tamspniitom A DREAM OF THE TWENTIETH CEN TURY. Not long since, I sat down at the close of a busy day in my easy chair, to pernse the Philadelphia Press. After devouring the Congressional and tele graphic news, I fell to reading an edi torial entitled, “ Traveling Accommoda tions for the Poor and Working Classes of Large Cities on Sundays.” I read about the Pharisees of Philadelphia, who are not willing “to yield to the popular prayer” for “ pure air” and the “ beau ties of/nature.” Imperceptibly, (whe ther from the Morphean logic of the theory, or otherwise,) I fell asleep, and dreamed. I thought many years of “progress” had elapsed, and I was living at the opening hour of the twentieth cen tury. Like the hero of Sleepy Hollow, I had been whirled over a hiatus of thirty-four years, and the things of the then present were just as real to me as the surroundings of 1866. Prom enter ing the land of dreams with the Daily Press in my hands, the imaginary transi tion was very easy to suppose* I was sitting in my cozy seat, reading “ For ney’s Sunday Press.” It was a magni ficent sheet, I thought', nearly as large as a blanket, and full of commercial ad vertisements, special notices, “ Person als,” &c., &c. And this, said I, musing, is the Sunday Press, about which there was so much fuss and stupid opposition thirty-six years ago ! And it is but the leading one, of fourteen of the same class, that now minister to the tasteß and “ re creation” of the two millions of Phila delphians, and the hundred millions of the Union. Yerily, we are a progres sive people, thought I, as I opened the editorial page, and read a criticism on the last Sunday’s performance in the People’s Amphitheatre, which is now an exact model of that of ancient Home, where the Cmsars sat in their glory. But the editor’s praise and strictures were equally divided between the Amphithe atre, Hippodrome, and Academy of Mu sic, in the last of which another Ellsler was gyrating in the ballet, aB never was seen before. Turning to the page head ed “ Amusements,” (for there was a whole page of them) in my dream, I read again the following advertisements: “ Magnificent Spectacle at fhe Amphitheatre this evening. Eu gene Sue’s voluptuous novel dramatized. The. Emperor Napoleon 111. andEmpresß Eugenie represented beßtowing largess upon the people of Paris. Magnificent court of Napoleon—his death during a coup d’etat —the lamentations of the peo ple, &c.” “Fairmount Park—Great Attrac- “ Lovers of sport are invited to be present next Sunday, 24th, at Fairmount Park, where the undersigned will have a round of amusements, among which will be a chase for a soaped pig, for ‘ the whole hoga wheeling match in bags, and several foot-races. The best of wines, brandies, and lager, for the ac commodation of visitors, by the under signed, who goes to the expense of getting up these novelties. Come one, come all. / “ N. B.—The Green & Coates. Street, Girard, Columbia, and Mongomery Ave nue cars run back and forth every five minues to the Park during the day. “ Frederick Epfenhoffer.” “ The Elysian Fields in West Philadelphia, and * beside the romantic Schuylkill.— This grand re sort has been fitted up with special care to minister to the pleasure and amuse ment of visitors. A band of music is engaged for every Sunday, and a ball room that will accommodate a thousand dancers at once. Waltzes and cotillions will be going on from 11 o’clock A. M., to 11 P. M. Splendid private parlors, furnished with luxurious lounges, for the accommodation of visitors, at a trifling sum additional to the price of admittance. Cars arrive and depart every three min uteß. The Committee.” “ A Masquerade Ball, to end with a procession along Broad Street, (a reproduction of the Roman Carnival), will come off next Sunday two weeks. It will be a great spectacle. For particulars see posters and pro grammes.” I turned, now, to the telegraphic head, and read the following official announce ment from New York, the seat of Gov •ernment: “ His august Majesty, the Emperor, will arrive in the royal car of'the Cam- den & Amboy Railroad, precisely at 1 , -o’clock next Sunday, when Maj.-Gen. Smith, commanding the post of Phila delphia, will have his whole force of 14,000 men mustered for his majesty’s review on Broad Street, precisely at 3 o’clock. His majesty returns to his capital in the'evening.” (That will be a magnificent sight, P. thought, and re solved to be present.) In my dream I was greatly surprised that Philadelphia had grown so much like Paris in its “recreations,” so I turned to the political notices and again read: « Meeting op Conservatives — To the Sescue ! “ Understanding that certain bigoted and Pharisaical politicians are pulling wires to control the ensuing election, (which comes off the first Sunday in October), all citizens in favor of present privileges of the people as to ‘ recrea tion,’ Ac., and opposed to superstition and bigotry, *wili meet next Sunday evening at Concert Hall, to take such action on the crisis as seems meet Several speakers will address the meet ing. Many.” “Anniversary Supper. . “An anniversary supper will be held on Saturday, the 28th inst., (Paine’s birth-day), at the Continental, in honor of Hume, Yoltaire, and Paine. The great defender of Sunday papers and Sunday cars ‘ for the poor,’ will be