the poetic gardens, as the beetle is worn by our ladies. Of the natives and their hospitality our author never ceases to take pleasure in talking: When we returned to the shore at about noon I saw a group of natives standing round the boat. The headman, a fine handsome man of about forty, with a particularly gentle and pleasing manner, came up to me with every mark of respect, and offered me a pretty basket, full of mangoes, pine-apples, oranges and other fruit from his garden, garlanded with fragrant jasmine, and the blossoms of the Plumiera and oleander. He begged me, with modest friendliness, to eat my midday meal—which I was about to begin under the shade of some palm trees-in his house; when I gratefully accepted, he sent some of his people to make some preparation, while I desired William and two of my boatmen to follow him with the basket which contained our cold provisions. I meanwhile refreshed myself by taking a plunge in the sea. In about an hour my friend the headman returned and with him a troop of delightful children, all crowned with flowers. He led me by a winding path through the cocoanut grove to a part of the village which was divided off, and which I had not till then observed. Then, passing through a pretty garden, where the path had been strewn with flowers, we reached the headman's hut, a superior residence, built entirely of bamboo, and thatched with palm leaves. The entrance was prettily decorated, in a mode in which the Ĉinghalese excel, with ornaments made of split and plaited palm leaves. Under the projecting thatch, which formed a verandah in front of the house, a large table had been improvised of boards resting on palm stumps, and covered with large pale-green banana leaves. The food I had brought with me was served on this, and with it a large bowl of rice and curry, fresh oysters, bananas and cocoa-nuts, the kind contribution added by our host. The hearty appetite with which I enjoyed them, sharpened by my hot walk and seabath, was in no respect interfered with by the fact that the whole of the headman's numerous family stood round me and watched my proceedings, while outside the garden the brown village community stood assembled, and gazed from afar. When I had finished this quaintly arranged meal, which I was in the mood to relish as ambrosia and nectar, my kind host begged me to write my name, and that of my native land, on a palm leaf which he fastened up over his door. He then presented all his family to me, no less than sixteen children nine boys and seven girls-each prettier than the last. Only the elder ones, from twelve years old and upward, were more or less clothed, while the younger children wore a string tied round their hips, with a small silver coin attached, as a symbolic expression of clothing. On their arms and legs they wore silver bangles. I had under my eyes a complete history of the development of the Cinghalese type of humanity in a perfect series, and it was all the more interesting, because this part of the coast is famous for the purity of its truly Cinghalese race, which, in fact, has suffered but little admixture. The graceful figures, and in the elder girls, the well-developed form of their bodies and limbs, and remarkably small hands and feet, no doubt constitute several of the two-and-thirty "points" which, according to the Cinghalese poets, are indispensable to beauty. Above all, they insist on long black hair, almondshaped eyes, swelling hips, etc. The color of their skin was cinnamon brown, in various shades: in the little children, much lighter. The happy mother of these sixteen children, a stout and kindly matron of about forty, was evidently not a little delighted when I made William interpret to her my great admiration of her family. NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES. Long Days and Plant Growth.-The Norwegian plant-geographer Schabeler, a short time ago called attention to some striking and surprising peculiarities manifested by vegetation in high latitudes which he ascribed to the intensive light effects of the long days. Most plants in these regions produce much larger and heavier seeds than in lower latitudes, and the difference is in some cases astonishing. Dwarf beans taken from Christiana to Dronthiem gained more than sixty per cent. in weight, and thyme, from Lyons, when planted at Drontheim, showed a gain of seventy-one per cent. Grain is heavier in the north than in the more southern latitudes, and Norwegian seed planted at Breslau fell off greatly in the first year. Another remarkable fact is that the increase of weight in northern latitudes takes place through the assimilation of non-nitrogenous substances, while the protein products have no part in it. The leaves, also, of most plants grow larger in high latitudes, and at the same time take on a deeper, darker color. This peculiarity, first noticed by Griesbach and Martins, has been observed not only in most of the wild trees and shrubs, but also in fruit trees, and even kitchen-garden plants. It has further been observed that the flowers of most plants are larger and more deeply colored, and that many flowers which are white in the south, become in the far north | sentenced to transportation. He became violet.-Pop. Science Monthly. Amber.