entrovilMltgE.
LETTER FROM MOBILE,
MOBILE, ALA., December 4, 1865.
Having occasion to spend a few weeks
in visiting various points of our Southern
country, an opportunity has been af
forded Of obtaining a more correct yew
of the social, civil, and religious ascts
of the people of the South than could be
had in any other way.
Much has been said at the North
about the social condition of, the. Freed
men, and the apprehension has been ex
pressed that much suffering must ensue
in consequence of a sudden transition
from a state of servitude to that of free
dom.
•It is greatly to be apprehended that
these fears will be more than realized,
and it behooves " The Freedman's Aid
Societies," and other agencies that are
now laboring in the North to meet the
emergency, to put forth the most vigor
ous efforts to mitigate the threatened
evils, before the social fabric, now in
process of reconstruction, shall be put
upon a firm and enduring basis. Greater
efficiency must be given to these agencies,
and more enlarged liberality evinced to
make these efforts effective. It was
stated to me a few days since, by a
northern gentleman traveling in the
South, that. during the last six months,
not less than seiii, thousand of the
colored people irt the" Vicinity of Baton
Rouge had qied eiticet of disease or
starvation. In Savannah, also, and its
neighborhood, the mortality among the
Freedmen has been very great. The
highest estimate has been nearly twenty
thousand. Disease and starvation must
necessarily make greater' havoc among
them ,as the season advances, and the
weather becomes more severe. I say
again, let the North be up and doing,
and extend a helping hand to our suffer
ing fellow-men, although of another race
and color. . Our charities were not want
ing when the cry canie across the ocean
that the sons of " Erin's Isle" were
dying of starvation. " Bread enough
and to spare" was sent to their relief.
Let usi not be backward in extending
the necessaries of life to our suffering
colored people on our own soil.
This state of things cannot be of long
duration, although a vast amount of suf
fering may ensue before the new regime
is fully inaugurated wherein labor shall
find a just equivalent.
The question might here be asked,
why should freedom to the slaves be
followed with so much suffering ? Vari
ous causes may be adduced, among
others :
First. That the blacks are ignorant,
and for this, their late masters only are
to blame, whose policy, as thefsupposed,
was to keep them so. Consequently
they are improvident, and have no just
ideas of economy, thrift, or manage
ment.
Second. They do not know what con
stitutes freedom. Very many suppose
they are at liberty to do as they please,
and live a migratory life of idleness,
theft and plunder. Hence, in the pre
sent disorganized state of society, and
with the present scarcity and high prices
of provisions, planters and others are
being robbed of cotton, corn, and live
stock.
Third. The opinion very extensively
prevails among them, that after the first
of January next, confiscated lands will be'•
parceled out to them.by the Government
authorities to cultivite for their support.
Hence, they are not disposed to labor,
or enter into any contracts with their
former masters.
Planters, on the other hand, are not
'prepared for the new order of things in
the cultivation of their cotton fields.
Very many are so impoverished in con
,sequence of the war, that they are un
able to employ hands, and dread the ex
periment. Others, again, will find it
difficult to procure hands, although they
may be able to remunerate them. Be
sides, there is a growing feeling of antag
onism between the white and colored
population, consequent upon the war.
A. distinguished minister of the Presby
terian Church, said to me, a few days
since, "that the conflict now going on
between the white and colored popula
tion, will terminate in the extinction of
the race; and the mistaken policy of our
Northern philanthropists will then be
apparent."
Some time must elapse before these
questions of conflicting,,interest shall be
put to rest, and the South only then,
with these questions entirely settled and
out of the way, will start on a career of
prosperity unknown in her former _ his
tory. Till then, it is generally believed
that the cotton crop will be light. Hence
speculators are now buying up the stock
on hand, at present rates, with a view
to realize at much higher prices.
It is painful to witness the demoral
izing influence of the war upon the in
terests of religion. Scattered flocks, dis
organized Sabbath-schools, benevolent
agencies suspended, pastors dishearten
ed, and defection in church members,
are causes of sorrow in almost every
portion of the South, and a long time
must elapse before an aggressive move
ment can be made by the churches, with
any large hope of success.
