Books. MUNERA PULVERIS, SIX ESSAYS ON THE ELEMENTS Co. 1891. [These three volumes are parts of the only edition of Ruskin's works published in this country with his consent, and from the sale of which he derives a profit. The edition is hailed by Ruskin's friend and editor, Professor Charles Eliot Norton, as a tardy attempt to deal honestly by one to whom just and honorable treatment has been so long denied." Mr. Ruskin's failure, however, to receive before this just and honorable treatment from publishers on this side of the ocean has been due principally to his supreme contempt for the United States and all things therein, and to his bad temper and bad manners. More than one attempt by publishers in this country to establish relations with Mr. Ruskin has come to naught by reason of his rudeness. Yet his infirmity of temper may, perhaps, be partly excused by his wretched physical condition. As he has grown older-he is now nearly seventy-three-he seems to have improved, and the result is the present handsome edition of his works. As to the "Munera Pulveris," originally published in 1862, Prof. Norton, who does not allow his liking for Ruskin to blind him to the latter's defects, aptly characterizes the work in an Introduction, as "largely a study of ideal conditions -the political economy, as it were, of a New Atlantis; a body of speculations, under modern guise, of the same order as those of the Republic or the Laws," the well-known fantasies of Plato. Nor does Prof. Norton hesitate to allude to Rus kin's " arrogance of speech and absolute self-assurance." Whether Mr. Collingwood has done good service to Ruskin by putting his rhymes into print may reasonably be doubted. Some of the pieces in Volume I. are, perhaps, better than the general run of the productions of childish versifiers, but they are childish productions all the same. Ruskin, before he was sixteen, blackened a good deal of paper with compositions, more or less metrical-there are more than a hundred in the First Volume, nearly all now printed for the first time. The verses contained in Vol. II. are certainly better, but all show a plentiful lack of inspiration, poetic imagination, passion, and mastery of form. Nothing better can be done here than to give the frst and last poems in these volumes, with notes of the Editor.] " Some of the manuscripts are very beautifully written in " copperplate" or print" hand. The fac-similes of these in the volume show how early he acquired this elegant handwriting, one of them being dated 1828, when Ruskin was in his tenth year. He was born February 8, 1819. While living at Herne Hill he wrote, in January, 1826, Needless Alarm," his first known composition in metre. A visit to the English Lakes and Perth in the summer of the same year suggested "Glen of Glen Farg" and " Farewell to Scotland." In the autumn of 1826 he began Harry and Lucy," and wrote "Time" all these before he was eight years old. The earliest piece of verse printed in the volume before us, however, is "Glen Farg,” written in 1827, the occasion being some autumnal frost occurring before the author had left Scotland after his summer visit. Glen Farg is just north of Loch Leven. Thus runs this initial : GLEN FARG. Papa, how pretty these icicles are, That are seen so near, that are seen so far ; -Those dropping waters that come from the rocks, And come in sight when very near; And rivers winding through the plain; And quarries with their craggy stones, And the wind among them moans. Mr. Ruskin thought so highly of this production of his childhood, that he printed these lines in 1862, thirty-five years after they were written, in his "Munera Pulveris," with this remarkable comment : "All that I ever could be, and all that I cannot be, the weak little rhyme already shows." For a quarter of a century thereafter Mr. Ruskin continued to make rhymes, and the last two pieces of verse printed by Mr. Collingwood are these written, in 1887: ST. PETER. St. Peter went to fish When sprats were twopence a dish: But St. Peter went to preach When sprats were twopence each. THE ANSWER TO BABY. Fishes in the sea, Apples on the tree, What is it to me, Baby, where they be? HEILIGEN schriFT. DIE INSPIRATION UND IRRTHUMSLOSIGKeit der Von Dr. Aug. Wilh. Dieckhoff, Professor der Theologie zu Rostock. 8vo. pp. III, 110. Leipzig Justus Naumann. [The author of this book is the leading member of the theological faculty, most conservative and Confessional in all Germany. His work has accordingly as much representative as individual importance. Its views are the signs of the times and show what concessions even the most positive of university professors in the Fatherland are willing to make to the demands of advanced Biblical criticism.] No question is of more paramount importance for modern theology than the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures. A full reëstablishment of the authority of Holy Writ as the guide to Christian faith and life depends upon the accurate determining of the extent and limits of inspiration and of the inerrancy of the Sacred Writings. In order to determine this matter historically, it will be necessary to acknowledge in the very outset, that the views of the old dogmaticians of the seventeenth century, in both the Lutheran and the Calvinistic ranks, that the human factor in the origin and composition of these books is to be excluded to such a degree, as absolutely and in each and every particular to deny the possibility of any and every error (Felsame) in the Scriptures, must be given up because not reconcilable with the facts of history and cautious and careful Biblical criticism. Such theory of inspiration and absolute inerrancy runs counter to the origin and the