pre sent and make a speech. Tickets, $2.” I folded up the paper, and mused for a moment on the vicissitudes of time ; all of a sudden I saw, standing before me, an apparition of the pious founder of our State and city, William Penn. His face wore the same placid, humble aspect of his pictures; but there was added a sorrowful, indignant expression, as he said : “ I came across the ocean to found an empire of sobriety, true liberty, and peace—to build a city of Brotherly Love ; but you have made it a den of thieves!” The suddenness of his appearance, abruptness of his speech, and instant vanishing, startled ine from my slumber, and I awoke; and behold it was all a dream ! I was glad, however, to find myself back again to the year of 1866, and to realize that the Press’ lucubra tions had only suggested French ideas and French newspapers, which brought the Sunday paper and its news before my mind, as I had read them in a Paris journal only a few months ago. I was very glad, I assure you, moreover, to find myself in happy America, where there are two things that cannot be found, bat with rare exceptions, in France, or on the continent of Europe— a home and a Sabbath. Bunyan. REV. A. M. STEWART’S LETTER. Gtesboro, D. C., Feb. 16, 1866. Dear Brother Mears : Labors among the Freedmen are in many re spects missionary. If persons at the North expected the people lately in re bellion against the Government to give any enconragement or sympathy to preachers or teachers from the Union States among the Freedmen, they must by this time be undeceived. The great mass of the white population at the South would delight to hear of all such emmissaries from the North as Freed men’s Bureau, preachers, teachers, &c., being in a much warmer place than the Red Sea. The Freedmen are not Free men yet. The country is not united nor at peace. N Warring elements are yet in activity. Were it not for the mili tary power, neither Freedmen’s Bureau, nor preacher, nor teacher of colored school could remain in the region lately in rebellion, for a day; or if attempting to remain, their houses would be burned down, and they knocked on the head like so many mad* dogs. No hope for a permanent Union until the Freedmen fare in the intelligent possession and ex ercise of all their rights. DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT. Most interesting and hopeful have been iny labors these months past with the Freedmen employed in this depart ment—r preaching, Sabbath-school in struction, and week evening classes. Their almost universal anxiety to learn is the most pleasing and promising fea ture. Men of no other nationality, in their condition, could be found, whose anxiety for improvement would take so readily a practical shape. Laboring hard all day, and often tlirough cold, wet, and mud, yet will they at dark as semble in joyous groups in large mess rooms ; joining for two or three hours with the greatest diligence and earnest ness in spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. COMPARISON. About an equal number of Catholic Irishmen and Freedmen have been em ployed at this depot during the past year. Mingling familiarly with these different characters daily, it would have been impossible not to have made com parisons. For every element of man hood these colored men far excel these representatives from the Emerald Isle. Superior- are they in intelligence, mor ality, refinement, thrift, and industry. Gn inquiry of the foremen in the various departments, the invariable answer has been: Theses Freedmen excel all em ployees at the depot in promptness, cheerfulness, aptness, trustworthiness, and perseverance! But few more, in proportion to num ber, of these Irishmen can read and write than the Freedmen. Yet who would dream of getting a company of these Celtic representatives, after their day’s work, into messrooms in order to learn A. B. C., spelling, &c. ? All the eloquence of Congress united would hardly be competent for such a feat. A bull from .the Pope for such a purpose, would probably be resisted with intem perate independence. Ignorant and vi cious are these imported citizens, yet seemingly determined to cultivate these qualities dilligently. Notwithstanding all this, the country still higgles about the franchise of Freedmen and listens complacently to bombast about a Fenian Republic. HARD READING. Addressing a large class of Freedmen not long since, with respect to their prospects and consequent duties, it was mentionedi that Congress was discussing a bill proposing to grant the colored men in the District of Columbia the privilege of voting, and also inserting a clause that no one should be allowed to vote who could not write his own ticket and read the Constitution of the United States. All were giving profound atten tion ; on.e, who had been for a number THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, MARCH l. 1866. of evenings diligently, yet with some difficulty, spelling out a few easy reading sentences in a primer, here interrupted with the earnest yet comic inquiry, “ Is dat ar Constitution hard readin’ ?” Before the rebellion, when serious dis cussion was at any time had concerning the manumission of four millions of bondmen, a large majority of the people in the free States wete wont,to be seri ously alarmed lest the whole North