York rates, but the rates to and from New | the 10th of January, when the Chamber will whom he might devour. He claimed to be a York and Philadelphia and the West would begin its regular session. soon be lifted as the result of mutual arrangement between the great transportation companies of this country. We know it is said by some of our railroad men that the reason these Canadian roads should be shut out is that they have not made themselves strictly amenable to the Interstate Commerce Law; but when one considers that all American railroad men, who will talk frankly and freely in private, admit that the Interstate Commerce Law is a gigantic farce, and that hardly any one thinks of observing its requirements; to hold the Canadian railroads responsible for its non-observance is to transpose even the farce into a roaring burlesque. The President of the Canadian Pacific said at the dinner of the Merchants' Club a

Boston Transcript, Dec. 24.-On the 15th
the French Ministry secured a vote of confi-
The members of the
dence by only six votes.
Ministry, disregarding the unwritten rule that
Ministers shall not vote when their conduct is
under discussion, all voted. It has been figur-
ed out that had the Ministers refrained from
voting, confidence would have been refused
and they must have gone out of office. Yes-
terday, on a direct test vote on M. Millevoye's
motion of want of confidence, the Govern-
ment was sustained by a tremendous majority.
The Millevoye motion was rejected by a vote
of 353 to 91. The Chamber of Deputies con-
sists of 584 members, of whom 140 must have

throne or overturned one.

of France.

physician, and when he went to San Francisco formed an alliance with one Dr. Simpson and engaged actively in practice. After a while suspicions were aroused as to whether he was qualified as a physician by proper education and graduation to have charge of the health and lives of the people. A demand having been made upon him for his diploma he disappeared, leaving his wife (an American woman) to the care of his partner, and after a mysterious absence of several weeks returned, bringing a document which, while it only increased the suspicion, had to be accepted at its face value. No one knows where his adventures did not lead him, but at last he turned up in Paris as the private secretary of the infamous Baron de Reinach. Possessing himself of this great blackmailer's secrets, he seems to have preyed upon him in turn, and is believed to have extracted large sums of money from him. The conviction that de Reinach did not commit suicide, but was probably poisoned, is growing general and in this connection the gravest suspicion falls upon Herz, who is said to be hiding in London.

GERMANY IN AFRICA.