-Some very interesting researches have recently been made on the flora of the amber-bearing formations of East Prussia, by Messrs. Gaeppert and Menge. In ancient times there must have been, in this part of Europe a group of conifers comprising specimens from almost all parts of the world. Among the splendid specimens of the California coniferæ were the redwood, the sugar pine and the Douglas spruce; and of the examples of the Eastern States were the bald cypress, red cedar, thuya, and the Finus rigida; from the eastern coasts of Asia were the Chilian incense cedar, the parasol fir, the arbor vitæ, the glyptostrobus, and the thuyop sis; and the Scotch fir, the spruce, and the cypress of Europe, and the callitris of Southern Africa. It appears that the deposits of amber for which the Baltic is noted are the product of generations of these resin-bearing trees. The richest deposits are situate along a strip of coast between Memel and Dantzic, though the real home of amber has been supposed to lie in the bed of the Baltic between Bornholm and the main land. It rests upon cretaceous rocks, and consists chiefly of their debris, forming a popular mixture known as blue earth, which appears to exist throughout the Province of Samland, at the depth of 80 to 100 feet, and to contain an almost inexhaustible supply of amber. Immense quantities of amber are washed out to sea from the coast, or brought down by rivulets and cast up again during the storms, or in certain winds. The actual yield by quarrying is 200,000 to 300,000 pounds a year, or five times the quantity estimated to be cast up by the strip of coast above mentioned.-London Times. REFORM BY KINDNESS. This utterly embittered against society. He resolved to avenge himself by given his keepers all the trouble he could. He achieved the reputation of being the worst convict ever known in the colonies, and received more lashes in a given time than any previous prisoner. He was at last chained on a rock off the harbor of Sydney for two years. So savage had he become that his keeper dared not go within his reach, even when bringing him food but thrust it forth at the end of a long pole. He became one of the sights of Sydney; and people would go out in boats to stare at this human monster, and would often throw him cakes and fruit as to beast in a menagerie. This man was sent to Maconochie. On his arrival at Norfolk Island, he was placed at the task of subduing some untamed bullocks. The new sense of useful power awakened in him the consciousness of manhood. task achieved, other works were found for him; and he did so well that it became difficult to keep him in occupation. A signal station was established, and he was placed in charge of it. He had a neat cottage for his sup-in home with a garden attached. His gratitude knew no bounds. The first of everything his garden yielded, before he had himself tasted it, went always to the table of his friend and savior. When the governor-general of Australia visited the settlement, he particulary noticed this bright, active fellow, and asked who he was. Maconochie inquired if he remembered the convict chained to the rock in Sydney harbor. "Perfectly well," he answered. "That's the man," said Maconochie. "Bless my soul, captain," said the astonished governor-general," what have you done to him?" Nothing," was the quiet reply, "except to treat him as a human being, a brother man."-Christianity and the Criminal. Ir is not essential to the happy home that The history of such reform establishments. as those of Sir Walter Crofton in Ireland and there should be the luxury of the carpeted of Captain Maconochie on Norfolk Island tells floor, the cushioned sofa, or the soft shade of a tale of miracles of transformation. When the astral lamp. These gild the apartments, Maonochie was appointed Governor of Nor- but reach not the heart. Neatness, order, and folk Island, he found fourteen hundred crimi- a cheerful heart make home the sweet paradise nals, the very scum of the Australin convict it is often found to be. There is joy as real by population, the worst set of rascals ever the cottage fireside as in the splendid saloons brought together in a single penal establishment. When he left it, after only four years, he could write: "I found the island a tur bulent hell: I left it a peaceful, well-ordered community." One individual case, paralleled by others, will illustrate these miracles of transformation. A young Englishman, left an orphan early, went before the mast as a lad. While in the port of Liverpool, he committed a theft in a drunken frolic. He was of wealth and refinement. The elegancies of life are not to be despised. They are to be received with gratitude, but their possession does not insure happiness. The sources of true joy are not so shallow. The cheerful heart, like the kaleidoscope, causes most discordant materials to arrange themselves in harmony and beauty.-Christian Life. By humility and the fear of the Lord, are riches and honor and life.-Prov. xxii., 4. ITEMS. ANTI-TOBACCO societies are being formed tyr. The season is somewhat unfortunate, throughout England. THE new bridge of the New York Lake Erie and Western Railroad, at Kinzua, 14 miles beyond Bradford, Pa., it is claimed is the highest bridge in the world. It is 2,050 feet long, and at its highest point is 301 feet above the earth's surface. It is built of iron throughout, | the roadbed on either side being surrounded by high hand-railings, . THE Weekly Medical Review states that the smoke test is being used in England and Scotland with great satisfaction. It is applied by a small machine with powerful fanners, which blow the smoke of the ignited cotton waste, saturated with oil, into the drainage system, and in due time the smoke issues from all defective points and imperfect traps, showing the leakage. parations are being made by the Swiss for the celebration in a becoming manner of the four hundredth birthday of the reformer and marconsidering the climate.