WILLIAM I'ENN AND HIS HEROIC
J THY.
HON. HAMI'KI. 8. COX IN TIIK IIOUBK,
JUNK 3.
Most notable is the ease of William
IVnn. He was indited nt the Old
Bailey, in ItiTO, for tumultuoualy as
sembling, with others, in Grace Church
street, in Ixmdon, where he had
preached his Quaker doctrine. But
the light which shone within him, the
unjust judge could not quench. When
an honest jury were impaneled, and
while he was buffeted by Jeffreys, that
inner light broadened into a radiance
which filled two worlds with its glory.
The popinjay courtiers and had judges
of that day mistook their uiau—this
quiet, serene, non-swearing and non
resistent Quaker; av. too, they mis
took their jury. While in former
trials there had been a conspicuous
failure of the system, yet, like the fail
ure of the alchemists, it may he attri
buted to impunity of the ingredients;
hut on this triul the unalloyed gold
anpeured in the alembic. The person
al heroism of l'enn inspired the jury,
and after a struggle of five days, be
tween judges, jurors and neeused, at
last a verdict came in, that l'enn was
" not guilt)-." It was a scene for an
historic picture. It illustrates one of
the noblest seutimeuts of our Declara
tion of Independence. With it Penn
sylvania might well adorn hot hall of
Independence. Pennsylvania is now
discussing whose effigy, chiseled by the
sculptor's art, shall he sent iu her he
half, to ornament our federal eunitol.
How can she hesitate? l>et it be
William l'enn —not as her proprietor
and founder; not as standing among
the red men at Hhakamaxoti, forging
that " covenant chain " which was to
last while sun ami moon endure; not
as a swordleas magistrate, law maker
or humanitarian; not defying the
lieutenant of the tower; hut us the
champion of jury trial, when it was
almost friendless iu the British islands.
Go with me i- fancy to the Ixnidoii
of two hundred and nine years ago.
How it looked then you may see by
the rude cuts iu a little volume of
1(181, now on my desk. Here are the
gates, the churches, colleges, gardens
and monuments! Here is Westmin
ster Abby and the Parliament House,
White Hall and The Temple, ami
here the wonderful arms of the fifty
trades and companies out of which
the lord mayor is chosen! And here,
mirubile vinu! is the lord mayor him
self and, tier alsivc tier, his court of
adipose aldermen! Seated at the top,
between two heralds, one with a staff
and the other with a sword, is the
grand mayor, and above him the arms
of Kngland, with a sword and a pen
non inscribed Itieu et mon droit. In
tlieir full wigs, ample gowns, and
" full, round bellies, with good fat
capon lined," sit the pompous, puffy
aldermen ! These are the judges of
the heroic Quaker.
This book describes the city then as
so brave, fair and stately as to "out
vie the most magnificent city of the
universe." Ah ! it had been a proud
city ; and in other days displayed its
pride against the crall of king* and
courtiers who sought to rob it of its
charter. Now, it is low indeed, under
servile vassalage to a frivolous mon
arch, as the scene of Peon's trial
shows.
Parliament had just passed the
conventicle act against profane and
loose persons who preached non con
formity. (hie of tlu*e was the well
l>orn Quaker of twenty five years,
who had already suffered for his
faith by expulsion from Oxford, He
is seized by constables, while shak
ing to a crowd near his chnpel,
whose doors hail been purposely
closed. He is borne off to Newgate
and there imprisoned.
The gray and gloomy prison had
received many a miscreant and many
a patriot. Here had been immured
Lord Uusscl and Jack fSlieppard,
the regicide Harrison and the assas
sin Rcilinghan:. It was no respec
tor of rank or |crson. Never lie
fore had its gloomy walls confined a
finer or firmer spirit than that of
Pcnn. His undaunted soul knew no
prison walls.
The trial begins on the Ist of
September, 1070, at the Old Bailey,
" which runneth doune by the Mali,
ii|Min Hound's Ditch to Ludgatc,"
and was equally celebrated then a*
now for its criminal sessions. The
hero of that trial, next to IVnn, is
one Kdward Bushel, a juror; its
shame is the furious mayor, Sir
Samuel Starling, and one John
llowel, the insolent recorder. The
nldritmen nnd sheriff* are rather lay
figures iu the sceue. The eourt is
crowded. Silence is called. The
witnesses arc heard as to the assemb
ling in the atreets. IVnn rises to ac
knowledge the facts and vindicate hi*
right to meet incessantly to reverence
and adore his God. "You are not
here," said a bluff sheriff, " for wor
shiping God, but for breaking the
law I" Penn asks, " What law ?"