few days ago that, so far as the Interstate Com-been absent or not voting. Had all these 140 merce Law was concerned, he was ready to voted for the Millevoye motion, the Governaffirm, and, if need be, prove, that his road ment would still have had a majority of 122. observed it with greater strictness than any This suddenly presented solidarity of the of the great American transportation comRepublicans against the assailants of the Government is doubtless attributable to panies. their realizing that their first duty, and selfpreservation as well, called for them to defeat the common foe. There have been intimaTHE FRENCH SITUATION. tions that both the Orleanists and the Bona. Courrier des Etats Unis (New York), Dec. partists stood ready to profit by the event 25.-The week which ended yesterday was should the Boulangists' attack on the Governfertile in events important for France. For ment succeed. It will be remembered that the Boston Advertiser, Dec. 26.-While Belgium the end of the week, however, was reserved a Count of Paris was openly accused of furnish-appears extremely reluctant to make further manifestation which astonished the country, ing the funds which Boulanger handled in such expenditure upon the Congo; while France and the consequences of which will be evident abundance. Neither the Orleanists nor the has apparently stopped all but absolutely to every one. The vote of confidence which Bonapartists are strong enough in themselves necessary enterprises in Angola; while Great the Chamber of Deputies, by a very large to have the faintest hope of overthrowing the Britain is even now considering the advisability majority, gave to the Government of the Re- Republic in a direct assault. Either might, how of letting Uganda and Swaziland go by the public was also a tribute to the devotion and ever, not unreasonably hope to snatch success board, Germany is still attempting to hold on energy displayed by M. Ribot, the President from a crisis following the fall of a Ministry to all her African colonies. The German of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs. in the midst of the present excitement. A possessions in that Continent are limited The vote was the more significant in that it small but daring minority, working swiftly mainly to four patches of territory, one on the east and three on the west coast of Africa. came at a period when people were beginning and ail together, has before now seized a to doubt everything and everybody. At this Apparently, M. German East Africa, including Zanzibar, lies moment of general suspicion, M. Millevoye, Ribot when, yesterday, he summoned Repub. between British East Africa and Portuguese a Boulangist Deputy, undertook to interrogate licans to stand by the Republic, realized that East Africa. German Southwest Africa lies the Government as to the use which had been the final moment of the crisis had come. He between Angola and Cape Colony. The Cammade of the funds derived from the Panama was not striking at a man of straw when he eroons are situated north of the French Congo, Canal Company by a former President of the said, turning to the Right, that those whom he while Togo separates Ashanti and Dahomey. Council of Ministers. This interrogation had addressed were attempting to bring to trial The location of these colonies indicate a been anticipated, and at a Council held that not individuals, but the republican institutions certain commercial shrewdness, which charmorning it had been decided that the GovernHis speech was in effect a notice acterizes the modern German nation, and ment would accept at once the discussion of that the Government intended to defend the report of the German Government upon the expected question. It is reported that the Republic. The answer of the majority the condition of those colonies appears to President Carnot said at the Council: The demonstrated that the Government would give ground for the belief that they will The answer- in the near future prove self-supporting. Government must not, by shunning a discus- have its support in the defense. sion, give the appearance of shirking an ing note is gratifying evidence of the vigilance The German attempt at African colonization, imperative duty in order to cover up and determination of those French Repub- as a whole, appears to have met with at least licans who prize the acts of former members of the Republic above the partial success when compared with the dreary Cabinet. On the all contrary, faction or group to which they may belong. failures so far made by other nations. forces of the Government should combine to The effort of the foes of the Republic has German colonies are mainly self-supporting, facilitate the work of justice and the discovery been to build up an anti-republican sentiment although there is an imperial subsidy paid to of the truth." M. Millevoye, in developing among the rural masses who lost so heavily by the East African Government. Apparently his interpellation, reached at last the point the Panama collapse. These very masses German commerce will receive a new stimulus where he demanded the dissolution of the ought to be satisfied and gratified by the course from the trade with the African possessions. Chamber in the name of those who have at the Republic is taking in bringing to judgment Yet it is noticeable that even Germany is not theart the honor of France, and proposed a the men who squandered or embezzled the mill-anxious to gain any new African territory. vote of an order of the day that the Govern- ions which the French peasantry put into the The recent declaration of Chancellor von ment did not have the confidence of the Cham- bottomless pockets of the Panama company. Caprivi in the Reichstag to the effect that The President of the Council ascended From this struggle the Republic ought to come the tribune immediately after it was vacated out stronger than ever, as demonstrating at by M. Millevoye. M. Ribot unmasked at once once its ability to defeat its open foes and to the purpose of the vote asked for, declaring in punish at the same time the men who betrayed a calm but firm tone that what was aimed at was its confidence and that of their constituents. not the Government, but the Republic itself- The Republic has taken the course that honesty the national institutions established by the per- and courage dictated, and they are a powerful sonal labors and sacrifices of devoted patriots. sword and shield. Those who flatter themselves," he concluded, that there is no longer a Government in France are mistaken, and the present Government will prove, if need be, that they are mistaken. We are ready to defend the Republic. When the Minister descended from the tribune he was warmly congratulated, and from every part of the Chamber Deputies came forward to shake his hand. The vote was put and by a majority of 250 it was declared that the Chamber had confidence in the Government. It was a veritable triumph for the Republic, which has emerged stronger than before from a crisis in which her enemies hoped to see her fall. The decree of the President of the Republic which closes the extraordinary session will give time for spirits to calm until

ber.

46

the the

THAT MALIGN AMERICAN ADVENTURER.

New York Morning Advertiser, Dec. 28.-An unsavory notoriety has been given to the man Herz, who is mixed up in the Panama Canal swindle. The matter is of some interest in this country, since it seems that M. Herz lived here-in Chicago and San Francisco, and perhaps other places-for several years, and has disgraced the name of American citizen, he having been duly naturalized. The incidents of his career in the United States are somewhat meager, but so far as they have been developed they are not highly creditable. In Chicago he seemed to drift about among the scum of the great city, an adventurer seeking

The

Germany now has enough to do with these colonies which she already has," coincides with the tone of the Government report. The German people recognize the fact that Africa is no Eldorado, and that the task of building up self-supporting colonies in that continent is not an easy one.

There is no demand for the abandonment of these colonies which have already been founded; but at the same time there is a wise determination to cease all further effort to secure more territory. In view of the general condition of the European postion seems to be a wise one. sessions in Africa at present, that determina

RELIGIOUS.

PRESBYTERIAN OPINION ON THE

SMITH CASE.