In this city, with a population of fifty
thousand, neither the Bible, Tract or
Sabbath-school Societies, have any de
pository. Nor are there any religious pe
riodicals circulated,—not even the Chris
tian Observer, published at Richmond,
has a foothold here. Sabbath-schools
barely exist. With a population from
eight to ten thousand offsuitable age to
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21, 1865.
attend, it is doubtful whether four hun
dred were in attendance last Sabbath in
all the schools. The same is true, to a
very great extent, in the metropolis of
the South, New Orleans. These two
commercial cities of the South, in a
moral and religious aspect, fairly repre
sent the entire Southern territory.
What a wide field is here presented
to the friends of Christ in the North, for
judicious Christian effort( J. S. C.
NATIVE RELIGIONS OF CHINA,
Fun Cl:Liu, Sept. 20, 1865
In previous letters I have spoken of
foreign religions in China:Mohammed.
anism, Judaisni, Nestorianism, Roman
ism, and ChristianitY. I will now speak
of the native religions, by which is meant
those that have sprung from the Chinese
mind, or that have been so long domes
ticated as to be claimed by the people as
peculiarly their own. To do full justice
to so broad a theme, would require a
long series of articles ; but this is very
far froth the writer's design, and would
scarcely comport, perhaps, with the f so
ciable and popular tone of a family nezys
paper. Let us rather give within..the
brief limits of a single article, some use
ful hints, which may convey to the minds
of our readers a tolerably clear concep
tion of the vast extent of Chinese wor
ship. And then let future communica
tions incidentally fill the picture by ex
hibiting its phases, its spirit, its woeful
results in blunted consciences, dwarfed
minds, and polluted morals, as brought
to view in ordinary missionary experi
ence and labors.
If you 'ask a Chinese how many sects
or religions there are, he very glibly an
swers, Ju tau, shift san kiau, which
means literally, and in the order of the
words, the learned, rationalist, and Bud
hist ; three doctrines. This will make
a good text, especially as it so naturally
divides into three heads. We will place
the names of the three founders or pat
rons at the head of as many paragraphs,
of which one shall be long and the other
two short.
Confucius was born B. C. 549, and
is, in the estimation of his countrymen,
par excellence the prince of letters and
philosophy. At the early age of twenty
two he became a public teacher, and
during his long life of seventy-one years
his migratory home was resorted to by
multitudes of the young. The common
saying is, that his disciples numbered
three thousand, of whOm seventy-two
were chief. He taught politics, music,
sacrificial rites, virtue, morals, good
breeding, and ideal perfection, by shad
owy and impracticable means. His
mind, and of course
,its .expression, re
volve heavily and'4.olohotonously about
the duties pertain - 14%i. the five social
relations of sovereign and minister,
father and son, husband and wife, elder
and younger brothers, friend and friend.
The chapter in his history about his
politics is a curious one. In his time
the empire was broken into numerous
principalities or dukedoms, yielding only
a partial allegiance to a king or emperor.
The sage traveled many years from one
dukedom to another, sometimes accept
ing office, but always coveting the more
honorable post of princely - advisor or
censor, which virtually made him the
prince's superior. His grand idea of
perfect success in governing assumed
that official virtue and propriety would
inevitably secure the same in the gov
erned. His faith in' human nature and
in good models was implicit. He de
clared that the people would respond to
the virtue of the ruler as the grass bends
to the wind, and that the whole empire
might be brought to a state of happy
tranquility " as easy as one can look on
the palm of his hand." In a few isolated
cases he was indeed quite successful in
bringing order out of anarchic chaos.
But for the most part his failures were
signal, and humilitating. Despondency
consumed his spirits in his old age. He
says, gloomily, no intelligent monarch
arises ; no one in the empire will make
me his master." He complained most
bitterly that no prince would adopt and
carry out' his principles. And such was
the dream of human perfection in the
China of B. C. 500.
