Issuu

VOL.XI.

APRIL,

1886.

NO. 7.

EDITORS: '.r. R.

J. 0. ALDERMAN, Mu Sigma Rho, { H. F. Cox , L . ,J. HALE Y , JR .

CORR,

Philologian,{ C. A. FOLK, · H. N. , PHILLIPS.

Business Manager-,v. A. BORUM. Assistant Business Manager-J. L. BiWWN.

~. . . ~' 'l'lae

!iloug

Ile

His thoughts were i,ong, his life wa s singing ; Men's hea rts lik e harps he helcl and smote . Bnt in hi s heart wcut ever ringin g, Ringing, the song· he rwve r wrotr. Hovering, pan si11g, Jming, Geeti ng, A farther bhw, a brighter mote, The v:mishecl sonnd of swift wind s y1ccting, The opal sw<•pt bl'nrath the- boat . . A gleam ofwin gd forever flaming, Never folded in nest or cote, Secrets of joy, past nam e or uaming, Meas11r'eRof bli s~ pa~t dole or rot e: Echo es of music, ahvay~ flying, Always echo, never the not e ; Pul ses of life, pa st life, past 1lying,All these- in tire ~ong he never wrot e. Dead at la st, ancl the p~ople, weeping, Turned from hi.• grave, with wrin ginghancl s: "What shall we do, now h e lies sleeping, His Rweet song-silent in Olll' land s? Jnst as hiR voice 1ncw clearer, Rtrong er,' 'Thi s was the th ought thnt keenest smot<',-

•.''

I\'e-ver W1·ote.

" 0 Death ! could st thou not spare him longer? Alas for the songs he never wrote ! " Free at last, and his soul up-soaring, Planets and skies beneath bis feet, Wond er and rapture all out-poiuing, Eternity how simple; sweet ! Sorrow slain, and every regrett}ng\ Love and Love's labors left the ~ame, Wearine ss over, suns without s.ettirig, Motion like thought onwings of flame : .

High er the singer rose .and higher; Heavens, in spaces, sank like bars; Great joy within him glowed like •fire, !Tc tossed his arms among the stars," Thi s is the life, past life, past dying; I am I, and I live the life : Shame on the thought of mortal crying · I Shame on its petty toil and strife! Why _di<'\I halt, and weakly tre 'mble ! "Even in Heaven, the mem'rysmote," Fool to be dumb, and to dissemble! Alas for the song I neyer wrote. !" ·.Helen Jackson, ·.in Century.

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

A. Hide

to Se"t·en Pines.

On one of those balmy evenings which gamboling in the rich sunlight; others .. •,· now and then present themsekes near with calves fondling around their moththe middle of autumn, in company with ers, and neighing, prancing colts sweepa. friend who had passed over the same •I.ing across the clear fields in exciting race, gr.o,,undin times of war, I visited Seveu , proud of their skill and speed. Pines. This place is abont nine miles I No man who has spent long months from Richmond, · and the site of one of amid walled-in streets, with little save the most famous battles of the Confedethe light to remind him of the beauties rate war. of nature; with tired, lifeless animals To ,visit ~attle-fields, and step, as it passing him in their slow, mechanical were, in the "footprints of war," has motion; with the hot, dusty winds, laden ahvays held a fascinating sway o,·er my with the odors of all the waste of a large imaginative mind. city, could help feeling a relief at thus The day selected perfectly coincided being under the open sky, having fresh, - wilhmy-spirits •: each warm, bright ray invigorating air to breathe, and seeing of sunlight seemed in keeping with the everything look spirited and gay, in nohappy sentiments of my soul; each little cord with the merry, sweet notes of the cloud in the sky seemed in sympathy with birds, as they flit here and there amid the . th~ specks of sorrow on my heart; and, crouching shrubbery, freely singing their as these so little molested the regal splenappreciation of liberty. The housewife dor ,of the sun, equally so little did my could be seen "plying her evening care"; shado,wy so.rrows molest me in my utmost the rosy face of the healthy country girl, felicity. , ,For is_ anything in life more in her simple calico frock, pruning and enjoyed than the excursions made while pulling the withering flowers, substituted on the turning point of life-when child~ the colorless, sleepy maiden we had just ishp~ss ha~ lost its sway and "apprecialeft, The first seemed early morn, the Jion real'' reigns- in its -stead-before old other tiresome eve. age has killed the love ·of excitement and We hurried on through the refreshing change within. us, and surreudered us to country scenery; up and down hills, cold -formality? across pretty silver brooks, along valleys . . ;Behind a r.apid ,trotter, we soon drove where the thick foliage of the trees formed through the n;iacadamized streets of the an arch for our buggy, now opening to city, and were winding our way down a present to us some new scene, and again · smo_othJ,,har(j country road. The houses drawing the curtain before our eyes, as were becoming .farther and farthsr apart; if to prepare them for another of rarer pretty co~tages, with large yards filled I beauty. witl;iflower&,substituted the tall, cramped The thir sty October winds had been tenements we had just left. Around us before us, anu drunk the life-blood of the on all sides could be seen large green leaves, but behind them had come the · , ,fields . ·and pastures; some with sheep grand scenic arti st of nature, and given

•

A lllbE TO SEVEN PlNJJS: them ·beauty unknown before-coloring inimitable by man. The rich tints, gracefol shading and blending of colors, brightened by the gt·een fields and azme sky, present a grander picture than brush can paint. It reminds us of many ('haracters in human life, which drift upon the tide of luxury and pleasure, careless and i-eckless, seeming unable to stand poverty and misfortune; but in time of emergency, when the cold winds of adversity had dried up the stream of wealth, upon which they had revelled in days of prosperitywhen it had ceased to ripple, to chatter, to gurgle, and had carried its last tribute to the ocean-then, from under the thick veil of indulgence and dissipation, they show the beauty and noblene ss of their characters that so long had lain dormant, and display to the world a true tl11 -o) ry of happiness. I was thrown into a. state of reverie in contemplating the scenes at·otmd me, and almost forgot the presence of my companion. We soon reached the battle-field, and my exuberant spirits commencecl to fade away and a feeliug of melancholy to come · over me as I walked around the ground,;. ,. My companion pointed out to me the positions, and told m~ the movements of the armies in the "lithe anJ fierce " struggle for victory. He remembered, as well as if it had happened the day before, each circumstance of interest; he showed· to me distinctly the line of march of the contending armies ; the places of the fiercest attacks; told me the causes of retreat, and how the men were rallied and instilled with new and indomitable determination to conquer or die. I could almost bear the loud cries of commanders

to "fight on, that victciry was '-•nigh ·I" ' And they fouglit ', ori, 'while ' thorisamls;.;,,,::;'" were· lying dead and dying inidet their •+• feet. Sometitnes my friencl wonia, ·grow i~~"'• 1 sad, and his voice would·be laden-With sor'"''""' row, when he showedme about wliere,,sorile·:,,'Id of his dearest friends and btothers::fn~ '1 : battle had fallen before the fire·of the foe.·,,::, The Confederates had the i'dvanfage '.in ~ h, some respects, for the grea'.ferpart -·'of 1the -t,'::, Federal forces were separatea -·tfrom.'1t'lie U:\:., scene of battle -by the swollen· and "iiti- : 'l·, passable Chickahominy ,·swampi· · ·But·-__, ' those who were engaged thought 'not -<ff ; .;.,:: what " might ha,·ebeen", 1they were ·sbJ!:::1,'" - • diers to the letter, and stood :tip bravely -: "1 ., under their unfortunate circuhistanees. _.,,• Through mud and slush the Battle ragea. "" Nothing could daunt the patl'iotfo :,;pirits..' ~ ' that rested in the bosoms of ·these men' of · ·1 ' two sections, both fighting fodheir lfup·· · posed rights. Oh, civilization ·!--to:what ~" 1: ' crises have you arisen, when · men •\vho' 1 e,,. now stand upon the highest stage of tlill ~~., world's education and refinement -have to·· n ·• walk ove1·a11d frample in the mud ·the •1 ·1, bodies of brothers, comratlesr atid f6es," 0 : who have fallen victims to the rattling •1Mf!--' deathsfrokes · thrust among- tltem by··the ;iit1 •. hands of fellow-countrymen thirsty ·'for ~-•:'· blood. Should we be pl'oud of our eii.. ,:., · lightenment, when it cannot show·'to:meil i,.i,, 1t • H the means of peaceful settlement of.ques.t,ions relating to state, instead of theit 1),.,i.; having to leave their hom:es'Unprotectedu and wretched, to be shot ,afhi •a way'·that t,n,1,;:, appears to be sportr to excited •humarf u:t: beings? ·, Over the ground where th~u$ands had lain writhing in agony, ancl crying and praying for death, we walked with broken step. The scene which we had called to mind had much affected us both. Sitting 0

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

on a ,conspicuous eminence, we bega11 to compa.re the days before the unfortunate war with the days o_fthe present- Virginia, as she was then and is now. "'Ve . called to mind the many who used to live in affiuence, who are now in the last stage of poverty; and some who were idle and indulgent then, who, . by this calamity being made to strive, have made themselves men of prominence :md worth. Our . conversation drifted to the Joye Âˇ which some still cherish for fallen friends. With some, love is considered a small part of themselves, until there comes a roughness in it; little do they value others until they are deprived of them ; then it seems that all that made life dear and apprE:ciable to them has by the wind been swept away, and they are left without a friend or pleasure. Little thought does the II!erchant or professional man, enrupt in his busipes~, give to the love he has for his home, wife, and children ; but, when they are taken from him, he considers his all has gone, and sees before him nothing save a monotonous, dreary life, not worth the living. Thus many hearts have been quickened in love by deprivation; . many a memory is fondly cherished; and, though it brings ever with it the pangs ,of distress, yet that remembrance brings its sweet melancholy for loved_ones gone, of which none would be deprived. Âˇ. Yet thousands have gone from their homes, fought bravely and died ; have had a few tears shed over them ; but, ere many summers have passed away,

they are scarcely remembered. Their graves lie in some neglected spot, sunken and covered over with weeds; a decayed slab, with letters which cannot be deci- . phered, stands bending to the grnund, telling by its position its tale, "Forgotten by all." How many wives, with dinging arms and moaning sohs, have tried to steal one more minute of the precious time of love! How many days passed in heart-rending anxiety for their husbands' safety, swooning and fainting wheri the mangled remains of their husbands were brought home. But, before mauy years have passed away, they sit by and caress another, who sits in the former's chair-hir, happy successor. Many a girl has vowed to herself that if the misfortunes of battle should fall upon her beloved, his memory should lie her only thought, and by his grave would be the only place in which i,he coulcl find peace and pleasure; but she, ere long after his death, sits and gazes with smiling, twinkling eyes into the faces of numerous admirers. How sad to think that a11y, who give up all for their country's sake, shoulcl be left to sink into the cleep gulf of oblivion. As the sun was disappearing in the west, sometimes showing its beauty through openings in the trees; as the dews of evening were preparing to reli~ve the withering plants, we wound our way back to the city, somewhat sad, bnt having much eujojÂˇecl our evening's ride.

C. \V.

ALEXANDER.

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF SIDNEY LANIER.

[We are always glad to hear from former students, and are, therefore, especially delighted to receive the following from a last Far's student, who is now pursuing a special course of study at the Johns Hopkins U11i,·c1·sity, Bultimore.-Ens.J 'Che

Lif'e

and

,vritiog·s

Lanier was a mun who could interpret all the varying moods of nature, and who saw, with a wonderful insight, into the complicated aud varied emotions of the human soul. As well as a gifted musician aud a brilliant writer, he ·was a true poet; and in his poetry, us in a mirror, we can see the man's whole lifc-historycan read the records of his struggles with poverty and disease, un<l almost feel his own intense enjoyment of all beautiful things. There are few natures in which his songs will not find nn echo, uud few who read his works will fail to be impressed with his love of nobility and truth. Our poet wns descended, on both his mother's an<l father's side, from runny gene1·ations of poetry and music-loving ancestorc,, and early begun to show his • remurlmble talent in these directions. His first passion was for music. While yet a child he learned to play on several instruments, almost without instruction, aud especially well upon the violin and flute. His father, howeYer, feared the fascinating powm· of the violin, and in deference to his wishes, young Lanier applied. himself more particularly to the flute. His playing upon this instrument was to the last degree powerful an<l refined. Near the encl of }1is life, Mr. Hamel'ik, the director of the Peabody .orchestra, sai<l of him : "His playing appealed alike to the m usically-leurned and to the unlearned, for he would magnetize the listener; but the artist felt in

of' Sidney

Lauit>r.

his performance the superiority of the momentary living inspiration to all the rules anrl shifts of mere technical scho..: larship. His art was not only the art of art, but an art above art." Mr. Lanier graduated at the age of eighteen from Oglethorpe College, in Georgia, taking the first honors of his class, and immediately npon his graduation received an assistant's place in the college, which he held until the outbreak of the war. It was duriug this time that he first became ~onscious of his own genius. · Rarely, indeed, did he ever speak of it, and it is only in letters to his wife at a later day, and iu the records of his diary, that we find any allusion to this knowledge of liimselt'. He felt that he could be a great musician, but also felt how emall uml insignificant music is compared with other things he could do. He also folt that he could distinguish himself in literature, un!l in his note-book we can sec that he felt aspirations for grand literary work. One can fancy him, not speaking his thoughts, but writing them down; feeling that he had found in himself a standard above anything in his fellows. At the beginning of the war he enlisted us a private in a Georgia company, and until the last year of the great struggle he remained in the ranks, not choosing to accept the promotion which was fr'?' qucntly offered him, because that wou·l~ have separated him from his brother, .for whom he felt a peculiarly tender affection. Late in the war he was selected to take

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RlOHMON.D COLLEGE M.FJSSENGER. -------------- ----~-----_._

charge of a vessel, which was to run the blockade. His vessel was captured and he was confined five montha in Point Lookout prison. During this time his flute, which he had smuggled into prison in his coat-sleeve, helped him to while away the tedium of his confinement, and frequently earned for Âˇ him some of the little comforts of prison life. In February, 1865, he was released from Point Lookout, and with only twenty dollars, which he hail with him when captured and which was returned to him, he made the long journey to his Georgia home on foot. He arrived with his strength utterly exhausted ancl was taken . with a serious illness, recovering just in time to see his loved mother die of consumption. For two years afterward he filled a clerkship in Montgomery, Ala., and in April, 1867, went to New York for the first ticne to attend to the publication of his novel," Tiger Lilies.'' Upon his return he took charge of a large country academy, and in the same year was married to a young lady from Macon. Mr. LanietÂˇ had written a few poems before l1is marri:ige. They are vigorous and manly in their style, but not so finished as his later works. Some of them, however, contain pa!,sages in which it is possible for one to read his very thoughts. His hopeless poverty, his knowledge that he was possessed with that terrible disease, consumption, which he had to battle with through all his short struggle for existence, made some of these poems_ very sad. Indeed, there is a strain of minor melody running through all liis works, and a year before his death we find him writing-

"Death, thou'rt a cordial old and rare; Look how compounded, with what care; Time got his wrinkles reaping thee, Sweet herb from all antiquity. Then time, let not a drop be spilt, Hand me the cup whene'er thou wilt, 'Tis a rich stirrup cup to me, I'll drink it down right smilingly."

