Chapter IV (5)

A touching bit of experience has been sent us by a member of the class of ’88. The writer had persuaded his son to join a circle, but, as he writes, “He attended one meeting of the circle and came home very much discouraged, declaring that he would not attend another meeting, urging as his reasons that he compared unfavorably with others, and that he would never be able to pronounce those horrid Greek names, etc. I tried to encourage him and advanced several arguments trying to show him what a great advantage this course of reading would be to him, but finally gave it up, fearing if I urged him so strongly he would become disgusted. I determined then to take the four years’ course of study myself, thinking that by having the books in our home, and sometimes relating anecdotes, incidents and historical facts gathered from these readings, that my boys might become interested for themselves. It is impossible for me to give my children the advantages of a liberal education, as my heart longs to do, and by getting them interested in the C. L. S. C., I hope to make up to them in some degree their loss of a college education.”

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.

AN AMERICAN DIPLOMAT.

There is very general regret, at home and abroad, that the new administration has removed Professor James Russell Lowell from the office of American minister at the court of St. James. There is no disposition to complain; but there is some natural wonderment. Mr. Lowell was an ideal American diplomat; he represented worthily the people as well as the government of the United States. It is no disparagement to his successor to say that no other American can quite fill the place Mr. Lowell has made for himself. It should be remembered that we, fortunately, have very little proper diplomatic business anywhere in the world; and whenever any serious negotiation is to be undertaken, it can be done at Washington. Our important treaties are made in the national capital; and our gravest foreign affairs are always directly administered by the Secretary of State. Since Franklin it has seldom happened that a minister has been entrusted with any grave duties or burdened with any serious responsibilities. Even during the civil war Mr. Seward managed at Washington the more serious business of the foreign department.

In this generation, we have had some successful foreign ministers; but their success has in every case been in non-official or extra-official lines. Mr. E. B. Washburne, our minister in Paris during the Franco-German war, won a high reputation, not as a diplomat of his country, but as an American minister entrusted, by an act of international courtesy, with the rights and welfare of Prussians in Paris. As the agent of the Berlin government during the war and siege, Mr. Washburne endeared himself to the large German population of Paris by his kindness, common sense, and energy in caring for a body of subjects of a hostile country. No one but a typical American could have done this work at all well. A man trained to diplomacy would have failed. It needed a man who could put his character and American office into a breach made by war, and devise means of providing for an extemporaneous necessity. Most men would have failed; Washburne succeeded because he was a typical American of the largest pattern—able, frank, tireless, resourceful.

In England, Mr. Lowell has, under different circumstances, developed a new line of diplomatic representation. He has represented the character and culture of the American people. The average politician supposes himself to be the typical American; the fact that we are ashamed of him is the sufficient proof that he is thoroughly mistaken. In what do Americans broadly differ from most other, if not all other, peoples? Is it not in this, that we are the great reading nation of the world? Our culture goes down to the bottom and reaches out to the extremities of our life. We have no class distinctions, no titled magnates, no rights of birth-privilege; and in the school rooms of the land the rich and the poor meet together, and our great newspapers go into the hands of both rich and poor. We are not so distinctly a nation of commercial people as we are a nation of people under an unexampled influence of general culture. A Professor who was much more than a professor; a man of the world who was also a man of books; an alert and quick, practical man who was also a poet; a gentleman who was, first of all, manly; a diplomat who was at home in a school room, could lecture on any literary theme, could instruct the educated Englishman in the history of his own men of letters; an American who knew Shakspere, Milton, Bunyan, the English Bible, and every shred of English art and song and event by heart—such a man has Mr. Lowell been in England. He was at home there on those levels of life and heights of achievement which are common to us and Englishmen; and his leadership there in literature and learning conferred honor on us in the precisely most honorable things in our character as a people. We simply are not philistines—hard dogmatists of dollars and precedents—we are a thoughtful, informed, studious and brainy people who despise wealth which is not held for the service of truth, well-being and progress. No man could represent us so well as a poet, teacher, essayist and scholar like Mr. Lowell. He could represent us at the level of those ideals and achievements of which we are not ashamed. We despise nothing so heartily as illiterate wealth; no other people on earth equal us in contempt for the commerce which has only sordid aims and results. The American merchant builds schools, museums, churches, asylums, hospitals—if he does not we despise him.

The problem in selecting the best foreign representatives is to secure men who will represent our national character. Our diplomacy is unimportant. Such as we have to do can be carried on at Washington. We want ministers abroad who will be typical Americans, whose conspicuous position will display in them the best and truest results of our unique social and political system. If they are honored abroad, as Mr. Lowell has been in unusual ways and measure, the honor is given to us and glorifies us. There is always a fool to say that our minister is more English than American—simply because Englishmen respect him. It is a poor kind of criticism, and fortunately there is less and less of it in the press. We all stand better abroad, command more honest respect, are better understood in our best characteristics, because James Russell Lowell has represented us in London. May his successor succeed to the full measure of this representative office.

The most distinguished honor ever conferred upon an American has come to Mr. Lowell. The English press, representing the best public opinion of that nation, invites him to remain., in England “as the unofficial representative of American literature, learning, manners, and knowledge of the world.” Nothing like that can be found in the long history of diplomacy. “He has been,” says one great journal, “a sort of guest-friend of England,” and it then describes him as “the most eminent American of this generation,” and adds, “Englishmen of all ranks and stations recognize in Mr. Lowell a faithful and jealous guardian of the interests of his country, and a type of all that is best in its intellectual and moral character.” There is not a word in all these encomiums which is not a eulogy of the American people.

