aCiTTERIBOrIItt.
LETTER FROM SYRIA.
SHEMLAII. MOTINT LEBBANON,. NEAR
BEIRUT, SYRIA, July 19, 1866.
EDITOR OF AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN:
—The burning heats of the plain have
driven me to the mountain for a few
days, and I must fulfil my promise to
write a few lines to you. "Burning
heats," I have said, and yet the mercu
ry has not risen above eighty-six de
grees in the shade this summer. It is
eighty-six degrees by day and eighty
degrees by night. Bat this heat is so
uniform and wearing that it is debilitat
ing to a Western constitution, and we
are thankful that a horseback ride of
three hours will bring us to a cool moun
tain height 2000 feet above the sea.
From this village you look down upon
the plain and the city below, and far out
to the blue Mediterranean. " Yon will
love Mount Lebanon," said the lament
ed Dr. De Forest to me in 1855, during
the first interview I had with him; and
no one can live in Syria without loving
Lebanon. Its scenery is beautiful be
yond description. It is safe and quiet
when the great plains North, East and
South are infested with the restlesa and
villainous Bedouin. You can travel
over it without a guard and alone from
One end of the range to the other. It
is a health-retreat in the summer sea
son, and its cool nights, and sparkling
cold water, and crystal atmosphere in
vigorate the body and revive the spirits
of one wilting and wearied under the
toils of the plain.
There is no finer climate in the world
than just this part of Syria. Yon may
winter in Beirut, with the mercury
ranging from thirty-eight degrees to
sixty-five degrees, and' when the sum
mer begins, remove a few miles up the
mountain range to one of these quiet
villages, where the mercury stands at
from sixty-nine degrees to seventy-five
degrees the whole summer through.
Invalids are beginning to learn the fa
vorable effect of this climate on the
health, and the Paris physicians ex
pressed their amazement at its effects
in ,a recent case, which they bad little
hope would be relieved by Paux or
Naples.
We have great reason for gratitude
this year in our entire exemption, thus
far, from the scourge of the cholera.
One year ago it was desolating Syria.
Now there is not a case, as far as I can
learn, nearer than the vicinity of Mo
sul on the Tigris, and there it is not
raging as it did last year.
Our Sabbath congregations in Beirut
are very large, but it is not an easy task
to preach two Arabic sermons in this
hot weather, and the afternoon service
has been dispensed with for the rest of
the summer. Although the mercury
does not rise above eighty-six degrees,
the heat is oppressive, and more than
one service on the Sabbath is not profit
able. The need of a new church edifice
in Beirut is more and more apparent
every day, and next week we are to
break ground for its erection, although
sufficient funds are not yet secured.
The native congregation will give one
thousand dollars, the American Board
one thousand and the site, and the
English and American residents in Bei
rut fifteen hundred, the Kirk of Scot
land two thousand, and the cost of the
edifice will be ten thousand dollars. A
strong building, capable of holding five
bundred persons, and built in the plain
est manner, cannot be built for less than
ten ,thousand dollars.
The girls' school building is nearly
finished. Some important details will
require to be omitted for want of funds,
but we hope to have it ready for use
by the first of October. •
The annual examination of the school
was held three weeks since. About
sixty girls were examined during three
days, in three languages, and in twenty.
two different branches.
The promptness and accuracy of the
replies would have done credit to the
pupils of any school ,in America. In
Biblical History and Chronelogy, and
in a knowledge of the Messianic prophe
cies, I doubt whether any female small
nary in any land would surpass it.
AddresSes were made at the close by ,
several native gentlemen, and by Dr-
Thomson and Rev. Mr. Bird ; and Dr.
T. stated that he knew of no school in
America where so great progress had
been made in the past few years as in
this. The Government official Arabic
journal in Beirut pronounced the exami
nation the best examination of a girls'
school, ever held in Syria. A large
congregation of the friends and relatives
of the pupils and teachers of other
schools was present, and gavo good at
tjntion throughout. Not the least
benefit of a boarding-school like this, in
a great city like Beirut, is the
,infltienee
upon the parents and the community at
large. When it was first instituted, the
teachers, who are all native Syrians,
were harassed, night and day, by the
interference and complaints of the par
ents, and at the public examinations
they were noisy and uncontrollable.
This year they were quiet, and listened
patiently throughout the three days.