Confucius, was a philosopher, and in
this position wise for his time, though a
politician. His chief honor, as a sage,
is due to his moral and ritualistic teach
ings, and to the fact that he rescued
from oblivion and revised the classics of
ancient sages, the poems, the book of
rites, of history and of diagrams. His
only original work was a historical one
called " Spring and Autumn."
He is the patron saint or divinity of
the learned sect, which embraces the
literati of the empire. It is for this
reason that they are often called Confu
cianists. Yet it is not, strictly speaking, a
religious sect, any more than the disci
ples of Greek philosophers were such. It
is rather a grand literary fraternity : its
creed, the civil, ritual, and moral apoth
egms of the books. It has temples and
pays divine honors to sages, but employs
no priests. Its stated services over, the
sacred building is left in the care of a
simple acolyth. And then its adherents,
officers and people, are as much addicted
to other idolatries as is the veriest
Tauist or Budhist.
The arrangement of a Confucian tem
ple is marked by extreme simplicity. A
large open court, steps in the ,rear to a
raised altar place, where are placed five
gilded tablets; other tablets, seventy
two in number, in porches by the
sides of the court, thirty-six on each
side ; these with a few altar tables and
vases, are about all. On two set occa
sions, called the Spring and Autumn
sacrifices, the high mandarins visit
these temples in great state, and under
the direction of a laseng (master of rites)
perform their devotions before the tablet,
while• prayers are pronounced invoking
the presence of the sage's spirit. Offer
ings are made. Here they consist of a
whole ox, pig, and goat, dressed, but not
cooked ; tea, rice, beans, wheat, and
millet, in various vessels of bamboo,
brass, and iron, with burning. incense
and candles, and the accompaniment of
a powerful orchestra of bells, gongs,
drums, pipes, lutes. The waving of
pheasants' tails also graces the perform
ance. Only the official and literary
circles worship on such occasions, and
those of them who have contributed the
offerings share them afterwards in their
own homes: It has been estimated that
there are 1560 Confucian temples in the
empire, and that the yearly offerings
amount to some 62,000 animals of vari
ous sorts, (including, besides those above
mentioned, rabbits and deers), and 27,-
0.00 piece's of silk. It is a noted fact
that in Fuh Chau, rolls of paper are
used to represent the silk ! But the sage
is not to be put off with this amount of
worship. Throughout the empire he is
worshipped in colleges anrschoolrooms,
as well as in provincial and district tem
ples. Here is a simple strip of paper
with four words, meaning " Teacher and
exemplio of ten thousand ageS." - This
is pasted on the wall. On the opening
of school, after the new-year festivities, a
formal worship is held before these
words, and daily every lad, tin entering
or leaving school, gives them an infor
mal salaam. This cheap bit of prayer,
or rather the words on it, answer the
purpose of lodging the sage's spirit, just
as the central tablet does in the temples,
while the other tablets perform a like
office for his disciples and other sages
otthe medium and inferior grades.
•Yet, after all, the sage is not properly
a religious teacher. A disciple once
asked him about death. He replied,
"We cannot understand life, and how
can we know about death." He also
once said, " You cannot serve men, how
then can you serve their spirits ?" and
his advice was to attend to human
duties, and keepAetrOthat aloof from
spiritual thingo4: l Ws',hedeclared, was
true wisdom. admissions seem
fatal to the claim that' his teachhigs
suffice human wants. He studiously
avoided subjects which the soul of man
regards of supreme importance. And
yet his disciples regard him as the per
fect man. His grandson, Tsze-sze, by a
stretch of audacity, likens him to heaven
and earth in their supporting all things.
" His fame overspreads the empire and
extends to barbarous tribes. He is the
equal of heaven. Who can know him
but hp who is of all embracing know
ledge, possessing all heavenly virtue."
How does this fulsome praise compare
with Confucius's humble opinion of him
self as a " transmitter," not a "maker,"
of doctrine, or with the startling evi
dences gleaned from the books them
selves, that while he - taught the virtue
of sanctity,. he praised falsehood in
others, was himself guilty of the sin, and
even deliberately broke his oath on the
ground that the end justified the means?
The instances alluded to are sufficient
to show WI - gposition Confucius must
occupy in history. And the praise
uttered by his grandson, though very
extravagant, indicates what place he
occupies in the hearts of the Chinese.