From the tin1e of his marriage, until 1873, he was almost constantly sick and traveling for his health. At last, finding that he could uot succeed at anything else, he betook himself seriously to poetry ~nd music, and went to Baltimore, under engagement as first flute for the Peabody orchestra. And now commences the heroic strnggle, than which there is no sadder in the history of genius. On the one hand, opportunities for study, the consciousness of power, and a will that was never subdued ; on the other, a frail and delicate body, weakened by disease and continnally overtaxed, not only to express the thoughts of beauty for which he foun<l such noble utterance, but as well to provide food for his children. His father offered him a ~hare in his business in Macon, but to leave the opportunities of the greater city would have been almost follyon his part. He decided to stay, and but for the generous help of his father and brother at the time of his greatest need his end would not have been long dl!layed. Having given his whole life to his art, he wrote and studied with fervor, meanwhile ekeing ont a scanty subsistence from his poems and magazine articles, when the editors accepted them. He could not bring his ideas of art to the level of the public understanding, and hence was frequently misunderstood and discouraged. In his own words his idea was, " that the artist should put forth humbly

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS · OF SIDNEY LANIER.

had a year's salary insured in advance. and lovingly, and wi~hout bitterness against opposition, the VP.ry best that is That year he lectured at the University and also in private schools, besides bringwithin him." ing out his hook on "The Science of Against the contemptuous criticism English Verse" and playing in the conwhich his pieces brought forth, he launches this indignant sentence: "What possible certs and rehearsals at the Peabody. The winter of 1880.was a fearful strngclaim can contemporary criticism set up to respect-that criticism which crucified gle for him, and his life was despaired of. However, he sufficiently recovere<l to reChrist, stoned Stephen, hooted Paul for sume his course of lectures at the Univera· madman, tried Luther for a criminal, sity. He nc\·er finished this course, for tortured Galileo, bound Columbus in he was unable, even by sitting through chains, drnve Daute iuto exile, and gave his lectures, to speak above a whisper; Milton five pounds for 'Paradise Lost'; kept Samuel Johnson cooling his heels on · aud later in the year, when too feeble to raise his food to his mouth, and with a Lorcf Chesterfield's door-step, reviled Shelly, killed Keats, cracked jokes on fever raging in his veins, he pencilled his last poem, "Sunrise," ending with these Schubert, Gluck, Beethoven, Berlioz, and words: Wagner, and committed so many other ''And ever by day shall my spirit, as one that impious follies, that a thousand writings has tried thee, like this would not suffice to catalogue Labor at leisure, in art, till yonder beside thee, them?" My soul shall fl.oat, friend Sun,

In the next two ·winters our author The day being done." wrote "The Symphony," the " Psalm of I Four months after, he died at Lynn, the \Vest," and several other shorter ' N. C., where he had gone in hope of relief. · poems,' with a series of descriptive ar' Thus e;1ded the manly struggle. Just tides ·for Lippincolt's ~Magazine. In the when he had sufficiently conquered fate to summer of 1876 he met with a great disfind time to write his poems he died, and appointment. He bad been engaged to evei·y line he ·lius left us is written in his write the life of Charlotte Cushman, but life's blood. His genius elevated him into after he had gotten fairly into the tusk the that serene atmosphere-almost above engagement was withdrawn. He fell sick all earthly care, above all smafl thingsagain, and ouce more was obliged to seek from whence he seems to look down and the warm climate of Florida. siug Upon his return to Baltimore he began "Oh, suns, 0 rains, oh, day and night, 0 chance, · to give lectures on Euglish verse-at first Oh Tim e, besprent with seven-hued circumstance; , to a class of ladies in a private parlor, I flo:.it above ye all into the trance afterward in the hall of tbc Peabody '!'hat drawa me nigh Nirvana. InstitutC'. These lectures brought him Gods of small worlds, ve little Deities Of humble heavens micler m,r large skies; well into public notice, and in 1879 he And Governor-Spirits all-I rise, I rise, received an appointment as lecturer on I rise into Nirvana. Euglish literature for the ensuing year , The storms of Self below me range and die, On the still bosom of mine ecstacy, at the Johns Hopkins University. This A lotus on a lake of balm, I lie was the first timein all his life that he Forever in Nirvana."

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

I cannot attempt here to discuss the Lanier's poetry was pure and fresh in genius of Lanier. His sympathjes were . its conception and all untainted by either large enough to take in all the world--'-- the transcendentalism or the half-immorhis sensiLilities sufficiently keen to henr tality of the modern. music in• the \YU\"ingof a corn-field, or Now tliat he is dead the world appreciates the genius that penned "The Symthe sighing of the wind through the liveoaks on the .marshes. His ,uiting:s arc 1 phony," and it will pile a mass of stonessuch stones as they have given him for foll of a delicate imagery arnl a fervent bread-above his grave, and perhaps will admiration of beauty nnd goodness tliat reminds one of Milton nnd Ruskin. In put upon them the wreath of bay and the sharpest contrast i.~ the school of laurel that always comes too late to him who by his genius seeks to elevate and Swinburne and Rosetti, of whom indeed ennoble us. Lanier said : " They invited me to eat; CHARLES T. CHILD. the service was of sil ve1' and gold, but · no food ther<'in save pepper and salt."

[The following is an oration delivered by Mr. 0. L. Martin, of Henry county, Va., at the public debate of the Philolcigi:m Literary Society. We hope it may pro\"e as pleasing to our readers as it did to his hearcrs.-Ens.J Oration.

Jfr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: When the society appointed me to this honor, you will be glad to know: it limited me to ten minutes; as for me, I wish it had been five. I always <lid have an abhorrence for seeing big men tackle little subjects; therefore, not being willi1ig to claim your Yaluable time an<l cultivated attention to a discussion of commonplace topics, I propose to call to your remembr:mce some of the revolutions of the nineteenth century. I hope you are duly _impressed with the magnitude as \Yell as the momentous importance of this monstrosity. As this is an occasion for the discussion of deep uncl fundamental subjects, such as determine the life and history of coming generations and centuries, I will uot overwhelm you with the philosophy of the rise and fall of confederations ; I will not ask you to ascend

with me the pinnade of political history, and view tho dark clouds of national discord and sectional animosity that finally broke over us with a terrific conflagration and rolled its fiery billows O"\;'erthis broad land, drenching the continent in fraternal blood, and then ask you to follow me as I go back into the dim past, tracing the cause of this outburst to the first · negro that was chased down in the equatorial regions of the Congo. These clouds have been dispelled, leaving ove1· us a clear sky and aro11n·c1us the suusliine of peace, with healing in its beams. \Ye will not clweil at length on the good old days when Sambo and Dinah roasted tlieir '' taters," sopped their 'posswn fat, played the banjo and cut the pigeon wing around their cabin fire. I will not burden yon with an elaborate discussion of the change of the Federal Constitution,

ORATION. the goods or evils of universal suffrage. Call on our old friend Oivis; he will enlighten you on this subject at his leisure. vVe will go back to that age according to Dnrwin, of the evolution of man from the monkey; when our grandfathers and grandmothers walked four miles to churd1 carrying their shoes in their hands-the men 1Osand the women 12s. But revolution has brought us to the age in which the women wear a leather fabrication about as broad as your two finge1·s, with a pivot in the middle, more resembling stilts than shoes. The menalas for man! He stuffs a No. 10 foot in a 5½ shoe till he has corns on his feet like bumps on a log, E>tepsaround like a snow-bird on hot ashes, or as if he were going to dunce a schottiscl1e. Think of the days when old Grandfather Isaac took old Grandmother Betsy Ann up behind him on old sway-back Bill, with little Sm,an in his lap, and set off for church. There they found no cushioned pews, but seats made of slabs with boles bored in the ends and wooden pins inserted for legs, with now and then a couple of fence-rails luid down; with the shurp edge 11p,to make up for the deficieuey of slabs. No deep, mellow tones of the church organ are heard emanating from the roof of the house where half a dozen men and women, stacked around it to make the music, could be seen nrnler the dim, flickering gas-light, by the shining of their eyes; while they ran the gamut through tl1e skies, tripping from star to star witl1 li~htning speed, and thus playing hide-and-seek through the ca vcs of the earth. But the ruiuister lined out" Ilal'k ! from the Tomb," &c., and a thousand Yoices rang out from below,

some singing Old Hundred, some Arlington, every one singing his own tune in his own time. In the pulpit was no college dude nor seminary fop, cuding to the skies on Socrates, or spouting Porter. No conglomeration of gold-headed cane and silk hat, with a disgusting ·superfluity of D. D.'s and LL. D.'s ad infinitum, who don't know Lazarus from Barabbas. But a stalwart 1·usticus,feeling himself a perfect master of the situation, and in every respect equal to the occasion. With a chest developed by exercise in the cornfield, and strong lungs from breathing pure air, he has no religious or moral scruples about preaching two hours and a half. Outside of the house, they discuss general topics; inside, the dogs fight and the babies yell. The old man preaches right on, all the same. The men occupied one side of the house and the women the other; down through the centre ran the wall of partition, separating the sheep from the goats (I don't know which were the goats, though). Nobody WE:nt to sleep, fo1·the carbonic acid had free exit and the oxygen free access through the cracks in the house large enough for a mule to crawl through. There is another revolution worthy of mention. Think of the time when our fo1·efatherscourted our foremothers in the spacious old-time parlors,-the favorite conrting fire being made of roasting-ear cobs and green persimmon. Reuben sits away over in one corner, and Nancy Jane away over in the other, on those old-fashion stmight-back split-bottom chairs, one of which contained timber enough to make a wag,m bed. Now this is the threehundredth time Reuben has been to see Nancy Jane. So Reuben, with his heart

RICHMOND

COLLEGE MESSENGER.

flopping up and down like a churn dasher, stammers out in .a half audible manner, Nance, will you have me'! Nancy Jane, blushing .all behind her ears, and with her little heart fluttering like a wounded bird, exclaims, Oh, Reuben, you scare me! And the poor fellow, thinking he has committed some great blunder, wishes the earth would open and swallow him up. But presently, to his great relief, Nancy, with very tender accents, enticingly says, " Reuben, scare me . again ! " Now, instead of the · old-fashion parlor and its clumsy chairs, we dudes and dudiens have a cosy little parlor about as big as au oldfashion chicken coop, with its gilded chandeliers and marble centre-table, and a cute little little sofa, just big enough for two. And then we don't gel ·" left," and go crazy. Oh, no ! our little hearts are not cracklings. They will expand and contract at will. We get •'left" and are engaged again in less than a week. _Another very interesting revolution, . away back at some time not definitely known by me, a strange idea took posses-

Biographical study is interesting and instructive in that it gives an insight inti) the life and character of men, the age, in which they lived, and the impress of their actions upon that age. To the lover of such study, no nation is more replete with inviting material than Greece; and among her great men, perhaps there are none whose lives will more amply repay criti. cal investigation than the character that forms the subject of this article. In studying the achievements of great men, our estimate of them must necessa-

sion of the ladies, (as so often does) and they go out and pull down all the grapevines and bamboo briars to make a shuck basket fabrication. From time 10 time the thing grew to so enormous an extent that only two women could sit in the same pew. And finally, the circle described was so great in diameter that the sweetheart, poor fellow, was excluded from his fashionable farewell at the pat·lor door. Out of this exigency grew the pinback, and the reaction was equal to the action, till soon the young lady could not sit down at all. But no matter, this is a one-sided extreme, and gives the beau that proximity that allows him his sweet "bye, bye," and both parties have been satisfied ever since. Let me say in conclusion, that these things only apply, of course, to way-outin-the-country people. Nothing I have said, yon know, applies to city people or Institute girls, because they never run fashion, or anything else, to an extreme. FINIS,

rily be incomplete until we take into consideration their inue1· life and character ; so, then, a glance at Pericles from this point of view will be most appropriate, as the circumstances of his birth an:l education show us how eminently he was fitted for the position he occupied in the administration of his country's affairs. His ancestry was of noble blood, and this of itself, in that age, naturally contributed towards giving him prominence ; nor were his intellectual attain men ts in any degree deficient. The most complete