The Presbyterian (Philadelphia), Dec. 21.—
As to the sentence pronounced upon Professor
Smith, different opinions will obtain.
It was
suspension from the Presbyterian ministry

Men who are not carried away by the violence
of passion, will look to the possibilities of the
future. There is a law of retribution in the
moral as in the physical world: and even our
blessed Lord has warned us: "Judge not that
ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye
judge, ye shall be judged."

dertaking in laying out the plans for a house of God which will cost more than any other building in the United States not erected by public money has been criticised as an anachronism. It is said that cathedrals belong to a past period, when religious faith was a reality, and not to this present skeptical age. But that is a very narrow view. Religious sentiment is too ineradicable a principle of human nature to cease with the attacks of and death sends men to their knees now as in the unbelievers. The awful mystery of life the ages past. They are as conscious as ever before that they are powerless to help them

until satisfactory evidence is given that he has | have regarded as a beloved Christian brother? will typify the faith of all. His gigantic unrenounced his errors, and promises no longer to teach or preach them. The vote was close, 31 to 26. Many of the minority thought that a simple rebuke or admonition would have been sufficient. Throughout the Church there will be many who would have preferred the milder sentence. But had this course been adopted, what protection would there have been against the continuance of the erroneous teaching? Would not the pro- THE RESTORATION OF DR. MCGLYNN. fessor have still been free, if so inNew York Tribune, Dec. 25.—The McGlynn clined, to use a Presbyterian Chair of case is much more than a dispute between an Theology, or a Presbyterian pulpit, to propagate his special hobbies? As he was unwilling independent priest and his bishop. to give them up and put himself in line with disputes are of almost constant occurrence in selves and that they must look above for light the standards of the Church, there was noth. the Church, and, as a rule, are settled without and guidance. The new Cathedral of St. John ing left the Presbytery of Cincinnati, in con- attracting any general attention. The essential fact in the McGlynn case was that it in the Divine will be a concrete expression of religious faith. Its spire will forever point to found him guilty, as charged, it could not, involved the liberty and independence of priests heaven in this busy and bustling town to prove that the people of New York are not sunk iu

sistency, to do, but to suspend him. When it

in matters outside the domain of faith.

Such

Dr.

justice, permit him to teach or to preach in our Church until he modified his position in regard McGlynn was suspended for exercising his materialism, that they have aspirations which to the inspiration of the Scriptures. The de- rights as a citizen, in speaking at certain reach higher than this mortal life. They will cision, however, of the Presbytery of Cincin- political meetings and holding heterodox views nati does not end the matter. The case will be on the land question. That Archbishop Cor-show that Protestantism is not a failure in the great American capital, but a vital and aggrescarried, either directly or through the Synod of rigan acted conscientiously in suspending sive force throughout the New World. Ohio, to the General Assembly. The issue in him for so doing no one will deny. But volved is fundamental, and must be authoritait seemed at the time, not only to multitudes of Protestants, but to large numbers of sincere tively settled by our highest judicatory, removTHE CANTON AFFAIR. ed from all the local influences which surround- and loyal Catholics, that his right to interfere Pittsburgh Commercial Gazelle, Dec. 24.ed the trial. As far as deliverances go, the views with Dr. McGlynn was, to say the least, quescondemned judicially by the Presbytery of tionable and unwise. Indeed, this view was Archbishop Ireland has announced his intenCincinnati have been condemned by two expressed by many who had no sympathy with tion to lose no time in checking the pilgrimGeneral Assemblies; but now the Supreme Dr. McGlynn's political and social ideas, but ages to the Catholic church at Canton, Minn. Court of our Church will have to take final who felt that his rights as a man and as an Through influences which have not been fully American citizen were being invaded under fathomed hundreds of persons have been deaction upon the matter as it comes before it in a cover of ecclesiastical discipline. This is why luded into the belief that there was some mirjudicial way, and in a complicated form, or as affected by protest and counter-protest. The Dr. McGlynn has had so many devoted friends aculous power in the window glass of the Assembly will likely have before it, at the same in the Roman Church all these years, some of church, the evidence being found in certain time, the Briggs case, whatever shape that them high in authority, and why he is now alleged supernatural phenomena. A regular may take, as the result of the trial now going restored, in spite not only of his defiant atti- craze had been started and persons seeking tude before his suspension, but of his acrid relief from various ailments had begun to flock on in the Presbytery of New York. In view of these considerations, a long, tedious, criticisms of persons aud policies in the Church to the scene of the delusion in such numbers and difficult adjustment of the matter confronts ever since his suspension and excommuni- that it was thought an additional priest would up to last Sunday evening. have to be employed to attend to their wants. the Church, but in and through all the tech-cation, even nicalities, and personal relations, and side The McGlynn incident, coming as it does The Archbishop ordered an investigation, and issues, there stands forth the one main, all- so closely after the triumph of Father Corri- the Bishop reported that the manifestations dominating, essential, and crucial question of gan, of Hoboken, means that American Roman thus far observed were explainable on purely Here she must stand firm. Catholicism is adjusting itself to the free in-natural grounds and that further interpretations a perfect Bible. If she does not hold her ministry true to her stitutions of the country. There is no doubt were uncalled for. The Bishop announces that no one has even the semblance of warrant standards and the Word of God, she will split that the mission of Monsignor Satolli is to into fragments, and lose her cohesive and dur-hasten this process of adjustment. That fact from the Church in claiming miraculous qualiable bond of union and coöperation. ties or effects from the phenomena. This is tantamount to saying that some persons were actively engaged in promoting a pious fraud for purely selfish purposes. cuse the priest of connivance at the deception, but thinks he may have erred in being too credulous. There was a mass of testimony in regard to cures which were alleged to have been effected, but the Bishop dismisses it as insufficient.