" The common law," said the recorder.
After much colloquy, with insolence
on one side and meekness on the other,
Pcnn is ordered away to the dungeon.
Before he is dragged out, he appeal*
to the jury nnd plead* for the funda
mental law of Kngland. Of no avail.
He is hurried to the hale dork, pro
testing against the jury being charged
in his atftence. Of no avail, ilie
jury at first return an evasive verdict,
that he had preached —no more. "We
will have a verdict by the grace of
Ood, or you will starve for it," says
the recorder. Again the jury in neat
out.
Wiien the mockery of the trinl iH
over ami the jury seem firm for ac
quittal, abuM and threat* arc rained
upon them ami tlieir leader. "I will
act a mark u|Hn you" is the threat of
the mayor to Bushel, one of the jurora.
Ho even threatens him with peraonal
mutilation. Pcnn iutcr|>o*oH with quiet
dignity : "What hope," cries out l'euii,
"in having justice done when jurors
are threatened and their verdicts in
jected ?" He denounces, in the name
of Magna Charta, the arbitrary con
duct of the judges. "Stop his mouth,"
cries the mayor; "jailer, bring let
ters!" "I matter not your fetters,"
replies the self-complacent Quaker.
Again the jury are sent out, and again
they return a verdict of "not guilty."
Then a dramatic scene ensues, which
is faithfully transcribed :
lli-corder—Qcnth'tnsn "f the jury 1 sin
sorry you havo lollowisl your own ju<li(-
tnmiU rstlior than the good udvico which
wilt- given you. Ood kiiqi my life out of
your hand* ! Ilut for this the court tines
you forty mark* H lIIHII and imprisonment
till pnid.
\V. Perm—l demand my liberty, being
freed by the jury.
Mayor—No you are in for your lines.
W. l'enn—hine- for wlut?
Mayor—For contempt of court.
\V. Pellli I -k if it be according to the
fundamental laws of Knglnml that any
Knglishman should he fined or ainerccd hut
by the judgment of his peers or jury, since
it eipressly contradicts the fourteenth and
twenty-ninth chapters of the great charter
of Kngland, which says, "No freeman
shall tie amerced hut by the oath of giaid
anil lawful men of the vicinage."
Uwordor—Take lii 111 away.
W. Pcnn—l can never urge the funda
mental lawn of Kngland hut you cry "Take
him away," hut it is no wonder, (tod, who
is just, will judge you for ail these things.
The jurors ami the acquitted pris
oner tire again suit to jail; from which
the great writ rescues tlieni,
<lod has judged these things. Jfe
has raised up a great commonwealth
which bears the name of the Quaker
tribune, by whom Kuglish law was
saved from reproach. Macaulev has
stigmati/.ed William IVnn, with more
tii|ipaney than truth, as rather a myth
ical than a historical person. While
he admits that rival natious and hos
tile sects have agreed in canonizing
1 Ynn, and that Kngland is proud of
his name; while the historian likens
the reverence to his name, by the
great commonwealth beyond the At
lantic, to that which the Athenians
felt for Theseus and the Romans for
Quirinus, and coiifes-es that his name
is a synonym for purity and philan
thropy ; while this most critical and
hostile of historian* tints indulges in
encomiums, there is jtothing in IVnn'*
character, whether dealing with the
red man or preaching in his conventi
cle amidst hostility and persecution,
equal to his manly stand for the sacred
right of trial by jury. We can see
him standing in his hr<>nd-hrimmcd hat
ami coat of formal cut, and not unlike
Sydney, with undisturbed pulse and
calm demeanor, insulted and IK- rated,
but answering not again, save to chal
lenge in tlw name of Knglish liberty,
the infamous mayor, recorder, sheriffs
ami aldermen of London, who sought
by outraging the traditions of the
realm to suppress him and his teach
ing. His words ring down the years
like the old hell of Rolnml of Ghent,
which Motley says rang the people to
arms when lilwrty was in danger.
When that other hell from Independ
ence Hall tolled out the death of Kng
lish tyranny, it rang to nil the land
and the inhabitants', thereof, from its
brazen throat, the wedding of liberty
and imhqiendenee; hut it also had
another voice—the voice of a great
slate, whose foundations were laid in
justice to all, and whose
——— *i>|crnn. ••H-I viLratt na.