PERICLES. training available in that age he had received from the most illustrious i~stmctors. Like Lafayette, the generous friend of American liberty, he was, " In the morning of his days, the associate of sages," and the effect of his intercourse with the prominent philosophers of Greece, was, as we may reasonably infer, to give him that gravity and dignity of character which so signally characterized him. In that age oratory was in the zenith . . of its glory and power, and to this Pericles had devoted much study, recogniz~ ing it as one of the most potent influences over the Athenian assemblies. His pl'Ofound study of nature, the results of which he used to enhance his orato1·y, imparted still greate1·dignity and impressiveness to his style, and, judging from the effects of his speeches, we must accord to him the meed of a truly "cyclonic orator." His manners were madrnd by a reserve which some regarded as over-assuming and pompous, but it is more probable that it was the reflex effect of his constant intercourse with the learned men of his time; m· perhaps he recognized the significant fact that "familiarity breeds contempt," and this, doubtless, accounts for his custom of exhibiting himself but rarely in public. He sought not that cheap glory which might be reaped by participating in matters of secondary importance. The conduct of these he left to his inferiors, reserving himself for g1·eatoccasions, when the majesty of his presence and the dignity and imprnssiveness of his eloquence were irresistible; and truly his policy in this respect is · worthy of the consideration of those modern politicians who measure reputa-

tion by the frequency of their appearance before their countrymen. Such was the character of the m.anwho appeared as a leader of the Democratic party of Athens after the death of Themistocles. The aristocratic party was the opposing faction at this time, and was led by Cimon, whose genial and generous nature, along with his military renown, gave him great influence, despite his polit.ical principles. But a military expedition of which he had comman<l, at. his request, having failed of its purpose, weakened his influence greatly and so also that of his party. To the Democratic party this was most gratifying, and especially so to Pericles, as it enabled him to strike a blow at the man who was at ouce to him a private and a public enemy. By proposing certain changes in the Athenian constitution, which were ultimately adopted, Pericles overthrew both Cimon and his party, and thus having gotten complete possession of the reins of government, he entered upon that long administration which marks one of the brightest eras of Grecian history. Succeeding to the political principles of Themistocles, he . proposed to render Athens the leading power of Greece. Her maritime ascendency had already been secured by the confederacy of Delos·, and now his policy was to exiend her influence in continental Greece. Remembering the affront to the Athenian soldiers offered by Sparta, he prevailed upon his party not only toi,t_e-' nonnce their alliance with 'Sparta, but i also to join her bitterest enemies. They formed a defensive alliance with Argos and her subject towns against Sparta, and soon afterwards still further extended their influence in continental Greeoe by • J

RICHMOND 001,LEGE MESSENGEE. an alliance with Megara. This action gave signal offence both to Sparta and Corinth, but it greatly increased the power of the Athenians by giving them the key to certain passes which would enable· them to hold in check an invading army from Peloponnesus. In all the,,e actions the wisdom and foresight of a statesman are displayed, and the plans of Pericles in establishing the supremacy of Athens ·must elicit the admiration of every true statesman of succeeding years.

In the year 458 B. C., through the advice of Pericles, the Athenians began to construct the long walls which connected Piraeus and Phalerum with Athens. _This idea was doubtless suggested to him as a means for the protection ·of his city against the invasions of the Lacedaemoniaos, which he rnw was inevitable, although they were then disturbed with foternal broils; ah-eady he saw the kindling firefl of w·ar, and with statesmanlike foresight he began to prepare for the approaching storm. The aristocratic party, through jealousy at the rising power of the1r rivals, opposed the uudertaking, ·but in vain. Jealous Sparta now took active measures against Athens, and, assisted by a disloyal Athenian faction, ga'incd some advantages; but the final issue was the healing of dom~stic faction at Athens, and her consequent advance in power and prosperity. She soon afterwards acquired the title of "Imperial Athens;" and this she really was, but she soon began to totter in the midst of her power, while jealous enemies stood ready to assist in her overthrow. Ill fortune followed, and Athens was saved •only by the vigilant Pericles, when the Spartan king invaded his country. Weakened in power, Athens now concluded a thirty

years trnce with Sparta. Pericles 'next looms up into prominence by his actions . against, arnl final overtl1row of, his able political opponent Thucydides, which made him sole director of affi1irs for the rest of his life. Being now at peace · with Sparta, having vast resources at hand, and guiding nn energetic peoplP., Pericles now proceeded to consummate his long contemplated pians of rendering Athens the glory, the admiration, and the wonder of the world. How well he succeeded, is attested by the unanimous _ voice of history, which sty lcs this period by way of preeminence tl1e "age of Pericles." Art. in every variety flowered out and blossomed with unwonted splendor and perfection. The name of Pericles is inseparably linked with the name and fame of the Acropolis, the grand centre of the architectnral splendor of Athens. The colossal statue of Athena stands out prominently in history, even as its lofty summit towered high aboYc the Parthenon, guarding the fame of the Acropolis, and directing the generations of men to the greatness of Pericles, '' the accomplished man of genius"; and the poetic strains of the sublime .lE~chylus, the rhetorical Euripides, and the sublimelyrhetorical Sophocles, along with the truthillumined wisdom of Socrates and the philosophic history of Thucydides, will ever speak to sncceeding ·ages of Pericles, "the generous patron of literature." The breaking out of the great Peloponnesian war alone checkc<l the incrc~sing magnificence of Athenian al't. Successful as he was here, he failed in establishing Atheuian power, and involved his country finally in complete disaster. Aggressive policy made enemies abroad, and

_13

PERICLES. exacting, and seemingly unjust, tribute produced discontent at home. Athens soon became arbitrary, and this naturally prodnced complaints among he1Âˇ allies, who charged her with being despotic. But times of devastation and blood were fast approaching. The quarrel between Corinth and Corcyra kindled the war which overwhelmed Athens with misfortune, and snatched from her forever the hegemony of Greece. In this affi1ir Pericles again looms up ,turuing the scale of decision by the weight ~f his authority and influence. A meeting of the Peloponnesian allies soon followed, and war was declared against :Athens; but previous to an open declaration, several demands were made of Athens, the refusal to comply with which they proposed to use as a pretext for declaring war. The banishment of Pericles was one demand, on the ground of his having inherited "an expiable taint" frnm his ancestor, Megacles-a political trick to get rid of their powerful enemy, and one which also laid him liable to the charge of being the cause of the impending war. His intimacy with Aspasia and Anaxagoras involved him in grief so profound that for once he was seen to weep as he pleaded for his beloved Aspasia. These facts show that he had enemies ; still, his friends were in the majority, and he remained secure. The next requisition was Athenian recognition of the independE:nce of the other Grecian cities. The swaying eloquence of Pericles fixed the decision, and no concessions were made; and the opinion which he expressed here, along with its influence at such a crisis, fin<ls a parallel in modern times in the memorable words of our own Patrick Henry-" The war is inevitable." War soon followed. The

Spartans marched toward the Attic border, and sent a herald concerning the invasion-who, at the suggestion of Pericles, was forbidden to euter the city. The invasion of Attica followed, and with it devastatiou. Pericles instructed his people to secure themselves and their own within the city walls. Disconteut at such a life and at the destruction of their great rural homes followed. They were eager to attack the advancing foe, but he wisely refrained from such a course. Murmurings against Pericles wet"e heard, but he bore these with characteristic fortitude aud firmness. Amid the discontent, a clt-eadful plague broke out, and carried off multitudes of the crowded masses. An expedition, of which he took command, proved successful, but public sentiment was against him at home. Upon his return he was charged by his enemies with peculation, and found guilty, but was afterward reinstated in power an<l influence. But the end waidrawing near for him. Death had claimed many of his dearest friends aud two of his sons, leaving him without a legitimate heir, and now the "King of .Terror" asserted his claim upon the great staiesman. As he lay dying, his frimds around his bedside were recounting his exploits, when the great man, suddenly arousiug from his stupor, said, "What you praise in me is partly the result of good fortune, and, at all events, common to me, with many other comm.anders. What I chiefly pride myself upon you have not noticed. No Athenian ever wore mourning through me." Such was the last utterance of Pericles-a sentiment worthy of one around whose bedside lingered brilliant coruscations from the glowing altars of immortality. VAN

TASSEL.

RICHMOND OOLtEGE MESSENGER. Vaeatio11.

To the tired student, perhaps no word has a sweeter sound than that all-expressive trisyllable-Yacation. When wearied with study as he burns the "midnight oil," how fragrant are its memories! To him who has been applying himself for months with steady perseverance to his lessons the word itself signifies rest and pleasure. It is necessary for the body and mind alike to have rest; without it they cannot perform their functions aright. It is very hard to ~ep oneself to text-books, exercises and originals, for nine long, weary months; and he who has done it can tell how pleasant is the thought that vacation is at hand. But the most enjoyable part of vacation is the pleasure which it brings. How radiant does the student's face become, as his imagination fondly pictures the good time which he will have in the approaching summer. He will soon leave the scenes among which he has dwelt for the past session. Ere long, the train or steamboat will bear him swiftly homewards. As he speeds along on the journey, his heart leaps for joy at the thought of meeting those from whom he has so long a time been separated. What young man is not o'erjoyed that he will soon be with her who has never forgotten him for a single moment-his mother. And

Said the Professor in English Literature: "I will not give you any advance lesson. Just read the sixth and seventh books of Paradise Lost and all you can find 011 Swift, Steele, De .Foe and Berkley's Theory, and look up the questions I gave you at the last recitation." Pro-

he will in a short , while bend his steps towards some retired honse in a fine old grove of trees, where dwells his sweet "Angelina," ah ! even now "The loved one doth await Beside the garden gate, · With loving, longing heart, A greeting to impart. ! "

How pleasant the walks they take together, as they visit the scenes made sacred hy sweet memories ! Time swiftly passes away; and, before one is aware of it almost, the last week at home has come. He turns his face toward Richmond, full of hope and buoyancy, and enjoying the retrospection of the vacation spent in recruiting health. Soon the steepl_es of the city come in sight, and that familiar edifice-the college building. College life has begun once more. Again our hero is in an atmosphere foll of classical lore and scientific research, and of the exceed inly harmonious and melodious sound of "Rat." He enters upon the session with the determination to do better, study harder, and waste less time than eve1·before. And fortunate is that one who carries out his resolution. But my subject is running away with me. ·Kind reader - adieu. TREBREH.

fessor in Art Criticism : " Copy down these six sets of questions as expeditiously as possible and at the same time take notes on the essay which will be read." Thie is what makes the Senior's life a burden to him.

LOUIS XVI. Loui!ii

At the age of twenty, in the year 177 4, A. D., Louis the Sixteenth ascended the throne of France under the most auspicious circumstances. Upon his first entrance into imperial power he was very popular. "All young kings are popnlar." And as he was a young king of amiable disposition, he was a great favorite. But how long did he continue in the estimation of the people, and wby his sad end? He married Marie Antoinette, a beautiful daughter of the Emperor of Austria, when she was only sixteen, and they resided in Paris, with all the accustomed attributes of royal splendor. His was the home whe1·e many guests were ever welcome; his was the home of frequent banquets of a sumptuous nature. In short, his home might be rightly called a "feast chamber." But what was the condition of the people who were snhject to his administration ? · There were two distinct classes of people in France, called nobles and commons, similar to the patricians and .plebeians of Rome. The land was divided between the 150,000 nobles on the one hand, and the 25,000,000 commons on the other. This great number of the lower class, with their small share of the country, had the great burden of taxation to· bear, which absorbed about twothirds of the produce of their land. "Still," says White, "fresh taxes were imposed; stifl the expenditure exceeded the income by se,·en millions a year.'' Through the influence of Marie Antoinette, Colonne was appointed minister of finance. He at once furnished he1· with unlimited snrns from the tl'easury, to be .employed in he1·feasts and balls. "There

X-VI.

were court shows which had never been surpassed for beauty or extravagance, while France lay groaning and writhing beneath the weight that pressed her to the gl'Ound.'' Colonne made these extravagant allowances until the supply of mouey in the treasury received from taxation was exhausted. The groanings · of the people under such oppression, caused the king to call a meeting of the nobility and magistrates, for the purpose of consulting together for the common welfare. Upon their assembling, they refused to redeem the state by sacrificing a shilling of their wealth, or one iota of their liberties. But, from pure malice, they circulated irritating reports of the "national disfress,'' &c. Consequently, on the 1st of May, 1789, to the ·great delight of all, there assembled a convocation of the w.hole people, to propose measures for the amelioration of the starving condition of the country. But the noLles, and the proud gang of authorities under Louis, were actually too aristocratic .to sit in the same hall with the commons during the session. Therefore another organization was formed among the oppressed classes, called the "National Assembly," which was bitterly opposed by Louis. The rash opposition of the king to this body caused a bloody revolution in Frame, which after lasting for about three years, resulted in the death of the king. In this struggle the entire clergy aided the oppressed commons against the king and his monopolizing and avaricious ministers. It might be asked, What could Louis do to improve the people's sad condition? It might be claimed that it was not the

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

king, but his executive staff, that were at fault. But Louis was king; and, as such, he l1ad authority over all of his officers, and was held responsible for keeping in power such men as were so treacherons and detrimental to the inte1·ests of the State. He was brought to trial, and found guilty of treason, and executed on tl1e tw<'nty-first of January _,1793. After this, Franc e enjoyed that immunity from the bondage of taxatiqn and oppression

Pleasa11t

Th e blu sterin g wind s with th eir fiercen ess Have left us for a seas on ju st now , And sprin g-time with h 3r laughing sunbeams Comes forward with her pligh ted vow. And th e J ames with his silvery water s Ev er roar s on th e still , gentle air, While th e whit e marbl e col11mn3 of Hollywood Ar e refulg ent in th e s1rn's open s_tare.

for which she had so long been struggling. It seems rather hard that this end should be accomplished by taking the life of the king. But this seemed to be the only expedient to adopt in order to secure the relief and nirlemption of France. It may truly be said that they took his life, not that they loved Louis less, but that they loved France more. SIC SEMPER.

ffloIDents.