was evidenced by his remarkable address in
regard to parochial and public schools, and is
now still more strikingly emphasized by his
restoration of a priest who had been suspended
by the most powerful Archbishop on the
American Continent. Hereafter, the priests of
the Church will enjoy a freedom of utterance
and action that in many cases has heretofore
been denied them, and the whole Church will
grow into closer touch with American life and
institutions. The ultramontane type of church-
manship in this country has received a serious
blow from which it may never recover.

THE NEW YORK CATHEDRAL.

He does not ac

It is to the credit of Archbishop Ireland that he interposed his authority for the protection of the ignorant and the credulous against fraud and deception. The people of these communities have been made familiar with the harm that can be done and the misery that can be inflicted through appeals to the credulity of the ignorant and the superstitious who are suffering from chronic

and other ailments. When such frauds are screened behind churchly sanction they become doubly dangerous and disgraceful.

The Evangelist (New York), Dec. 22.-But Churches, like Governments, sometimes lose their heads and run to an extreme of violence in which all respect for law is disregarded. Historians tell us that no hatreds are like religious hatreds: and it does seem at times as if the Church was carried away by a frenzy of passion to do things only paralleled in political revolutions. And we ask in all soberness, If once the principle be introduced into our ecclesiastical proceedings, that there is no pos sible stay, legal or moral, on the action of a majority, what is to prevent our beloved Church from rushing to the wildest extremes of an ecclesiastical democracy? If verdicts are to be New York Sun, Dec. 28.-The laying of the rendered, and sentences pronounced, by a strict corner-stone of the Cathedral of St. John the party vote, is not the issue inevitable, that the Divine yesterday was an event of profound utmost will be made of this by either party as significance in the religious life and history of it comes in power? You, gentlemen of the this country. When the structure is comjury in Cincinnati, have just passed judgment pleted after the noble plans of the architects it on a man who is probably the most learned will be the most imposing religious edifice in AN INTERESTING MANUSCRIPT. of you all, and a man not only of spotless the New World, and it will stand in the most character, but of the most beautiful Chris-conspicuous place in the great American Sunday School Times, Dec. 24.-The past tian life. You have done your best, or capital as a symbol of the vitality of the Prot- continues to give up its records in confirmation. your worst, to degrade him. And this you estant faith. One of the Protestant ministers of the truth of the gospel story. This time it have done by a majority of four in a body of of the town has recently declared that Prot- is a tomb iв Upper Egypt, which yields us a fifty-eight members. When you divided, you estantism is a failure in New York, but the cere- manuscript of the second century,-showing stood 31 to 27! You feel well satisfied with monies of yesterday afford no such indication. that all four Gospels were in current use at a your "victory" and triumph over it. Very well! The building of the Cathedral of St. John date much earlier than negative critics have But suppose in two or three years the relations the Divine is rather suggestive of victory assigned for their authorship. Professor Berof the parties should be reversed, and those than failure. It will be erected by volun-nard of Trinity College, Dublin, gives a full who are now the accused should become the tary contributions amounting to millions translation of this valuable document. accusers! You cannot expect the new majority of dollars, and they would not be made if the to be more considerate than you have been, faith of the people had grown cold. It may and what is to prevent those who succeed to be that Bishop Potter will not live to see the power from turning upon the old "Prose-completion of the edifice, but the probability is cutors," and arraigning their leader at the bar, that all branches of Protestantism will unite to and judging him with the same severity that he give him that satisfaction. For the cathedral has shown towards one whom he ought to will represent not merely a religious party. It