character and contents of the Scriptures. A reconstruction, therefore, of the traditional inspiration theory is a matter of necessity in the best interests of Biblical science itself, and of confidence in Holy Writ as the Word of God. This reconstruction is all the more an easy and acceptable matter, because it is in reality only a return to the positions and standpoints of the best teachers of the Christian Church, especially Luther and Augustine. The mechanical theory of inspiration now prevalent in the circles of the most pronounced conservatives, and which demands absolute inerrancy even in the minor externals and circumstantials of the Scriptures, is really a product of the ultra dogmatical period of the seventeenth century, when the various teachers of the Church vied with each other is the construction of massive systems. Men, like Calovius, Hollazius, and others, make the Sacred writings merely a dictation of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and Prophets being little more than copyists. The personality and activity of the writers themselves were crowded entirely into the background. This absolute conception, however, of inspiration can find no defense in the works of the best teachers of the earlier Church. It is true, that both Luther and Augustine, as well as other master minds in the earlier annals of the Church, claim that the Scriptures are absolutely reliable as the source and basis of Christian doctrine and life. Yet their attitude toward the Scriptures was entirely of a practical, and not of a theoretical and critical character. With as little right as the radicals can claim Luther for their advanced and destructive criticism-which they can only do by a misinterpretation of his statements on James, calling it in comparison with Paul's Romans and Ephesians a straw epistle" on the Apocalypse and other books, just so little can Luther be claimed for the extreme view of absolute inerrancy. While he and Augustine and their kind at all places and times seek to reconcile Scriptures with themselves and nowhere ex professo admit the existence of an error, even in historical, archæological or other details, yet their conception of the origin and character of the sacred Scriptures, especially of the activity of human agency as a factor and force in the composition of these books, is such that the possibility of the presence of an error is not excluded. Passages in abundance are quoted to sustain this theory, and the reader can thus judge for himself if the promises and facts justify the conclusion. Nor need Christians fear that by yielding this to the demands of criticism, that in any way, manner, or form the authority of the Scriptures are undermined. Their authority as the infallible rule of faith and life is based not upon the demonstration of absolute inerrancy in each and every particular, but upon the testimonium Spiritus Sancti in and through the Scriptures themselves, convincing the heart and mind that what is here given is the truth and the way to life. There is no need of such an absolute theory for Christian certainty and hope. For those who yield to the Spirit as He speaks through and in the Word, the demarcation line between the absolutely reliable is the Scriptures and the possibly or really erroneous, falls of itself. "In this way, then, it can be fairly said, that by rejecting the theory of inspiration that demands absolute inerrancy, neither the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures nor their objective divine certainty for Christian faith, is in any degree endangered." PARIS EN VOITURE, à chEVAL, AUX COURSES, A LA CHASSE. Croqueville. Deuxieme Edition. 12mo, pp. 393. Paris: Librairie de la Nouvelle Revue. 1892. [A series of papers which have appeared in the Nouvelle Revue of Paris is here collected. Who "Croqueville" may be, we do not know, but he has evidently had a large acquaintance with many of the men and women in Paris who, since Louis Philippe became King of the French, have with some reputation for elegance, have kept their coaches and horses and been interested in horse-racing or hunting. The book is a history abounding in well-told anecdotes, of the great aristocracy and people of wealth who have lived in Paris from 1830 to our day, and been known as fond of horseflesh put to various uses. There is an Index of Names, which is a roll of most of the " fashionables," titled or otherwise, of Paris for the last half century. As a specimen of the book we extract a few anecdotes.] IN N the time of Louis Philippe, the drives of himself and the queen had a hasty characteristic which was a reminder that the king had been shot at sixteen times. The royal children, on the contrary, were driven about leisurely. Louis Philippe had his own carriage drawn by eight horses, and that of his suite by six. They were driven by a coachman on the seat, with a postillion on one of the leaders, all of them in blue liveries, wearing hats with cockades. A pricker preceded the royal coach which was followed by three grooms on horseback. With the exception of the military escort, the whole, tarnished and ugly, appeared like a flying apparition. A passer-by cried out "The King!" Everybody rushed to the curbstone. Some of them saluted their sovereign, who seemed to be already running away. More quickly than I can tell it, coaches and horses had disappeared in the direction of Neuilly or Saint-Cloud, before the guard at the Champs-Elysées, seizing their guns, had the time to present arms before the King. It is said that the horse, which ran away with the Duke of Orleans, and was thus the cause of his death, had been retired on account of his bad mouth, and it was through forgetfulness of a director of the royal stable that this horse was harnessed to the Duke's coach on that fatal morning. There is also a story-whether history or legend I know not-that the person by whose fault this mistake was made, dared not show himself in public; but one morning passing by chance the Tuileries, at a window of which the king was standing, the unfortunate man fell on his knees and buried his face in his hands before the father deprived of his eldest son, before the king whose heir had been killed by the blunder of the kneeling man. In 1867, the year of the Exposition, when Mademoiselle Schneider, as La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein' was at the height of her success, the sovereigns who came as visitors discovered that France was too much occupied with amusement to defend herself. A special iron gate of the Exposition was opened for crowned heads only; but the porter who had charge of the gate had learned his Almanach de Gotha so badly, that he lost his head in the crowd of emperors, kings, archdukes, and princelings. The famous actress bet that she would enter the Exposition through the gate closed to common mortals, and won her bet, thanks to the fantastic coat-of-arms she had put on her coach and to the cool assurance of her footman, who loudly demanded the opening of the gate to admit "The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein." In 1856 the Duchess of Caumont La Force, was living alone in her hotel in the Champs-Elysées, her husband having been obliged to live elsewhere on account of her unbearable temper. One day in that year a curious crowd assembled before the sombre and dirty front of the hotel. Some of the spectators entered the court of the house; others less fond of sad sights stood outside and asked what was the matter. The duchess lay dead on a heap of manure, killed by the knife-thrust of a groom, who had got tired of the parsimony with which she doled out to him some carrots she had bought at a low price. The assassin was a Wurtemberger, named Baumann, whom she employed by the half-day to rub down the sorry horses with which she drove about during the rest of the day. He was condemned by a jury to hard labor for life. What a woman she was, and what a patient husband she had, a single anecdote will show. One evening the Duke de la Force asked his wife if he could, without deranging her plans, give her coachman permission to go out for the evening. She answered that she intended to remain at home. No sooner had the coachman gone than the fantastic duchess remembered a soirée at the Tuileries, to which she had promised the Queen to come. Thereupon Madame begged her dear Augustus, her worthy Augustus-as on that occasion she chose to address her spouse-to harness the horses, and drive her himself to the palace. The Duke, so haughty and caustic abroad, but so mild and tender at home, put on the livery, drove his wife to the palace, and waited patiently with the coachmen in the court of the Tuileries, while his wife spent the evening with other guests around the work table of Queen Marie Amelie. THE CAUSE OF AN ICE AGE. By Sir Robert Ball, LL.D., [Here we have a new theory as to the Cause of An Ice Age. The fact of a Glacial Period, during which a sheet of ice and snow hundreds of thousands of feet thick covered Great Britain and Central Europe as far as Saxony, as well as Canada and much of that tract which now forms the Eastern States of the Union, is well established. Those who have studied the works of Agassiz and Prof. James Geikie are familiar with the subject. Dr. James Croll, in his admirable work, "Climate and Time," has propounded an Astronomical Theory for the production of an Ice Age. The theory of Croll is accepted by Sir Robert Ball with a difference. We mention his general conclusions without being able to point out the steps by which he has arrived at those conclusions. A frontispiece is a picture of what is known as the Cloghvorra Stone, an immense bowlder more than a hundred tons in weight, on the Kenmare River in Ireland. This Stone the author considers sufficient of itself to establish the existence fa Glacial Period. The volume appears as one of the Modern Science Series, edited by Sir John Lubbock.] THER HERE have been several Glacial Periods on our Earth, alternating with Genial Periods. A calculation of the amount of annual sun heat which a single hemisphere of our globe receives in summer, and of the amount received by that hemisphere in winter, shows that Glacial and Genial Periods are separated from each other by about 10,500 years. These Periods and their alternation are caused by the influence of the planets, especially Jupiter and Venus, on the earth's orbit. That there have been perturbations of the earth's orbit is established beyond the shadow of a doubt. These perturbations, are caused by the disturbing influence of the planets. Of these Venus is without a peer in the intensity of the pull with which it seeks to make the Earth swerve from its revolution around the Sun. Next in importance to the perturbations produced by Venus are those due to the planet Jupiter, of which the disturbing effect is about half that of Venus. Much less than the disturbance caused by these two planets is that of the other planets; yet of these the most distant, or the smallest, tugs at the Earth with a disturbing force which, when expressed in tons, is often stupendous and always considerable. The result of these pertrubations is that every 21,000 years the line of equinoxes-the precession of which is well-known-is so placed with reference to the elliptic path of the earth that the difference in duration between summer and winter attains a maximum; what that maxis depends, of course, upon the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit at the time. It is a consequence of the Astronomical theory of Ice Ages that they must return in the future. There is, therefore, the best of reasons for believing that, as the temperate regions of the Earth have been submerged on various occasions in past ages beneath ice sheets a thousand feet or more in thickness, so in future periods the ice sheets will again return and desolate those regions which now contain the most civilized nations of the Earth. The Press. THE LIQUOR ISSUE. TOTAL ABSTINENCE ON THE CON TINENT-A STRIKING APPEAL. New York Voice (Proh.), Dec. 3.-The following appeal to total abstinence from intoxicating liquors as a beverage (translated from the German), having attached to it some of the foremost names of Europe, is being widely circulated on the Continent: "APPEAL. "In recent years the question has been propounded for public consideration whether one of our most wide-spread practices, the use of alcoholic beverages, does not threaten a serious danger. In the course of discussion of this question no one has denied that immoderate indulgence is injurious. Science has shown beyond question the changes that are wrought in the organs of the body by the often-repeated and free use of such beverages. It characterizes these as changes occasioned by a process of poisoning, in many respects akin to arsenical poisoning, and recognizes them as causes of degeneration, sickness, and death. Not less clearly understood is the direct action of alcohol as a narcotic, resembling ether, chloroform, and morphine, and, like them, bringing a more or less profound paralysis of the mental functions. The close relation of these poisoning effects to the social consequences that attend drunkenness and the drink habit begins to make itself manifest to the general intelligence. If penury and misery follow the steps of the drunkard, it is his weakened mental grasp weakened by the workings of the poison-that inflicts these misfortunes upon him, just as the destruction of the internal organs inflicts pain and disease. "These established and clearly perceived facts have not hitherto shaken the satisfaction with which the moderate use of alcohol has been regarded, or the belief in its benefits. There is no doubt that the moderate use does not have the same ruinous results that spring from the immoderate; and daily experience seems to teach that the highest mental and physical performances may be associated with temperate indulgence. Yet have we not also observed persons with feeble eyes, or blind in one eye, epileptics, and persons hard of hearing, who have been able to place themselves among the most exalted of the race, notwithstanding the defects that such obstacles have cast in their paths? Because the blind Milton and the lame Heine were great poets, is it to be assumed that they did not feel their physical deprivations? Therefore let no one conclude that alcohol is harmless because the strong are able to withstand it. And if into the life of every individual is introduced a factor that tends to enfeeble the strong and to kill the weak, must not the effect upon the people as a whole be to prodigiously diminish the aggregate capability? "Should we not give some little heed to those friends of humanity who complain that their efforts for the rescue of infirm and easilyseduced natures are brought to naught by the constant glorification of this agency of seduction that is so truly the central influence in our social life? And should we not vouchsafe some attention for the peril that is in store for future generations, if it is true not only that the drinker transmits to the child an inferior constitution and a nervous system predisposed to all kinds of maladies, but also that the injurious effects of alcohol increase from generation to generation? To this reply may be made by citing a familiar argument, and pointing to the much-extolled drinking powers of our forefathers. If alcohol is potent for the destruction of a nation, how is the existence at this day of the descendants of so many generations of drinkers to be explained? But, in reality, we of to-day are not of the indicated descent. The great masses of people in our ancestors' times were wholly uncorrupted by alcohol; excepting on great feast days their drink was water. And if the families of the It was not until our own days that manufacturing took such strides, and the earth was made to yield alcoholic liquors so abundantly, as to create a ramifying and menacing traffic in such liquors as articles of daily request among the entire people. Not until now has the problem been of a kind to touch the whole Nation, instead of separate circles. eminent and the wealthy suffered debasement | recognition of alcohol as the necessary presid- "But let us pass from this sad subject of the "It will be no easy task to persuade men to sidered a means of nourishment. "If this example is to be efficacious it must be supported by the influence of numbers among the people at large. We beseech all who have a heart for the future of mankind, all who watch with sensibility the ever-deepening conflict that man is waging with the conditions of existence, to come to our side; for the genius of the race can triumph only by employing the maxim: Be not dismayed, but fight.' the This appeal is remarkable in two respects, first, for the array of signatures, representing almost all professions and callings, especially the educational and scientific circles; and, second, remarkable for the strength, tact, and literary character of the appeal itself. We do not, indeed, recall at this moment any document ever published on this subject better fitted to create a favorable impression on the general