As the soft fleecy clouds move away, And the sweet , gentle zephyrs are pas sing Like the richne .,s of a lovely May day. As we sit in the twilight's soft glimmer, How sweet is the voice of the Past, As our minds wander back in the distance, Over pleas11re3 so countless and vast.

So when the care s of th e d iy now are over, And th e sun goes down in th e west, With joy we m'.Lysit for reflection While th e breeze lull s us ~oftly to re8t.

And our hom as looming up with their brightness ; Turn our minds to the dear happy spots Where the rose and the violets are blooming Near the ivy and forget-me-nots.

And twilight comes forward to cheer us As the entrance to night's sweet repose; And the birds flit away in the darkne ss To find a rest for their trouble ~ and woes.

Though now with some feeling of sadncs~, We think of the ones far away, Yet Hope drives away that sad feeling By the thought of a union That Day . .

And the moon to the scene .add ;; it~ beauty

She was one and I wa s oue, Strolling o' e1·th e heather, Yet before the year wa s done We wer e one togeth er. Love' s a qu eer arithmetician In the rule of his addition He lays dowu th e propo sition : One and one mak e one.

DUNBAR.

Sile and I, ala s, are two, Since, unwis ely mated, lfaving nothing els e to do,· We were separated. Now, 'twould seem that by this action Each was made a simple fraction, Yet 'tis held in love' s subtraction One from one leaves two. -[Ex.

THE ORUSADES. The

l'l

Crusatles.

The Crusades will ever constitute one of the most interesting chapters in European history. They occured in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, extending over a period of nearly two hundred years. At the present day, a.fter the lapse of more than six centuries, we are able to judge of them much more fairly than a contemporan eous writer could have done. For a man, writing about occurrences which take place in his own time, is apt to be prejudiced for one side or the other; but the historian, surveying past eveuts in all their aspects, rnn reach a just and impartial decision. ' 'In determining the causes of the Crusades, we must consiller the general tone of society at that pe1·iod,since it was this, rather than any particular event, which brought them about. Of course, their prima causa was the desire of the western nations to wrest the control of the Holy Land from the hands of the Turks. Some years previous, immense hordes of barbarians from central Asia had overrun the western part' of that continent, and had at length come over into Europe. ThC'se uncivilized tribes held possession of the Holy Sepulchre. About the opening of the eleventh century, Peter the Hermit, a well-to-do fu1·mer of Sicily, begal1 to think about recapturing Jerusalem. So enthusiastic did he become on the snl,ject, that he went · to Palestine to examine into the condition of the country, and into the feasibility of taking the Holy City. On · l;is return to Europe, he obtained the Papal bull authorizing him to advocate his _scheme; and he visited the kingdoms 0£ Europe, telli11gthe people of his pro3

ject. How well he succeeded may be seen from the numbers who followed'him.··' But why sho~ld the Hermit meet with · such g1·eat success? It were useless for one man to preach the Crusades, tmlesk the public mind were in a condition · accede to the proposals he made. · ' ..·· : It was the custom of those days for a man, when he had committed some great sin, to make a pilgrimage to the ·shrine · of a departed saint. He thought that do penance there would wash away his · guilt. And, if this were the case with regard to the shrine of a human beiu'g, surely it would be preeminently so· at the tomb of Jesus of• Nazareth. There was· also a general belief that the world would come to an end in the ye·ur 1000 A. D. As that time drew nrnr, the inclination ' for these pilgrimages increased, as people desired to expiate their sins. Thus we see that when Peter the Hermit came, his doctrines found ready acceptance. The man and the emergency met. A vast number came to join the first cru.; sade. It was composed partly of 'knights and squires, but chkfly of the very sc:um of creation. In such a heterogeneous.mob there could be no unity of f!entiment; and,consequently, internal dissension and strife, and defeat in battle before they reached the H.oly Land, brought ruin and · disgrace upon the cause. Subsequent expeditions, however, had better success. But it is not here intended to give a history of the Crusades, and we pass on to discuss briefly their consequences. · One, and perhaps the chief, result of these mighty events which stirred Chris~ tendom from Ol;e end to the other for nearly two hund1·ed years, was the awa••

to to·

RICHMOND

COLLEGE MESSENGER.

kening of Europe from the state of sleep and lethargy in which she had been up to that time. It was the shedding of new light into the minds of the people. Men began to look at things in different aspects, and also to have some knowledge of nations far removed from themselves. The fair-haired Saxons of England and Germany, the light-hearted, excitable French, and the inhabitants of the peninsulas of southern Europe, joined common-cause in the rescue of the holy sepulchre. To bring nations together in friendly intercourse, is the best way for them to understand one another. This rubbing of mind with mind was brought about to a large extent by the Crusades. As a consequ_ence, a great impetus was give~ to international commerce. Another result of the Crusades was the indep~ndence which they gave to human

A. Re ·dew

thought and action. They were one of the chief causes of the final overthrow of the feudal system, which had been instituted many generations before. They instilled into the minds of the common people a desire to be independent and to gov,~rn themselves-not to be servants of an overlord, but to be their own masters. These notions were diametrically opposed to the domination of the barons. Hence the system gradually gave way. We say "gradually," since for some time the barons held sway in England-notably, in Henry the Third's reign, But by degrees the feudal system yielded to the march of intellect. Thus, while not meeting with much success in attaining their avowed object, yet the Crusadl's produced results the effects of which are felt at the present day. ALBION.

of" tlae Thh•ty

My readers will bear in memory that this struggle was the most prominent event of the sevent~enth century, before the English revolution, which was evolved out of the religious and political disputations between the Cat.holiesand Protestants. It is an event that will ever be remembered as one of the rrincipal characteristics in the history of modern Europe. Since Luther had aroused Europe from her apparent medireval lethargy, and sowed the seed which was to germinate and bloom into a future reformation, Germany was from that time the battle-field of a long and devasting war, of thirty years, which was carried on before the Protestants could gurantee their liberties.

Yeor••

,va,·.

The Prot~stants were suppressed nearly all over Europe. Charles V. resolved to suppress Protestantism in Germany, and would have perhaps succeeded, had it not been :fo1·the Yarious wars which distracted his attention, and for the decided stand which Protestant princes of Gern1any took respecting their rights. The Catholics swayed their ponti6c_al sceptre, and, with the league of Smalcalde, the freedom of Germany seemed prostrate fort:ver, and the power of Austria reached its meridian. But the cause of liberty revived under Maurice of Saxony, once its formidable enemy. All 'the fruits of victory were lost again in the congress of Passon and the diet of Augsburg, when an equitable peace seemed guaranteed to

A REVIEW '

OF THE THIRTY - . ~-

the Protestants. But the treaty of Augsburg proved to be-only a truce, not a lasting peace. The boundaries of both parties~were marked _out by the sword, and by the sword only were they to be preserved. For a while, however, peace was preserved, an<l might have continued longer, had it not been for the dissensions of the Protestants among themselveR, caused by the follO\rnrs of Luther and Cah-in. After the diet of Augsburg, 1555, Charles V. resigned as Emperor of Germany, and his successors, <luring the war, were inefficient emperors to rule an empire on whose grounds the rnrious powers of Europe were arrayeJ. In 1612 Matthias mounted the imperial throne, and I might say that it was during his reign that the thirty-years war commenced. In proportion as the Protestants gained ground in Hungary and Bohemia-two provinces very difficnlt to rule-the Protestant prinees of the empire became desirous uf Eecuring and ex. tending their privileges. Their demands were refused, and they entered into a new confederacy, called "Evangelic Union." This association was opposed by another, called the "Catholic League::." The former was supported by Holland, England, and Henry IV. of France. 'ÂŁhe Emperor Matthias died in 1618, and was succeeded by his cousin Ferdinand, Duke of Syria, who was an inveterate enemy to the Protestant cause. His first care was to suppress the insurrection of the Protestants ,vhich, just before his accession, broke out in Bohemia, under the celebrated Count Mausfeldt. The Bohemians renounced allegiance to Ferdinand II., and chose Frederick V. for their king. Aud then the Catholics swarmed around the standard of Maximilian, Âˇ Duke of Bava-

YEARS' WAR.

ria, who advanced and fought the battle of Prague, which decided the fate of Bohemia. Frederick, at first intoxicated with success, was now without hope, and the Protestant cause seemed irretrievably lost. But notwithstanding their defeat, earnest Count Mansfeldt dared, in the Bohemian town of Pilsen, to defy the whole power of Austria; whence twenty thousand sabres leaped from their scabbards, undismayed by the reverses of Frederick, and resolved to sustain him. New prospects began to open, and his misfortune raised up unexpected friends. James of England opened his treasures, and Christian of Denmark o:ffere::dhis powerful support. The courage of Frederick was rev.ived, and he labored assiduously to arouse the Protestants. Meanwhile the generals of the emperor were on the alert, and the rising hopes of Frederick were again dissipated by the victories of Tilly. At this time Wallenstein, an experienced officer and the richest nobleman in Bohemia, offered at his own expense, and that of his friends, to .. raise, clothe, and maintain an army for the emperor-in favor of the Catholics. He led his army through parts of Germany yet untouched by the war, laying waste and plundering the homes of those who lay bleeding, helpless, and indignant at his feet. The soil of Germany had for long years drunk the blood spilt by the sword of the martyr. As yet, for the Protestants, a cloud of despair overshadowed the past cycle of events, and no silvery lining had been seen. But one hero produces another. A Wellington is ever found to oppose a Napoleon. Providence raised up a friend to Germany in its distress in the person of Qustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden.

RICHMOND

COLLEGE MESSENGER.

It was not for personal aggrandizement that he lent his powerful ~rm to the Protestant princes, who, thus far, vainly ·Struggled against Maximilian, Tilly, and Wallenstein. Zeal for Protestantism, added to strong- provocations, induced him to land in Germany with fifteen thousand men-a small body to .oppose the victorious troops of the Emperor 'Ferdinand. He himself was indisputably the greatest general of the age, and had the full confidence of the Protestant princes, who were ready to rally the mohe obtained any signal advantage. Henceforth Gustavus Adolphus was the hero of the war-a man magnanimous beyond all precedent in the history of kings. He had scareely landed in Germany, before his victorious career began. France concluded a treaty with him, and he advanced against Tilly, who now beaded the imperial armies. The tardiness of the Electors of Saxony and .Brandenburg in rendering assistance caused the loss of Magdeburg, the . most important fortress of the Protestants. It was taken by assault even while Gustavus was advancing to its relief. And from what I can infer, no pen ,can paint, no imagination can conceive, the horrors which were perpetrated by the imperial soldiers in the sack of the unfortunate place. But the loss of this important city was soon compensated for by the_ battle of Leipsic, in which the

King of Sweden effected the rout of Tilly. The freedom of Germany was now secured. Gustavus was everywhere hailed as a deliverer; he traversed Germany as a conqueror, law-giver, and ju<lge. Tilly was soon after killed, and all things ind icated the complete triumph of the Protestants. Ferdinand was no longer safe in his capital-it was now his time to tremble. However, the Catholics made another desperate attempt to regain their power. The imperial forces now united th emselves und er Maximilian, who at last met Gustavus upon the memorial plains of Lutzen. Victory declared for the troops of GU',lavus, but the heroic leade1· himself was killed, in the fullness of his glory. It was his fortune to die with an un_ tarnishecl fame, and well did he deserve the trars of Germany shell over his grave. The war lasted a few years longer; the success of which was in behalf of the Protestants . France wus now governed by Cardinal Richelieu, who, notwith- . standing his Catholicism, lent his assistance with a view of reducing Austria. Indeed, the war hacl destroyed the sentiment which produced it, and political motives became stronger than religions. At last the Thirty Year s' War concluded with the treaty of Westphalia, which gave the Protestants the right to hand down thE·ir doet.rines to posterity.

What is the difference between the -Prince Wales, an orphan, a bald-headed oi<l man, and a gorilla? The first is an 'heir apparent, the second has ne'er a parent, the third has no hair appanmt, and the fourth has an hairy parent.-Ex •.

Why is a girl like an arrow? Because she is sure to be in a quiver till her beau comes, aud cannot go off with out one.--Ex. Why is a melancholy young lady the most pleasant of company? Because she is always a-musing. - Ex.

n;ent

NONPLUS.

NOVEL READING.

路 l'Wovcl Reading.