-New York Herald. THE New York correspondent of the Public Ledger of the 19th ult., in relation to the plying of steamers between Mexico and Europe says: "There is some conversation at the Maritime Exchange about the bold push our next door neighbor, Mexico, is making for commercial marine. She has gone about it in a businesslike way without much talk. A first-class steel steamer, the Tamaulipas, leaves Liverpool tomorrow on her first voyage to Vera Cruz, and this, it is expected, will mark the beginning Scot-morrow on her first voyage to Vera Cruz, and of a new era in the foreign trade of the country, in connection with certain modifications of the tariff, which, it is believed, will be made. The Tamaulipas will be followed next month and in January by her sister ships, the Oaxaca and Mexico, these three constituting the Liverpool line of the company. Next year will follow the three steamers of the Mediterranean line, equal in size, construction and accomodations to those of the preceding. Each of these vessels is 4,000 tons burthen, designed for a high rate of speed, and equipped with every convenience and luxury for the comfort and safety of passengers, and including the electric lights throughout. These lines are to be followed by a number of others, not only on the Atlantic and the Gulf, but across the Pacific to the distant ports of Japan, China and Australia, and to the sister republic of South America. Orders have likewise been given for the construction of a line for New York. ACCORDING to the census report Illinois pays out more money for fences than any other State in the Union. Pennsylvania comes next. There are in the United States 6,000,000 miles of fence, and it has in all cost something over $2,000,000,000. During the census year alone $78,629,000 was expended for fencing purposes. NEGOTIATIONS for running an exceptionally fast train from Paris to St. Petersburg are said to be so far advanced as to convert the project into a reality. The cars of the train are to be supplied with adjustable wheels, which will enable them to travel on various gauges. From Paris to the Russian frontier the same guage is used, but there the wheels must be adjusted. Travelers will then be able to go the whole distance without the inconvenience of having to change cars. The speed of the train is to be one not hitherto attempted on the continent, namely, fifty-six miles (without stoppage) an hour. The trains are to be on the Pennsylvania Railroad pattern, including kitchen, dining saloon, reading and drawing rooms and all the other comfortable arrangements so essential to modern traveling.-Public Ledger. NOTICES. SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF FREEDOM. The "American Anti-Slavery Society" was organized at a Convention held in Philadelphia, on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of Twelfth mo., 1833. A meeting to celebrate the Semi-Centennial of this event will be held in Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia, commencing on the 4th day of Twelfth mo. next at 10 A. M. viving members of the convention, and other ROBERT PURVIS, Chairman. ON January 1, 1884, it will be 400 years since the great Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingle, saw the light. He was just seven weeks younger than Martin Luther. His parents were in humble circumstances, but he found the needed education to fit him for the priesthood. He was ordained in 1506. In 1514 he visited Erasmus at Basle, and in 1519 he was appointed preacher in the Cathedral at Zurich. Tinged with the new doctrines, his preaching proThe Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of duced an immense influence, and he was soon in the maelstrom of the revolution. He was Swarthmore College, will be held at the Meetpresent at and took part in the famous confering-house, Race and Fifteenth Streets, Philaences of Baden and Marburg. When the struggle in Switzerland took the form of open war Zwingle fought with the reformers and fell at the battle of Cappel. His body was discovered and burned by the enemy. According to the light that was in him he worked, fought and died for the truth, and by the Swiss reformers his name has always been held dear. What Luther was to Germany and John Knox to Scotland, Zwingle was to Switzerland. Pre delphia, on Third-day, Twelfth mo. 4th, 1883, at 3 o'clock P. M. A stock vote will be taken for the purchase of the Ingersol and Harper properties. An adjourned meeting will be held at the of the Tellers appointed to count the vote for same place, at 2 o'clock, to receive the reports changing the constitution. GEO. W. HANCOCK, ABBY M. WOODNUT,} Clerks FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER. “TAKE FAST HOLD OF INSTRUCTION; LET HER NOT GO; KEEP HER; FOR SHE IS THY LIFE. It is pleasant and stimulating to review a life that was spent in constant endeavor to do right, in simple obedience to the Father.. Such, we believe, was that of Lydia C. Stabler, the subject of this memoir. She was born in Baltimore, Twelfth month 22d, 1834. Her parents were Edward H. and Mary C. Stabler, members of Baltimore Monthly Meeting. To a casual observer her childhood and youth seemed all peace and calmness, almost without temptation-so carefully was she guarded; but her earliest notes tell of daily struggles with propensities that she knew must be subdued. On her seventeenth birthday she wrote, "Could my past hour speak they would tell of disobedience and wilful wrong-doing, O, may I be enabled to act better in future! I need greater watchfulness, in prayer, I slip so often." Yearly Meetings were seasons of peculiar interest to her, and she was in the habit of taking full notes of what was helpful to her, either in sermons or in the social conversation of Friends who visited her home. She lost her mother in 1857. This was her first deep sorrow. Thenceforward she felt that her duty was to comfort and sustain her venerated grandmother, Lydia Jefferis. Faithfully did she fulfill the trust, never wavering. She became her diligent