public. We have had frequent occasion of late to speak of the awakening going on in Europe to the magnitude of the liquor evil. It is not an awakening limited to religious circles or philanthropists. When such a journal tion of any journal in the world, begins a leadas La Petit Journal, with the largest circulaing double-leaded editorial with the assertion that "Of all the dangers menacing our agriculgravest and the most difficult to fight is tural population at present day the alcoholism,' "" it means something. It means something when such an influential journal as the Allgemeine Zeitung, of Munich, one of the most influential in all Europe, says (Sept. 6): many, as elsewhere, has proved that the danExperience in Gergerous alcohol pest cannot be fought determinedly except by radical methods." It means something to find the influential Tageblatt, of Leipzig (Sept. 11), asserting that "it will not be possible to produce any law adapted to really put a stop to the great evil of drunkenness without relinquishing some of our popular national conceptions about interference with individual liberty.' It is of almost equal significance to find Professor Harnack, of Berlin, the greatest living authority on church history, advocating the substitution of water for wine in the communion, and asserting that this was done almost universally in the early Christian Church. The recent utterances of the Emperor of Germany in regard to the perils of increasing drunkenness have had a wholsome effect in drawing general attention to the subject, and the utterances of Connt Leo Tolstoi (who is also a signer of this document from Zurich) have helped to fan the flames of agitation throughout Europe. It is fast becoming tion: How shall the ravages of alcohol be the world-wide question of modern civilizastayed? "Again, if temperate indulgence is altogether harmless for persons of position and strength of will, why is it that every moment of the day persons of moderate will-power are being dragged to their ruin? At least the CONSERVATIVE THOUGHTS FROM A treacherous mask of friendship beneath which alcohol makes its insinuating way should be torn off. RADICAL PHILOSOPHER. Hugh O. Pentecost, in the Twentieth Century "A number of individuals, who, in pursuance (New York), Dec. 3.—It is by no means sure of their relations to the affairs of life, have that the parents are always wiser than the child been specially impressed with the importance in every given case, and for this reason even of this duty, have banded themselves to- very young children may safely be left to solve gether to promote the suggested object by their problems for themselves, with the aid of example and precept. They are resolved to such advice as parents may give without imbreak with that compulsion which enforces | posing on the freedom of the child to try its ents. own experiments in conduct. It is not necessary to prevent a child from making what seem to the parents mistakes; on the contrary, it is usually wise to allow it, for mistakes are excellent teachers, far better than the wisest parBut when adults are dealing with adults, any direct personal criticism of conduct, and much less any effort to control or influence conduct, is an insufferable nuisance. The excuse for meddling with another's conduct that it is "for his good" is often given. But this excuse is poor, for the double reason that it is not for one's good that another should control his conduct, and no one is responsible for another's conduct. What is good for one person is not always good for another. It is impossible for one person to decide what is good for another. It is unwise and unsafe for any one There is a reasonable sist upon the strengthening of and enforcement of the | where he can secure it. restrictive provisions of existing temperance laws, and to use all proper influence to prevent the weaken- prospect in all such transactions that both the ing of them; third, to urge the placing of further parties may profit by the deal. The great bulk legal restriction upon the sale of intoxicating liquor of the futures" contracted for are not of this fourth, to influence the management of the Republi- character. They are gambling ventures pure can party to place the party organization in harmony with the sentiments here set forth, and to work for the and simple. Neither of the dealers expects to nomination of such Republican candidates as are in handle the articles named in the contract. The sympathy with the principles above declared, and who seller hopes the price will go down, and the are worthy in other respects. buyer that it will go up, and each expects to -Morning Star (Boston), Dec. 3. be paid the difference if his hopes are fulfilled. It is easy to see how naturally a "corner" in THE FARMERS' Congress and THE LICENSE grain, or provisions, will be suggested to the QUESTION.-The recent Farmers' National buyer. If he has bought corn for November Congress at Sedalia, Mo., was one of the most delivery at 50 cents a bushel, and by controlimportant ever held, both in point of attendance ling the stock at various points he can force the be thought that this Congress is self-appointed, he has promised to furnish, in case delivery is and the caliber of the delegates. Lest it might price up to 90 cents, the seller must pay him a difference of 40 cents on the entire amount we might state that this body of men is comto attempt such supervision over the conduct of posed of delegates under appointment annually demanded. The fair game would be to leave another. There are certain liberals and refor-by the Governors of the several States, and the market to the influence of natural forces, mers of various types who, in their zeal as propa- this