Many of them, who are members of the
various religious sects, learned more of
Gospel truth than they , would otherwise
have learned throughout the year.
The progress of the Lord's work in
Syria is a steady growth. Men do not
of ten move in masses here. The Gospel
leaven sinks into individual hearts, and
thence spreads, gradually, through the
villages and communities. The sale of
the Arabic Scriptures continues, and
where GI-od'A Word enters it gives light.
A few years ago, a young mountaineer
from the village of Ain Zehalteh went
on a marauding excursion with his fel
low-villagers. Among the spoils was
an Arabic Bible, which fell to his lot.
He read it, believed it, embraced the
truth, preached it to others, and a few
weeks since we had a special ecclesi
astical gathering in that village and or
ganized an Evangelical Church of about
a dozen members, and ordained this
young man named ICaleel as its first pas
tor.
The church in Hums has grown up
within a few years, and has an able and
devotedly pious native pastor. It is a
city of 2500 inhabitants, and in the
centre of a large and opening district.
They have no church edifice, and though
strong in numbers, they are all very
poor, and cannot build or buy an edifice
large enough to accommodate them. We
are just preparing a statement to lay be
fore the American Board, in ,order to se
cure the necessary funds. Building is
quite expensive there, as all the stone
and lime have to be brought several
miles, the city being built on an alluvial
plain. Three thousand dollars would
build them a large and substantial edi
fice, and give Protestantism a permanent
center in all the borders of Hamath.
The system of building large and expen
sive edifices for native congregations,
above their tastes and habits, is not a
good one. But in this case, it is neces
sary to expend three thousand dollars
to give this people the plainest kind of a
building which will accommodate them.
They are poor. There is not a man in
the Protestant community there who is
worth a thousand dollars, and the ma
jority are day laborers, barely earning
their bread. But they come in crowds
to hear the, Gospel, and are paying a
portion of their pastor's salary. There
is no Church Erection Fund to call upon,
unless the American Board shall give a
few hundred dollars. There are no
strong central churches,• such as you
have in Philadelphia, whose private mu
nificence can rear churches as with a
magic wand, in the needy and growing
suburbs and outposts.
Protestantism is surrounded by ene
mies here on every side. Its adherents,
though, increasing in numbers, are poor.
While it would be wrong to erect for
them expensive structures, it is- not
wrong to aid them in providing them a
decent house of worship in the most
economical manner possible.
This whole question of providing.
suitable church edifices in the mission
field, is one of the most difficult the
foreign missionary is called upon to
decide. The ground taken by the Ame
rican Board of Missions in requesting
the American Churches not to contribute
to private appeals for the erection of
church buildings in foreign lauds, is
wise and necessary. But the Board is
not opposed to the 'erection of such
buildings, and has acted with -the
greatest liberality in giving . aid where
it can be done legitimately and safely.
It is important that such aid go through
the Board itself.
The annual examination of the Pre
paratory Department of the Syrian Pro
testant College is now in progress. The
boys, one hundred and twelve in num
ber, are being examined four hours a day
for two weeks in this hot weather. The
Board of Managers of the College have
just had a meeting and elected Medical
Professors.
The political state of Syria is as usual.
Yusef Keram, the Maronite Rebel in
Northern Lebanon, is' keeping up a
private guerrilla warfare on the Turkish
troops, who have thus far tried in vain
to arrest him. The Turks are going
back to the old system of farming out
the collection of taxes to the highest
bidder, and the poor people begin to
groan under the new exactions and out
rages. The. Moslem population of Syria:
are now in a state of bitter hostility to
the Sultan, and curse him openly in the
streets. The taxation is becoming in
tolerable. In any other country such a
state of things would produce a revolu
tion. Yours, truly, H. H. JESSUP.
FROM THE COUNTRY.
BY HEY ` R. E. ADAMS, D.D
Once more in the country, and the
hot pavements and glimmering walls
and sweltering sewer.s of the great city
are remembered as a feverish and suffo
cating dream of the past. At this dis
tance, it seems strange. that hundreds of
thousands can live_ through all the, year,
breathing air from which • the life isl-gone,
walking upon streets where -the smallest
tuft of grass is,a forbidden growth, look
ing up to the open heayens from be
tween, brick walls that diiide the fairest
sky into stripe and pitches of blue,
sleeping at night with the tramp of feet
and the clatter of hoofs and the dron
ing sound of car-wheels within hearing
through all the weary hours. And yet
I, myself, a week ago, --had become so
mach habituated to the choking atmos
phere of midsummer in -the city, as to
think lightly of the returning opportu
nity to look again upon the green fields
and the grand old woods ; to listen to
the music of running brOoks and the rain
pattering upon the cottage roof and the
fluttering leaves; and to see the dome
of the sky frescoed with the pomp of
clouds, and the glory of noon, and the
emblazonry of stars, and resting visibly
in every direction, upon its waving, hori
zon of eternal hills.
In the city, we are always looking for
changes and improvements. Here, it is
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30. 1866.
a joy to find that what was perfect be
fore has not been marred by man's at
tempts to make it better. The brook
runs before the cottage door as it ran a
year ago, shining as brightly with its
silvery cascades in the morning sun,
and singing, like a summer shower, with
the same slumberous voice through all
the night. The natural hedge of alders
and ivy and virgin-bower hides the
moss-covered wall; the seven old maples
stretch forth their wrinkled and patri
archal arms in benediction over all that
come and go; the delicate leaves of the
locust shiver and rubtle in the gentle
wind ; the birds build their nests un
scared in the low shrubbery beside the
. most frequented path ; the rustic seats
upon the knarled roots of the old trees
invite to pass a dreamy hour in watch
ing the play of shadows and sunshine
in the waving branches above ; the hy
draulic prisoner pounds day and night in
his watery dungeon at the foot of the
grassy slope. In the distance, north
ward and southward, the whole valley
is loaded with exuberant vegetation ;
here and there are seen white farm
houses islanded in an ocean of verdure ;
the bordering heights'- are all browned
with green woods ; and on the after
noons of these bright days, fleeciy clouds
wander in white flocks along the moun
tain sides, "shepherded by the gentle
wind."
All these are as they were, and being
so, are beautiful exceedingly, above all
the splendors of pictured galleries and
architectural streets and squares in the
great city. And nothing can bitter re
store the jaded mind to its heath ul tone,
and brace the weary nerves witik renew
ed vigor, after 'ten months of toil and
study in the city, than to come f4th and
look on the green world of flowers and
foliage and springing grass, as GO cre
ates it anew every year.
When the Divine Teacher wits ex
hausted with his work in the crfrded
synagogue and the stifling streets of Ca
pernaum, he stole away to refresh him
self in. the grassy, solitudes of Bashan,
or among the neighboring hills of Gali
lee. .And he had just come forth from
such retirement when he delivered the
sermon on. the Mount, and where he
wrought the mighty miracle of feeding
thousands in the desert. He came up
to Bethany from the retired places be
yond Jordon, when he raised Lamarns
from the dead. He spent two dsys and
nights of rest in that quiet mountain
village, during the swift and hurried
week of his passion ; and it was by such
repose that he prepared himself'for the
torture and provocation of his trial and
the final agony of the * cross.
For the most part, the great Workers,
who have astonished the world with
their unconquerable energy in action,
have understood well the art of repoie.
When that art is lost, work' becontes
impossible, the mind is no longer its
own master, and madness or death must
follow the want of rest. Convictions of
duty become excited and inflamed by
continued effort and sacrifice in the
great conflicts of life. To keep such
convictions alive and controlling, and
yet free from morbid and fanatical ex
cess, is no easy task. And yet it must
needs be done by those who would prove
safe guides to others, or would choose a
safe path for themselves, in the hot and
hasty work of revolution and reform.
Few attain such high self-command as
to be able to rest in the midst of toil
and conflict. It is necessary for most,
it is wiser for all, to retire at times and
leave the great battle of life to go on
without them. It is a strange and
pitiable delusion of some noble and
hard-working spirits, that they think they
can never safely leave the post of active
service, and retire apart and rest
awhile." Judging by the feelings and
anxieties of some great and good men,
we should wonder how the world got
along before they came into it, and what
will become of the world when they
leave it.
It must be admitted, however, that
this 4 , country living" is not very quick
ening to mind or conscience for the time
being, to one who has been accustomed
to the fervid life of the city. Here, no
daily papers are thurst under doors
before breakfast, and no cries of startling
news are heard in the streets before we
rise in tho morning. The railway
station is . half a mile off, and by going
down there we can get a paper when the
train passes at eight o'clock in the morn
ing. But after two or three calls upon
the newsboy passing in the early train,
we become content to wait and let the
world keep its news until the mail, comes,
to the house, at four in the afternoon.
Then, the daily tale of crime and acci
dent, of passion and policy, of strug
gling parties and conflicting opinions, is
already old. We read it as we read
history, to pass judgment upon its prin
cipal actors, not to share their conflicts
or responsibilities.
The whole week passes, and no beggar
calls at the door ; no charitable enter
prise solicits our subscription ; no sick
or poor. or afflicted ,are, heard of to be
visited; no public meeting invites atten
dance ; no plaiv *for general instruction
or beneficence are to, be discussed or
executed; no committee men are to be
met or consulted ; nobody is to be rea
soned or persuaded into giving or doing
anything; no excuses are to be made
for refusal or failure, for nothing is asked
and , nothing attempted. Surely one
must have reasons of his own, if his
mind and heart and conscience keep up
a healthful activity when shut off so
completely from the calls which stir us
up to action every day in the city. And
if nothing else were gained by such
retirement, it would at least help one= to
understand how-, mach his- labors-and
gifts for the good of others in the city
are due to the fact that there he is beset
with calls, and opportunities for useful
ness are thrust upon him every cay.
I do not see how country people could
keep up their interest in the great enter
prises of Christian work and charity, if
it were not for the weekly visits of city
newspapers and the ceaseless labors of
country pastors. If I were to keep this
cottage home for a whole year, with no
neighbor within half a mile, and no re
ligions newspaper during the week, and
if the-good , minister at the village failed
to call forth my thoughts and sympathies
to the great world on Sunday, I am
afraid that in the end I should feel little
interest in the prayer—" Thy kingdom
come." Indeed, there is little danger of
over-estimating the degree to which, the
patriotism, the public spirit, the Chris
tian liberality of country people, are due
to their well-informed and hard-work
ing ministers. Every Sabbath service,
suitably conducted, in the humblest
village In the land, awakens desires,
hopes and sympathies, that encompass
the whole earth and the whole family of
man.
BROOK'S VALE, CONN. , August 16, 1866.
ftiittatio Caine.
AN ADDITION TO OITA COMMITTEE'S
Gthixrr. England Two Hundred Years
Ago. By E. H. Gillett. Author of John
Huss and His Times. Philadelphia: Pres
byterian Publication ComMittee. 16m0.,
pp. 353.
In every sense a good book. Super
intendents, librarians and parents in the
tedious search for a truly wholesome,
solid, and yet sufficiently attractive work,
for the young, may be gratified here in
finding one specimen, at least, of what
they want. Dr. Gillett has taken a
period of English history of the deepest
interest to the Church of Christ, espe
cially in this country—the time of the
" Act of Uniformity," 1662, and has
described its leading events and charac
ters in a most graphic, impressive, and
truthful way. He - has woven with the
historic warp, a very slight woof of fic
tion, which is not sufficient to obscure
the, great facts, and which but helps to
illustrate the great principles which he
would commend. All the Puritan
leaders are introduced to us, but the
interest centres in a character not at all
familiarly known, yet well deserving to
be—Joseph Alleine. Around him the
story revolves. We follow him from
his early career, as a lay preacher to
the heathen of England, to his persecu
tion and imprisonment at Ilchester, and
his subsequent death.
It is freshly and tersely written. It
will: bold the attention without difficulty
of children of twelve and perhaps
younger. • Its descriptions of historical
scenes and personages_ are vivid, its
groupings of events artistic ; altogether,
it is a most creditable addition to the
valuable list of our Committee.
The illustrations are numerous and
highly creditable.
MELVILLE. Battle Pieces and Aspects of
the War. By Herman „Melville. New
York: Harper & Brothers. 12m0., pp.
272.
Much like Milton's image of sin, thii
book, by the author of certain volup
tuous and corrupting novels, begins with
many fair and well-constructed patriotic
verses, but ends in a prose supplement
which might have served for the Ad
dress of the late Convention of sham
Unionists, which met two weeks ago in
our city. Mr. Melville has come out as
the poet-advocate of the new party, and
is putting into verse the lessons of such
eminent patriots and pure-minded men
as Thurlow Weed, H. J. Raymond, and
Andrew. Johnson. He probably expects
a Consulship on some of the South Sea
Islands not yet reached by missionary
influence, as a reward.
Mr. Melville's poetry is readable,
often elegant, sometimes almost Brown
ing-like in ingenuity, though never hope
lessly intricate in thought ; it is an ad
dition to our lyrics of the war. But
there is an affectation of neutrality about
the book as a whole, a want of moral
earnestness and conviction, that detracts
from its value. It is neither good poetry
nor good' politics It is an attempt to
combine pure art with very impure
political designs, 'and it must' fairly be
written dOwn a failure. The people
will never give 'it a place by the firm
trumpet tones of Boker, although the
poetry in and of itself may, in many re
spects, be just as meritorious.
Wsrmv.—Asiatic Cholera: A Treatise on
its Origin, Pathology, Treatment and Cure,
By E. Whitney, M.. D., and A. B. Whit
ney, A. M. M. D. 18mo. pp. 214. New
York: M. W. Dodd. For sale in Phila,del
phis by Smith & English.
This book is the result of investiga
tions, and the collectiop of facts and
arguments from a great variety of sour
ces, originally made and presented in aid
of the discussions on the subject, daring
the past eight months. The most emi
nent and reliable authorities for nearly
half a century, including the late reports'
from India, have been earefallyexamined,
and such late discoveries, facts, and argu
ments collected, as seem to throw light
on the subject, or in any degree to indi
cate or direct to a general principle of
practice. The book is written for the
profession, and they are of course the
best judges of the rationality of the con
clusions drawn.
THE HIDDEN SIN. With numerous Illus
trations. . New York : Harper & Brothers.
Bvo., pp. 189.
A work of fiction, belonging in the
soled list' of the Messrs. Harper.
PERIODICALS AND PAMPHLETS.
, _ETzTE,SE_COND * ANNUAL-11E1101M of the
American Tract Society. Presented at
Boston, May 30, 1866. Boston : The
American Tract Society.
THE EDINBURGH REvrzw, July, 1866.
American Edition. Republication of the
London, Edinburgh, North British, and
Westminster Quarterly Reviews.—Con
tents : Mahomet ; Weather Forecasts and
Storm Warnings; Annals of the Hugue
nots ; Mill's Examination of Sir William
Hamilton's Philosophy; Baker's Explora
tion of the Albert Nyanza • The American
Navy in the Late War; Precious Stones;
Charles Lamb; The State of Europe. New
York : The Leonard Scott Publishing
Company. For Sale by W. B. Zieber,
Philadelphia.
EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT. Boston :
Ticknor & Fields.—The number for August
25th has the following Table of Contents :
Silcote of Silcotes, by Henry Kingsley,
Chaps. V.—IX. ; Bathing with an Em
peror ; The Story •of a Burglary ; The
Theory of Flirtation; Choosing a House;
The Atlantic Telegraph; Foreign Notes;
The Snndew; Les Noyades. The readers
of this periodical will notice with satisfac
tion the announcement that, with the num
ber for September Ist, it will be enlarged
from 32 to 40 pages—an indication of popu
larity and prosperity. The counductors
propose hereafter to introduce as a feature
Serial Stories, selecting only those of a
first-class character, and of readable quality;
and also to continue to present the most
readable, interesting, and valuable stories,
essays, sketches, and poems, from the for
eign journals and periodicals. Translations
from the French periodicals will form a
regular and important feature. A most
thrilling story from the French of Edmond
About, will be given in September.
HOURS AT Hasa, September, 1865.
Edited by J. M. Sherwood.—Contents :
The Fossil Remains of Vermont, by J. W.
Phelps; Forests, by Prof. M. Schele de
Vere; The Little Preacher- ' Porphyrion,
by Alfred B. Street; The Harmonies of
Nature; Whose Fault is it ? by Mrs. Prof.
S. S. Robbins; Jane Gurley's Story, by
Miss E. Stuart Phelps; Froude's History
of England, by Prof. Noah Porter; Forever
and For Evermore, by Miss Helen Brown ;
The Faithful Star, by the late Miss Mary
Harvey Gill; Recollections of Hannah
More, by Mrs. S. C. Hall, (England); Stu
dent Life in Germany, No. 2, by Qr. M.
Towle, U. S. Consul at Nante; De Rebus
&iris; No. 4, by Donald G. Mitchell, ("1k
Marvel"); A Theft for Life, by Miss S. J.
Pritchard; Unforgotten; Patriotic Record
of Bowdoin College, by J. H. Thompson '
•
What is the German's Fatherland ? by Prof.
W. Wells, (Union College); The Lost
Cause, by the Editor; Books of the Month.
New York : Charles Scribner & Co.
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, September,
1866.—Contents : The Surgeon's Assist
ant; On Translating the Divina Commedia ;
Woman's Work in the Middle Ages; Pas
sages from Hawthorne's Note-books, IX.;
University Reform ; The Voice ; Life As
surance; A Distinguished Character; The
Bobolinks; Griffith Gaunt, or, Jealousy,
X ; The Chimney-Corner for 1866, IX ;
An Italian Rain Storm; Incidents of the.
Portla.n4 Fire; My Little Boy; Lake
Champlain; Yesterday; The Johnson Par
ty; Reviews and Literary Notices; Recent
American Publications. Boston : Ticknor
& Fields. Philada.: A. Winch, T. B. Pe
terson & Bro.
LITTELL'S LIVING AGE, No. 1159.
August 18. Littell, Son & Co., Boston.—
Contents : The Relation of Art to Nature ;
Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Part XIV. ; Cob
bett's Political Works ; To Esther, No. 11. ;
The Minister Painter ; Miss Rossetti's
Poems ; The War in Europe and its Con
sequences; The Policy of France in the
New Position; True " Moderation" in
Prussia; and a variety of shorter articles in
prose and poetry. A tempting bill, and
one which doh not deceive in the perform
ance.
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK. September,
1866. Louis A. Godey, Philadelphia.
Twenty-one Embellishments, including pat
terns and fashion plates, and an extensive
table of contents. The Home Department
has a particularly fine engraving and ground
plan for a country residence.
ARTHUR'S HOME MAGAZINE. Septem
ber, 1866. T. S. Arthur & Co., Philadel
phia. Six Illustrations, including a fine
steel-plate engraving and fashion plates ; a
piece •of musie, and the usual variety of
articles.
OUR YOUNG FOLKS, for September.—
Boston : Ticknor & Fields.
LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.
NEW PEaroprcALs.—The American Nu
mismatic and Archeological Society have
recently begun the publication of a bulletin
called the American JournaVof Numis
matics. It is an eight-page, double-column
octavo, with a cover, published monthly,
and is devoted entirely to the description
and cataloguing of coins,- and to the jour
nals of the diferent numismatic societies.
There is hardly enough matter in Ameri
can numismatics to fill even a journal of this
size. If more space were devoted to the
archaeology of the country, which is a great
field for explorers, the journal would be
greatly increased in value. Otte of the
best and most thorough papers recently
written on American archeology is the
essay by Prof.
,O. Q. Marsh,, F. G. S, in the
July number of the "Anterican Journal of
Science," on the exploration of one of the
ancient mounds at Newark, Ohio.
PROGRESS.-It is one of the signs of the
increase of travel, and the rapidity of inter
course between nations, that - a guide-book
for China should be published, a region that
four or five years ago, was as inaccessible as
the North Pole, or the sources of the Nile.
The first Chinese " Murray" appears in the
shape of a neat pamphlet of about seventy
pages, entitled " Notes for Tourists in the
North of China, by N. B. Dennys," and is
published by Messrs. A. Shortrede & Co. of
Hon g Kong. The pamphlet contains very
full clescriptions of Tientsin, Pekin, and
the surrounding country, with valuable
notes on the productions, objects of curi
osity, publio buildings, etc., of the capital of
China, besides itineraries, from Pekin to the
Mongolian frontier and the passes of the ,
Great Wall. Mr. Dennya has resided for two
or three years at Pekin as an officer in the
British consular service, and has had the
best of opportunities-for familiarizing hire_
self with the peculiarities of the Province
of Chih-li. His work is a very useful vade.
meow,tra, and is illustrated with several ser
viceable plans of Pekin arid of the rout be
tween that city and the sea.
"THE FINE ARTS QUARTERLY REVIEW,"
London, which unfortunately died out,
after a brief but meritorious career, has been
revived under the editorship of Mr. Wood
waid, the Queen's librarian. The articles
are, as formerly, signed, and cover a broad
variety of' topics. The writers are now
chiefly men who do not belong to the reap
istic school. The illustrations, which a re
very profuse, are the best point 'of the
magazine. Those hi the first number of
the new series are Jehan Fencquet's "Cor
onation of the Virgin" (in gold and colors) ;
Reynold's portrait of himself, from the pi e .
tare in Mr. Stuart's possession; Raphael's
cartoons of " Christ's Charge to Peter" and
" The Beautiful Crate ;" Flandrin's " Christ
and St. John," the Pitti " Ecce Homo,"
Perugino's "Ascension," together with some
minor works, initial letters, and the like.
CENSORSHIP IN RUSSIA.—Two of the
chief Russian reviews, the "Covremenik"
(Contemporary) and " Russkoe Slovo"
(Russian Word,) have recently been sus
pended after the proper number of warn
ings. The ground of their suspension was
their continued publication of articles
having a tendency subversive of law and
social order, and their antagonism to re
ligion and good morals.
A CHICKEN SENT HOME TO ROOST.—
Ticknor & Field's Every Saturday Night
has the following :—We find the following
paragraph in the columns of a London
newspaper:
"The new generation of American poets
do not mean, it would appear, to be con
fined in the old metrical grooves. Our
rhymesters must surely assume the well
known attitude of the British lion—put
their tails between their legs and howl
with anguish—when they read the follow
ing, from 'Drift, and other Poems, by
George Arnold,' just published in Bos
ton :
BEER."
" ' Here
• With my beer
I sit
While golden moments flit
Alas!
They pass
Unheeded by :
And, as they fly,
I,
Being dry,
Sit, idly sipping here
My beer.' "
The British lion is altogether too sensi
tive and hasty. The quaint measure (of
" Beer") which so offends him is none of
Mr. Arnold's invention, but rather a study
of one of England's choicest lyrical poets
—Robert Herrick. We commend the
" Hesperides" of that delicious old gentle
man to the British lion's consideration.
REPLY TO RENAN.----SOOn after the
publication of M. Renan's late work,
"Les Apotres," the walls of Paris were
covered with large posters announcing the
publication of a work in answer to. the
author. The title of the book refuting the
author of " Les Apotres" is " Christ
Crucified, by Ernest Renan."
THE RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER,
I was spending a day, not long since,
in a pleasant farm-house, which was fitted
up with a taste and neatness not always
found in such homes. The farmer sat
down in the parlor, and conversed with ease
and intelligence on various topics of inter
est in the religious and literary world—
showing a perfect familiarity with what
was doing in the great world outside the
bounds of his little farm. He was a man
of only common education, yet his infor
mation was far more extended than is cus
tomary in the people of his calling. The
secret of his superiority became very appa
rent in the course of the conversation. He
was frequently referring to some remark or
paragraph in his religious newspaper which
bore upon the subject upon which we were
speaking—sometimes taking up a recent
number, which was just at hand, and read
ing a few lines. One could not listen to
him without obtaining valuable information
and food for after thought.
An excellent religious newspaper was the
educator that made this farmer so much
superior to those whose lands lie upon
either side of him, and who were content
to jog on year after year, in the same dull
round of monotonous duties, without a
thought of anything beyond them.
He had taken this paper many years,
and what was more important still, he read
it every week thoroughly and carefully.
Cat off from much society, he had a little
world of his own in the pleasant family
sitting-room, where he experienced 'the
most delightful intellectual enjoyment.
What a blessing that religious newspaper
was to him, and wnat a blessing such a
paper is in every circle where it is intro
duced. You cannot do a greater kindness
to any family than to send such a messen
ger of good things into its fbld fifty-two
times a year. I wonder that newspapers
are not oftener • presented as New Year's
gifts to our friends • for certainly there
can be none which yields such large returns
of profit and happiness for so small an out
lay.—S. S. Times.
FALSE RELIGIONS.
All the *false religions that have ever
desolated the earth are sparks from the
collision of these two hard opposites: God's
hate of sin and man's love of it. As they
strike in the varied evolutions of life,
strange fires flash from the point of con
tact—fires that consume costly and cruel
sacrifices. In Christ only may this sore
derangement be healed. It is when sin is
forgiven that a sinner can hate it. Thee
is he on God's side. The two are agreed,
and " He is our peace" who bath taken
away sin by one sacrifice. Instead of hating
God for his holiness, the forgiven man
instinctively loathes the evil of his owe
heart, and looks with longing for the day
when all things in it shall be made n ew.
Such is the blessed fruit of pardon, when.
it comes to a sinner through the bloodof
Christ.—Arnot's Laws from Reaven f OY
Life on Earth.