm beneath the earth at the root of the tree, destroys its vitality, and although it may stand erect for a time, yet when the day of trial comes, comparable to the wind and the tempest, it is uprooted and falls to the ground. We were reminded that all jealousy and detraction of our neighbors, like these worms, should be carefully guarded against.

The subject of plainness of dress and address was feelingly alluded to, and while not considering them as the golden grain itself, but only as a protection thereof, or as the fence around the field, they were not to be lost sight of or deemed non-essential; that we be not ashamed to use the plain language of "thee and thou" when conversing with a single person, believing it to be a consistent language and one of truth, of love and affection one toward another, and would not bring us into disrepute even with the people of the world.

We were incited not to relax or abate our efforts against the baneful influences of intemperance or war, believing them to be both debasing and demoralizing to the best interest of the community with which we are surrounded; that the signs of the times were hopeful and encouraging, that in accordance with prophetic vision the time would come "when nation would not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Our testimony for a free gospel ministry claimed our deliberate consideration, and we were admonished not to balk or compromise this testimony in any way, nor anathematise those among other societies who receive pay for such labor, but rather hold up to view the beauty and simplicity of our own spiritual worship and free gospel ministry as something higher and better adapted to the sincere seeking soul and true worshipper.

JONATHAN D. NOXEN, Clerk.

In reviewing the state of Society as shown by the answers to the Queries, we acknowledge many deficiencies, particularly in the attendance of our religious meetings, which called forth loving counsels and exhortations to individually search our own hearts. Oh let us remember that if we are willing to mingle with those who are endeavoring to gather to the fountain of life, away from every hindering thing, we may often experience our spiritual strength to be renewed.

The evils of intemperance have claimed our attention, we realize how great is the need of reform, and feel willing faithfully and steadfastly to bear our testimony against the manufacture of all intoxicants, looking for ability to labor successfully in this important concern, where alone it can be found.

We have been feelingly reminded of dear fathers and mothers who have been removed from our midst, and we were counseled so to profit by their example-so to dwell under the regulating influence of the pure spirit of truth-that we, too, shall be enabled to go through life scattering precious seed and

"Departing leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time." Testimonies have been borne to the excellency and beauty of simplicity of dress and address. The dear young sisters were entreated not to allow their minds to be so filled with the frivolous pleasures of an hour, as to leave no room for that which is everlasting in its rewards of happiness and peace.

They were shown that their lives will produce fruit, and it is for them to decide what its character shall be. May they with a high aim in life and a steadfast purpose be true to their convictions and become the humble followers of the Divine Master.

All classes and conditions have been feelingly addressed. Those who are in affliction were entreated to be of good cheer. Those who feel called to the work of the ministry were exhorted to yield a ready and faithful obedience to the Divine requirings, thereby earning for themselves a steady growth in the Truth and the commendation of "Well done."

Mothers were admonished to remember that

Mothers who have not yet in the lives of their children beheld the full fruits of their loving admonitions and watchful care, were encouraged to still hope. We look on the gray branches left naked by the blasts of winter, and inwardly exclaim: "Can these dry twigs live;" but in the right time they bud and put forth leaves and are clothed in their beauty. Even so let us trust it will be with the bread cast upon the waters

"For mother's lips are never dead,

They ever say what once they said."

If we can feel that in our thus mingling together, both religiously and socially, our trust and confidence in the Divine have been strengthened, our charity broadened, our love made purer, our desires to know and do the will of our Father increased, our coming together will not have been in vain, and we shall return to our homes refreshed and better prepared to again resume the duties of life. With desires that this may be the experience of each one here gathered, we separate to meet at Yarmouth, Ontario, at the usual time next year, if consistent with Divine Will. PHEBE JANE Noxon, Clerk.

For Friends' Intelligencer.

TOLERATION.

An esteemed citizen of Philadelphia, John Welsh, has erected in Fairmount Park a statue of William Penn, and has placed on the pedestal the word "Toleration."

Among the many who claimed the right of religious liberty in the time of William Penn no one was more ready than he to accord it to those of different faiths, and he used his power as a law-maker wisely and beneficently in securing this right to the citizens of the Commonwealth he founded.

"Toleration” seems a fitting inscription, and may awaken in some minds the inquiry whether the Religious Society whose name he bore is enough concerned to carry out its spirit.

In our day the thought of the Society has broadened, and throughout the denomination the feeling exists that we have only a portion of God's vineyard "to dress and to keep." While it is of vital importance that the work entrusted to us should receive our earnest labor and our wisest thought, yet there are laborers in other portions who use their tal

Seclusion from our fellow-men fosters the belief that we alone are right, and it is no evidence of laxity of faithfulness to Quaker belief to acquaint ourselves with the religious thought of other sects; for the faith that is only held by ignorance, and that cannot bear comparison, is not a conviction, but simply a blind acquiescence in what is laid down by others, and is unfitted for this day of intellectual activity.

William Penn's education and family connections had given him unusual opportunities for judging of men, and had made his knowledge broad and his charity great; for this reason he was liberal, and desired to accord to others the freedom of belief which he claimed for himself.

All Christian people love to talk about "the truth as it is in Jesus," but can we think of a more liberal faith than His, or a love so all-embracing? To the woman of Samaria, who sought to obtain His sanction of the worship in that mountain, He uttered the great truth that it matters not whether the worship be here or there of this form or of that-if it be "in spirit and in truth.'

As our thoughts advance with the onward movement of the times, some of our peculi arities seem no longer necessary, and the purely traditional gives way before the wisdom of the present. The best thought of to-day is sufficient for. to-day, though we have been taught to believe that the flavor of age should be upon our religious belief. Truth, which can never grow old, takes the living forms of the present, and we must not mistake the forms it wore in the past for the truth itself.

The spirit of the times is opposed to religious intolerance, and all the sects must feel the impulse toward a broader charity and a more binding love. Progress in scientific discovery has swept away some of the most cherished dogmas of the evangelical churches, and as these were imposed by man they may by man be scattered, but the living truth is of God, and against it nothing can prevail. In a late article in the "North American Review" Newman Smyth says, "It is one of the services which science has rendered religion that its progress has compelled believers to go up higher, and to come out from their traditional controversies, to stand together and confidently upon the first principles of their faith."

Going back of the creeds and the exposi tors of beliefs, we reach the truth which we, as a Society, hold most dear, that God is the