should be overrun by a deluge of vice and ig norance. Freedom has been granted, yet has not the dreaded avalanche come. On the contrary, the tendency of the great body of Freedmen i s to remain where freedom was granted, or to return to former homes, if they have escaped previous to emancipation. The employees are being fast discharged from this place, in view of its soon being closed. A short time since, twenty-five of these Freedmen who had been attending one of our evening schools, were discharged on the same day. In the evening they all assembled in the school-room in order to bid adieu to instructors and to each other. An interesting, grateful, tearful meeting. A few of them had come from the far South; some from North- Carolina,. Tennessee, various localities in Yirginia, and along the eastern 3bore of Maryland. - Having ' finished their work here, it was asked of each one separately, “Where are you now going?” Twenty-four out of. the twenty-five promptly answered: “ I’s gwine back to de.ole place.” “What for?” it was queried. “0, to hunt up de family or friends, and to do whatever we finds or be’s able.” Only one answered, “ I’s gwine up to dat ar North.” “ And what for ?” " Jist to see what’s up dar.” It is thus we have been able, through our operations here, to send score after score of missionaries in every direction Southward, who, when coming here, knew not a letter, but on going back can not only read, but write letters to their friends. A. M. Stewart. Cheap Lands—Good Soil—Salubrious Cli mate-New Presbyterian Settlement and Church Organized. Mr. Editor :— I had long contemplat ed a visit to lower Delaware, but not until quite recently did I accept the opportunity. And if you’ve never been down in Sussex, near the eastern shore of Maryland, you could not be more sur prised and agreeably disappointed than your humble scribe. I presumed that in going where lands were so cheap, I should find a deplorable condition of ignorance, with morals proportionate; that the natives only, and the lowest of such only, had farmed the lands until the soil was. exhausted and worn J oni. True, there is much ignorance, especi ally in agriculture ; but there are also yery many shrewd, intelligent and thrifty inhabitants “ native to the manor hopi,” to say nothing of the unexpectedly Urge sprinkling of Northern settlers all fiver that country. They have free schools liberally distributed, and for terms pf a longer average than in Pennsylvania. They have. high-schools and academies of the best order, and proportionally, perhaps, a larger number of their sons and daughters educated away from home than in our own State. Religious privileges, also, aft! quite abundant and fast multiplying, to keep pace with the demands of the rapid and' prosperous' settlement of that portion of the State. The more particular point of interest at which I stopped and tarried for a few days, is Bridgeville, the home of their late loyal Governor, to whose enterprize and public spirit the place owes its best improvements. It lies about one hun dred miles from Philadelphia, and equi distant between the Delaware and Chesapeake bay. Its.population is up wards of 500, in a growing condition, with a splendid location on the Dela ware Railroad, and important as the terminus of the proposed new railroad to be built during the year from this point to Cambridge, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay, 32 miles distant. As I was in quest of a home for sanitary purposes, I was more than usually observant. I met men from all points of the North, who bad come as invalids, but all confessing to the mild ness and salubrity of the climate, and the pleasing benefit enjoyed by the change, especially beneficial to pulmo nary and chronic complaints generally. The atmosphere is delightful, no ex tremely cold or oppressively hot weather. They are fqr enough South to avoid the rigors' and storms of our winter, and near enough to the sea, on both sides, to be affected by its cool breezes. It is true there was a good deal of " chills” there last fall, but it prevailed in the oldest and healthiest* parts of the country, also where it had not appearfed for many years. This vicinity is freer from epidemics, generally, than the North, or other parts of Delaware, not having those sluggish and almost stag nant waters, which breed much miasm. This is called the best fruit, and truck growing section of the State, and; said to be peculiarly adapted to the. peach, grape and vegetable. There i&a pecu liar variety of soils; while one |farm is best suited for fruit, the adjoining may be better for the grains because of a heavier subsoil of clay and strong sur face of loam. Nearly two pnndred thousand (200,000) baskets orjboxes of peaches were shipped from th>| station alone last season FACTS VERSUS THEORIES. LOWER DELAWARE. Much of the land has through the robbing method of mostly pursued. Perhaps for twenty or thirty years they have put in, without the intermission of a season, the same crop, without applying any fertilizer whatever, and, strange to say, the lands are still producing half crops. Take the best farms in our State, and in less than five years, by such a draining mode of agriculture there would be a smaller yield of grain than here. This fact shows clearly the natural strength and