This

apocryphal "Gospel of Peter" was a forgery of the sect called the Docetæ, who denied the reality of Christ's human body, and therefore of his physical sufferings. Hence the statement that on the cross "He kept silence as one that felt no pain." Another point of interest is that the school of Bauer,

in laboring to discredit the canonical Gospels as original sources, fixed upon this Gospel, of which liltle more than the name was known, as the chief source of the Gospel according to Mark. It was thus, they alleged, that the tradition arose that Mark derived his material from the chief of the Apostles. But even the fragment now recovered shows how impossible this is: Instead of being older than the oldest of our Gospels, it is younger than the youngest. Instead of being the original source of the simplest and most direct of them, it is a highly ornamented compilation from all of them. Thus with every decade fresh evidence accumulates that the evangelists-as the true Peter says-have not been following cunningly-devised fables when they made known to us the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

highest financial authorities in New York and | since he thus humbled himself to be our SavWashington, the presidents of banks, the man- iour. And alas! that Christmas will go by, ager of the New York Clearing House, and and men will again hug their narrow views, others, while the ardent silver men of the West battle to take bread from other mouths, sell or equally approve it. In fact, its advantages go give their brothers poisonous drinks, or license very far indeed beyond the mere steadying others so to do; strange, that the old lythe price of silver, that being but one of its ing, cruelty, selfishness, slander, reproaches, aims. We shall be very pleased indeed to have and tears must go on, and that the Christit discussed and criticised by anyone who will mas day must wait the long succession of give it a careful thought, and who will then license days, murder days, sombre days, point out any inherent difficulties to its adop- days bleak and black like the death days tion. The policy of the United States should of criminals; prize fights, mad days of now be to abandon the stupid rôle of suppliant frenzies upon race tracks, in gambling dens, to European nations and make them come to and upon exchange where men almost us. The Sherman Silver Bill should at once tap their veins and spill their blood for gold; be repealed, the purchase of silver stopped, days of broken homes, stunned hearts and and, in its place, the Government should buy paralyzed, divorces, quarrels, suicide, desolaeach month, say $5,000,000 of gold, in just the tion, poverty, and disgrace. The King would same manner as it now buys silver. It will not have it so. He points to this Christmas not then require many months to convince Day of holier moods,tenderer purposes, sweeter Europe that this country can take care of itself. aims, and loving deeds, saying, "This is someFINANCIAL AND COMMER- factory to us, we can offer some such plan as the Christmas tide, lifting us to such ideals, When they desire to adopt some policy satis- thing like the life I would have you live." And CIAL. that of an international monetary clearing- cures much of the pains of the past, heals the house, which will benefit the whole world and scarred disgrace of our forgetfulness, enlarges hurt no one. our thought of what may be, and becomes prophetic of the peace, the righteousness, the sweet gold will, which are promised to crown

THE SILVER QUESTION. Brooklyn Eagle, Dec. 24. Congress has Harper's Weekly, Dec. 31.-Europe has re- rarely been confronted by a more delicate fused to join us in the work of "rehabilitating problem than that presented in the present silver." Great Britain, pressed by India and situation as to silver. There is, according to the Lancashire spinners, and tempted to make a press dispatch," to be an organized effort in an issue for the Conservatives, offered plans the House after the holiday recess to bring intended to enhance the price of silver. Some about some sort of financial legislation." That of the Continental delegates made advances in is rather an indefinite way of suggesting a prothe same direction. But no one, not even the gramme of action affecting the currency. For Americans, suggested a complete system by repeal of the Sherman Act the demand is which gold and silver could be used as money practically unanimous. At that point unanimon equal terms. France, from which some-ity abruptly ceases. In place of it a profound thing in this direction seems to have been ex- difference of opinion and purpose becomes inpected, declined to do anything that would stantly visible. The anti-silver men want repeal place her money interest at odds with the sys- as a preliminary step toward return to a sounder tem of her neighbors. The feeling of the Latin monetary standard. The pro-silver men want Union turned out to be as unsatisfactory as that repeal as a prelude to unlimited coinage. On one of the British "gold bugs." The result is that side the argument is for cessation of silver purthe United States Government is precisely chases. On the other side the appeal is for where it stood when its invitation was issued. restoration of the white metal to universal use.

It must settle its curreucy problem for itself, and in its own way. Fortunately there is abundant evidence in our political history that thiş kind of madness, the crude attempt to establish values by law, is usually cured by the enlightening influences of full and free discussion. More fortunately still, there is little likelihood of the enactment of a free coinage law while Mr. Cleveland is President. It is probable that a failure to pass a free coinage bill on its merits will be definitely fatal to the movement, and that our own country will itself vindicate the refusal of Europe to establish a double standard composed of two unequal ele

ments.