Like IU TtAcm of< hrlt, ** I. "potf*."
Such servility of judge* and juries,
which l'enn denounced and condemned,
liecame the reproach of history ; but
this very reproach lifted the jury above
the ordinary machinery of ju-tice and
gave it a lofty place in our jurispru
dence.
Of Interest to Teacher*.
State Superintendent Wiekcrsham
has issued the following notice, which
wc publish for the benefit of teachers
more than superintendents, the lutter
probably being already posted :
"The signs of the titni* indicate the
application of largely incn-asul num
bers of |>ersons for teachers' certifi
cates during the current year. They
will come to examination jKwsinitiiig
all degrees of qualification for the
work of teaching, very good, good, fair,
poor and very poor. The purpose of
this article is to request the siijterin
tendents to adopt such a standard of
qualifications as will shut out all ap
plicants except alsmt enough to sup
ply the schools. In this way the
schools will be protected from the rush
of iocompetent teachers, the teachers'
profession will lie strengthened Mid
elevated, and the educational interests
of the public will be greatly subserv
ed. The threatened evil is a swarm of
incompetent* in our school-rooms at
very low snlnricw. If notcherked.it
will drive the liest teachers out of the
profession and greatly impair th
efficiency of our schools. The men to
gunrd the school interests thus jeop
ardized are the Superintendents, it
is their duty to do it without fear or
favor.
NOTHING is more amiable than true
modesty, and nothing is more con
temptible than the misc. The one
guards virtue, the otber betrays it.
TIIE (iIIAMI CANON.
A THAIV OK C'AKH I'AHHI-H TllltOtHlll
THE UKMAT HOKUM KOU TIIH
KIKHT TIMK.
On the 7tli tilt, tho Atchison, Tope
ka and Hantii Fe Kailroad Gtmpnny
made the passage of the Grand ('anon
of the Arkansas with a train of ears
containing two hundred persons. It
was the crown of the most stupendous
achievement in railway engineering.
Tho Grand Canon of tho Arkuusas is
now known to lie nine miles in length,
being the narrow winding wuy of that
river through a converse palisade of
granite rock, rising in many places to
tho height of 2,"<•() feet. This rock
hound river pathway became known to
the Spanish missionaries as early as the
year 1(>42. From that time it was
not known that any animal life bad
ever passed through it successfully un
til the summer of The long pas
senger train that accompanied us
through this mountain gorge was pre
ceded by a number of open pluttorm
ears, securely guarded by a balustrade
of railing, and provided with comfort
able seats, lb re the pn--engers assem
bled, and, being either seated or stand
ing, silently gazed upon the grnndure
of the scene, above, around and beneath
tbein. As the train wound slowly in -
tu the entrance of the mountain gorge
tin* whistle gave the wildest scream,
which echoed through the windings of
this causeway, mingling its distant,
softer murmurs with the roar of the
(tamingswift Arkansas. Immediately
upon entering the canon a chilly sen
sation sccnn d to creep over each pas
senger, while a yellowish hue appeared
to impart its coloring to surrounding
objects. The waters of the Arkansas
tit once became confined to a width of
forty feet, which it retains for a dis
tance of four miles. At the end of this
reach the Koyal Gorge commence* it*
granite paii-adc on either side, ri-iug
out of the river with a convex forma
tion and towering to the height of 2,-
•">OO feet. He who looks upon this
scene and then upon Niagara - height
of 111!) feet, will In* inclined to regard hi*
view of the latier a- a temporary, show -
er-uiade stream, to turn the water
wheel of a school-boy. Everywhere
tliroiiL'li the Royal Gorge the pnlisadra
on either side have narrowed the path
way of the river to a width of from
sixteen to thirty feet. Many plae< -
may Is* seen where a supple acrobat
could leap the roaring wutcra "f the
river at a single bound. Along the
convex palisade that forms the north
ern boundary of the gorge, and about
ten feet above the boiling waters, the
engineer for miles has carved a path
way for the iron horc, whore solitude
has reigned for countless ages undis
turbed by the sound of human art.
ii a hum's frronY.
Acoompaniyng our party wastiliarle*
May, who told ua of an adventure he
once had here. He and bis brother Kob
ert in the year of IM7O offered to ja**
tin,(MM) railroad tie* down the Artum
sas from the mountain source. He
says: "Ouroffer wa accepted, when
we started into the upper entrance of
the rnnoti with a large skiff provided
with six days' provisioux and two hun
dred feet of rope, with which, by tak
ing a running turn around some firm
ly planted object, we could lower our
Isiut a hundred feet at a time, in this
way, at the end of three days, having
set adrift many hundred ti<*, we reach
ed the entrance to the K<>yal Gorge.