Yet not exactly in their hearts, for no
one now obeys his precepts any more
than those of his own time did. Still he
must be prayed and bowed to. The path
of leariaing and road to official dignity
are strewed with such honors from youth
to old age. The school boy must bow'
to the sage in the slip of paper on the
wall, so that he may learn and recite his
lesson well. Students and collegians
must secure his benignant favor in their
'struggles for literary degree and civil
office. All would as soon think of get
ting along without money and rice, as
without the smiles of the " Great, com
plete, extreme Sage." C. C. B.
HAVE WE A BIBLE RITUAL ?
MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND :—ln my
last, I promised to illustrate the refusal
of the Bible as a rubrical directory, by
reference to the practice of all the
churches. Our own Church declares
her view of the matter by the publication
of the Directory - for Worship ; a gross
impertinence if the Bible contained one
already. Her view ,of the` non-funda
mental character of these regulations,
however, is very decidedly exhibited by
her refusal to place the Directory for
Worship on the same level as the Con
fession of Faith, by making it a term of
communion. The distinction is found
ed in the nature of things : truth is uni
form, worship is multiform ; witness the
different liturgies of the Hindoo, Negro,
and Scottish Covenanters, equally ap
proved by Synod, and accepted of God.
On examining the Bible with the view
of compiling a rubrip and liturgy there
from, one is surprised at the want of ma
terials: The Bible is silent about the
forms of worship just where we would
suppese it would be most necessary to
speak, if it is to be our standing direct
ory of worship. It is eloquent on the
spirit of worship, but strangely inatten
tive to records of forms. Of the three
great universal ordinances, it furnishes
neither rubric nor liturgy - . No man pre
tends to find the order of congregational,
matrimonial, or funeral services in the
Bible. Such fragmentary notices of a
historical kind as we can extract from
its pages, we feel ourselves at full liberty
to criticise, adopt, or reject. Yet, nine
tenths of the worship of mankind has
ever been, and must always be, present
ed in the public worship, marriage and
funeral services.
Offering is the primary and fundamen
tal act of public worship. When we
seek the origin of public worship, we
find no record of a " Thus saith the
Lord" for its institution, and are obliged
to argue its Divine origin by a chain of
inferential reasoning. Is it at all likely
that the Author of the Bible could have
been thus reticent, had He designed
the book as the rubric and liturgy of His
church ? 'The very first historical notice
of its existence is fatal to the notion of
uniformity, with which so many good
people are afflicted. For, if we admit
that sacrifices were offered in consequence
of an unrecorded Divine revelation, as
all theologians, save the German Neolo
gians, are agreed, we are presented with
two widely different ceremonials, adapted,
respectively, to agricultural and pastoral
notions, and both of Divine appointment.
For,'it is wholly incredible that if God
hal prescribed the exclusive use of
bloody sacrifices, Cain would have dared
to offer first fruits. Nor does God charge
him with any transgression the mode
of his worship, but expressly rejects his
offering on the ground of his moral char
acter, as also does the Apostle in his
reference to this first recorded worship.
But of the ceremonies of offering, and
the accompanying confessions, thanks
givings and prayers, or whether any
such were offered, the Bible gives us no
account. More minute rubrical direc
tions are given to the Hebrew priest
hood after the lapse of centuries, but all
save a few ultra-millenarians admit, that
these were never obligatory on other na
tions, and are not now binding on Chris
tians.
We come then to the notices of offer
ings in the New Testament, and find the
record of Christian converts selling their
estates, and donating the proceeds to the
Church for the poor, and of the necessity
of appointing an order of ministers exclu
sively for this part of public worship. If
either you or your Baptist brother should
ever hear of any Church feeling bound
to imitate this Scriptural example, I will
esteem it a favor to be informed of it.