New York Engineering and Mining Journal, Dec. 24.-The International Silver Conference has adjourned without doing anything; in fact, it was a foregone conclusion that it would do nothing, for no comprehensive or well defined plan was presented to it, and our case was discredited from the outset by having as one of our representatives Senator John P. Jones, the head of the infamous Comstock mill ring. Even though their politeness prevented the foreign members of the Conference from openly resenting the insult placed upon them, as well as on the American people, by the appointment of Jones, yet it was inevitable that every suggestion we made would be looked upon with suspicion as a trick or scheme for promoting the personal interests and fortunes of the unscrupulous ring which had power to have its chief appointed on the commission. The Engineering and Mining Journal pointed this out when it was first intimated that Senator Jones might be appointed, and the result has fully justified this warning and protest. The question which we raised of a universal currency and the use of both gold and silver upon a flexible and permanent basis, under which there can be lit tle loss to any nation and none to the individual, as such, is still open, and will, we believe, receive greater attention as its aims and advantages are investigated. It has already received the warm support and approval of the very

Conservative members can well hesitate in face
of these conflicting influences. That the Sher-
man Law has served its purpose is admitted.
It was intended as a compromise, and has
But before a move-
answered as a makeshift.
ment for its repeal is undertaken the friends of
honest money should endeavor to obtain some
idea of what is to follow. Will repeal throw
the country back to the Act of 1873? Will it
pave the way for closer adhesion to the gold
standard? Or, will it create an opening for
the silver propaganda to rush through both
Houses such a radical free coinage measure as
the Stewart Bill? These are phases of the
problem that cannot be overlooked. They go
subject.
to the heart of all discussion bearing on the

MISCELLANEOUS.

CHRISTMASTIDE THOUGHTS. Union Signal, Dec. 22.- -Throughout the world the followers of Christ are laboring in sorrow and tears to imitate the Saviour's miracle of love, in feeding the multitude, which is very great. In the Dark Continent are men and women entering into the labors of the first explorer, who have given themselves to Africa for the sake of the Christ who gave himself for all the world. If the world could hold close to its heart the love of this kingly Christ through all the days, as upon this Christmas day, it would be next to impossible for us to be mean, selfish, or to feel the "narrowing lust of gold" as now.

all at last.

Christian Register, Dec. 22.-Yes, we want a better Christmas, less commercial, less conventional, more spontaneous. Each year it should grow better and better, each year bring purer joys and nobler impulses. We can hardly dream what it is to the poor who would rather give up all the other days in the year than this delightful Christmas Day, that beams across the barren waste of their lives as a glowing fire to the cold and hungry. We have stood in many rich and gilded rooms loaded with toys, where the Christmas Christ was not, but have always found him in the little Sunday-school festival where the young eyes of poor children glisten as they look at the loaded tree sparkling with lights. Blessed is he who gives joy to a child, and blessed is he who teaches a child to give joy to others less fortunate. than himself. The old, who, by reason of cares and sorrows, and doubts and fears, have outgrown Christmas, still need it to put them in touch with youth, the pure and ardent spirit of joy and love and unselfishness. But no compulsory giving is good giving. Take Christmas into your heart, and let it warm you until you are glad to give. Wherever the Christmas Christ leads, there we must follow if we would partake of his spirit, which whispers to us that the only pure gift is the gift of self. have thought, the best we have done, the best we aspire to do, is not too good to lay on the altar of the Christmas Christ; and the only reward we should expect or ask is his presence in the grateful heart.

The best we

Kate Field's Washington, Dec. 21.-Those letters to Santa Claus from the Homestead children are about as pitiful reading as you could find anywhere. These entirely blameless little sufferers are bearing with a vengeance the punishment for last summer's misdeeds. When children cease to ask for toys and candy and Christmas trees, and limit their petitions to clothing and other necessaries of life, it means that poverty is pinching pretty hard. Poor little victims of a wrong state of things! By the time your children get old enough to write letters to Santa Claus, I hope we shall have found out the way to prevent so much wrong and cruelty and injustice.

THE RIDICULOUS FRENCH DUEL.

The great truth of this incarnate love to us would become an expanding Cincinnati Post, Dec. 24.-French dueling force in our lives, forcing us to larger and has been the butt of wits, the mark for humorloftier views of the world's brotherhood ists, and the theme of essayists for over a cencontinually. If Christ "so loved us," then in- tury. The Parisian is so insular, exclusive, and deed we become "debtors to all men "in turn, egotistic that he simply shrugs his shoulders and would naturally desire each day to be a when a foreigner tells him of a dnel in his (the Christmas Day for the payment of our debt. foreigner's) country, in which both combatants, It is the marvel of all thought that we who be-after the first fire, had more use for a crown lieve and rejoice in our King, cannot afford and a harp than they had for the surgeon's him more days; nay, indeed, all the days, bandage and scalpel. The encounter between