In this age preeminent for letters, when reading the '' hateful thing," she immediately flies off into a mixture of paroxysthere is so much literature of every demal grief and whirlwind passion. She scription abroad in the land, it is a neceswould rather see him dead and, in his sary consequence that much time is devoted to reading-a great portion to novel grave than doing such a thing, and she reading. This is a practice which has means to whip him for it right away! been much abused, both objectively and This seems to me a foolish extreme. It subjectively; and I hope that a few lines is ,路ery proper that p::irents should, to n on this matter in the mouth-piece of our certain extent, rest.rain this tendency in their children, for it is a habit which rapCollege, where so much of it is done, idly grows in power, and its charms are will not be out of place. It is a prnctice very fascinating. It should not be alresulting in great good to some, in greater evil to others. But in the Legiuning, perlowed to take deeper root than is needful to a healthy growth. Habitual and promit me to say that I wish to speak in its miscuous novel-reading is to any one a behalf-provided it is done in the right way". There are many who condemn it cui路se---:a blighting curse. No condemwholly and unconditionally. They think nation is too severe, no anathema too bit.:. that he who follows it commits a '>in, ter, to be pronounced against it. both against himself and against othe1'.s, More reading in this direction is .done in setting a had example for them. With between the ages of twelve and twentythem, it makes no difference who may be five years, than in all the rest of one's life, the author of the books, or what may be and this is the time when the foundation their character; it makes no difference 1 for the learning of after years is laid. whether they are works by Scott, DickSo we must not give too much attention ens, Roe, Augusta Evans Wilson, or are to novels, though they hold, what I believe ten-cent novels by the author of Jim ' to be an essential place in our education. Yet, however essential it may be, it Black, the boy detactive; whether there is rnnning through them a high tone of should not be cultivated to the exclusion morals, or whether it is a "bloo<l-andof something else equally important. thunder" tale of dark deeds, horriole Mathematics is essential, but should we tragedies and frightful scenes, exhibiting give our whole time to that particular no taste and less sense. They condemn branch of science and ignore Latin and Greek? Certainly not. them all alike. They seem to think that whatever is called by the name novel is Many young men and women, however, nece~sarily vicious in its character, and seem never to think .of this, and spend the greater part of their time in this way, degrading to him who reads it. There ar~ some who are such fanatics that they thereby becoming greatly dwarfed in other points of intellect. The failures of will not allow one to be brought into many young men at college are attributatheir homes; and if Johnny smuggles one ble to this source. I have known some in, and the dear rnothe1路 happens to catch who not only spent in this way 'the most of him iu th~ p~cJf par}QJ.", under the sofa,

RICHMOND

COLLEGE MESSENGER.

their time while out of the recitation room, but even took thei1Âˇ noYels to the class and read while there, caring neither for the preparation of their lessons before going to the class room nor for the reciting of them after they got there. This is manifestly wrong, and he who thus spends his time cannot, I think, have a t.rne appredation of its worth.

If, now, habitual novel readiug is Âˇso worthy of condemnation, what should be said of it when it is both habitual and promifCUOUS! This is one of the grnatest eYils of onr time. Our Janel is flooded, as it were, with literature of the basest kind, and when our youths and maidens come in contact with it they cannot but imbibe a portion of its baseness. There they meet with the most degraded ideas, the vilest characters, the lowest conceptions of life, ~nd yet they are dothed in such an array of outward beauty that they cherish and respect them, and alas ! alas! sometimes embrace them. Oh, ye parents of America, the land where this desolating evil is rifest, I beseech you, guard your children from these vicious books. Too often have we seen the evil results of such reading. How many are there in our insane asylums, whose brains were frenzied by the awful crimes, blood-curdling tragedies, cold-blooded murders, and woeful tal es of unrequited love, of which they have read? How many are there of noble birth arnl pious rearing who have thus been led astray, and are now leading lives of degradat.iou and shame? Sad the fact, but their name is legion. Again : We may do neither of thesewe may neither read habitually, nor read those things which are a disgrace to those

who wrote them--and yet be far from right. There are those who feel it utterly beneath them to descend to the baser literature of to-day, but they will pick up Ivanhol', or some other wor1-: which is worth the study of days, after supper and scan it over hefore they retire. They give no heed to new words, beautiful expressions, grand thoughts, or sublime sentiments. All they care for is to get the thread of the story, and keep the connection until hero and heroine marry. Then they lie down to sleep, and that is the last they know about their book-at least, they know nothing which is worth knowing. Perhaps they can tell you the nam ~s of some of the prominent characters, or perhaps relate somet~ing about the principal events of the story, but that is all. Of what vitlue is such reading as this? None; absolutely none. What is a true novel, in the higher sense of the word ? My conception of it is, that it is a writing intended to teach some fact of history, to bring vividly before us some ancient custom, to guard us against some dire evil, to set forth some high moral, or to teach some important truth; and in order that these may be strongly impressed npon us, they are expressed in the more pleasing language of romance and fiction. So, friend, as we glide adown the stream of literature, let us not go swiftly, only sipping the pleasant waters of the surface, or gathering flowers here and there; but let us proceed more slowly, and, reaching deeper, gather the gems which lie at the bottom. There are many works of fiction which are as well worth our attention and study as anything in profane literature. By reading them carefully we can learn a

NOVEL READING. vast amount of human nature. I am one should adopt and imitate another's almost tempted to say that we can learn mode of expression. That is contemptimore in this way than by observation, for ble. seldom is it in real life that we see m~n Here, too, we are made aqnainted with as they are. They are always covered points of history which are presented in over with a gloss of deception, bnt in , so lucid and pleasing a manner that it is novels they are divested of all externalialmost impossible to forget them. Histies, and we are thereby enabled to form tory is a branch of learning sadly neglecta correct estimate of them, and to know ed in our higher institutions, and for how to gauge our fellows, Âˇ has much to this reason most of the knowledge of it do with our success in life. which a person gets while at school is But from an educational standpoint when he is quite young. At this time there is a still greater benefit accruing his mind is too immature to grapple from the practice of novel reading. If successfully with these important facts, we read the proper kind, and read and even were not this the case, the child them carefully, it will certainly beget does not suffieiently recognize their value in us the desire for reading in general. to apply himself diligently to acquiring With scarcely an exception, all emithem. The book which he has on this nent scholars are well acquainted with subject is usually dry and dull, and he the works of standard novelists. It is studies it only because he is compelled. through them that we get faint glimses of Thus but few gain anything like an adea brighter goal yet to be reached, and we quate knowledge of this department of set out on our journey toward it. We learning wbile at school. Yet it is find in them so many quotations, and so necessary to a finished education, and many allusions to other authors, of whom here, in uovels, is where much of it can we have never heard, that we become be most readily obtained. A more accuashamed of our ignorance, and are thererate lmowledge of the condition of Britain by incited to greater efforts to improve after the invasion of the Normans; of ourselves. the harsh measures employed against the noble Saxons whose blood we are It is in novels that we find the choicest proud to boast; how they were trampled language, the smoothest dietion, and the in the dust and their liberties taken away; most beautiful figures of speech. In no in what utter, absolute, and unjust conbook on earth do I believe there is a tempt the Jews of that time and country more beautiful figure than that <lra~vuby were held; of the Sl:Jiritof chivalry and Augusta Evans Wilson, when she comknight-errantry which characterizes that pares the course of life with that of the age,-cun nowhere be better gained than Gulf' stream. Now, om own style of from Ivanhoe-that best of novels by speaking and writing is to a great extent moulded by what we read ; so if we Âˇ the prince of novelists. would acquire a pleasing, forciLlc sty le, we must read the works which possess these characteristics. Now let it not be surmised from this that I think that any

Often, too, these works, instead of leading us into evil, turn ns away .from it. In them we see life-like pictures of the abject poverty, the loss of character

l{,JCRMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER. nnd manhoocl, the disgrace and shame to which these evils lead, and seeing the pits into which others have fallen, we are enabled to shun them ourselves. No one, after reading Roes' ""Without a Home," uud seeing the fathe1· of the heroine first in a happy home, and then by reason of vice, descending step by step until he is a sorrow to hi~ wife, a terror to his children, and a disgrace to himself, can but take warning and flee the curse which brought him so low. He sees the Herculean efforts of the slave to free himself, aud the death-like grip with which the vice holds on ; he sees him descend from affiuence and hopefulness to the depths of poverty and the slough of despond, dragging his family along with him, and finally dying a suicidal death. \Yho, after reacling this cau, but shudder at the thought of following in his footsteps, and cu_rse the sin that destroyed him?

The

Prog1·essi"ve

Not only do they turn us away from that which is evil, but they direct us to that which is noble and good. They present us models by which we may mould ourselves. In them we find om· ideals of men and morals. vVe see men rising from poverty and insignificance to wealth and renown. We find there men of the highest honor and integrity, women of the· purest chastity and truth, those whom no allurements could influence to swerve a hair's breadth from the ·path of duty. There are deeds of pure unselfishness and heroic self-sacrifice. These are the ideals we should ever keep before us, aud though they may be higher than we can hope ever to attain, let us not by this be discompged, for he who aspires to nothing higher thnn he can reach, will reach that which is not worth the grnsping.

Condition

WENTON.

oC tile

Soutlt,

Thanks be to Divine Providence the instance. Serfilom prevails there to a degrading and horrible exte1~t even toSouth no longer holds a race of human treating a fellow-being os beings in bonds of slavery. 'Tis true it day-man fought against their being freed, because though he were no better than a brutesuch as one Jiving in the America of toit deemed it its duty, but I dare say I voice the- sentiments of all the true sons day could scarcely realize. What a grand of the South who, against overwhelming stretch of territory the map of Russia prenumbers, fought for the Stars and Bars sents to the eye ! And what has Russia ever done to show her greatness ? at Manassal'!, Gettysburg, and Appomattox, when I say that the issue of the seThe United States, though not a nation, cession has been for the best. , is indeed a republic, and republican History shows us that as long as a na- principlei, have become instilled into all tion permits a system of slavery or serf- · its citizens, whether of native or foreign <lornthat it cannot he·come as powerful, birth. We glory in the fact that one of civilly or politically, as it would if such our countrymen has just as much auwer~ not allowed, other advantages rcthority in saying who shall he our rulers 11!,!lining the same. Look at Russia, for or administrators of the law as another,

THE PROGRESSIVE

CONDITI_ON OF THE SOUTH. .

whether he Le a natiYe of New York or White politicians, it is true, while waving the Lloo,ly shirt, have foLricatccl more thnn one lie about the maltreatment of the ncgro in the Southdi:;claiming that they arc nllowcd to ha,·e a Yo:cc in politics by the con><titutional motto : a free linilot nrnl a fair count. It is u,clcl's to <lc11ythis falsehooJ hefore a fair-minded, enlightened man, and it is to be hopccl that the garment so Jong ,rn,·cd by some contemptible politicians hus :it Inst been buric<l so deep that it can nen 1 r be rccO\'Cred, nrnl that pence nnrl good-will between the North uncl South muy cnr continue. Thi s, indrecl, i;; the era of good feeling between the North :iml Sout, has time, the healer of all wounds, has, in the Inst twenty years, ,nought a remnrlrnLle change. Lips which spoke most bitterly in denunciation of General Grunt t.wcntv .! •vcn1·s UO'O !:) were the first to express Jeep regret at his illness and death. Surely the time will soon be when we will know no No1·th and South, but both will be one.

New Gniuca.

Surrounclecf by such auspicious circnmstunecs, :incl abounding in resources such as 1io other country can boast, who can prophesy aught but prosperity for the South? Raising ns it. docs snch vast qnuntities of grain, cotton, and tobacco, it only needs the c:ipital to build the factories nec essary for the pr eparation of these products nenr nt horn<', which capital it h; sure to possess ere long. Manufactor'ies of ull kiuds have of late years been built, testifying to the iudustry urnl zeal of theil' owners. With such an eno1·mous supply of water-power to be utilized, suitable for impelling machinery, factories will be run much cheaper than if they were operated by steam, which 4

will, of course>,enable southern munufoctnrers to prepare their goods at less cost than those clsewh~re. Dame Nature has indeed smiled on our sunny South, fm·nishing it ri\'ers teeming with nil kinrli of fish, fertile lands suitable for all kinds of crops, forests towering with trees of nearly e\'ery variety on the globe, moun~ tains rich in every kin1l of precious stones and metals, and a · climntc that is not equalled anywhere. But what profit would all this be if the men possessing these surroundings were not so intellcctnully endowed us to be able to lake advantage of them? If it were so, it were indeed wasting its sweetness on the desert mr. But far from it. The South h:is furnished men to Congress unequalled by any others, such as Ra1idolph, Clay, Calhoun, and many more whose spirits, as it were, are living to guide us in their paths . Vve can find no country so favored in so many ways; and though we lovEl the South we ha vc no less affection for the Korth, aud would gladly welcome their aid in developing the resources of tl~is land with which we :ire so kindly blessed. Now since that great cidlizer, the steam locomotive, has pierced . the e,·crgl:ides of Florida, frightening the Seminoles from their hiding place, and mocking the fierce war-whoop of the Com:inche on the wild Texas prairie with its shrill whistle; and since we have been endowed with various other agents of development, we hope to show to the world the abounding resources of our country nnd our ability to develop them.

all

0 laud of the South, most blcst of climes, we bespeak for thee a future . of prosperity ! FIGURES.

RICHJ10ND

COLLEGE 1'1ESSENGER.

Eal'ly

l'Uanbood.

"There is a tide in the affairs of mm1 Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. "-Sltakspeare.

To some men this tide comes ufteu, :md they have many opportunities to take it 11tthe 路 flood and sail to the port of fortune, honor, and success. To others it comes only once, and if they lnuuch not then their barques on its bosom, their chance for a successful voyage is forever past. To those to whom this title comes but once it always comes in theit- early manhood. When they have passed from the scenes and joys of their childhood and crossed the line which separat~s youths from men, when they are about to assume the responsibilities of men and do battle with life, Ulen it is that they havethe opportunity of determining their future career.

Life is then before them, and ready tu run in whatever ch::mnel they may turn it.

It is lefi for them to say which way

'twill lead-whether to honor, wealth, and distinction, or to shame, disgrace, and humiliation. Then is the time for them to derermine whether they will live in such a way as to command the respect of their fellow-men or will be a scorn on their lips. It is my firm belief that it is in the power of almost every young 路man to determine his after life if he will only form a strong resolution and adhere closely to it. It is determination, force of purpose, that enables a man to do or become whatever he sets bis mind on doing or becoming. That youth who has an ardent yearning to rise in any sphere and

fixes his mind firmly on it will <loit thongh obstacles be piled mountain high. Lammenais once said to a young mun: " You are now at the age at which a decision must be formed by you; a little later, and you may have to groan within the tomb which yourself han <lug, without the power of rolliug mrny the stone. That which the easiest becomes a habit in us is the will. Learn, then, to will strongly and <lecisively; thus fix _ronr floating life, and lca,路c it no longer to be curried liither and thither, like a \\'ithcrc(l 'leaf, by every wind that blows." Yet, notwithstanding the fact that so grand opportunities arc offered men at this age, how few are they who avail , themselves of them ! Some seem never to recognize them, but go on leading an aimless, drifting life, Ii ving in and for the present, saying the world owes them a living. Young men, to such as you, the world owes nothing. There are others, however, who are ,rise enough to take some thonght of coming years, but when they behold the probabilities an<l uncertainties of the future, they are bewildered and fear tu step forward into its hidden mazes. When they see the triah through which they mnst pass, the labors which they must undergo, the privations they must suffer, the pleasures they must sacrifice if they become true men, they give up in despair and wear only the semblance of man. This period of life more than any other calls for decision, determination, and willpower. As the young man stan<ls on .the brink of his future career, trying to 路 peer into the hidden scenes of coming

EDITORIAL OHAIR. years, where all is ·so dark and uncertain, he fremblingly asks, Oh, what will it be! This, trembling friend, depends on you.

EDITORIAL Without experience we receive the pen tind assume the l1uties laid aside by the retiring corps of editors. Their success excites in us a friendly envy. We congratulate them and the .Mannger upon the enlarged and healthy state of the Afessengcr, showing that the fears of some as to increasing its size were groundless. Though examinations are pressing, we are resolved, if possible, to ad vanee the Messenger's standard, and trnst that tlie members of both societies will han<lsomely sustain ns by eontdbuting many :m<l worthy articles. "Dr'ink deep, or taste not the Picriau spring," was Pope's warning to seekers after knowledge. Had he lived in our day, when multitudes are trying to get into print though they be unable to write a correct paragraph, he might have warned them in a similar line against the evils whic:h beset in.expcrienr.cd editors au~l writers, whose amLition exceeds thefr brain and whose ·failures bring disappointed hopes and empty purses. Frequently these reverses lead to misnnthrnpy because their supposed talents were not recognized. But there are ma11y worthy authors and editors whose facile pens give rich treasures :ind blessing to their readers. Such men arc the very bulwarks of society in that they conceive, bnil tl np, and mainfain a proper :111] pure pul,lic sentiment, while they teach the people what is to their interest antl how to ad,·ance it. Every ouc of this age who can claim

Cease to ask yourself what will it be; Go forwanl and make it what you will. JUVENI$,

CHAIR. any culture, whatever his profession . or avocation may be, has need of writing in a clear, pleasing, and forcible style. This the mnjority may attain to by_ practice and perseverance, while the chosei1 fewmay be numbered amo_ng the cla_ssics. The students of this institution can find no channel so ready and so effective for educing and devoloping their capacities in this respect as through the columns of their own paper. The same is true with students of other institutions and their papers. Nor is there a _stage in life at ,vhich such progress may be made as at the present formative period, when the imagination is active and the feelings run high. Write, boys, and remember that now "the pen is mightier than the sword." is an acknowledged fact that a man has the rigllt to ngree for what wages he will wc.rk. It is equally true that an employer call state what salary he is willing to give. So far, both employe1· and employee are correct. But suppose a laborer consents to work. for a certain stipend, and then thinks that his pay should be int!reased. He has pt'rhaps joined an assoc•intion of laborere who refuse to work for less than a stated amount. He now makes a demand for increase of wages ; and should the capitalist not accede to his demands, he leaves work. If he stopped here, no one would complain. But the workman is not content. Though his society has LABOR AND CAPITAL.-It

RIOHJIOND

COLLEGE MESSENGER.

11othii1g to do with his employer, yet it both parties. Otherwise deep-seated daneven threatens to "boycott" all people ger is lurking about us. having any business transactions with THE IRISH QTJESl'ION.-In the House him. In going thus far we think the of Commons, on April 8th, 1\fr. Gladmembers of such organizations are overstone made u speech on the Irish quesstepping the limits of justice, and imperil, tion. Such great interest was manifest.eel, moreover, their own interests. What especially by the members from Ireland, right has the laborer to injure the capithat many arrived at the House of Partalist, because, forsooth, the latter does liament at six o'clock in the morning, n~t cho~se to y~eld to the former's dethough the House did not begin its sesm::mds? They are each the greatest sion until four in the aftemoon ; this, friend of the other if they wot1ld only too, despite the fact . that the House was ~ook at the question rightly. The opbeing cleaned and swept meanwhile. Mr. pression an<l injury of the one side must Gladstone with difficulty got through the ultimately bring a reflex injury to the • dense crowd, and was received with other. There must be capitalists to deround aftei· rournl of applause. The velop and carry on the country's great "grand old man" spoke with freshness industrial interests. There must be hearty and ready labor under control of and vigor, thongh he is at present some the capitalists to prosecute all these en- se\·enty-six years olJ. His plan for the government of Ireland terprises. Check their prosperity and seem~d to be somewhat as follow_s: That business is flat, t.he laborers are thrown out of employment and subjected to pov- a separate Parliament, consisting of two houses, shall sit in Dublin; that, Irisherty with its accompanying depravity. men 8hall not sit in the British Houses; ' · The strikes of England have seriously that the body at Dublin sliall have auinjured some brnnehrs of her industries. thority in nearly all matters, C'Xcept in A !ready "·e feel the cffeds of the great the case of granting special privilege;; to Westcm and Northern strikes. Will the any one religious sect,; nlso, that the proplc blindfold themsch-cs and seek Lord-Lieutenancy of Irclnllll shall uot their own ruin? In the face of such facts be a political office. In s~ort, ns the we would strenuously condemn all such Premier himself expressed it, to prese1·,·c ultra organizations as the Knights of La"Imperial unity with lrgisluti\'e dh·crbor. They arc formed for the purpose sity." The spee::h, which Ltate1l three of protrcting the working cla~s from any hours and a half, was rccch·ecl with apoppression of capital; but, by blinded zeal proval uy Punwll an<l Iri:,h members and prEjudice they convert virtue into vice. general Ir. Capitalists by oppression first made protecW c hope that the day is now nmr at tion of labor necessary. Some agreemrnt hand when a peaceful settlement will be must be arrived at, and the sooner a well made with rrgard to unhappy Ireland. All honor to Mr. Gladstone ! adjusted one is reached the better for

SCIE1YTIFIC NOTES.

SCIENTIFIC

NOTES.

It is said that the approachiilg comet, disco,·ercd by Fabry, will reach its greatest brilliancy early in May, when it will • be a very conspicuous object in the western sky for some hours after sunset. During the first half of l\foy it will set two or th1·cehours after the sun, and later will rapidly disappear.

curred at Murraysdl1e, Pennsylvania, on the 19th ultimo. A big well at that place caught fire, burning with a flume at least seventy-five feet high. It was several days before this flame could be extinguished. Several persons were fatally injured and a large amount of property destroyed.

In the New York Ercarnincrof April

A large gas vein was recently struck at Piqua, Ohio, at the depth of 400 feet.

8th, in its remarks 011 "Science," is the fol1owingabout the invention of the deepsea. lighthouse. The model of a deep-sea lighthouse, inYented hy ihe late Cnptain 1\Ioody, hns latcty licrn exhibited at the Barrow Shiphuiltling Company's yard, in England. It consists of a ccutral vesiocl of ircn or steel, did1hl into water -tight compnrtmmts, nncl haYing fonr mys projc·ctingfrom it, from Lctwcl'llwhh·h, caulrs conned with , the mooring anchors. A tclcgrnphic ralilc, coune<:ting the nssel with the shore, runs through a hole in the centre of the cable and up into a lattil'c-tower of iil('cl, fitted with a l:mt<>rn sixty feet nLo,·e the water line. This is reg:mk1l :is a very f-t1ecc• ssful attempt to soh·e the prolikm of dcc•p-sealigbthousfi c01;struction. The rotton manufodnre in 1885 shows tlie total 11umberof mills in the Uuitccl Stntes ns 826, contninii1g 261,22~ looms mHI 12,~80,342 f-pindlea, mannfocturing 786,000,000 ynnls of priut cloth per annum. Of thes<', New Englnncl hus 481 millf', contni11it1g20,j,011 looms :mcl 9,481,2i2 spindle!', munnfocturing 646,000,000 yar1.lsof print cloth.-Scicnlijic _American. A serious explosion of natural gas

?c•

A new kind of railway switch has recently been im·ented, by menns of which a moving !ruin can tum the switch. It bas a spring which the engine works when approaching. It i8 sai<lto Le prm·enti,·e of uccitlents. A mine of merrury, consisting of the sulphnret aud chloride, with drops of metallic mercury, in n g:mgue of quartz, whid1 appmrs to linve bet·n worked in ancient times, has Lc-rnre-disconred at Sclmppiustena, near Bdgrade, in Serda.

The sc·ientificdevelopment of electricity has not yet rcuchecl its hdght. In the reet-nt eontrirnnce for telegrnphin~ to and from a mo,·ing train, Ma·.Edisone thinks he has mudc a dit;co,·ery conceruing the cnn<lucti,·e powC'r of air-that it is not, ns has been considered, n non-cornluetor excc•ptafter Lciug chnrged with the electric fluid. ·An Italian hns, it is allcgecl, in,·entecl a luminous printing ink thut renders it pos!-iblcfor newspapers to be read in the dark. Will it not Le goocl for us nil whm it comes into use, if indeed it shall? · Then dark nights will Le less intolerable when we can pick up a paper an<l read rngardless of the absent lamp or the poor gas.

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

LOCALS. Local option ! ! April fool ! ! How are you going to vote, wet or dry? Mr. l\f., he1ring some degree-men talking about their Theses, enquired whether Thesis was a god or goddess. Mr. N. remarked the other day, "We read to-day in V ergil the finest selection in the English language." We didn't know that Vergil was particularly well versed in the English language. Professor, to class in Political Economy: "Mr. L., if you were raising tobacco am] corn, what would you do to the ground?" L." I would plant tobacco and corn." The Professor and class took a bad case of grins. On the night of the puhlic flcbat<', which was very cloudy, l\lr. P., ancl Miss-, a country mai,Jen, were coming up to the college. Upon looking towards Broad street, she exclaimed, '' There is the moon rising." \Ve were not aware that the electric light resembled the queen of night, or that the moon rose in the North. Prof. : "Mr. 0., when you look in your looking-glasl'l, what kind of :m image do you see? " l\Ir. 0.: "An image of myself, sir." Prof. : " Is it real or virtual?" Mr. 0. : "Virtuous, of course, sir." Op. is a virtuous boy,

A student on a vbit to Washington was looking for the famous " Corcoran Art Gallery," when he came across Corcoran's spacious private residence on the

~omer of Pennsylvania and Arlrnnsas avenues. Thinking that he had struck the 1·ight plnce, he boldly walked in through the open door back to the elevator, and quietly seating himself, asked to be taken up to the gallery. When he arrived at the garret, he discovered his mistake, nnd bent a hasty retreat down the stairway, not cleeming it necessary to call again for the elevator. Our advice, "Look before you leap." Professorin the class of Logic: "Mr. L., if you were a member of the Legislature, · and were offel"inga bill, and some member s_hould show that there were objections to it, what would you sny?" L. : " I shoul<l say that there might be objections jo1' nnd against it."

Mr. C., a bnshful youth, wa8 the other aftE>rnoonperambulating up Broacl i:treet, deeply absorbed in hi.s usual occupation of wearing out sl1oe-leathcr, when before him he beheld a beautiful 1~piclensweetly smiling upon him ; at once he pulled 'off his hat, am] his cha~rin can be better imagined than described when upon a second look he disco,·crcd thut it was only a photograph. A student wns askccl n few days ag-o what Latin foot his feet most r,·semblctl. "A Fpouclce," was the ready reply," too long." The Bo::ml of Tru~tccs at theii· last meeting authorized tl1e prcachiug of an mmunl commencement sermon, aud Dr. H. H. Tucker, of Atlanta, Ga., has been chosen as preacher _for <?lll' next commence.:. ment. :\Vc are informed that the sermon

LOCALS. will be preached in the <ha pel on Sun<lny night, June 20th. Dr. Tucker has been quite ill for some time, hut we sincerely hope that he will be able to he with us. Our fellow-student J. R. Comer, attemled receutly the commencement exercises of the Baltimore College of Physicians all(I Surgeons, where his brnLher graduated, taking the M. D. degree. Prof. Puryem· has introduced a nry interesting feature into the Seni01·Englisl1 clnss-m1mcly, a course of reading in our greatest English author, Shakespeare. The class reads twice a \Yeck. His design is fo1·the class to read the principal hh;torical pluyf', un<lthen, if there is time, to read Hamlet and Macbeth. Grading has been begun on the Broad street side of the campus, near the Grace street entrance, but owing to · the continual rain it has not progressed very far as yet. On Friday night the 3d of April, the following officers were elected in the Mu Sigma. Rho Soc·iety for the third term : President, L. J. Haley, Jr., of Northampton county; Vice-Presi<le11t, C. W. Trainham, of Richmoud; Censor, J. Page Massie, of Amherst county; Recording Secretary, W. L. Lewis, of Danville; Corresponding Secretary, T. S. Lawrence, of Norfolk county; Critic, L. Lee Kelley, ofNol'folk county; Treasurer ,, ' C. T. Smith, Jr., of Caroline county; Sergeant-at-Arms, M. E. Parrish, of Botetourt county; Chaplaiu, R. L. Motley, of Pittsylvania county; Hall Manager, W. 'r. Crnath, of Southampton connty ; Monthly Orator, M. Ashby Jones, of Richmond. Geotge fL Eq. wqrds, pf

South Carolina, was elected Final President-Sul utatorian.

In the Philoginn Society on the same uigl1t :is :iLoYe,the follO\ring officers were eleckd for the third term : President, T. R. Corr, of Gloucester county; VicePrcsident, 0. L. l\Iurtin, of Hemy county; Censor, W. E. Robertson, of Chnrlotte county; Recording Secretary, L. B. Fontaine, of Norfolk citr; Correspoll<1ing Secretary, TI. P. Willis, of Orange county; Treasurer, W. B. McGarity, of Georgia; Cl'itic, Carey A. Folk, of Tennessee; Ch:1plnin, H. N. Quisenberry, of Spotsylrnuiu county; Sergeant-:it-Arms, R. E. Jordan, of Halifax county; Boar<l of l\fanagers-J. G. Puty of Tennessee, and J. D. Martin of Virginia; Monthly Oro.tor, C. R. Crookshanks, of West Virginia. J. D. Martin, of Pittsylvania. county, was elected Final Pr~side11t- V alec1idorian. On account of the recent continuous ruins the historic James has become somewhat tlll'bulent. Here in Richmond it overflowed its banks, rising higher than it bus since 18 i7. Crowds flocked to the lower part of Main, where the water covered the street for several hundred yards, and to the different bridges. On Main street boatmen were kept busy transferring persons across the water, some on business, some on pleasure. One of our college boys, intent on the latter, got his "dike" suit quite wet., besides h:l\'ing to stand the Jolly fun of a non-Locul-Optionalist. On the ~ridges, there was a surging mass of all classes of persous, and the sight was truly grand. The water, in a few feet of the bridges, rushed aud whirled o\·er the foils, and below Mayo'~ js}and1 becoming placid,

RICHJIIOND COLLEGE llfESSENGER.

flowed off towards Rocketts like a great inbnd sea. There was considernble tlumage <lone here by the water, but owing to communication from up the river, nearly all the movable prnperty in the exposed dist rids was transferred to .places of s:ifcty licfc,re the bulk of water arriH<l hrrc. The wnter oyerflowccl the dty gns-,rnrks aml thus put the city in darkness for seYerul 11ights,execpt where the dcctric lights shone. l\lore dnnrngc was done to the railroads and wharns than anything 1:l:;e. The Allrghnny ron1l was mmblc to run trains for scnrnl days, owiug to the iuuudated condition of its trnl'k, and traffic was more or less dcl:iyc<l on all the roads centering here. " re are gla,l to be able to state that at this writing the waters have sub si1le1l an<l the river has put on its natural appearance.

grouncls. The Richmond Collrge lioys pluyed <'asily from the first, :mil udclccl to the score nt en'l'Y innin!!, Hnzm bntted a fine tlirec-ling-grr an;! Cutler mnde n beautiful catd1 in right-field. To Fiel,1 l1clong:-;the grratl'st prai se, us lie caught au nI most p(•rli:ctgame. Bduw is the ~core : nrnHll'.IOXD

CLUB,

.A.B. 1'l, B.H. P . O. A. E. Firlcl, c .. ·····.... 4 5 0 2 1 12

Davi~, )l ...... ... . . H. II :ll'l is. 1~t b .. \Villia1m, 2d b .... Gl't'g"OI')",311b ... . Hazen,~- s ....... . \Vil hm· . I. f ..... ... W. llani s. c. f .... Cutler, r. i .........

5 5 4 5 5 5

2 2 2

5 4

1 1

1 0 0 1 1 0 0

'l'otal s ....... 42

0 3

0 1

7 0 1 1 1 1 0 0

0 7

2 3

0 2

0 1·

0 1 0 1 2

IlAKlJOLPH-:IIACO~.

A.B. R. B.H. P.O. A. E. Lynch, c . .. ....... Talbott , p . .. ...... Hunt. 1st h .. ..... . Vau g han. 2tl b ... Cook<', 3Ll b ..... .. D eLeon, s. s .... .. Wil son, I. f ........

4 5 5 5 4 4 4 5

0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1

0 0 0 1 0 2

7 0

13 2

0 1

0 0 0

flASE-BALL.-The fullo\ring account 1 2 0 0 Pac e, c. L ....... 1 0 0 1 of the game of ball plrtye<l between the Marye, r. f.. ....... 5 0 0 1 0 first nines of Ramlolph-Macon and RichTotal s ... .... .. 41 3 5 24 17 8 mond College we copy from the Dispatch Thr ee-ba se hit s- Hazen, 1; DeLeon, 1. Willl pitche s-Davi s. 2; Talbott, 4. Ba~e on of April 18th. It is only necessary to balls-Davi s. 3; 'l':tlbott, 3. Pa ssed ballsacl<l that owing to the fact that Lewis, Lynch, 3; Field, 1. . the regular catcher of the Richmond ColWith this iss ue a uew corps of editors lege nine, had a broken finger, Mnxcey take charge of the Mc.~sen,c; cr, consistiug Field, of '83-'84, caught for the boys : A crowd ofohout300 people witne ssed a of T. R. Corr, H. N. Phillips, and C. A. game of ball Saturday afternoon between Folk, from the Philologian Society ;·an<l the first nine of Richmoncl Coll1•gc nn<l of ,J. 0. Alclcrmun, ' H. F. Cox, and L. the fh·st nine of Randolph-Maeon. The J. Haley, Jr., from the l\Iu Sigma Rho Randolph-Macons were unalile to make Society. a run until the seventh inniug, when Although entering upon our duties Marye, having gotten his base Oil balls, stole to thir,1, and reached home Oil highwith the press of cxamiuation upon us, fly muffed by the center-fickler. They we will sfrivc to keep the Messengerup succeeded in getting two more in the to its . usual standard of a spicy college eighth ; DeLeon knocking a thr ee-hagge_r, jonruul. bringing in Cooke, and coming in himself on a wild pitch. The ball knocked General Jackson's old Sorrel died some by DeLeon was the longe st hit ever made da y s ago, at the Confederate Sol<liet·s' on the college grounds, going all across the campus and into the professor s' Home. This faithful steed, that bore its

PERSONALS. gallunt rid er safoly tlirough so many "fierce conflicts, and so demeanecl himself as to merit the praises of all right-minded men, has nt Inst succumbed to that fate which laiJ low liis master on the Llood_yfield of Chrrnccllors\'illc. For tl1irty-onc long yean;: he succcEsfully battled with the enemy of life, but now his spil'it has departed, and like many other things of that , ill-fated era, di snpJJearing before the onward march of the rising generation, he has passed from existence into history. His skin was .taken to Kew York, where it wili be stuffed and presented to some . mu seum, but the brn, ·c soldier who, barefooted and ragged, followed him into the tliickest fray, will not recognize in this creation of man the fiery charger he lovecl so well.

The Thomas memorial hall is being painted ancl will be ready by next session to be used for the purpose for which it is designed-namely, as a lecture hall, whci-e the lectures procured by the Thomas · memorial fund will be delivered. It was· at first intendecl, we understand, to use· this hall solely as a museum, but after the•reception by the college of the ~bovenamed fund, it was decided to use it for a lecture hall. Our former fellow-student A. W. Hargrove, of '84-5, is general overseer in the work of painting the hall, and we know from his business character that the work will be pushed to completion as soon as possible. Owing to a fire at the printers' this numbeL' is necesarily delayed. We hope to be "on time " next month.

PERSONALS. Rev. C. S. Gardner, of '81-2, who for several years has been pastor of the Baptist church · at Brownsville, Tenn., hac,recently been called to an<laccepted the care of the Edgefield church, of Nashville. Rev. P. P . Mas sie, of '8:i-4, is pursuing a com se of study at Crozer Theological Seminary, Upland, Penn. Dr. J. G. Field, of '82-3, who for the last year, has been resid ent physician at the city almshouse, has removed to New York to engage in the practice of his profession. Rev. Carter H. Jones, o'f '81-82, was married on the 7th of April to Miss "' Anne McCown, daughteL' of Dr. J. W. ' ·,,, Mc0own, of Ciordonsville, Va. Our be~ t wishes attend the happy couple. W. W. Fi eld , of 1875- 6, who has

been practicing law at Gordonsville, Va., has remo,·ed to Tekoma, ·washington Territory, to pursue the practice of his profession. J. M. Whitfield, of '83-4, is st~dying medicine at the University of Virginia. George A. Hatcher, of Tennessee, who . was here dul'ing the session of '83-4, is this year at the University of Tennessee, at Nashville. L. R. Baghy, of King and Queen county, who was at college session '81-2, has lately paid his friends here a visit. ·we are al ways glad to sec you, "Lorn ." A. A. Scruggs, of '83-4, is at Crozer Seminary, Upland, Penn. Frank Wilson, of '83-4, is sttidying medicine at a medical college in Baltimore. How do you stand the warm weather these times, " Tug" ?

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

EXCHANGES. : With this issue the Jfcsscngc:rappears fn new h::m<ls,and it is with some mis-

Semina1'yis now before us ip a ,·cry pre-

The Texas University, thougi1 but young, presents a good appearance and some very readable matter. In the February number is a poem entitled "The San Marcos River," which, in our opinion, is above the average poem of the college paper, bearing some marks of real poetry.

The Burr lies before us, 1111d has just amused us by its entertaining matter. Iudeel:l, some very well gotten u'p material is stored away within ita bounds. we enjoyed reading the " Recollections of a Private."

sentable dress. Among the locals was gi dngs tliat WC step into tl1c pluees of the found by one of our boys, "Fannie soys retiring corps of editors, who have so well she would not for the world c-.irry a :fillecl them. Certni11ly we feel onr 111- match in her mouth. She snys she would be ufrai1l the gas would take fire." He aLiliiy to keep up to whnt has liccn before asks if she would allow one at her side, us, and cannot hope to do better. But, and thinks he would do. i11undertaking the conduct of Exchanges, College News an<l Fun, and Selections, The Wuke Fo1'e,st ~tudent is among the \YC hope to find sympathy among our most interesting and instructiYe of our frien<ls of the editorial castuntil we beexchanges. It is well gotten up, and come better acquainted both with them shows off well. Among its other point~ and om· work. If our predecessors have of excellenre and strength is its editorbl entertained yon l:ietter than we do this department. We look with real pleasure ,time, don't, we ask, be too hard on new to its monthly visit.. But it, seems to editors. \iYe will try tc:i get better acknow nothing of exchanges. quainted with you soon, and get more at home in our new sphere. Already we The Calliopean Clarion is at baud, unfind springing up within ns a warm feel- der the management of new editors. It ing of acquaintance and friendship tois well arranged, and presents a neat apwards those of you who have visited us pearance. We trust it will succeed well in our childhood, an<l hope we shall soon under its new management, if we are to be strong and lasting friends. judge from this number.

The Indiana Stu ,dcnt for March lies upon our table. It is a well published paper. Two well-written articles upon Civ,il Service Reform, and The Saloon System, are wor.thy of rema~lc It is · bright for its size.

The St. James Reveille is small; and while it contains some good things, _ it might, we think, enlarge itself and develop its rcrnurces a little. But we like to see it come to our sanf'tnm, and welcome it with pleasure. '

We fiud in the Blackbtwriian soV1e fifteen pages of matter. Some of , ft is

The March number of the Hage1·stown very good, but 'we think it might inipro,·e

EXCHANQES. somewhat upon its literary and editorial departments, and make them better than they are. " . The Bible CollegeExponent now lies by in a neat form, ipviting us to inspect it at more lei1gth. But we cannot in this number say ho~v we will be struck with thi~ y~ung paper, now in its first year. We will see ·m9re of it before'' our term is ·~ut, however, we hope.

thing which we find in it that has ca~sed us to be so interested. Philomathesian and csscquam videri malo are not entit-ely unknown to him. will look with pleasure for the next visit, of our new and interesting acquaintance.