The New Testament, however, con
tains at least one very positive command
to the Greek churches for the regulation
of this most ancient ordinance of wor
ship ; commanding every member of
these churches to deposit, every Lord's
day, a sum proportioned to his income,
for the relief of their Asiatic brethren
from famine. I suppoSe, no one will
allege that the ten-penny collections of
those churches which have any weekly
collections, applied to pay gas bills and
sexton's salary, or the occasional collec
tions of other churches for all manner
of purposes, are seriously intended by
anybody as a fulfilment of Paul's corn
mend. I know of no other Scripture
so plain and pertinent on this subject,
nor does either your Baptist friend, or
any Church of my acquaintance appeal
to, any other so plain, for their practice.
The fact is, then, that in regard to the,
most ancient of all ordinances of wor
ship, the most universal, the most ever
lasting, the ordinance whose influence
on mankind outweighs the combined
power of all the liturgies and sacraments,
-which is more insisted on by prophets,
Apostles and by our Lord himself, than
all ceremonies, and which He makes the
test of salvation at the great day of trial
—offering to God and the poor,—the
churches have, with one consent, decided
that we are not bound to obey the Scrip
ture commands to the Apostolic churches,
nor to imitate their example. Rejecting
the notion of any Biblical rubric in the
matter, we appoint the time, place, mat
ter, collectors, distributors„ mode of
collection, and objects of distribution of
these offerings of the Lord, according to
} our own views of propriety. Having
I done so, how dare we turn round and
revile some brother who modifies some
other ordinance of far less moment for
his own, or his brethren's edification ?
What! shall we be told that sacraments
are more sacred than charity ? Oh
how zealous we become in defence of a
cheap orthodoxy ! Thousands of '
pon
derous volumes on the theological and
liturgical controversies have had eager
readers; but there is not a systematic
treatise on Christian charity in the Eng
lish tongue, to be found in the book
stored-:of New York, Boston, Philadel
phia, aitp Chicago.* The nation offered
more,N•iiiie clay for the support of the
army, than the whole Church did in a
yeatfovits salvation. The theme indis
poses me' for treating the discussions on
the liturgies and ceremonies of public
worship with proper respect at present ;
and I defer these subjects therefore, till
my next letter. R. P.
* The American Tiact Society has published
some excellent little essays on one branch of
this subject, Essays on Systematic Beneficence.
OFFEND NOT THE LITTLE ONES,
Do we realize that for every idle
word we shall have to give an account ?
Nay, that for every word, and thought,
and action, each one of which lies open
to the sight of God, as clear as if illu
mined to human vision by the brightness
of the clear shining of the noonday sun,
—we must give account? Day and
date, and amount, and reason for each
item, however trifling; and this, in the
face of the assembled Universe, and of
the great God himself, Abefore whose all
searching eye, no subterfuge, no excuse,
no shuffling or evasion, can avail. How
awful I How overwhelming ! How
crushing the thought! But Jesus is
our Advocate—yes, more than our Ad
vocate, our Counsellor and Intercessor.
He is our Friend, our Sacrifice, who has
offered up Himself,—whose infinite merits
and atonement avail for us. We shall
be washed white in his precious blood,
which cleanseth from all sin.
What love ought we to have for Him !
What faith and trust! What confi
dence! What watchfulness in respect
to our own conduct ! Row prone is the
evil disposition of our weak and sinful
human hearts to doubt, to feel conscious,
even if we shudder at the thought of its
expression, of ridicule even, when we
read the accounts of the faith, the trust,
the confidence in the religious experienc e
of those of tender years. We believe
in—we accept without question—the
shadow of a doubt never presents itself
in respect to the uttermost and unques
tioning faith and confidence of the ten
derest infancy and childhood in human
love and affection. Is the same child
like faith and confidence expressed in
Jesus, of whose love they hear from
human lips,—even our own, possibly,—
how unbelief, and mistrust, and doubt
rise in our hearts !
We know a "little one" less than
three years old, whose 'grandfather was
telling him of the love of Jesus, and how
Jesus might come and take him to Him
self; just then the door-bell rang. "Per
haps that's Jesus come for me now,"
said the little one. What a realization
of a . present Jesus ; what " child-like
faith." What strength and fervency and
intensity should mark our prayers as
we offer the petition, " Lord, I believe,
Help thou mine unbelief!" Y.