year numbered over 200 delegates in and then take the chances of a change. But here gandists, are quite as annoying as certain Chrisattendance. The Chairman of the Convention, the greed that induces the other gambler to put tians, for the reason that they forget or do not Hon. A. J. Smith, Vice-President for Kansas, the winning cards up his sleeve, or to load the know that it is indelicate and annoying to presided. There was one matter brought up shrewd trick or device to take undue advantage dice, will lead the produce gambler by some peste individuals with preachments of their for discussion in which the readers of the Cri- of the situation, and squeeze an unnatural gain particular hobbies. Temperance persons, terion have an interest, and that was the questotal abstainers from liquor or from tobacco, tion of Government licensing of the liquor out of his opponents. There is little to choose are apt to make themselves particularly ob- traffic. The resolution opposing the Govern-between the two methods. Each will use every noxious in this regard. Not satisfied with abstaining from the use of liquor or tobacco traffic was voted down. ment deriving a revenue from licensing the means in his power to turn the tide into his themselves, they forthwith attempt to compel Congress seems to have been generally of a mildew, or rust, or decree or ukase that can be The work done by the pocket. If there are no actual crop reports, or devastating storms, or drouth, or blight, or or influence others to do likewise. A very conservative character, such as good system of living is to order one's life as expect to find in such representative men from the market, these will be invented, and the wires we might set forth with exaggerated particulars to affect far as possible according to one's inclinations, the several States.-Mida's Criterion (Liquor, will be weighted with rumors as false as the and to allow others to do the same. And so Chicago), Nov. 30. far as personal relations go this can generally be done. If another is inclined to assault one or forcibly convert one's property, interference with such action may be wise, but short of that it is not wise for one to meddle with another's doings. once, The UNWISE PROHIBITIONISTS. All of those must feel a certain The spec loaded cubes thrown from the dice-box. We have noticed the easy descent, when the greed for unearned gains takes possession of the who love their kind heart, from the patience that waits on the gratification over the work accomplished in chances to the tricks of the sharper, that are this city during the past few weeks by Francis no better in principle and less manly in spirit Murphy. That anyone should view such a than downright highway robbery. movement with anything but approbation is ulator pursues the same downward road. When difficult to realize. When ministers of the gos- his means give out, or are insufficient to carry pel become champions or advocates of divorce, him through, or are exhausted in unsuccessful violating the biblical injunction, "Whom God ventures, he will lay his hands on deposits, has joined let no man put asunder," and when trust funds, or any other securities within his Prohibitionists denounce the Blue Ribbon reach, to carry out his deal. The widow's movement one cannot but feel a little dis- little savings, the gatherings of alms for the couraged over any immediate prospect of mil-poor, the living of his dearest friend, nothing lennial peace and joy filling the world.-Sound-is too sacred for his grasping hand. He would sell his soul itself, if it had any market value, to replenish the stakes used in his gambling ventures. Each new day brings the tidings from some quarter of those whose misdeeds illustrate this truth and give emphasis to this much-needed lesson. The gambler is the foe to all virtue and the pest of society, and we shall have no permanent prosperity until these methods of trading are revised and corrected. SEE-SAW IN MASSACHUSETTS.-A number of the Massachusetts cities held their elections yesterday. One feature of these annual municipal contests in that State is a controversy over the question whether the sale of liquor shall be licensed, the State law providing for a submission of the question to the voters every twelve months. Experience has shown that the smaller cities as a rule pursue no consist-ings (Seattle), Nov. 28. ent policy regarding this matter. They are apt to vote Yes a year or two, and then No THE RIGHT WILL PREVAIL.-The struggle the pendulum swinging back and forth with some approach to regularity. Thus New against the hydra of the alcohol habit has been reduced from a battle with a deep-rooted and Bedford has had license for some time past, almost universal delusion to a fight against but yesterday voted No, 2,223 to 1,942. acknowledged vice and greed, relying on Mercury discussed the prospect, a few days ago, bribery for their protection and on sophistry in this vein: "It may be fairly said that about for their arguments. once in so long New Bedford will vote No, result of an encounter with such adversaries. Truth need not fear the and this may be the year to again establish the "The ultimate success of the struggle is cerPhiladelphia Press, Dec. 6.-So mnch of truth of the rule. In that case, next year will tain," says Goldwin Smith. "If any one Cyrus W. Field belongs to the glory of the establish the truth of another rule, which is doubts the general preponderance of good over nineteenth century that his misfortunes will be that the city cannot be expected to vote No evil in human nature he has only to study the felt in all lands and among many conditions of for two years in succession." The reason for history of moral crusades. The enthusiastic men. While all sympathy goes out to this these occasional negative votes, in the Mercury's opinion, is that a majority of the voters energy and self-devotion which a great moral become dissatisfied with the license system, prevailed and always will prevail, over any cause imparts to its champions have always and make an aimless attempt to secure someamount of self-interest or material power arthing better," but there is no element of pa-rayed on the other side."