The C. L. S. C. class of 1886, which has been enrolled since the
Assembly last August, numbers more than 8,000 members. The books are
still kept open to record the names of all others that will unite with
this particular class.
* * * * *
The Trustees of the Chautauqua Assembly hold their annual meeting at
the Gibson House, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the present month.
* * * * *
The Rev. Victor Connell, a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University, is
pastor at Chautauqua. The Trustees of Chautauqua have just erected an
elegant parsonage, with many modern conveniences, for the pastor and
his family.
* * * * *
The Rev. A. H. Gillet, Messenger of the C. L. S. C., has been appointed
Assistant Secretary of the Sunday-school Union of the M. E. Church. He
is a thorough Sunday-school man, a fine speaker, and a good presiding
officer at a Sunday-school assembly. Mr. Gillet will make his home in
Cincinnati.
* * * * *
The Chinese Minister’s wife does not like to be thought a person of
tender years, and claims to be twenty-five. She is petite, weighing
ninety-four pounds, and her feet are not unduly small. She dresses
on the street as American ladies do, having lately been seen in a
wine-colored brocaded velvet polonaise over plain velvet, with a hat
whose brim droops over the brow, and on whose sides hang long drooping
plumes.
* * * * *
The Census Office has issued a special bulletin recently containing the
statistics of illiteracy in the United States as returned at the tenth
census. The number of persons ten years old and upward in the several
States and Territories is 36,761,607. Of this number 4,923,451, or 13.4
per cent., are returned as unable to read, and 6,239,958, or 17 per
cent., as unable to write. White persons in the United States ten years
old and upward, 32,160,400; unable to write, 3,019,080, or 9.4 per
cent. Colored persons of ten years old and upward, 4,601,207; unable to
write, 3,220,878.
* * * * *
Melville paid the following tribute to Capt. De Long in November,
during the investigation of the Jeannette expedition, at Washington, D.
C.: “Q.—Did you believe, when you went for the log books and records
left by De Long, that the people of the first cutter were dead or
alive? A.—I was morally certain that at that time they were all dead.
Common sense and my own judgment taught me that. Before I started, both
Ninderman and Noros told me it would be useless to look for the first
cutter’s party before spring, as beyond a possibility of doubt they
were long since all dead. At one of the reported difficulties between
Mr. Collins and Capt. De Long I believe Mr. Danenhower was present.
Mr. Collins was treated just as any other officer, and with the same
cordiality. At one time Mr. Collins took a notion not to respond to
the usual good morning salutations of the Captain. When the Captain
entered the wash room mornings it was his custom to say, ‘Good morning,
gentlemen,’ and we all responded with ‘Good morning, Captain.’ Mr.
Collins, however, used to turn his back when he saw the Captain coming
in, and look away or walk away without responding. Mr. Newcomb and Mr.
Collins used to talk and walk together more than they did with any of
the other officers, and were on more intimate terms with each other
than with the others. No distinction whatever was made in the mess on
account of their being civilian officers, but all were treated the
same and upon an equal footing. I did not know that it would be deemed
proper for me to pass judgment upon my commanding officer, but, to my
mind, he was as good a man as could be assigned to any duty at any time
or in any place. He always seemed equal to any emergency, and all that
he did was done with his whole soul. Had I supposed that I would be
permitted to speak of my commanding officer or his conduct, I should
not have allowed five minutes to pass without bearing my testimony to
his worth and unfaltering devotion to duty. But words of mine are of
little value beside the monument which his record has erected to his
heroism and unwavering fidelity to the service and to the well-being of
those intrusted to his charge.”
* * * * *
In compliance with numerous requests there will be a series of articles
on civil law in the C. L. S. C. course of study for 1883-1884.
* * * * *
“Heaven knows what would become of our sociality if we never visited
people we speak ill of; we should live, like Egyptian hermits, in
crowded solitude.”—_George Eliot: Janet’s Repentance._
* * * * *
An illustrated daily paper _for children_, to be printed on the grounds
at Chautauqua, will be one of the features of the Assembly in 1883.
This will be an improvement on that excellent little daily printed on
the papyrograph in former years. The new paper will contain personals
of little people and news from the Chautauqua world in which they live.
* * * * *
A statue of John Brown is to be erected by the State of Kansas in
Washington.
* * * * *
Joseph Cook has returned to Boston, Mass., from his trip round
the world. “He refused to hold a public debate with a noted
free-thinker in Australia for the following tersely expressed reasons:
‘_First._—Freethought, spiritualism and infidelity in general in
America, England and India, and, as far as I know, in Australia, are
notoriously connected with schemes for the propagation of immorality.
Several of the prominent agitators in support of infidelity and
free-thought have been sent to jail for distributing infamous
publications through the mails. No decent man can consent to appear
on the same platform with the representatives of enterprises that
have a debasing effect on the public mind. _Secondly._—I am not open
to challenges of which the evident object is to advertise infidelity.
_Thirdly._—Not an unoccupied nor an unengaged hour is left open to me
in Australia. _Fourthly._—When infidels of any kind issue a book that
goes through ten editions in ten years, at a dollar a copy, I will
reply to it. I have a right to offer this challenge, for several of the
volumes of the ‘Boston Monday Lectures’ have gone through ten editions
in five years. _Fifthly._—Infidels can put their written inquiries, if
they choose, into the box at my free question-box lectures.’”