THE CHOLERA.

The disease called Asiatic Cholera is at home in India. It travels, at long intervals, into Europe. There have been eight: or nine of these visitations during the century. The disease travels with man and his belongings; and since intercourse between Asia and Europe has become more swift and abundant, there is a tendency to more frequent visits of the dreaded scourge. In fact, however, this tendency has been overcome by sanitary science. Until last year, cholera had not been in Europe for sixteen years. It arrived the last previous time in 1866 and tarried into the next year. During all the intervening years, there was cholera on the Ganges, and an increasing flow of humanity between the two continents; yet sixteen years elapsed between the visits. Last year cholera landed from ships at Toulon and Marseilles in southern France, and produced general alarm in Europe. It swept around all the European coasts of the Mediterranean, and in the especially filthy towns caused a large mortality. It has doubtless wintered in Europe, and its second year is usually the worst. It can begin early and use the long summer for its desolating work. This is the second summer. It is probable that cholera will be a large feature of the health and mortuary reports of the year. European travel will be restricted by the caution which the prevalence of this disease inspires. American resorts for Americans will be unusually popular.

Will cholera visit us? In previous European visits it has always looked in upon us, sometimes the first, sometimes the second year. In 1866, it did not come, but did come in 1867. But the visit of that year was less baneful than any other we have had. In 1884, we escaped; can we escape in 1885? No doubt exists that we _can_. It is only a question of effective quarantine. The faithful discharge of their duties by all health officers at ports would exclude the unwelcome guest. And, at our principal port, where the danger is greatest, there is good reason to believe that the fidelity, wisdom and vigilance are equal to the emergency. Cholera is more likely to penetrate to us by some little-used door; the front gate will be securely guarded. At the smaller doors, there ought to be no danger. But there _is_ danger, and it is probably too much to hope that there will be adequate watchfulness. There is, even at New York, a long line of accidents to be reckoned with. It would not be surprising, however, if cholera got a foothold among us from the West Indies, landing in some southern port.

If it comes, what then? It should not be very successful in its work of death. It could be stamped out in any city with a well organized health force. In New York, a few cases would not be cause for any alarm—not half so much as if the cases were in some small and careless community. Still it is most probable that if it effects a landing it will travel over the country. We have had warning enough. It is a filth disease which can be cornered and killed by cleanliness, if the cleanliness foreruns it. If we wait to clean up filthy quarters in our towns until the disease arrives, it will then be too late to clean. We shall have a good measure of the sanitary condition of our cities, if the cholera visits them. It will do its terrible work in the unclean quarters of unclean towns. It will not stop there. Once established in a filthy quarter, cholera easily thrusts its arms into adjacent clean places. If the long and loud warning has been heeded, there will be little to fear from cholera. The cleanliness of our towns will discourage and expel the intruder.

What can individuals do? Keep cool and in good health. All epidemic diseases fix upon the infirm, the debilitated, and the fearful. The mortality from cholera is only about one death for four cases. In some epidemics of it, the rate is one in three cases; but among people who are well fed and in fair conditions of comfort, and have proper care, there are five chances of recovery to one of death. The high rate of mortality in some towns results from want of care and medicine. Popular rumor exaggerates the danger of death from cholera. It is a case of _ogne ignotum pro magnifico_—we know so little about it that we magnify the danger beyond all warrant of the actual facts. Some of our danger—perhaps most of it—will come from the enthusiasm of the reporters. Last January these enthusiasts discovered genuine Asiatic cholera in St. Louis. They were sure of it. The evidence was perfect, they said. Of course there never was, and never will be, a case of Asiatic cholera in St. Louis in January. But after summer begins, the “Lo here” will begin to alarm the timid. There are sure to be many false reports; the true one may be in the bundle. Let us hope it will not be—and keep cool.

We hope that inland quarantines will not be resorted to if the disease appears among us. They are useless as well as inhuman. They shut the intruder out of the gate, and he crawls under the fence. If cholera gets upon this continent, safety will be secured only by cleanliness of streets and houses. Clean people may die in clean streets, but it will be because there are unclean people in neighboring streets to receive and breed the disease. Nor should the well fly from the sick. The nurses and priests are safest in Italian cities. Those who fly, do so when it is too late, and carry the disease with them. And, after all, cholera may not visit us in 1885.

A REVIEW OF THE CHAUTAUQUA YEAR.

A very marked indication of the success of the Chautauqua Idea is the increase of imitations of our work; and this runs parallel with an increase of efforts to promote systematic culture among grown people. Dr. Samuel Johnson used to say that he did all his hard study when he was a boy, and he very properly lamented it. It is one of the strangest things in modern civilization that, except among a small body of professors and specialists, the world does its studying entirely in early life. If the chance to study, or the compulsion to study, be wanting in the first twenty years, the door is supposed to be shut forever. The Chautauqua movement tried to expose the folly of this method, and to show that persons whose education was neglected in youth may secure culture in middle life, or even in old age. History gave us examples enough; but Chautauqua has made thousands of new examples to illustrate the perfect practicalness of adult study. The success of Chautauqua has drawn general attention to the subject. A variety of plans for promoting the education of adults are coming before the public. We do not regard any of them as rivals; they will enlarge our public as well as make smaller centers of such culture.