superiority of their soil over ours. Such landsnoware held at extremely lowprices, ranging from ten thirty-five dollars per acre, according to size, improvement and location. This is wondrously cheap for lands which can be brought up to the highest state of cultivation in three or four years, and produce more largely than in the North, and receive the same prices for- their products. The timber land in that region is as heavy as any on the peninsula. It con sists of woods of the most valuable character; such as white oak, used for ship timber, black gum and hickory of the best quality, which is cut and carried often to the State of Maine, for carr'age manufacture—with the finest poplar, ash and yellow pine. Timber is now being extensively cut, and many are paying for their farms from this resource alone. A large proportion of emigrants from the North into Delaware, are going to this point, and have given character to that vicinity, and land, very naturally, is on the rise. It is now held higher than it was two months ago. But let a man come here with little capital, purchase a farm at one-fifth the price of land North, plant a peach orchard of 3000 trees, and in three or fonr years, at most, he will, by his enter prise and industry, have a splendid place 'and a handsome income from his fruit alone. - Is it not worth the while, therefore, for men of small means, before encumbering themselves by a great debt in the purchase of a farm in Pennsylva nia, from which they may never release themselves, to visit the Diamond State, so as to save interest; tax and labor, and in a few years of judicious management, town one of the best farms in the State ? There is cheaper land still in the State, several miles from railroad, but it is best to watch the tide, and pass in where the settlementandimprovement of newcomers jvill mutually and rapidly enhance the tvalue of each other’s property—where society, too, is at once more desirable. ■ And now I have a few words for Presbyterians generally. This is the point for those of you who wish to change your homes for a warmer and m'ore genial clime. For it is a remarka ble fact that nearly all of the new set tlerS, (more than three-fourths, at least,) are members or adherents of one or the other branches of the great Presbyterian family. And they are amongst the most substantial, too—families of New England Congregationalists, Presby terians from New York, Dutch Reformed from New Jersey, and German Reformed from Pennsylvania. .And fully up to the demands of this influx of Calvinistic population, they have already, (though recently,) organized themselves into, a Presbyterian Church, and gone into the Presbytery of Wilmington. We had by no means the largest representation, but all, however, preferred in their new homes this connection. They have rented, and are about to renovate, a building for their use until spring, when they hope to have a new edifice of their own, built and paid for, ready to welcome some worthy and efficient minister of the word, to labor in word and deed among them. May great harmony and prosperity ever prevail in the first Pres byterian Chtirch of Bridgeville. Yours truly, J. L. L. Coventry Knoll, Pa., Peb. 8, 1866. PURITAN SEVERITY. Strictness and vigilance on the subject of amusements, and especially as to the demoralizing or enervating tendencies of certain dances, plays and artistic ex hibitions, which always prevail with others of the same kind in themselveß less exceptionable, are olten said to be Puritanical. It is taken for granted that the Puritans alone set up so severe a standard of morality; that only their descendants entertain such'scruples; that the great body of Christian teachers and examples has conceded all the liberty ask&d for in these departments; and hence that the weight of authority is for leaving the public mind to its own direc tion.' Now, it is true that the Puritans were austere moralists,.condemning some things which were countenanced by the party in their own time opposed to them in Church and State ; but the dif ference was not such as is here implied. They were not alone in condemning such entertainments as were cruel, im pure, or impious in their influences or associations, whether in pastime or literature, or works of art, and hence in condemning carousals, gaming, ques tionable dances, and most of the dramas in vogue. Nor were they alone in dis approving, for these reasons, of the stage as an existing institution, that could not be divested in fact of a debasing and corrupting character. The Christian divines and moralists generally, of that age, agree with them in these judgments, if not as to measures expedient for sup pressing such .evils. That these things are contrary to the spirit of Christianity and unbecoming its professors, is the doctrine of all branches of the Church froit the beginning, as learned not from the practice of the masses bat from the lessons of their most eminent and ap proved teachers, whether Protestant or Catholic, whether among the early rn down farming Fathers or in later times. The readers will find testimonies enough to this effect cited in William Penn’s “No Cross, no Crown.” Moreover, let the looser mo dern religionists, who make light of these things, consider that the'wisest, and best of the aneent Pagans set an example