OUR LENIENT POLICY.
The policy of our Government toward
the murderous destructives in the South,
proceeds on the false assumption that
its inhabitants are on the same level of
civilization with the people of the North.
This is a fallacy the most egregious, as
time, if it has not shown already, will
inevitably show. Happy will it be for
us, if the present Congress discovers
this, and promptly reverses those agen
cies which seem now to be plunging us
anew upon the rocks.
It was a fallacy that urged leniency
toward the mad traitors when they first
rose against the Government, which as
serted, that it was wrong to act against
them with decision and energy, since it
might exasperate rebels in arms breath
ing out threatenings and slaughter.
This cost us oceans of blood and millions
of money. The present fallacy is, that
determination and vigor will discourage
them in their penitent disposition to
amend and return to their allegiance,
and this threatens to cost us all that
has thus far been gained by Our arms.
Penitence forsooth ! Where has there
appeared the faintest glimmering of such
a virtue ?
To be serious, leniency with mur
derers in full career, is always inter
preted by them as an evidence of cow
ardice, and is sure to encourage and
incite them to their bloody work as was
most frilly proved in the early part of
our struggle.
What shall bp said of men in any part
of our country, who cannot see this
illustrated by the sentiments, and acts,
prevalent at this very hour all over the
South ?
Touching the civilization of this peo
ple, look at it as exhibited in their late
rising in a time cf proforma peace, to
strike at a government, which several of
their very ablest men declared had given
them not so much as the shadow of
cause for complaint; nay, against a
government whose beneficent charac
teristics and salutary control these wor
thies eulogised to the skies, even - at the
outbreak; though they themselves joined
the insurgents in turn, and to the shame
of all decency added their own powers
to destroy what they had so ardently
lauded aiiay before.
Look another evidence at the
venomous' outpouringsof -the press at
Richmond and other points during the
late contest, its advocacy of the most
intense sectional and even personal hate,
its vulgar grovelling epithets and vitu
peration, heaped upon men of unim
peachable characer and sterling worth,
whose only fault was loyalty to their
country and its flag. Look at its incen
tives to butchery on the field, and assas
sination wherever convenient.
Then, as another exhibit of this civil
ization, turn to Libby Prison, the abode ,
of so many of our sons and brothers, its
pestilential atmosphere from reeking
filth, its privation of necessaries of life,
and at length mined and avowedly ready,
on a certain contingency, to blow its
wretched inmates into eternity at a
moment's notice ! And then, as the
climax, look at that vast, that monstrous
lazzaretto and slaughter-pen, Anderson
ville of infernal memory, where oar
brothers and sons were murdered, not,
as in most of their other receptacles of
prisoners of war, in detail, but in masses.
These proclaim in more than mere
words, the civilization of the people with
whpm we have to deal. This is the
civilization, this the people, in whom, at
the instance of one of our erratic di
vines, we ought to " have faith !" Have
not their late treachery and present vin
dictive malignity, emphatically taught
us the duty of being, as to them, keenly
on our guard rather ?
In entirely another view, it may, with
propriety, we think, be asked, leaving
out of sight our own interest, our own
safety in the matter, and the fate even
of the colored man, now as much as
ever in their power, Is it proper ?
would it be philanthropic to leave this
miserable people in their insanity, even
to themselves ? Nay, mild persuasive
ness and tender treatment for those who
are yet " among the tombs cutting them
selves" with weapons much sharper than
" stones," are out of place, and cannot
with safety be resorted to, until the
" demons" which possess them be utterly
cast out. M.
PERSPICUITY THE FIRoT EXCEL
LENCE.
I have just looked out perspicuity in
the big dictionary, to see if it is exactly
the word I want to convey my idea, I
find that it is. • The dictionary says,
" Perspicuity :—That quality of writings
or language, which readily presents to
the mind of another the precise ideas of
the author. Perspicuity is the first ex
cellence of writing or speaking."