* * * * *
It will be welcome news to the American people that the revenues of
the postal department are estimated to exceed the expenditures for the
coming year by over four million dollars. This is a new and forcible
argument for cheaper postage. The President in his message recommends
two cents for letter postage, and since it would be unwise in the
government to make money out of the people through the postal service,
let us all favor a reduction in rates of postage, and then thank
President Garfield’s administration for making it possible by beginning
in earnest the good work of overthrowing the Star Route conspirators.
* * * * *
We regret that Governor St. John, of Kansas, was not re-elected at
the recent election. He could, however, better afford to be defeated
with his record on the temperance question, for that was the cause of
it, than to be Governor with a doubtful record on this reform. The
temperance people of these United States who are in sympathy with
Governor St. John, are more in number than the whole population of
Kansas, and the approbation of the temperance army is a rich reward in
the face of a defeat at the hands of the rum-power.
* * * * *
The Rev. Dr. Vincent preached two sermons on the first Sabbath in
December before the faculty and students of Cornell University, at
Ithaca, N. Y. The city press, in speaking of the sermons, ranks the
Doctor among the first preachers of the country.
* * * * *
“The Golden Floral” is a collection of beautiful poems, “Rock of
Ages,” “Why should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud,” “He giveth his
Beloved Sleep,” and several others, each in a separate volume elegantly
illustrated. These poems are dear to thousands of worshippers, and
they are made doubly attractive in their new binding. Each book has a
different cover, with appropriate flowers, on a gold ground and is put
up in a neat box or handsome envelope, price $1.75 each.
* * * * *
Somebody sent Mrs. General James A. Beaver of Pennsylvania, a copy of
THE CHAUTAUQUAN for November with the lecture by Bishop Simpson on
“God’s Hand in History” marked, and wrote a note requesting her to read
it, after her husband was defeated for Governor of Pennsylvania. She
read it and was benefited. We are inclined to believe that the doctrine
of that lecture would be helpful to the class of men who _were elected_
governors at the late elections, providing they could be persuaded to
adopt the Bishop’s theory. Success in political life is more dangerous
to the individual than defeat. More of God’s hand, and less of man’s,
in shaping the events of the history we are making, would be better for
the State and nation.
* * * * *
The New York _Tribune_ says: “Thurlow Weed’s life almost spans the
history of this country under its present Constitution. He was born
before Washington died, and when Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were making
their reputations he had edited several country newspapers and fought
in the battles of his country. He was older than Seward, or Lincoln,
or Greeley, and when Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were dead he had not
entered upon the most important part of his career. He was alive when
Napoleon’s star appeared in the darkness of the French Revolution,
and was already a young man when the battle of Waterloo was fought.
He lived and worked with three generations of public men. Most of the
men who are now beginning to attract attention might have been his
grandsons. Benjamin Franklin died seven years before Mr. Weed was born.
The lives of these two journalists take the world back into the reign
of Louis XIV, and beyond the birth of Frederick the Great. Another such
would very nearly reach the time of Shakspere.”
* * * * *
Longfellow’s study remains just as he left it. Not a book nor a piece
of furniture has been moved. The gates to the grounds of his old home
are always open to the visitor, but within the house the bereaved
family are secure from intrusion, and their life goes on as it did
before his death, save for the great void that never can be filled. The
poet’s grave at Mount Auburn is only marked by the flower-wreaths daily
placed upon it by loving hands.
* * * * *
It is estimated that eleven hundred people lost their lives when the
shower of ashes fell on the city of Pompeii. Two-fifths of the area
covered by the ancient city have been explored, and the bones of four
hundred and fifty victims have been exhumed. The skeletons of only
three dogs have been found, and all the cats seem to have escaped.
* * * * *
President Arthur, it seems, by his last message to Congress, has been
giving special attention to the revenues of the government. He says
there is a surplus accumulating by every tax, and gives his opinion
that this is neither wise nor economical. The surplus in the treasury
for the year ending June, 1882, was $145,000,000. This is a good point
at which Congress may begin to reduce the taxes on some commodities.
* * * * *
The Society of “American Artists” (it is a big name) has adopted a
resolution urging Congress to remove all the duties on foreign works
of art and admit them all, superior and inferior, free. This is not
only unwise, but it is un-American. Suppose such wild and inconsiderate
action should be taken by Congress, it would bring pictures and
statues, made by cheap labor, from Europe by the ship load, and work
injustice to American sculptors and painters. We need home protection
for the artists quite as much as for any class of people among us.
* * * * *
The Rev. Dr. J. H. Vincent writes as follows of “Webster—an Ode:” Dr.
William Cleaver Wilkinson has long been an enthusiastic admirer of
the Sage of Marshfield. He has written two or three elaborate essays
upon Webster’s character, genius and work. This ode is a bold and
brilliant attempt to celebrate the praise of the Massachusetts giant.
Taking several salient incidents from Webster’s life, he follows a
“challenge” and “counter-challenge,” with several short poems on the
youth, education and legal ability of the great lawyer. The ninth
poem is a charming pastoral, setting forth Webster as a farmer; the
tenth celebrates the orations on Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill. In the
remaining poems the author exalts the statesman and the defender of
the constitution; closing with a tribute to his stability, a plea to
his state for a favorable verdict upon the fame of her faithful son,
closing the fifteenth passage, which is a simple couplet, delicately
attributing to this song a serviceable ministration in behalf of the
fame of its subject. Forty quarto pages of the poem are followed by
eighty-two pages of elaborate, instructive, and exceedingly valuable
notes on the private morals, public virtue, genius, statesmanship,
oratory, personal traits, and religious faith and character of Mr.
Webster. There are passages of remarkable power in this noble poem. All
admirers of its hero (and where are they not to be found), will delight
in the reading.