of similar severity. In this connection we cite a. paragraph from the Letters of the late Rev. F. W. Robertson, (Yol. I. p. 309,) an eloquent English preacher, whose “ liberal” opinions make bis tes timony on this subject the more notable: “ I have been diving into reminiscences of the classics, and have been quite startled by things which I passed over formerly without reflection. One thing that has made me reflect much, has been the effect produced by sculpture on the Greeks. Those sublime works, of which fragments are to us like inspiration, were, by the judgment of heathens them selves, productive of a corruption of feel ing and morals that is scarcely credible. I thank God that we have not the trea sures of Italy or the Continent; paint ing, too. And it is very singular to find how all the nobler 'heathens con demned the stage and the dance, and the poetry which answers jo our ro mance. Such men as Plutarch, Cato, Socrates, etc. One very impassioned passage in Plato, I remember, struck me when a boy,—where fie banishes all such things from his ideal Republic; and all the softening strains of music, the lonian and Lydian styles, retaining only the majestic and masculine Dorian, and one or two others.” D. INNER ROME, BY THE REV. C. M. BTJTLER, D. D.* “ Distance lends enchantment to the view,” Romanism derives special aid from the poetic sentiments to which it appeals. Yenerable for its antiquity, rich in its historic greatness, lofty in its preten sions and claims, draping its worship with the attractions of splendid temples, impressive paintings, ravishing music, and a pompous ritual, it affects to look down proudly on the relative youth and simpler worship of other religious com munions. As auxiliaries to these at tractions, it appeals to the imaginations of its generally ignorant devotees, by placing its head, the Pope, on a secular throne, and fixing him at Rome, the cen tre oi ancient empire, civilization and art; where classic architecture charms the eye, and decaying columns and capi tals inspire pensive meditations, linking the dead past with the living present. The city of Rome is great enough, and near enough, and attractive enough, to draw the curious and the sentimental to luxuriate in its associations and admire its wonders; and distant enough to hide from the masses of the papal world its mental imbecility and moral abomina tions. As modern travelers have visited it in rhapsody, and been charmed by some blandishment of papal royalty, and awed by some magnificence of papal ceremonies, they have written in admi ration, confirming the papal masses in the impression that Rome was an outer court of the Heavenly Temple, only in ferior to that “ upper chamber” of which it held the keys. Dr. Butler’s “ Inner Rome” translated all this poetry into plain prose; and stripping off the garniture of conceit, re veals this Rome, affecting to be the purest and noblest, as about the vilest and meanest place of earth. . Leaving it for others to dilate for the thousandth time on the Pantheon, the Yatican, the Catacombs, and the glories of St. Peter’s, he has condescended to tell us about the present condition of the Roman people, and a strange story he makes of it. Dr. Butler was no flitting traveler, re 'hashing old tales from.guide books made to order; he was no blind devotee, see ing only the sunny side of popery. A Protestant American, of elevated charac ter and high cultivation, residing with his family two full years at Rome, board ing and house-keeping, his eyes and ears open,- he had full opportunity to learn its interior condition, and the frankness and courage to unveil it. As a result, he says: “I wish to demon strate thalNßome is, of all civilized States, the most wretchedly, cruelly and stupidly misgoverned, and undergoes an unparalleled amount of mental terror and torture.” His book sustains this. A system of government administered by priests for ecclesiastical parposes; endowed with power to punish for heresy as well as immorality;, bound by no laws of evidence, and subject to no appeal; it is no wonder that innocent men grow gray in dark dungeons, or die as martyrs on the scaffold. We cannot follow the Doctor through his nar rations of frightful cruelties; his ex hibitions of priestly ignorance, tyranny and impurity; his delineations of the persecutions to which all free thought is subjected; and the general misery to which the doable yoke of civil and eccle siastical despotism has crushed three millions of people. It seems to be the characteristic of papal power to “ tithe mint” and crucify “justice;” to magnify religious rites and ignore holiness. In telligence is nothing; moral worth is at a discount; agriculture, commerce and manufactures are of little worth; public wealth, comfort and prayers are of no account. Robbery is winked at; beg gary endorsed; religious imposition cul tivated ; universal suspicion encouraged, and spies rewarded. All crimes at Rome a r e I V ?. lal ’, bUt the love promotion of light, liberty and justice. All virtue culminates in submission to the Pope d e r P h“ a biis sp d 35 & Go - puia - and in pleasing the priesthood. Accord ing to the Doctor’s showing, Rome is no: only a dangerous place to live in, but a worse place to die in ; as the sickness and death of a stranger at once wakes up a set