Clemenceau and Deroulede was humorously | Such a proceeding in this country would cover
bloodless., The Deputies, at a distance of the participants with a flood of ridicule, drive
twenty-five paces, fired three shots each. them into hiding, and would forever end their
Neither was hurt; but a disgusted onlooker political careers. Whether Americans have
who, seated on a fence, watched the pro- too keen a sense of humor or whether French-
ceedings, dropped to the ground when he men are deficient in that line is a question for
perceived the fiery legislators unharmed psychologists to consider, but certainly the
after the third delivery. Then there was gen- Clemenceau - Deroulede affair will make it
uine commotion. Principals, seconds, sur- more difficult than ever for the people of this
geons, and everybody became alarmed. Republic to take their French brethren
The wearied spectator arose and laughed and seriously.
all was well. This farce has been enacted so
many times, with various degrees of slow
music and red fire, that even the French people
are exhibiting signs of impatience. When
honor can be preserved by early rising with

NATIONAL QUARANTINE.

It

the remote chances of catching cold, every Bob | published a goodly number of papers, ad.dent as he is, and considers her an irresponsible

one that doesn't recommend the washerwoman

can.

Το

mean

demands.

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON.

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that of the children; and yet it is these little items, perhaps only a few cents at a time, that make a woman doubt her own arithmetic when she sees how many dollars they foot up at the bottom of the page in her account bookand if she does not keep such an account she is sure to be constantly under the delusion that she has lost some of her money. is these small things that are "the little foxes that spoil the vines," and yet they are too trifling to be taken into account when calculating the outlay for the household. And so a man often wonders how his wife spends so much money withont having more to show for New York Medical News, Dec. 24.-During it. He constantly calls her "his better half,' the last four or five months there have been and yet thinks she is not half so wise or pruAcres in the country can become a Lucius dresses, letters, and editorials upon the subject being whom it is not safe to trust with money. O'Trigger. "But for these vile guns he him- of a national quarantine, and, so far as we He does not mind giving her occasionally a self would have been a soldier." If Hotspur's have seen, all of these, whether in the medical diamond ring, or pin, or bracelet, though he dude lived in France nowadays he would be or in the lay press, agree that such a quaran- if she asks for one-fourth of the sum for will look surprised, or perhaps a little cross.. a great duelist. The whole thing is a bur- tine is desirable in the interests of public the children's clothes or to replenish the lesque, with France as the stage, her legis- health, of travelers, and of commerce. lators the actors, and the nations of the world, have a really useful national quarantine, State china closet. One thing that no man seems to telegraphically and telephonically connected, and local quarantines must be given up. The understand is that it is humiliating to as the auditory. Saltpeter sometimes cleanses States may do this by mutual agreement with woman to have to ask for money, no matter a soiled escutcheon, but not in France. Dis- each other, and with the United States, pre-defer the hated moment in the hope that it will how willingly he gives it. She will usually honor may be washed out in blood, but with- cisely as New Jersey has agreed to let New out a fair showing of red corpuscles the job is York control the quarantine for the Jersey to ask for it; and, if he is accustomed to be so occur to him to give it without waiting for her coast bordering on New York Bay and to the favorable notice of the average Ameri- harbor, and this is probably the most im-unreasonable as to make any scene about givmediately practical method of overcoming ing it, she will often do without absolute necessities while trying to find courage to prefer her Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, Dec 23.—this particular difficulty. No doubt some How superbly silly the whole thing seems to States would, All this is avoided by giving her a at first, refuse to accede request. men in their right minds, and with honest to such an agreement. This would certain allowance, and paying it with the same purposes. And one of the principals capped that a number of men in that State, mostly punctuality that any other business transaction the climax by indulging in a lot of blasphemy officials, would desire to keep in their about the manifest timely interposition of a own hands the power and the pay derivable higher power saving his worthless life. The from 'quarantine, and that they would be able supplementary` announcement to the effect to persuade the legislative and executive authat the troubie between one of these duel- thorities of the State that they were more comists and another member of the Chamber is to petent and more to be trusted than the United adjusted by arbitration, is quite characteristic. States officials. This state of affairs might It would be a great thing lor France if public perhaps last a year or two, but no longer, for sentiment would for once be able to see clearly, the United States, in conjunction with the conand make itself felt so effectively, that hot- curring States and the great commercial interblooded demagogues would cease to bring ests involved, would be able to exert an influtheir country into disrepute with the rest of ence which would overcome that due to perthe world. The French duel, once in a while, sonal and pecuniary considerations on the part is a serious matter, but this is the exception, of a few dozen individuals. The real, practical not the rule, in these days. If the whole difficulties in the way of estalishing a satisChamber of Deputies should scatter itself by factory quarantine system are much more twos through the rural districts, and settle its numerous than the legal and constitutional self-inflicted myriads of insults, perhaps the objections referred to, and taken together, average Frenchman would be able to com- have heretofore proved a formidable obstacle, prehend the folly of this whole business. but no one of them is very strong by itself, There would be precious little danger to any- and each one can be overcome if taken singly. body involved. But the sober view which the The first question to be settled is whether we whole nation is likely to take even of such a want a national health-organization or only a farce as that of yesterday shows that the days national quarantine. Either may exist without of this sort of thing are not yet numbered. the other, although the first is generally supExcitable Frenchmen will go on spitting fire posed to include the second, and sanitarians, at each other, going through harmless pan-physicians, politicians, and jurists are divided tomime a little later, to be considered heroes in their opinions as to whether both or only the rest of their lives. It seems to be a special one, and if the latter, which is most exstreak of national weakness. A delegation of pedient and desirable at the present time. cold-blooded gentlemen from the southwestern part of the United States would be able to put the French duelists of to-day through a FAMILY FINANCES. course that would test their metal or make them hide themselves from public derision. Charleston News and Courier, Dec. 25.-If The duello, in reality, is a true relic of bar- there is any one thing in which a kind and conscientious husband errs, it is more than baric days, in its character and effect. In likely to be in regard to his treatment of his France it has become the plaything of political wife in money matters. The very best men Hooker's visit, and unless the seedlings are harlequins and journalistic clowns. Yet with have the little weakness of liking to hold the protected from fire and from sheep and goats, all its absurdity it seems to be the sure high-family purse strings, and to pay out every- these particular forests will, in course of time. way to lofty public consideration. thing themselves. Of course this does not become extinct. The largest trees remaining Indianapolis Journal, Dec. 24.-The disposi- refer to those whose wives are self-supporting, are some forty feet in girth, and the smallest tion of Americans to look upon Frenchmen either through inheritance or from their own ones are eighteen inches. Other groups of and their doings much as they would upon a work, but to husbands whose wives have to this cedar have been discovered since the visit comic opera is not to be wondered at in view look to them for every cent they spend. This of Sir Joseph Hooker, and, in fact, Cedrus of such performances as the duel between is not at all owing to selfishness or parsi- Atlantica, which is found in Algeria and CyClemenceau and Deroulede. From the begin-mony, but merely to thoughtlessness, and prus, and Cedrus Deodora of the Him..layas ning the incident had a theatrical suggestion to to man's inherent incapability to see the matter-of-fact mind. Deroulede charged things from a woman's point of view. Clemenceau with being mixed up in the canal However wise and far-sighted a man is in other scandal; Clemenceau told Deroulede he lied things he is apt to lose his judgment when it and promptly challenged him to a meeting on comes to family finances. Accustomed to the "field of honor." All their friends treated dealing with large sums in business, he will the affair with a great seriousness that, in view make allowance for larger general expenses, of the customary termination of French but cannot realize the hundred and one little duels, only adds to the comedy effect. I wants of the household, of his wife's toilet, and