housekeeper, her pleasant, Poetry: The Reformation. A Remarkable sunset.. Natural History Studies.. Being Alone.. Items Notices... sympathizing companion; and then her tender, untiring nurse to the last moment of her life. After the final breaking up of her family, she found a happy and congenial home with Dr. E. Gover Cox and Mary his wife, where she passed the remainder of her life. After her father's second marriage he removed to Brooklyn on account of business advantages. It was there she lost her little sister Mary C. Stabler. She went to her, nursed her lovingly, soothing her last moments, and then wrote a memoir of that precious life that was touching and heartfelt, as if they had been children of one mother. The tender love she bore her second mother, her sisters and brother, is among her noblest and most beautiful traits, and shines prominently as a true Christian example to other daughters. In Second month, 1877, she was called upon to mourn the loss of her father. The close unity of feeling that always existed between them made this peculiarly hard for her to bear, but, as in every other trial, she endeavored to see only the loving Hand that sent it. On New Year, 1878, she wrote, "Twelve months ago I had my dear father on earth. One month later the fiat went forth, and the one upon whom I had leaned from earliest recollection, with almost_idolizing love, was no more for me here. But thanks to that. dear Father of all, I do not feel him afar off even now, and help and blessing are felt and acknowledged in every retrospect. How wonderfully I have been cared for! Truly has this been a lesson in simple faith, given for my learning. Would that I might know it well learned and used." She was Clerk of Baltimore Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, and Assistant Clerk of the Yearly Meeting, during several years, always rendering efficient and acceptable service. Her remarkable quickness of perception enabled her to discern and present to the meeting, promptly and judiciously, the true bearing of subjects brought before it; but it was done in humility of spirit, her judgment brought strictly under the influence of truth, seemed to remove all selfish considerations. Her diary notes the earnest desire she had to promote the welfare of our Society, "a prominent desire," she expressed it, "always to act in accordance with its principles, and to hold up that standard wherever she went." As time wore on, she felt more and more the need of keeping on the watch-tower. With every effort her spirit grew stronger for life's demands, and the habitual breathing of her spirit was, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" and went on faithfully from one apprehended duty to another. She said to a friend that her greatest desire was Fund for Educational Purposes, and also of the Educational Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, she served actively on both, taking in the deliberations of each an unfailing interest. Thus we see that wherever she could serve as a friend of youth there was she at work. The First-day school seemed to be the field of labor into which she felt clearly called "to be about the Heavenly Father's business." In 1865 she became a teacher and efficient counsellor in Lombard Street First-day School, and in 1869 became Superintendent of the same. From that time till the close of her life she most efficiently performed the duties of that office, with an interest that never wavered. To her efforts does the cause of First-day schools owe a large part of its success. She labored long and faithfully in this field, as the work of her life. She served in every capacity except that of pupil. She was teacher everywhere, and most efficient as Clerk of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Association, as well as of the General Conference, from time to time. So firmly was she convinced of the propriety of this great work that opposition only stimulated her to greater exertion. All who knew her in the schoolroom felt the earnestness with which she recited, from week to week and from year to year, her favorite text about being "rooted and grounded in love," to the last giving In consideration of her especial qualifica- it new life and interest. She taught nothtions for positions that would bring her into ing but what the child-heart can peacefully connection with the interests of youth, she believe of its Father. The youngest child was, on Ninth month 5th, 1867, made a mem- must have been impressed, even though unbet of the Educational Committee of Balti-consciously at the time, when repeating with rore Monthly Meeting, and from that time to the close of her life, amid all the changes made in that body, remained a member thereof. "Just to follow, hour by hour, Just to draw the moment's power, She was a frequent visitor to the rooms of the school under care of her meeting, and was always warmly welcomed by both teachers and pupils; "Cousin Lydia," as she was familiarly known, and called by the little ones, seemed to enter at once into the warmest corners of the hearts of all. Amid the gloom as well as amid the prosperity of Friends' Elementary and High School, Lydia C. Stabler was always in the confidence of the Principal and other authorities of the Institution, and all felt that in her they could trust for safe counsel. Her heart was full of charity, and for those who might antagonize her views she was ever ready with words of apology, never entertaining feelings of animosity. She was always patient, and willing to abide the time necessary for healing wounds that might be sometimes made in the heat of controversy. From the date of the appointment of the Committee to disburse the Fair Hill her the "breadth and length and height and |