Now it is a happy coincidence for me,
to find Mr Webster asserting as
authority, just what I was tremblingly
suggesting, viz : That perspicuity is the
first excellence. I don't know why I
suggested so self-evide n t a fact " tremb
lingly," unless it was because I had seen
it apparently ignored by so many authors
and publishers. I bar e
one literary
periodical particularly in mind, which
seems, (or did seem at one time,) to de
light to enfold itself in a shroud of
shadowy mystifications ; and those who
ought to know better mistake obscurity for
"sublimity," and "elevation of thought!"
Last winter, I was interested in listening
to th. following dialogue, respecting one
of its articles.
Mrs. A. " Have you read the article
on -- in the last —."
Mrs. B. " Yes, and found it very
charming."
Mrs. A. "I am free to confess that I
did not. It lacked perspicuity. Indeed
it was unintelligible to me, and, hence
could not be instructive or' charming.' "
Mrs. B. " Oh, I never pretend to
understand half the articles in the —.
I take it for granted they are above me."
Mrs. A. " I am not so "umble,'
(as Dickens . has it.) When I was a
school-girl I was never in a mist over
my geometry, or my Butler's Analogy ;
and now that I am older and wiser, I
don't think I ought to lose myself over
the articles in our monthlies. When I
have given my very best attention to a
paragraph, and cannot understand its
meaning or purpose, I think the fault is
in the author."
Mrs. B. (laughingly.) "How con
ceited you are, dear Mrs. A. Why,
when we comb to the place, in our read
ing, when we cannot see the meaning
any longer, we should struggle on, as
we did up Mount Washington last sum
mer, when the fog came rolling down
upon us, saying, as we progress,
Beautiful?' Charming!' Oh, how
ly it is, only we can't see it!' You
our patience was rewarded by - a
`prospect from the top, after all."
Mrs. A. "Very true ; but, with your
pardon, I must turn your fine comparison
quite against you. The fog is the ob
scure style ; the beautiful view which
we seek is the truth. We got our clear
view, lit spite of the fog ; because we
struggled up above it. So, by our own
mental energy, we may get a clear view
of a truth, in spite of our author's obscure
style of presenting it. That does not
prove, however, that it was wise, or
right for him to mystify us. An author's
office is, like the sun, to dispel all mists,
and clear, and brighten our path, step by
step, as he cheers and guides us on to
cperfeet view."
rs. B. "No doubt you are right,
but there are few who have the inde
pendence to say. such things, especially
of popular authors."
I believe Mrs. B. was right in her last
remark. There is a vast deal of crying,
"Beautiful !" " Charming !" " Oh, how
lovely !" over misty prose and poetry,
when the simple truth is, that there is a
sad lack of perspicuity in the language
and style of the author.
Permit me to close, as I began, with
the ipse dixit, (that means, "he, himself
said it,") of Mr. Webster. " Perspi
cuity is the first excellence of writing or
speaking." HERBERT NEWBURY.
THE JEWISH SURGEON.
. In one of the large London hospitals a
poor woman lay dying. One of the young
surgeons, who was a Jew, went up to her
bed, and said, "My poor woman, you seem
very ill; I am afraid you will not recover.
Can I do anything for you ?"
"Thank you, sir," said the woman,
"-there is a New Testament behind my pil
low, and I should be much obliged to you
if you would read a chapter to me."
The young man seemed surprised, but he
took the Testament, and did as she desired.
H e continued to come and read to her
for several days, and was greatly struck by
the comfort and peace which the Word of
Life seemed to give to the poor invalid.
With almost her dying breath, the door
woman gave the Testament to the Jewish
surgeon, and urged him to read it. .
He took the book home with him, and
determined to keep his promise. He read
it diligently, and soon found Him of whom
Moses and the prophets wrote—Jesus, the
Messiah—and was enabled to believe in
'Him as the "Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sins of the world."
ADVICE TO BOYS.--" You are made to
be kind, generous, and magnanimous,"
says Horace Mann. "If there is a boy
in school who has a club foot, don't let
him know you ever saw it. If there is
a boy with ragged clothes, don't talk
about rags in his bearing. If there is
a lame boy, assign him some part in the
play which does not require much run
ning. If there is a dull one, help him
to get his lessons."