-Felix L. Oswald, tience or perseverance in the attempt, and M.D., in the Congregationalist (Boston), Dec. 3. consequently enough No" voters lose their interest in the matter within a year to let license carry again.-New York Evening Post, Dec. 2. SOCIAL TOPICS. LETICAL REMARKS. Temperance REPUBLICANS ONCE MORE TO SPECULATION-SOME TIMELY HOMI- The business misfortunes of Mr. Field are the THE FORE. Hon. Albert Griffin's Republican Anti-Saloon movement is a thing of the past. It ought to have succeeded better than it did. That is to say, more Republicans ought to have been interested in it than were so. It was an experiment, and it failed. A similar experiment is now to be tried among the Republicans of Massachusetts. Lately a meeting of temperance Republicans was held in this city which resulted in the organization of what is to be known as "The Republican Temperance Guard of Massachusetts," the object of which is thus stated in Article 2 of the constitution: First, to use all proper influence for the suppression of the drinking-saloon or tippling-shop; second, to in New York Journal of Commerce, Dec, 4.—A large part of the trading now going on in the world is not a legitimate exchange of products, or a sale of merchandise for its market value in cash, but is a speculative movement where neither party desires any actual transfer of the property, but only makes a wager on the future price, and hopes to pocket a gain by a settlement of the difference. There are cases, of course, where buying and selling for future delivery are legitimate; the buyer needs the produce or merchandise for manufacturing purposes, or to supply his regular trade, and the seller has the stock on hand or knows unfortunate gentleman, and with sympathy gratitude for his services to mankind, there are lessons in this catastrophe. As we have had occasion to say in commenting upon recent events, modern finance is at last in a state of moral liquidation. The pace of the past few years can only end in disaster. We do not realize the danger. It does not come in a day. We note its culmination. Only when the tree falls and the wrenched boughs strew the ground do we see the work of the parasite. outcome of a pernicious system. For twenty years-we might even say since the close of the war-business in New York has been so conducted as to invite these calamities. The tone of financial honor has fallen lower and lower. Among the accepted canons of modern finance we have methods which would have made our grandfathers shiver. Bankruptcy is no longer a dishonor, but a temporary inconvenience. Property belongs not to the one who earned it, but to the one in possession. Property in trust is the fair game of the trus tee. The law which sends the watermelon thief to jail protects the robber of a franchise. In many cases the Judge who administers the law is the creature of the robber. What else could be expected? Why should seats on the New York bench sell for $30,000? Because the bench alone prevents those who have a proprietary interest in justice from exile or prison. now, they care very little if one of their num| of women to be severe upon the criminals in A VOICE FROM BLACKWELL'S ISLAND. Blackwell's Island, 21-11-'91. FRIENDS! My last letter did not reach you. It was dated Nov. 11, and in it I freely gave expression to what was in my heart. As that was for obvious reasons objectionable to the police, confiscation followed, and my epistle was consumed by the "office cat." In such write? circumstances, what can Nothing new has transpired here since my last report; developments do not beseem an automatic régime. My condition here, if considered from the point of view of the worst condition, is bearable. There is only one thing to take exception to-I am becoming accursedly thick and fat. This is the consequence of the rigid but debilitating orderliness of life here, especially of enforced drowsefulness; I sleep at least nine hours a day, although five hours' sufficed for me outside. I have nothing to request, for you have without solicitation from me provided all that I desire, well and promptly; for which my warmest thanks. Judging from the information that I have received from you, things seem to be astir in the world. Most of the readers of the lackadaisical prints that are ground out are over-surfeited, and continue to stomach the food that is proffered them only because there is no other daily organ to be obtained. When the needed organ makes its appearance, it will, if conducted by able pens, cause all the blasts of the demagogues to pass unheeded. As I have said before, nothing is lacking for its creation but filthy lucre, and perhaps that may be found. I hear that over the seas the "young and the old" are at odds, in keeping with all the rules of politics. It is an unhappy spectacle, but as matters stand a very necessary and wholesome state of affairs. Out of the friction will come new life that will be stimulating to our own spirit. It is high time that the Germans should try to keep up with the rest of the world in this respect; and this observation is especially justified when we remember thatthe present Social-Democrats are becoming more and more forbearing toward religion, patriotic in their attitude toward the State, and socially pusillanimous. I know that you will continue to combat obstacles with judgment, and it is plain that our ideas must finally triumph. I shall soon be on the march with you again. Meanwhile I salute you. JOHN MOST. CHINESE MAFIAS. ITIES." M. M. Trumbull, in the Open Court (Chicago), Dec. 3.