The members of the C. L. S. C. who have gone with us over the subjects of this year will do well to look back over the road and see precisely what they have gone over. They will probably notice that their study and reading has not interfered with their regular pursuits and duties. They have been able to add these studies to their customary tasks and interests. It is a kind of gratuity, therefore, which they have received. It is so much in addition to other results of annual effort. They will further see that the amount of this study and reading is considerable. Good method has made odd minutes yield a bulk which would require weeks of consecutive and unbroken effort. The effect on the mind is better and more permanent because the study has been continued through a year. A college man of our acquaintance says that Professor Time does better work than any of his colleagues. Our C. L. S. C. members have had the instruction of Professor Time. Those who are finishing the course will do well to remember that they have learned how to learn without a living teacher. This is the best thing the C. L. S. C. has done for you—this helping you to study alone. A power of this sort ought to be cultivated and kept. The contents of any course of education should be small in comparison with the attainments which it renders possible. This large, broad, life-long self-education lies in the power to study alone without the fear of a master or the ordeal of an examination before one. This power colleges fail to give, and it is one of their weaknesses that they can not give it. When the taskmaster stopped, Samuel Johnson said that he stopped learning. We may doubt it, but in a sense Johnson was right. If any reader has acquired the power to _go on alone_ by pursuing the course, he has a rare piece of wealth, a capital which may produce the widest and best culture.

“LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD.”

The New York _World_ has done wondrously well to raise $30,000 by a popular subscription for the setting up of the Bartholdi statue in New York harbor. Our readers know that this colossal statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World” is a present from the French people, but that there has been no provision made for the cost of setting up the great work of French art. Various attempts to raise the necessary $100,000 have yielded but small results, and when the _World_ took hold of the matter the failure had become a very disagreeable joke for the press. Other newspapers have engaged in public enterprises. The New York _Herald_ sent a ship into the Arctic Ocean in search of the Pole. The New York _Tribune_ maintains by the subscriptions of its readers a “Fresh-Air Fund” which gives thousands of children an outing in the country during the hot months. The enterprise of the _World_ is, if possible, more praiseworthy, and its success in rescuing a lost cause is as honorable as it is unexpected. The subscriptions have been made by people of all conditions and fortunes, by boys and girls, by merchants, artists and laborers. A popular interest in the subject has been created, a great deal of information imparted, many mistakes corrected, and a popular support secured for a work of art. The work is in the line of large and healthy philanthropy, and the _World_ deserves unstinted credit. Let us all hope that it will carry the cause through to entire success.

We are, as a nation, still poor in public statuary. We have some good pieces and not a few failures. Perhaps many persons have feared that the Bartholdi statue is another monstrosity. Let them take courage; the _World_ has presented excellent evidence that the work is equal to its mission. The French people are to have a small edition of it set up in Paris, and eminent French critics are unsparing in their praise of it. Of course we can not be too confident of the effect of a statue higher than Trinity steeple or the pillars of the East River bridge, set up so as to face the sea and meet the eyes of the world entering the harbor of New York. On that point there is excellent artistic judgment in favor of the success of the audacious conception of the artist. We may now regard the plan as certain to be carried out at no distant day, and if it succeeds it will be one of the wonders of the world. A statue rising to the height of three hundred and seventeen feet above the waves—the familiar figure of Liberty confronting the world in our chief American city—will be a unique and impressive piece of art, if it be not an utter failure. The _if_ is not a large doubt; only the small doubt which attends the most perfect human work which is as yet untried. The _World’s_ popular subscription had passed $35,000 when these lines were sent to press, on the 28th of April.

EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.

A highly successful “Chautauqua Day” has been carried out at the New Orleans Exposition, under the leadership of Prof. E. A. Spring, Prof. W. F. Sherwin and the Rev. A. H. Gillet. An audience of over 5,000 people met in Music Hall to hear Bishop Mallalieu on “The Relation of Chautauqua to the Home and Society,” Prof. Sherwin on “The Story of Chautauqua,” talks from Wallace Bruce and the Rev. Mr. Gillet, and music from the Mexican Band. The great crowd was given Chautauqua badges and C. L. S. C. circulars, and taught the Chautauqua salute—the latter in compliment to Señor Payen, the leader of the Mexican Band, and the pet of the Exposition. One of the audience remarked on leaving the hall: “I have been at every day entertainment here since the beginning, and this has been the most successful, the best managed, the most interesting occasion there has been.”

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There has been an almost breathless attention given throughout the world during the past month to the attitude of England and Russia. Words have been weighed and steps measured with the nicest exactness. Affairs which in other times would take up columns are given corners. The prevalent opinion has been that war must come, though peace negotiations are being vigorously pushed. Could war be held off twenty years it might be that we should be so much wiser that arbitration might be made to prevail.

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The most active business which the United States Navy has had for years was caused by the Isthmus troubles. Our treaty with New Granada guarantees free and uninterrupted passage across the Isthmus. To secure this a force of 500 men and four ships was placed at Aspinwall after the insurgents had burned the city. They thence proceeded to Panama, which they succeeded in restoring to order. Not an easy thing to do, with the natives sympathizing generally with the rebels, and very suspicious of the “Gringoes,” as they call us, and with the French determined to have the credit of whatever restoration could be made.