of cormorants, who. avail them selves of a death scene, as an occasion to prey on the means of surviving friends. But we will not prolong this notice. The book is discursive and fragmentary, and must be read to be appreciated. We thank Dr. Butler for writing it, and advise our friends to read it. It will have a salutary effect on some dreaming religionists, who have an itching for Borne. It shows what they will find there. They will, per haps, agree with Dr. Butler, that “ any thing more dismal, dreary, degraded, dirty, dead—and if there be any other unpleasant adjective beginning with d, that, too—than a Roman town, I do not believe is anywhere to be found short of Turkey.” WHAT SHALL WE TALK ABOUT? Conversation is a fine art. True, some people appear to have a genius for it, and talk so well and so easily, that it is a pleasure to listen to the genial flow of words. Others talk so rapidly that you are reminded of a wagon racing down hill, after a couple of runaway steeds, or a gabbling brook, brawling over a shallow and pebbly bed. Others, again, have a “ready-to-halt” style, that is absolutely painful. They choose their words with the nicest precision, and arrange their sentences with care, while the wearied listener longs to give them a pull, or a pinch, or a jerk, to make the reluctant words come faster. It were well that the art of conversa tion were studied more by people of cul ture. For it is not the moßt fluent talk ers who talk best, or most profitably. What shall wenot speak about? would, perhaps, be a more pertinent inquiry than the reverse. In the first place, then, let us not make our neighbors the sub ject of discourse. Let us cease to won der what Miss Jones saw in Mr. Brown that she should invest him with her heart and hand ; and why Mr. Llewellyn never visits with his wife. Let us be chary of our conversation about people at all, unless they are in public life, for so prone is human nature to err, that many a kind word said about some one’s virtue, leads, alas 1 to an “ if,” or a “ but,” that tarnishes the lustre of all. Let us not talk about our servants. The servant question, involving as it does, so much of the comfort and peace of many American homes, may well come often to our lips; but let it not pass the roseate gateway, save to the most familiar of friends. Dismiss from the pleasures of social intercourse the mis deeds of Bridget, and the ingratitude of John, and those pleasures will be greatly enhanced- Let us not talk about the fashions. Changeful cut of sleeve, or length of dress, preposterous hat, or insufferable bonnet; it is enough to endure the mis ery of an endless change, without the added torture of discussing it. The weather is a far more desirable topic, and one that can awaken no envy, and lead to the breaking of no command ments, unless one be a child or a sim pleton. Fresh from the hand of God, the bright day, smiling in beauty, and veiled with the exquisite sapphire of heaven, is a fitting topic for thought and congratulation. And when the Tain comes pattering down, alike on the fields of the just and the unjust, making music of its own, on roof and in tree-top, shall we not say “ Amen” to the tinkle of the drops, and speak pleasantly thereof to each other ? There is plenty to talk about, friend, never fear. The wide range of literature, the new poem or book, the beauties of nature, the state of the country, the state of the Church—“lots” of subjects, if people will only wake to life in earnest, and cease to fritter it away in idle words. M. E. M. RECENT SUTTEE IN INDIA. The Pioneer gives in the following terms the particulars of a suttee near Allahabad: “A deliberate act of suttee was perpetrat ed yesterday week near a village on the Jubbulpore line, about twenty-five miles from Allahabad, on the borders of the Re wah territories. The subject of the sacri fice was the wife of a barber, who, on his death, declared her intention of not sur viving, and on her steadily refusing to listen to the expostulations of her neigh bors, they at last yielded to her importu nity, and assisted at the brutal ceremony As far as-we can learn, the woman was not at any time under the influence of bhuwj, but simply acted on the promptings of what—for the want of a better term —wo must call religious fervor. She sat upon a pile of wood, with her dead husband across her knees, while faggots were piled up to her shoulders and her hair was saturated with ghee, continuing to converse with the bystanders while her-arms were burning: and only ceasing to do so when-flame and smoke choked her utterance.” VALUABLE DISCOVERIES IN SYRIA. Lovers of Biblical antiquities will rejoice to hear that the excavations now being made in Syria have resulted in the discov ery, at Nadir Sarape, of a Hebrew house dating from about the second century before Christ. Some of the rooms, with their contents, are in perfect preservation, among the latter being a number of Hebrew books, showing that the house belonged to a liter ary man. Besides the bonks of Moses and the Psalms of David, there is a collection of Hebrew poems, absolutely unknown to the Orientals of our day. These interesting remains, many of which bear traces of Egyptian origin, have been sent to th e Asiatic Society of London.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers