one-third of an inch from the apex of the spinerets; they also unite and form one thread, 624 of which are used by the spider in forming his net. With the instrument which nature has given him, the claws of his feet, the spider guides and arranges the glutinous thread as this seemingly inexhaustible fibre is drawn from his body and interweaves them with each other until the web is complete. In this way spiders are weavers of a supple line, whose touch, for quickness and fineness, surpasses that of any spinning jenny.-Cassell's Family Paper. From Chambers' Journal. THE OPEN POLAR SEA. Arctic adventure, notwithstanding its grim monotony, seems to be the only kind of travel of which neither adventurers nor readers weary. The same men who have already dared the pack and the iceberg, the sunless dark and cruel cold, are always fascinated by the scene of their perils and sufferings, and return to it, if possible, once and again. Perhaps it is that there is an attraction for resolute spirits in solitudes which only a few-and often none-of their fellow-creatures have visited before; but it is certainly curious that so many expeditions should have been undertaken, not only voluntarily but enthusiastically, to so desolate and arid a region. While any hope of finding a practicable north west passage existed, any possibility of their being the first to bear their country's flag athwart the North, and to part the waters of the Pacific at its head with their patient keel, one could imagine the charm of such an enterprise; but now that the feasibility of penetrating the world in that direction has been utterly disproved, it is curious indeed, that the North Pole should have almost the same attraction for many hardy and intelligent men as it has for needles. With regard to the leaders of such expeditions, who thoroughly understand the scientific objects to be attained, and reap their reward in attaining them; who call gigantic cliffs, and capes, and bays by their own names, it is not so strange. But how the rank and file can be so easily induced to accompany their captains, and fight against such terrible foes for a cause of which they know nothing, is really remarkable. Science, indeed, may in this case boast of as faithful and self-abuegative votaries as Superstition herself. She has only, it seems, to exhibit a "unifilar magnetometer," a "Wurdeman compass," and a few box and pocket chronometers, and half the able-bodied seamen in New York or Liverpool are prepared to plant her standard on the uttermost ice-fields of the North. The "reflecting circle," which is also included in her outfit, finds no parallel in them; with an unquestioning obedience, they cheerfully set forth to do her unknown behests, and only too often perish in accomplishing them, What would appear to be a discouragement itself amounting to repulsion, is the necessity for passing the long arctic night before anything can be done at all: the invariable procedure being to set out in autumn, push northwards as far as the ice-pack will permit, and then go in to winter quarters, in preparation for the only time for action, the brief arctic spring. It is indeed a strange and dreadful sort of enterprise, this invasion of King Winter's proper realm, and strange is the panoply employed. The ship, however small, must needs be armor plated at the bows, sheathed with thick planking, and crossed with heavy beams for warfare with the solid sea-i.e., the 'pack' through which it must be pushed, and not those slow-moving, pale-green mountains, with their heads above the mast, to strike against which is instant destruction. The store of provisions, too, which are of an unusual kind, is immense, since no one knows whether the voyage will last for one year, or for two or three; nay, whether those uprisen waves, made rigid ere their anger can be spent, as knights of old by magician's evil spell, may not forbid escape, and keep them Winter's prisoners for life. It is essential, during that long depressing night which knows no dawn, that no creature comfort shall at least be wanting, and therefore the items of supply, even of the humblest expedtions of this nature, read more like those of a fashionable picnic-party, than the provision-list of a schooner. The ship United States, in which Dr. Hayes sailed from Boston, in July, 1860,* to ascertain, for certain, the existence of an Open Polar Sea, was a vessel of this kind. His crew consisted of but fourteen men, all told, and he had only one scientific associate among them, Mr. Sonntag, fated to leave his bones in that inhospitable clime. This little party was, however, as I have hinted, wonderfully well found in all things necessary, and, indeed, they had rather an embarrassment of such riches. The ship was so loaded, that 'standing in the gangway, you could at any time lean over the monkey-rail, and touch the sea with your fingers.' During some "rough handling" in the strait called Davis's-but what might be called anybody's who has ever experienced itthe captain's cabin (six feet by ten) was flooded a dozen times a day, and the sailors were liter ally drowned out of the forecastle. Yet this was but as summer-yachting in the Solent, to their subsequent rubs with icebergs. For days, the Greenland fog concealed these giant foes, but at last it lifted, and berg after berg burst into view, "like castles in a fairy tale." แ another danger. A long tongue was protruding immediately underneath the schooner; already The sudden change to sunlight, and what it the keel was slipping and grinding upon it, and showed, was something marvellous. "The bergs it seemed probable that we should be knocked had wholly lost their chilly aspect, and glitter- up into the air like a football, or at least caring in the blaze of the brilliant heavens, seemed, sized. But once more the berg itself came to in the distance, like masses of burnished metal their relief, for its opposite side began to split, or solid flame. Nearer at hand, they were piec by piece, and sent the huge mass revolv huge blocks of Parian marble, inlaid with mam. ing back again. The reports followed in such moth gems of pearl and opal; one, in particular, quick succession that "the whole air seemed a exhibited the perfection of the grand. Its form reservoir of frightful sound;" but the hard was not unlike that of the Coliseum, and it lay words broke no bones, and the little schooner so far away, that half its height was buried be- escaped from its terrible foe-" still rocking neath the line of blood-red waters. The sun and rolling like a thing of life," and emitting slowly rolling along the horizon, passed behind great cascades from its split sides into the foamit, and it seemed as if the old Roman ruin hading sea-with life, though without a mainboom. suddenly taken fire. In the shadows of the For five hours this Titan tumbling and crashbergs, the water was a rich green, and nothing ing continued, and then from the mass, a could be more soft and tender than the grada-piece about a mile long, and a hundred feet tions of color made by the sea, shoaling on the high, come off, with a report which could not sloping tongue of a berg close beside us. The have been exceeded by a thousand pieces of tint increased in intensity where the ice over- artillery simultaneously discharged," which conhung the water, and a deep cavern, near by, cluded the display (as it well might), except exhibited the solid color of the malachite, min- that the two fragments kept wallowing in the gled with the transparency of the emerald; sea for hours afterwards. while, in strange contrast, a broad streak of cobalt blue ran diagonally through its body." These beautiful miracles of nature are some. times of an incredible size. In Tessnissak Bay there was one which had been grounded, the natives said, for two years, and which; being almost square-sided above the sea, must have borne the same shape beneath it, so that its contents could be approximated to; the wall which faced the shore was more than three hundred feet high, and a quarter of a mile long, so that Dr. Hayes estimated it to weigh something like two thousand millions of tons. It had stranded in a depth of half a mile. Once only, the well-steered vessel fell foul of one of these floating monsters. "The schooner struck on the starboard quarter, and the shock, sight thouh it was, disengaged some fragments of ice that were large enough to have crushed the vessel, had they struck her, and also many little lumps which rattled about us-but, fortunately, no person was hit. The quarter deck was quickly cleared, and all hands, crowding fo ward, anxiously watched the boat. The berg now began to revolve, and was settling slowly over us; the little lumps fell thicker and faster upon the after-deck, and the forecastle was the only place where there was the least chance of safety. At length, the berg itself saved us from destruction; an immense mass broke off from that part which was beneath the surface of the sea, and this, a dozen times larger than the schooner, came rushing up within a few yards of us, sending a vast volume of foam and water flying from its sides. This rupture arrested the revolution, and the berg began to settle in the opposite direction. And now came These iceberg troubles assailed our voyagers in Baffin's Bay; but when they reached Smith's Sound, and endeavored to make their way so far as Cape Hatherton, intending there to winter, came the worse dangers of the pack-ice. Owing to the great audacity of its captain, the little schooner was actually beset in mid-channel. The ice came so rapidly down the Sound that it nipped and held the ship. The dreadful change from comparatively open water to "pack" was marvellously sudden. The scene around us was as imposing as it was alarming. Except the earthquake and volcano, there is not in nature an exhibition of force comparable with that of the ice fields of the arctic seas. They close together, when driven by the wind or by currents against the land or other resisting object, with the pressure of millions of moving tous, and the crash, and noise, and confusion are truly terrific. We were now in the midst of one of the most thrilling of these exhibitions of polar dynamics, and we became uncomfortably conscious that the schooner was to become a sort of dynamometer. Vast ridges were thrown up wherever the floes came together, to be submerged again when the pressure was exerted in another quarter; and over the sea around us these pulsating lines of uplift, which in some cases reached an altitude of not less than sixty feet-higher than our mast-headtold of the strength and power of the enemy which was threatening us. At length the ice actually touched the schooner, and as if with the elevating power of a thousand jack-screws, we found ourselves going up into the air." Thus involuntarily exalted, they remained for a very anxious eight hours; but, fortunately, thing that is grateful to us; let us taste that the Lord is gracious. Let the drying up of every stream of comfort lead us to the fountain, and let us rejoice the more in God for our being deprived of that which we used to rejoice in.P. Henry. ITEMS. Catherine Maria Sedwick, the well known authorgess, died on the 29th ult. at Roxbury, Mass. TIN Ore has been discovered, it is said, in inexhaustable quantities near Pilot Knob, Missouri. The discovery was recently made by an experienced Welsh tin miner. The ground in the neighborhood had been previously supposed to be rich in copper, and perhaps had never before been visited by any one familiar with the indications of tin. Assays of samples of the ore, it is reported, show it to contain a much larger percentage of tin than any before known. The ore is at or near the surface, while in Great