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M. de Lesseps is firmly convinced of the advantages to America of the Panama Canal, prophesying in a recent letter that it will reanimate our merchant marine, will greatly enlarge our internal business, and make us, in short, commercial kings. It can hardly be doubted that were any one of the great schemes for interoceanic communication in operation, our whole system of exchange would be modified and our business multiplied. The chief question seems to be now, is the Panama Canal, Mr. Eads’s Tehuantepec Ship Railway, or the Nicaragua Canal likely to be the best for the United States?

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The recent conviction of two “saints” charged with polygamy is having a wholesome effect. The law which makes such a decision possible in Utah is the Edmunds bill, by which a man believing it right to have more than one living or undivorced wife at a time maybe challenged as a juryman. Under this law it is extremely difficult for a Mormon brought to trial to escape sentence, and the sentence is such that the fear of it will more than probably take a great deal of charm out of the doctrine of “spiritual wives.”

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The biographical department of the scrap-book compiler has had great opportunities to grow rich in anecdotes of General Grant this past month. His prolonged illness and the wonderfully sustained interest and sympathy of the public have led to many letters and stories getting into print which otherwise might never have been known. All of this matter but shows more and more clearly how just is our love and reverence for “our hero.”

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For the benefit of the international copyright there were held in New York recently, on two afternoons, Authors’ Readings. A notable galaxy of literary characters gathered on the stage. Among them were George William Curtis, Professor Charles Carroll, Julian Hawthorne, Will Carleton, W. D. Howells, the Rev. Robert Collyer, Prof. H. H. Boyesen, Bishop Potter, Mark Twain, Edward Eggleston, Henry Ward Beecher, and others. The audience which greeted the readers was large and appreciative.

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One of the most horrible accidents of the month of April was the collapse of eight nearly completed tenement houses in New York City. Twelve persons were injured in the fall. The investigation discloses a deliberate intention on the part of the contractor to use the poorest material obtainable, and a criminal—whether intentional or not—neglect on the part of building authorities to prevent his plan. Indeed, contractors who are honest in their work, state the commission cares more for the fee which puts a contract through than for the material put into the building. A vigorous public sentiment which would put a few such criminals into State prison might prove beneficial.

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“Arbor Day” is extending its conquests. Its latest subject is none other than the Province of Ontario, whose Minister of Education sends out a communication to all teachers asking that in the interest of sanitation and æsthetics the 8th of May be set apart as a holiday in every rural and village school, for grading school grounds, laying out walks, and setting out trees.

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Hon. B. G. Northrop, in a letter dated April 4th, writes: “Sixteen states have adopted ‘Arbor Day,’ and to that result the article in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and extracts quoted from it, have greatly contributed.”

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The Bureau of Education sends out a pamphlet on “Arbor Day.” It will help many a teacher to an interest in the scheme, and will tell him what trees to select, how to plant them, and how to arrange a program suitable for the holiday.

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The trouble which we have with foreign tongues sometimes enables us to heartily appreciate the blunders of the foreigner who tries our English tongue. We can not possibly make worse blunders with French than a late number of the aristocratic _Révue des deux Mondes_, when in its attempts to express in English the idea of a candidate favoring a railway it said, “_My politic is railway_.”

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One might almost call Lord Tennyson’s verses on “The Fleet” the literary sensation of the month. It is rather difficult to see just why the verses deserve the unstinted ridicule American papers have given them. Certainly they are tame, but Lord Tennyson is an old man—a man whom this generation ought to honor for the noble pleasure he has left to it and to its posterity. Were his lines much worse, courtesy demands that we remember that with age comes decay.

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The new Minister of Education in Greece, where the four Gospels are used as a reading book by the advanced classes in the primary department of the public schools, proposes to introduce them into the higher schools. The purity of the diction of the four Gospels makes them, regardless of other considerations, most desirable reading for children who are just forming their literary style.

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It is a sort of fashion which common sense people will be glad to adopt—the run on plain food which London society is said to be having. The Prince of Wales began it by cutting down every _ménu_ over which he presided, and he has had a larger following than usual—both the people who always follow and those whose good sense decides what they do, taking up the custom. It would be a wise lesson for both dinner givers and hotel keepers to learn that the quality of a dinner can not possibly depend upon the number of dishes.

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Bringing out a successful novelty in flowers or vegetables, is to a nurseryman what a bonanza mine is to a westerner, or a flowing well to an oil producer. The present season has several: There is a new lettuce with leaves like the oak, a red celery, a celery which blanches naturally and bears leaves like an ostrich plume; a pansy with blossoms two and one fourth inches in diameter; a zinnia round as a ball, and a mignonette with spikes twelve to fifteen inches in length, and of pure white. Perhaps the greatest novelty about the business this spring is the fact that in the cities the safe deposit vaults are receiving thousands of pounds of invaluable seeds for keeping—treasures quite as priceless to the seedsmen as the jewels which repose beside them are to their owners.

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Another compliment to America! When M. de Lesseps, the new member of the French Academy, was installed, in April, he delivered, it is said, the shortest speech ever delivered by an incoming Academician. Thereupon M. de Rénan complimented him on adopting the pithy, pointed style of _l’Amerique_.

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We are very glad to introduce the Chautauqua Town and Country Club, a new branch of the C. L. S. C., for the study of agriculture. Everybody is expected to do something in this novel society of practical out-of-door work. Everybody must raise a plant, or cultivate a bed, or care for an animal. A well known Orange Co., N. Y., farm is to be the working headquarters of the new organization, and its course of reading and experiment is under the control of Mr. Charles Barnard. Chancellor Vincent honors the organization with his supervision, a guarantee of success, and the headquarters of the C. L. S. C. have been extended to take in the business of the C. T. C. C. In July we hope to give our readers a broader look at this charming club.

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We called attention recently to Dr. Warren’s entertaining theory of the whereabouts of the garden of Eden. And now we have another explorer for this land-one Moritz Engel, of Dresden, who locates it about seventy miles southwest of Damascus. Herr Engel makes his theory almost as entertaining and plausible as does Dr. Warren his.

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The article on the “Natural History and People of Borneo,” which appears in this issue of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, is in reality an outline of a book, “Ten Years in a Jungle,” written by Mr. Hornaday, and soon to be published by Messrs. Scribner’s Sons. This work is to be fully illustrated and furnished with maps, and will give much desirable information on many of the points but lightly touched in the article.

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One of the most magnificent pieces of architecture in the world is about to be erected in St. Petersburg as a votive chapel commemorating the murder of the Emperor Alexander II., of Russia. It stands over the spot where he fell, is to be erected by donations from the entire nation, will cost $10,000,000, and will be completed, it is expected, in 1891.

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Mr. James Anthony Froude says in a recent article that the best histories are those which are written by men who hate “moral evil” and love “moral good,” and who are “afraid to tell lies” to defend their theories; as examples, he mentions, Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, and Carlyle.

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The readers of THE CHAUTAUQUAN are familiar with the _Chautauqua Assembly Daily Herald_, the organ of the Chautauqua meetings. The forthcoming volume will contain all the best things said on the Chautauqua platform and in all the meetings during the coming session, with comments on the great men who frequent Chautauqua during the months of July and August. In short, it will depict in all its interesting details the unique life of the great Assembly. This paper, with its nineteen issues, is the necessary supplement to the THE CHAUTAUQUAN, just as the Assembly is the supplement to the work of the year. Every reader of the C. L. S. C., every reader of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, every lover of Chautauqua should have the _Assembly Daily Herald_. For rates and address see advertisement in this impression.

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Evening High Schools are becoming a permanent feature in the school system of a number of our large cities. They deserve the heartiest support of educators and municipal authorities. In Cincinnati there is an evening high school similar in requirements to the upper grade grammar school; in St. Louis one which prepares students for the Polytechnic school of Washington University; one in New York which, in 1883, had an average attendance of 951 pupils; another in Boston which, in October 1884, enrolled 1,592 pupils. The character and the patronage are proofs sufficient that such institutions are in demand. A late circular from the Bureau of Education declares that “it is an institution which has come to stay, and that it has a more important future than can now be understood.”

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A hopeful sign to temperance workers is the favor with which the scientific temperance education bill has been meeting in the legislatures of various states. During the winter of 1884-5 this bill became a law in Nevada, Alabama, Wisconsin, Missouri, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Kansas, making in all fourteen states which require instruction in public schools concerning the physiological effects of stimulants and narcotics.

C. L. S. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR JUNE.

Inoculation for cholera is the latest preventive. A number of people have tried it in Valencia, Spain, and with perfect success, the authorities contend. Cholera virus is used. The patient becomes prostrated with a tumor in about twenty-four hours, but usually recovers in a couple of days. Certainly, if as sure as speedy, humanity has found a boon. It will be wiser, however, to wait until the cholera attacks Valencia before trusting too implicitly to inoculation for cholera.

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Unbounded curiosity has been displayed at the New Orleans Exposition, over the “Woman’s Department.” In spite of fate Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and her co-workers have succeeded in making it a success, and in getting a fair representation of what women can do. They have a literary department filled with scores of volumes written by women, a woman’s exchange, samples of ten thousand kinds of fancy work, of course, and, better than that, of engraving, wood-carving, drawing, silk culture and weaving; a novel niche is made by a display of patents taken out by women, and by blacksmith work and forging done by women. Could they transport a cottage with its inmates and let the work of home-making go on day after day, they would add the crown to their department.

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Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the _North American_ makes the remarkable statement that women have never been benefited by Christianity, but that their elevation is altogether due to the spread of Teutonic respect for noble women. One must naturally conclude that Mrs. Stanton has not studied her history thoroughly. Her statements sound very much like an attempt to build up a theory without respect to the facts in the case. Certainly no fact is better established than that with the spread of the doctrines of Christ came the elevation of women.

CHEMISTRY.

1. “De Saussure,” sō-sür, Horace Benedict. (1740-1799.) A Swiss naturalist who traveled extensively and made valuable contributions to science. Much of his time and attention were given to mountain researches. He constructed the best hygroscope, the instrument which indicates a change in the degree of moisture in the atmosphere. The cyanometer, an instrument for measuring the degrees of blueness in the sky, was also invented by him.

2. “Osmose.” The tendency of fluids, when placed in contact, to mix.

3. “Cotyledons.” The seed lobes which surround and nourish young plants. Endogenous plants, or inside growers, such as Indian corn, have only one cotyledon, while exogens, or plants that grow by making external additions, have two, as seen in the young pea.

4. “Hales,” Stephen. (1677-1761.) An English clergyman who gave much time to scientific study. He was the author of several works, among which was a book on the physiology of vegetables, entitled “Statical Essays,” which has been translated into several languages.

5. “Dean Trench,” Richard Chevenix. (1807-⸺.) A British clergyman. In 1856 he was made Dean of Westminster, and in 1864 Archbishop of Dublin. His publications are numerous, including poetical, theological, philological, and historical works.

6. “Venus fly-trap,” or dionæa. This curious plant is a native of the sandy bogs of North Carolina. It is a perennial plant, whose leaves grow from its roots. In the midst of them there grows a leafless stem, about six inches high, which terminates in a cluster of white flowers. The long, slender leaves bear at their extremities a second leaf, which has been compared to two eyelids joined at their bases; this leaf is fringed with stiff, bristly hairs, and on the upper surface there are three very delicate bristles on each side, so placed that a fly can not walk over the leaf without touching one of them. As soon as touched the two parts of the leaf instantly close over the victim and hold it in their embrace until death follows, and the insect is partly absorbed. The sensitiveness of the plant resides entirely in these bristles on the surface of the leaves. The juice from the glands attracts the insects, and the plant receives nourishment from their bodies, which are partly dissolved in a liquid which exudes from the leaves.

7. “Nepenthes,” or pitcher plants. A genus of plants whose leaves form receptacles for water. The plants are natives of the swamps in the East Indies and Australia. The linear-lanceolate leaves have at their extremities a long, spiral stem, at the end of which is attached an urn, or pitcher, of narrow cylindrical form, from six to twelve inches long, in the different species, which are of the same color as the leaves, in some varieties, in others spotted with red, and still others are of a blood red color. The pitcher is terminated by a lid which is sometimes closed. The pitcher is always partly filled with watery liquid. Honey is secreted around the mouth of the pitcher, and insects are found within it, which have been lured by the honey. These are supposed to contribute to the nourishment of the plant. For further description, see the article on “Borneo,” in the present number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN. There are some varieties of the pitcher plant found in the United States.

8. “Diatoms,” A species of microscopic plants belonging to the Algæ or sea weeds, growing in both salt and fresh water. For a long time they were thought to belong to the animal kingdom, and were classed among the animalcules, as they had the strange power of secreting from the water silicious shells. They grew in some places in such abundance as to form large beds of their shelly remains, the material of which is used for the polishing powders known under the name of tripoli. The species found now are exactly like the fossils. Ehrenberg says: “Species are to be found, in a living state, in situations where they have been propagated from times far anterior to the existence of man.” They may be obtained by allowing the water in which they grow to stand for a time, and then pouring off all but the slimy part at the bottom. The diatoms may often be seen to move a little in the water, from which it was supposed they belonged to the animal kingdom. Professor Bailey describes one very interesting species, as follows: “At one moment the needle-shaped frustules lie side by side, forming a rectangular plate; suddenly one of the frustules slides forward a little way, the next slides a little also, and so on through the whole number. These motions are constantly going on, and with such rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow them. The cause of the motion is wholly unknown, but it is probably mechanical and not vital.” One species in its growth takes on a fanlike appearance and is exceedingly beautiful. Fossil diatoms have been found in all the strata of rock formations. These with some of the minute creatures of the animal kingdom have left greater records of themselves than most of the higher forms of life. Extensive deposits of their silicious shells are found in various parts of the world. The city of Richmond, Va., stands on a layer of them which is eighteen feet in thickness.

ERRATA.—The first line of the second experiment, page 441 of THE CHAUTAUQUAN for May, should read: “A body is buoyed up in water by a force equal to the weight of the water it displaces.”

SUNDAY READINGS.

1. “Summerfield,” John. (1798-1825.) An American divine. He was born in England, and moved to New York in 1821. He visited many of the large cities, where his eloquence drew crowds to listen to his sermons. He founded the American Tract Society.

2. “Krumacher,” Friedrich Adolph. (1768-1845.) An eminent German theologian, pastor of the Reformed Church at Crefeld, and later pastor at Bremen. He was the author of many works, both in prose and poetry.

ANIMAL BIOLOGY.

1. “Batrachia,” bā-trāˈkĭ-ä.

2. “Ophidia,” ō-fidˈĭ-ä.

3. “Lacertilia,” lā-ser-tilˈĭ-ä.

4. “Iguanodon,” i-guāˈnō-don. This gigantic fossil reptile was discovered in the year 1882, in the Wealden beds of Kent and Sussex, also in the Isle of Wight, by Dr. Mantell. The enormous bones were very abundant, and from a close study of them, it has been estimated that the extreme length of the reptile must have been twenty-eight or thirty feet, of which the head was three, and the tail thirteen feet. It stood higher above the ground than any reptile now in existence. The teeth, which bear a remarkable resemblance to the teeth of the American lizard, the iguana, from which it was named, show that the animal was herbivorous. It probably fed on the trees growing along the borders of swamps and streams, and was able to lift its body for this purpose on its hind legs.

5. “Megˌa-lo-sauˈrus.” The word comes from the Greek, as do nearly all the words in this list, and means great lizard. The bones found in the rocks of the Oolite formation, the one next below the Wealden, show the animal to have been terrestrial and carnivorous. It fed upon smaller reptiles and the young of the larger orders. Its huge body was supported on four large, strong legs, the hind ones being estimated to have had a length of nearly six feet. The length of the animal must have been thirty or forty feet. In the first estimates made of all these saurians, their size was overestimated, the body of the iguanodon having been given as seventy feet in length, and the megalosaurus as sixty or seventy feet.