·wo

The Hcrmcsian contains about twenty pages of interesting matter; at least some of it is interesting to us, while, we suppose, the Locals, &c., are intet·esting to others. Very good papet· and cover conAu interesting little paper is St. Cha1'lcs tribute to its appearance. c enjoyed CollegeGazette,which is bright and read~ reading an article entitle\i America able. It is right well arrangc,1, and for Decay, Like the Nations of Antiquity?" its size will compare favorably in matter and agree with the writer in regard to America's stability ; but disngrce in rewith others. gard to one of his statements, viz.: "In W' enjoy the Chimes from Georgia's Rome, seience, knowledge, and literature, she Where musicales find a home, [England] leads the uations of Europe.'' Where many a heart {vith pleasure swells Does England lead France in science? Responsive to those charming belles,

vY ",vm

Where Nature's Music sure appears, And Happiness unmixed with tears; There prose and poetry combine And many a pretty wreath entwine, 'fo crown the brows of maidens fair, Who modestly but well declare They can and will contest with peu . To show they're ,eg,nal to men. And but to see. is bnt to say · ' 'r'hcy well indeed contest the day. We love yon (may we?) chimes, and meet you .Wltll joy, although we cannot beat yon.

The Guardian fo1·March comes to us in mournin!?. Perhaps no other cxchanrre has, in so short a time, ·m9re interested the new Exchange editor. Why this is so, we can hardly say; for it is not as presentable as some others, being printed ' on poorer paper and having no extra good cover. True; thet·e are some interesting , ~articles in its literary department, but we ~4ink it is probably the familiar some. ,' ·'. ,.. I)

',.

.....

~\,

....,

The Southern Colltgian is :imong the best of our exchanges, but lack of time has prevented a full perusal of its pages. ,ve will, ho,rn,·cr, enjoy it in the future. We insert the follO\dng, dipped from it: " The Richmond CollogcJtfcs.~cnger is among our most sprightly :md 110\\'syexchanges; several of the articles are quite lengthy, nnd display no iuconsiJcrable amount of thought. The JJ[csscn,qer seems to have gotten into quite a discussion with a l\fr. John D1·y on the sul1ect of 'Prohibition,' but vindicates beyond a doubt its position in regard to the subject. The Scientific and Editorial departments are very interesting, while even the Locals are made readable (an occurrence very sel1lom met with in the average college journal). The Exchun~c colunm is quite complete, but, justly, certai11ly displaying a faint streak of vanity."

RICHMOND COLLEGE MESSENGER.

COLLEGE

NEWS

AND FUN.

In the United States are 370 universities and colleges. Dr. McCosh graduated from Princeton at the age of 17.

be chosen to deliver the oration at the celebration of the 250th annivcrrnry of Harvard's founding, which occurs November 7th.-Yalc News.

The Phi Delta Theta fraternity has established a chapter at Williams. The library at Dartmouth College is increasing 1,500 volumes ·a year. Senior K. asks if Brown, the Scotch philosopher, was the fou~der of Brown Uuiversit.y.-Ex. Librarian to Fresh: " Why do yon ,, ·F I ,' T o 1 res 1: want Bacons' work·s.? readjust beforedinuerwhen I'm hungry." What one of our number suggested to his lady friend that she play a duett with him on the mouth-organ ?-Ere.

Most visitors to Washington run the national capital and their own as well. In Central Park : Siie: "If the lion gets loose, whom · will you save first, yourself, or me ! " He: "Me." The Czm· of Russia <·::irricsa camera about with l1im, taking bis friends' pietures. Th<'y must be more h::md:;omc than the average colleboeboy.

She : " Where do they expect to get the music for the dance?" He (confusedly) : "At the book-store, I suppose."

Ex. A Cornell professor has remarked that the a,·ernge scholar;;hip of the young women at Cornell surpas ses that of the male students.-.&. Cornell Unh ·ersity has 60 instructors and 638 studentR, 2:3!)of whom are Freshme11,while the Senior class number only

84.-Ex.

In China not one man in a hundred or one woman in a hundred <'an read or write. Yale has almost completed the amount of $100,000 for its new gymnasium. Don Pedro, of Brazil, proposes to build an academy of fine arts-the first in South America. James Russell Lowell will probably

In the thirteen Southern States there are 97 colleges, which, with grounds, &c., are valued at $8,016,750. The aggregate amount of endowments is Fomething over $10,000,000. '

Barnum has purchased Alice·, the companion of the late Jumbo; she wi II reach this country soon. ('Tis not the companion of College Jumbos.) Among the Sophomore · class of Yule has been circulatc<l a petition asking the faculty to make astro11omy optionnl. \Ve thought Sophomores liked stars· and the moon. The· voluntary nttenclu11ceof students npo11 lectmcs a11d recitations is · being tried at Comell this year, but sul;ject to abandonment. A member of the debating society arises ::111<1 says :_" I mo,·c that, we elect the president of this tnceting hy exclama./ tion." (Great applause.)-1,x. It was Su11day night, and tlwy w.er~ rending a chapter together bcfo~c~·11iey parted. The footfall of the old mun was

COLLEGE NEWS A ND FUN.

heard just as she read the words, "Dust I matter is now in the hands of a committhou art," and Arthur dusted.-Ex. tee of the trustees who are to report in The Western States are as forward in ·! J(me. The establishment of a medical .,.·the . progress of colleges as in an3:thittg I school is also under consideration. else, _it .seems. In that part of our coun~ . ·.,"Pshaw! what if Davy Crockett was try are more schools falsely culled . col- cradled by an earthquake?" said C. M. leges tha\1 in any other part of the world _; S'. " ·l\f y grandfather was tougher than and in it, too, are more well-endowed col- !1<,J wns. Why, when he was a bahr, two leges. ~onths old, he took his father's pistol and ·bowie-knife, ran away from home, Rum.or says · that C. P. Huntington , President of the ·Chesapeake and Ohio an<l when his mama found him, he was playing Peek-a-boo with a rattlesnake, in system, will purchase the Hygeia Hotel a hornet's nest. He slept between iron at Oh.l Point. :. A waiter uncorked a bottle of wine in lllankets; in the wintci· these were made reil-hot. He slept so soundly, they had u Parisian cafo. " How long did yotu,ay ti> throw him out of the window to wake this wine had been bottk ·d ?" "Fourteen years." "Ah; that is a long time ,him up, and I, myself, shot a cat-fish 37 for a fly to live; sec, he is swiinming ·'times, and he just kept a swimming."-Ex. around quite livcly.l'-Ex. · We clip the following from nn excha11ge: "The faculty of a certain : uniYersity in Texas has three membersfather and two sons. The sons conferred the degree of LL. D. on the paternu11 aud he returned the compliment by making each of his boys Ph. D. The supply or' natural gas in the vicinity of Pittsbmg is so great that 264,000,000 cuLic feet go to waste daily. (Some of it must find its way to the soci~ty halls on l?rillay nighL) Cornell Univer sity has purchased ' the 'law Fbrary (consisting of 4,100 volurries) of the lute Merritt King. It is said that it is to have a law department, which

The SatU1·dayR eview gives some more illust.rations of the learning that is fostered by the English School Board crossexaminations. One is that "the earth's axis is ,a pole put thl'Ough the centre of the suil, which turns it round." Another pupil stated that" the Nile is the only rcmarkalile river in the wo1·ld. 'lt was discovered by Dr. Livingston, un<l rises in Mui1go Parle" On' ancient Britain the examinations brought out statements that ccJulius Cresai· invaded the country B. C. 400:i' ; that the women "wore their hair down their backs, with torches in thei1· hands" ; and that the " Dmids were aw ancient _people, supposed to be Roman Ccitholics."

. Which arc the two smallest things mentioned iu the Scriptures? . 'The wido,v'smite, a11d, the wicked flee. (flea).-Ex. ·

will do, and no one has ever yet done? ·Stop a minutc.-Ex. What was it ablind man took at break~ fast which restored his sight? He took a cup and saw,-sir: (saucer).

' : What is it we all foequ~ntly say we

RICH,!JffJ'J{D QQLl,;,EIJJJJ MESS,E$GER.

Mr.' E. ColbQrne Bai{er, in the ,Royal Geographical Society, -compare<l the shape of -the Islarnl of Formosa -to that of a fish. If he ·Hkened it •to a whale, he said, although he must confessit was not very like a whale, he might be aske<l to aeco11i1t for the blow-holes of the crP-ature·. These blow-holes actually exist in the north part-of the isl~nd, in the shape of stilphur pits-and caverns,•from whieh a great ,stream .of sulphurous -Yapor is e~nti11ua1ly spouting in many par.ts. Her Britannic ·Majesty's consul at !fomsui reside<lwithin an easy morning's walk of an inacth·e n1lcano. ·The summit was a cradle four ·hundred yards in -diameter, and ten ,rµil~_.q:ffw~s-a spP,t-.;\vhic}l,~vas Yery mucp.fav.~i:ed J.>y the Eurppeap ,inhahjta~is. T_her_e ,yas a ,ri:rer of ,hot wat~~, _and uot m~ny .yarJs qff ,a c,9ld WNE!r ;fa!l. Tp,e,riv~r iv~s fif~eu y~rd,s bro.adand:fiv,e or six feet, <J~'rll" w~ile the _col<lw,11terTfl!ll ;WA,S .fifty. or sixty ft:et ,jp height. ~he .~urroundiug ,tract ~vas,,of :co4rs~, burped gr,ouncl, w·here uo veget_atic;mcould ~xist; Jmt a qu_arter of,,a mile awqy. the flora was luxur~ant, , apcl tl~e b~t pineapples in Formosa,Jvh_i~ are the best in the world, were cultivated on the very margj,nof the_Aver.nus. Walter Coote has described some curious · moneys of the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. The inhabitants of Santa Cruze.Island use for money rope-ends about an inch thick, and , or.namented with .scarlet feathers, which are wor.n about the ,waist. ;The -money, of , the ' Solompn;,Islands consists of, nea;tly-workedpiecfs of sbe)l ,.J!~9ytJ ~e-~!ze9f:.,oµr,!!,\\ir,t::h',\ttoJ!s., They

are strung ,on string~ ab')ut four yards long, and are distfognishe<l un<ler the 1~ame&of reil ,a!1d whi_te money. • Dog teeth are of higher ':alue, and compar:iqle to our gold coins. They are usually worn on a string around the neck. l\1r. Coote saw a necklace of this kin<l that was valued at about.a ,hundrecl .dolla,rs. •1'forble rings are also worn on the b~east for ornaments, -a~d as valuable money. The currency table of t.hescislands would be.about as1follows: :10cpcoa-irnts:---1.stringofwhitemoney. )0 strings,of.white money-:;-_l string pf red rponey, or 1.dog~tooth. ,10 strings of.red money:-one isn, or 50 dolphins' teeth. · · ,19 .isa;;:-;l fi!1ew,oJDan. _l Jial,>ika,or1mnrJ>lering ;::;-l hea~ \y!t~1 the .h«wl-~ntlers, qr 1 :go_odhog, ,~r _l useful ~oung.ma_n. Montclai~, N. _J;, _pripes jtself up_op the scholarship ~nd inteHe1;f~~~tty . of i,ts yogpg }~dies. Havi ,ng for,n.iedaclgb.for weekly discussions respecting the relat[ve ~tanrling ,,of the pri.n~ipal p,<>etsof. H;e world, one.of the memb~rs or' the club ..a ' ' " few weeks since, pefo1·e,a large ~udienGe, ' . rea~ a brill ia~tl,Y. lpgi<;aland ,well-bala,1~ced .~ccouut of V,ipt91·Hugo's p~etical works. ~t. was ack,uowled.g~d•.no man I in the town cou]_d_h_ave ~qualled it. THE PEACHBLOW VAsE.-The famous peachblow vase, for which the late ¥rs. Morgan paid '.$10,00,0, a,nd ..which 1·ecentlysold. at ,.auc~ionfor $18-,00,0, js of / ovoid shape, .eight iuches l1iglqmd .threE;,, inches in diameter. It belo~gs1,~Q, Kongbe perJod, , which d~tes ,b;u;~ to

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SELEOTiONS: ·y

1_661, an'd ¾its once' the property 6f ii P1·esident and Profe·ssO'r~in the Scienfific Mandarin prince, Wang Ye, and formed Departmei1t, · must pu"t-sueu course of part of his -privdte coll'ectioi1. It is said study aild reseatch in ex~timental to be the finest specimen of ifs kind in physics for ·the . term of_one year, and the wor1d, and the peculiar color (peach- he may he appoiflted. The fi'tst inblow) from which it takes its name &ah- cumbent of the Fellowship is Michael Pussii:i, ,vhogrriduated at Columbia ·in not now be produced, as the art is lost. -18$3 ,vitli honors, and has since his It was purchased hy Mr. W11lters,of Baltimbie, arid will lie bne of the chief orua- g_raduatiofl beeti stttdying mathen1atics and physics at Ca111bri<lge, England; · n'ients of his wonderful collection. A telegrani from Catania announces Mount Etna to be in a state of eruption. Cinders and stoties are being continually th1'ow11up, and it is supposed that lava is coming out of the crater, but as it is covered by a dense mist, no proper observations ca11he taken. Slight shocks of earthquake have been felt at the foot of the mountain.

Of the three colleges-Coiumbia, liar-rnrd, and University of Pennsylvaniathat receh·ed the benefit of the Tyndall fund, Coitimbia has been the first to act, we leam, from science. Her trustees ha,·e recently drawn up a series of regulations in regard to the John Tyndall Fellowship. The Fellow, who is to be appointed ~n the recommendation of the

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