Britain it is now worked from two to three thousand feet deep. WORKMEN are laying foundations to the new abutment for the new suspension bridge at Niagara Falls. It is intended for the use of foot passengers only. The bridge will be located but a short distance from the International Hotel on the American side, and the Clifton House on the Canada side. It will require a span of 1,260 feet. The width will be 10 feet, and the height above the water 100 feet. The structure will be of the usual wire cables, resting upon wooden towers. It will be abundantly strong and safe for the purpose for which it is intended. THE COOLIE TRADE is springing up quite briskly in Havana. A correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce states that four cargoes, comprising 1082 coolies, arrived in that port in a single week, and the ships employed were all sailing under the Spanish flag. The mortality on shipboard of these unfortunate coolies is reported to have been quite large. The recent attempts to import coolies into Louisiana has caused some excitement, and it is to be hoped that the nefarious traffic, which is quite as bad as the slave trade, will be stopped at once. NEW SUBMARINE CABLES Connecting England with the continent of Europe are constantly being laid. Permanent and direct communication has just been established between London and Bremen and London and Hamburg, through the instrumentality of Reuter, the European news agent. THE DRAINING of the Zuyder Zee is contemplated in Holland. An eminent engineer has formed a plan for the reclamation of 500,000 acres of the ground now covered by that body of water, and a favorable result is anticipated, owing to the success attending similar operations in the Harlem Lake. It is stated that a company has been organized for the manufacture of elastic sponge, to be used for upholstery and for all purposes for which curled hair is now used. It is said that a sponge mattress possesses all the advantages of hair, and can be afforded much cheaper. The process of manufacture is similar to that of paper as far as the preparation of pulp is concerned. The Michigan Constitutional Convention has as suffrage for adopted female suffrage as well Indians. Attempts are being made in Illinois to manufacture sugar from beets. FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER. "TAKE FAST HOLD OF INSTRUCTION; LET HER NOT GO; KEEP HER; FOR SHE IS THY LIFE." EMMOR COMLY, AGENT, At Publication Office, No. 144 North Seventh Street, TERMS:-PAYABLE IN ADVANCE The Paper is issued every Seventh-day, at Three Dollars per annum. $2.50 for Clubs; or, four copies for $10. Agents for Clubs will be expected to pay for the entire Club. The Postage on this paper, paid in advance at the office where It is received, in any part of the United States, is 20 cents a year. AGENTS-Joseph S. Cohu, New York. Henry Haydock, Brooklyn, N. Y. Benj. Stratton, Richmond, Ind. William H. Churchman, Indianapolis, Ind. For Friends' Intelligencer. Social Life.... OBITUARY................. The Indians...... CONTENTS. Presbyterian Separations and Reunions.. 369 372 One Hour at Quaker Bridge. 373 375 377 377 378 379 380 380 381 381 384 884 Review of Janney's History of Friends.. Bread and Milk.......... Early Rising... The Open Polar Sea..... A Whirlpool in a Raindop.. There is a common parentage, a common PRESBYTERIAN SEPARATIONS AND REUNIONS. history, a common share in great traditions, BY S. M. JANNEY. (Continued from page 355.) Having given a concise account of the separation which occurred in 1838, and shown that the alienation of feeling engendered by it has, with the lapse of time, gradually subsided, until the two parties can cordially intermingle in their religious services, I propose to examine what are the prospects of a complete reunion. The following remarks from the New York Tribune present a hopeful view of the negotiations now pending: and in the renown of great men. Spirit and aims are essentially the same. The work to be done is the same; the instrumentalities for doing it are the same. The Articles of Belief are unassailed; the Creed is one for all, the catechism, the ordinance, the symbol. Both parties use the same weapons to keep at bay or defeat the same foes. Both have at heart the same interests-intellectual, spiritual, social. There is no political breach, for both profess the ancient loyalty to republican government, and to the cause of personal liberty. grounds of difference were never very deep, never touched the sphere of vital religion. The occasions of dispute have passed by, and the questions in dispute have, some of them, probably become obsolete. At all events, the Committee, in their report, say they have. The We shall watch, therefore, with more than usual interest this new negotiation. The results of it will show, better than anything else can, how much truth there is in the belief that the prevailing disposition among Protestant sects is toward unity." "If it were not that disputes are apt to be bitter in proportion as the subject of them is trifling, it would excite surprise that the work of reunion between the wings of so powerful an organization should be thought difficult. The present arrangement is in the most competent hands. Two Committees, each representing one of the General Assemblies, have charge of the details. These Committees are composed of able, devout and conscientious men. The spirit, on both sides, has been sweet and friendly. The terms seem to be fair. The reunion of two independent bodies on equal terms is the end con- It appears, however, that there are difficulties templated. If the tendency throughout Protest- in the way of this consummation, which will reant Christendom be, as many say it is, toward quire both wisdom and charity for their removal. unity, in this case it ought to show its power. They are clearly set forth in a letter recently