6. “Pleˌsi-o-sauˈrus.” The word means like a lizard. It is a remarkable fossil sea-reptile, which shows a long, snake-like neck, in which there are thirty-three vertebræ, ten more than in the longest neck of any bird. The body and head are comparatively short. Its whole length, when living, was probably twenty-five or thirty feet. Buckland describes it as follows: “To the head of a lizard it united the teeth of a crocodile, a neck of enormous length, resembling the body of a serpent, a trunk and tail having the proportions of an ordinary quadruped; the ribs of a chameleon, and the paddles of a whale.” There were fifty teeth in each jaw. Conybeare says of it: “That it was marine is evident from its paddles; that it may have occasionally visited the shore, the resemblance of its extremities to those of the turtle may lead us to conjecture; its motion must have been, however, very awkward on land; its neck must have impeded its progress through the water. May it not therefore be concluded—since, in addition to these circumstances, its respiration must have required frequent access to the air—that it swam upon or near the surface, arching back its neck like the swan, and occasionally darting it down at the fish which happened to float within its reach? It may, perhaps, have lurked in shoal water along the coast, concealed among the sea weed, and, raising its nostrils to the surface from a considerable depth, may have found a sure retreat from the assaults of dangerous enemies, while the flexibility of its neck may have compensated for the want of strength in its jaws and its incapacity for swift motion through the water, by the suddenness and agility of the attack which it enabled it to make on every animal fitted for its prey which came within its reach.”

7. “Ichˈthy-o-sauˈrus” (fish-lizard). This animal, which also is known only by its fossil remains, must have been about thirty feet long. It had enormous eyes, a long and large head, a mouth armed with powerful teeth, and a short neck. The body was fish-like in form, and the four paddles, resembling those of a whale, were comparatively small. The tail was long and gradually flattened toward the end; it was the principal organ of locomotion. They were very active in their movements, and consequently were dangerous enemies to all other animals living in the sea. Their food consisted chiefly of fishes.

8. “Chelonia,” kē-loˈnĭ-ä.

9. “Loricata,” lŏrˌi-cāˈtä.

10. “Aves,” āˈvēs.

11. “Anchylosed,” angˈkī-losed. United; made fast; stiffened.

12. “Esophagus,” e-sofˈa-gus. The passage leading to the stomach, through which the food and drink pass.

13. “Raptores,” rap-tōˈres.

14. “Insessores,” in-ses-sōˈres.

15. “Cursores,” cur-sōˈres.

16. “Grallatores,” gralˌ-lā-toˈres.

17. “Natatores,” natˈ-a-tōˈres.

18. “Monotremata,” monˈo-tremˈa-tä.

19. “Edentata,” ē-denˈta-tä.

20. “Armadillos,” ar-ma-dilˈlōs.

21. “Sirenia,” sī-rēˈni-ä.

22. “Cetacea,” sē-tāˈsē-ä.

23. “Cheiroptera,” kī-ropˈte-rä.

24. “Rodentia,” rō-denˈshĭ-a.

25. “Ungulates,” unˈgū-lates.

26. “Pinnigrades,” pinˈni-grades.

27. “Plantigrades,” plantˈĭ-grades.

28. “Digitigrades,” digˈi-ti-grades.

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Those who wish to carry on further the study of Animal Biology will find a wide range of reading on the subject awaiting them. We append a list, but are unable to give publishers and prices: “Comparative Zoölogy,” by James Orton; “Methods of Study in Natural History,” by Agassiz; “Principles of Zoölogy,” by Agassiz and Gould; “Elementary Biology,” by Huxley and Martin; Wood’s “Illustrated Natural History;” Jones’s “Animal Creation;” “Elements of Zoölogy,” by Holder; Packard’s “Zoölogy;” Nicholson’s “Manual of Zoölogy;” “Winners in Life’s Race: or, The Great Backboned Family,” by Arabella B. Buckley; “Life and her Children: or, Glimpses of Animal Life from the Amœba to the Insects,” by Miss Buckley.

For special studies: Lyell’s “Antiquity of Man;” Blumenbach’s “Natural History of Man;” Huxley’s “Elementary Lessons in Physiology;” “Sea-side Studies in Natural History,” by Agassiz; Taylor’s “Half-hours at the Seaside;” Dana’s “Corals and Coral Islands;” Duncan’s “Transformation of Insects;” Packard’s “Guide to the Study of Insects;” Coues’s “Key to North American Birds;” Jordan’s “Popular Key to the Birds, etc., of the Northern United States;” “Birds of North America,” by Baird, Brewer and Ridgeway; Baird’s “Mammals of North America;” Scammon’s “Marine Mammals of North Pacific;” Coues’s “Fur-bearing Animals of North America;” Huxley’s “Manual of Vertebrates;” “Tropical Nature,” by Wallace (a work on reptiles); “Check List of North American Reptiles and Batrachians,” by E. D. Cope; “Game Fishes of the United States,” by G. Brown Goode; “Blind Fishes of the Mammoth Cave,” in “American Naturalist,” vol. vi., p. 6; Holder’s “American Fauna;” Agassiz’s “Development of Osseous Fishes;” Gunther’s “Introduction to the Study of Fishes;” Packard’s “Guide to the Study of Insects,” also his “Half Hours with Insects;” Wood’s “Strange Dwellings,” “Natural History,” and “Homes Without Hands;” Burmeister’s “Entomology;” Lubbock’s “Ants, Bees, and Wasps;” McCook’s “Agricultural Ants of Texas;” “Crustacea of the United States Exploring Expedition,” by J. D. Dana; “The Lobster and Lobster Fishing,” by W. W. Wheildon; “Barnacles,” by J. S. Kingsley; “The Cray Fish,” by Huxley; “Terrestrial Air-breathing Mollusks of the United States,” by W. G. Binney; “Our Sea Anemones,” by A. E. Verrill; “The Atlantic and Depths of the Sea,” by Thompson; Leidy’s “Fresh Water Rhizopods;” Pritchard’s “Infusoria.”