one,

Garden and Forest, Dec. 21.-The cedar of Lebanon has stood for generations throughout. Christendom as the type of all that is majestic and regal in a forest-tree. It has in modern times been questioned whether the timber with which Solomon rebuilt the Temple was that of the true cedar, but, however this may be, the trees are always associated in the popular mind with stately religious ceremony, and the groves of Lebanon have been objects of veneration by pious pilgrims for centuries. position which the tree holds in Christian literature is well exemplified by the following passage from the Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry, by Isaac Taylor, who, in describing the Leba non ranges and their trees, says:

The

In ancient times these rich slopes and valleys were manteled with cedar forests, and the cedar, in its perfection, is as the lion among the beasts and the eagle among the birds. This majestic tree, compared with others of its class, has more of altitude and volume than any of them, it has more of umbrageous amplicontinuance through centuries which so greatly recomtude; especially it has that tranquil aspect of venerable mends natural objects to speculative and imaginative tastes. The cedar of Lebanon, graceful and serviceable while it lives, has the merit of preparing in its solids a perfume which commends it when dead to the noblest uses. This wood invites the workman's tool for every ingenious device, and its odoriferous substance is such as to make it grateful alike in palaces and in temples.

As a matter of fact, it would be difficult to exaggerate the impressiveness of this tree, even if it were not dignified and almost hallowed by association. Only four hundred of

the trees survived at the time of Sir Joseph

differ very little in botanical characters from the true C. Libani, although they are quite distinct in appearance at all stages of their growth, For some unknown reason the cedar of Lebanon has never been a favorite with American planters, although it is hardy in the latitude of New York, and the few specimens here which have attained the age of fifty years and upward are noble trees.