-I see by the papers that the Rev. Brooke Herford told the Associated Charities of Boston last week that he thought there was danger sometimes of too much assistance to the paupers. He believed, occasionally, in good, wholesome starvation." Not for him- San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 30.-There is quite a striking analogy between the Italian Mafia, as it is commonly understood, and the THE ARGUMENT FOR THE EIGHT-HOURChinese Tong, or organization of cutthroats, murderers, and highbinders, in this city. The DAY.-In a condition of things under which all chief point of difference is that the subdivisions had equal access to materials and opportunities, of the Mafia are not at constant war with each other things being equal, the man who worked other, while the Tongs have deadly feuds con- the longest and hardest would not only earn tinually on foot, and generally select their vic- but get the most. Facing facts as they actualtims from among their rivals. The question ly exist we find industrial society divided into of these organizations of assassins in the heart two classes-one possessing all the means of of a civilized community like ours has grown employment and exchange, the other possessto be a very serious one. We know, in a ing nothing and obliged to sell their services general way, that each Tong is bound together by oaths which its members dare not break; that its purpose is crime of the deepest dye; that it shelters its memers by every artifice which Chinese cunning can devise, and that it sets at defiance the laws of the land; but here our knowledge on the subject ends. We do not know the to motives which underlie the frequent murders, nor do we seem to know how break up these Tongs or put an end to their career of crime. The suggestion has been made, and it is worth considering, that an indictment for criminal conspiracy would lie against an entire Tong or society whose members were known or believed to have been guilty of murder. So far as we can know anything about the secret workings of these organizations there is ample reason to believe that the murders are committed after full discussion, and the murderer selected by his society, and instructed as to how and when he shall do his deadly work. If this be true, there is certainly a criminal conspiracy preceding every one of these Highbinder murders, and the whole society is liable to indictment. Such a wholesale attack upon these secret societies would do much to break them up. As it is to the former for the best terms they can make, WOMEN AS JURORS.-The difficulty in impanelling a jury for the trial of Dr. Graves for murder in Colorado is largely owing to the disinclination of men there to accept jury duty. If we go further west, it will be found that women help out in the composition of juries. This was the case in Washington while it was a Territory, and the practice was favored by the Chief-Justice of the State, who was a very able lawyer. The bar generally testified that it worked well, the objections to it, if there were any, coming from the tendency ton as a Territory, when it occurred, had a population of as good an average in intelligence as any State in the Union.-Boston Herald, Dec. 4. RELIGIOUS. "ST. TORQUEMADA" - CORRECTION. In the LITERARY DIGEST for Nov. 21, under the head, "St. Torquemada," were printed two extracts-one from the Montreal Church Guardian (Prot. Epis.), the other from the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate (Meth. Epis.). The Church Guardian asserted that at a Catholic Congress held at Leopoldi in Gallicia the "unheard-of request was formulated that twenty saints, duly canonized and scheduled in the calendar of the Church, should be deposed," and that as the list included "Torquemada and a friar who is accused of most unsaintlike practices, the request is intelligible enough." The Christian Advocate, also, spoke of the canonization of Torquemada as a matter of fact, and in strong language instanced it as an evidence of the spirit of the Roman Catholic Church of to-day. The Boston Pilot (Dec. 5) copies these extracts and says: There is not a St. Torquemada; there never bas been one; and, unless our Protestant friends canonize Will the excellent him, there never will be one. LITERARY DIGEST from which we take the foregoing extracts kindly make the proper correction, and assure its readers that St. Torquemada is as mythical as St. Calvin, or St. Henry VIII., or the Blessed Nero? DEFINE YOUR TERMS. The Examiner (Bapt., New York), Dec. 3. It is indispensable, if we are to reach any clear grasp of essential principles, that in discussing them we should know what we think, and say what we mean. Nowhere is such precision more urgently demanded than in the treatment of religious themes. It would often prove a safeguard against misunderstanding and bitterness. It would always go far to make debate intelligible and profitable. would shut off much noisy, but vapid, declamation, and would silence many fierce anathemas. Instances will readily occur to any one familiar with current religious literature. Here, for example, is a man inveighing against dogmatism and hidebound orthodoxy. We say, please specify, and he can't give an item. Another is distressed over heretical It "trends" and "tendencies," but fails to tell us what they are. One orator who delivers himself "Christian con To" deal in watchwords overmuch" is a snare |