Serial publications containing much matter in regard to these subjects are _Popular Science Monthly_, _American Journal of Science_, _American Naturalist_, _Smithsonian Contributions_, _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_, and _Nature_.

COURSE OF READING FOR 1885-6.

Roman History and Latin Literature.

Studies in Italian History, Biography, and Art.

Political Economy.

Studies in Human Nature.

Studies in Robert Browning.

Electricity.

Philosophy, International Law, etc., etc.

The books for the course will soon be announced.

J. H. VINCENT.

NEW HAVEN, CT., April 27, 1885.

PARAGRAPHS FROM NEW BOOKS.

“Look there, my dearies!” and she pointed to a little blue and white tea-pot on the high mantel-shelf above the hearth, on which they were sitting. “Last night, when they’d taken Ben away, and I couldn’t finish t’ psalm, and I couldn’t do much more praying than a little bairn thet’s flayed and troubled in t’ dark night, I lifted my eyes to thet tea-pot, and I knew t’ words thet was on it, and they wer’ like an order and a promise—a’ in one; and I said, ‘There! thet’s enough, Lord!’ and I went to my bed and slept, for I knew there ’ud be a deal to do to-day, and nothing weakens me like missing my sleep.”

“And did you sleep, Martha?”

“Ay, I slept. It wasn’t hard wi’ t’ promise I’d got.”

Then Phyllis took a chair and stood upon it and carefully lifted down the tea-pot. It was of coarse blue and white pottery, and had been made in Staffordshire when the art was emerging from its rudeness, and when the people were half barbarous and wholly irreligious—one of half a dozen that are now worth more than if made of the rarest china, the “Blue Wesley Tea-pot;” rude little objects, yet formed by loving, reverential hands to commemorate the apostolic labors of John Wesley in that almost savage district. His likeness was on one side, and on the other the words, so often in his mouth, “In God we trust.”—_From “The Hallam Succession,” by Amelia E. Barr._

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Discriminate in the use of AND and TO. Instead of saying “Go _and_ see them before you leave;” “Try _and_ help him obtain a place;” “Come _and_ meet our friends at my house;” say “Go _to_,” “Try _to_,” and “Come _to_.”

Discriminate in the use of the word ARTIST. Keep _artist_ to designate the higher order of workmen; as painters, sculptors, musicians, architects, and the like. Don’t use it to designate barbers, laundrymen, tailors, etc.

Discriminate in the use of BAD. Don’t say “I have a _bad_ cold;” say “a _severe_ cold.” As colds are never _good_, we should not say they are _bad_. We can have _slight_ colds, or _severe_ colds, but not _bad_ colds.

Discriminate between BAD and BADLY. Don’t make the mistake, so frequently made, of saying “I feel very _badly_.” Use _bad_. _Badly_ is an adverb, and should not be employed. One might as well say “I feel _happily_,” instead of _happy_.

Discriminate between BALANCE and REMAINDER or REST. Don’t say “The _balance_ of the library remained unsold;” “He spent the _balance_ of the evening at home;” “The _balance_ of the money he left in their keeping;” “We will now have the _balance_ of the toasts.” Use _rest_ or _remainder_. Balance denotes the excess of one thing over another.

Discriminate in the use of DEPOT. The best critics contend that we should not call a _railway-station_ a _depot_. A _depot_ is a place where goods or stores of any kind are kept.

Discriminate between HAD RATHER and WOULD RATHER. Don’t say I _had rather_ not do it; say I _would rather_ not do it.

Discriminate in the use of POLITE and KIND. Don’t say “your _polite_ invitation was received;” “You are very _polite_ in being so obliging;” “They gave us a _polite_ reception.” Use _kind_.

Discriminate in the use of SUCH and SO. Don’t say, “_Such_ a handsome bonnet;” “_Such_ a lovely girl;” “_Such_ a rough road.” Use _so_ handsome, _so_ lovely, etc.—_From “Discriminate.”_[M]

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ONE MEANS OF HELPING RUSSIA.—But there is no obstacle which can not be overcome by energy, spirit of sacrifice, and courage. The Russian despotism must and will be destroyed; for it is not permitted to the stupid obstinacy of one, nor to the infamous egotism of a few, to arrest the progress and light of a nation of a hundred million souls. We can only wish the mode of execution of the unavoidable may be the least disastrous, least sanguinary, and most humane. And there is a force which can strongly contribute to this—it is the public opinion of European countries. It is strange, but quite true; Russian governmental circles are much more impressed by what is said about them in Europe than by the wailing of all Russia from the White Sea down to the Euxine.—_From “Russia Under the Tzars,” by Stepniak._

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