The resistance to be overcome is less than it would published in the New York Independent, writbe in any other denomination. The unities are ten at the request of the editor by Samuel T. fundamental. The diversities are superficial. Spear, a minister conected with the New School organization. The greater part of his communication is here subjoined. measure, this fact would be fatal to its success with the New School. The latter, now at peace among themselves, and by their prosperity and good order both deserving and commanding the be likely to place themselves in a position to fight over again the old battles. They have had quite enough of this to knew what it means. But for the persistent, and, as I think, wholly unjustifiable attack of the Old School upon the New, there would not have been any division; "It is an undoubted fact that the two branches of the Presbyterian Church have, for several years past, evinced towards each other a cour-respect of their Old School brethren, will not tesy, consideration, and confidence, which, unhappily, did not exist for a much greater number of years immediately following the division. It is especially true that Old School Presbyterians have abandoned the theory of gradual absorption in respect to the New School, and to a large extent the offensive practice of impugnand hence the prospects of union between the ing the orthodoxy of the latter. It is equally true that, of late, there has been a growing disposition in both branches toward organic union, culminating at last in the appointment of a joint committee by the two General Assemblies, in the recent report of this committee, and the action of the two Assemblies thereon. This brings the whole matter before both branches of the church for consideration. Will this union take place under the circumstances as now existing, and according to the plan as submitted by the joint committee? Upon this question I understand you to seek my opinion. This opinion I shall express by a brief comment on the following series of points: 1. It is very plain that the effort ought not to be successful, unless both branches of the Presbyterian Church, by a majority amounting almost to unanimity, think the union expedient and sincerely desire it. The committee name a majority of three-fourths in both bodies; yet I have serious doubts whether a measure changing the ecclesiastical status of all the churches in both bodies, or merging all the churches of one or the other of these bodies into the other, ought to be carried except by a much nearer approach to unanimity on the part of all the parties to be affected by it. It is a very grave question whether the ecclesiastical relation and rights of the local churches, as now established, are to be disposed of and altered by any vote taken in the presbyteries. Suppose some of these churches as a whole, and minorities in others, refuse to abide by such a vote; suppose they insist on remaining just as they are, and where they are; and then the consequence would be division in one direction in order to effect union in another. How the question will be decided when submitted to the presbyteries, if ever so submitted, I of course cannot tell. Yet at present I see no sufficient indications that the measure, when thoroughly canvassed, as it will be, and certainly ought to be, will secure the majority specified by the committee. In this remark I allude more particularly to that branch of the Church to which I belong, not feeling myself as competent to judge of the other branch. 2. If any considerable minority in the Old School shall be found in opposition to the two will be very materially affected by the attitude of Old School Presbyterians. Nothing short of the most earnest and nearly unanimous desire on the part of the latter will give the measure the least hope of success with New School Presbyterians. This question is not to be manipulated by a few leaders. The heart of the Church must be thoroughly in it on both sides, or nothing can be done. 3. I have failed to see any urgent, practical necessity pressing upon either branch of the Presbyterian Church which requires organic union in order to its relief. Both branches are strong in themselves. Both are well organized. Both have their missionary boards for the propagation of the Gospel. Both have large invested interests. The country in which both are working is abundantly ample for both, without any conflict or jealousy. Both are in the process of rapid growth. Neither needs the other for the purposes of church life. It might be a pleasant spectacle in some respects to see the two united in one organic fold; but it is very far from being evident that the aggregate usefulness of the two would be increased thereby. It might be seriously impaired, especially if the union is to result in the revival of old controversies. There is at least some danger that the spirit of party would again make its appearance. It is, hence, a very important question for both branches to consider whether both-each now working so well in the separate state, and each accustomed to its own particular line of policy— had not better let well enough alone. 4. New School Presbyterians, in looking at this subject, will readily see that their position in the united body would be that of a minority, since the other branch would contribute the largest element to the common organization, and hence be able to count the most votes in the General Assembly. As a natural result, the Old School would determine the general policy and course of the united body. Union would be practically merging the New School into the Old, so far as the control and management of ecclesiastical matters are concerned. The politics of the Church would be virtually Old School. I have some doubts whether New School Presbyterians will judge it best to put themselves in this position. Among themselves |