Here we discovered that nn attempt to
descend the first waterfall with two in
the boat was certain destruction, nnd
to return wa. impossible. According! v
I determined to lower my brother down
the fall in the liat, a distance of two
hundred feet, give him the roj*> and
let him take the chance of the ration
i life seemed more certain in that direc
tion) while I would risk my physical
ability to climb the canon wall, which
was aliout two thousand feet high.
About ten o'clock in the morning I
shook bauds with my brother, lowered
him in the Isiat safely to the foot of
the full, gave him the rope nnd saw
hini no more. Then throwing node
my coat, hat ami boots, and stripping
the *H"k* from my feet, I commenced
my climbing way, often reaching the
height of one or two hundred feet,
only to be coni|>cilcd to return to try
some other way. At length, about
four o'clock iu the aftcruoon, I reached
a height u|*n the smooth canon wall
of nl*>ut a thousand feet. Here my
further progress was arrested by a
shelving ledge of rock that jutted out
from the cation side a fimt or more.
To advance was without hope; to re
turn, certain death. Kcachiug upward
and outward I grasped the rim of the
bilge with one hand nnd then with the
other, my feet slipped from the smooth
side of the canon and my body hung
Hii*|icndcd in the air, a thousand feet
above the roaring waters of the Ar
kan-a*. At that moment I looked down
ward to measure the distance 1 would
have to fall when the strength of my
arms gave out. A stinging sensation
crept through my hair as my eye
caught the strong rmt of a cedar hush
that projected out over the ledge a
little beyond my reach. My grasp
upon the rim of the ledge was fast
Yielding to the weight of my |**rson.
Then I determined to make iny l>cst ef
fort to raise my body and throw it side
ways towards the root so as to bring it
within my grasp. At the moment of
commencing tho effort I saw my moth
er's face as she leaned out over the
ledge, reached down her hand and
caught me hy the hair. Htrangcr, my
mother didd while yet a young woman,
when I and my brother were small
hoys, hut I remember her face. I wns
successful in making the side leap of
my ai ms when I drew myself upon the
lodge and rested for a time. From
here upward iny climbing way was la
borious but less dangerous. I reached
the ton of the canon just as the sun
was sinking down behind the snowy
range, anil hastened to our camp ut
the iiiotilli of the canon, where I found
my brother all safe, '('barley,' said
be, 'have you bud your head in u Houa
sack?' It was then i discovered that
my hair was us white as you see it
now."
Advice to a (•eiitleiuan on tlie Subject
of Health.
Iltll * M*ttii.il nfporlal rl |lhl(hhm Form*
The first great secret of good health
is good habits, and the next is regular•
ity of habits. They arc briefly summed
up iu the following rules :
1. Ship. —(Jive yourself the neces
sary amount of sleep. Koine men re
quire five hours ol the twenty-four;
others need eight. Avoid leather taxis.
Sleep iu a garment not worn during
the day. To maintain robust health
sleep with a person us healthy a* your
self, or no one.
2. JJruu.- —lu eold weather, dress
warmly with underclothing. Remove
uiufller, overcoat, overshoes, etc., when
remaining any considerable length of
time in a warm room. Keep your
feet warm and dry. \Vu.li them iu
warm water two or three times a week.
Wear warm stocking-, large boot* and
overshoe* when in the snow or wet.
W ear a light covering on the head,
always keeping it cool.
•'5. Chauhn- AM. —Have always a pint
or ipiart of water iu your sleeping
room. In the morning, after washing
and wiping hands and face, then wet
with the liuuds every part of the body.
I old water will not be di-agreeahlc
when applying it with the bare hamls.
\N ij h - immediately ; follow bv brisk
rubbing over the I**l v. The whole
o|*-rntion noil not take over live min
ute-. The rc.-ult of this wash is the
blood i- brought to the surface of the
skin, and made to circulate evenly
throughout the lssly. You haveopeu
eil the pore* ol the -kin, allowing im
purities iu the lasly to pas* off, and
have given yourself iu the o|H.-rution a
gH*| vigorous morning excreie. Pur
sue this habit regularly nnd you will
seldom take cold.
I. Jujlatmn of Ihe Lung*. —Five
minutes s(K-nt in the o|K>n air, after
dressing, inflating the lung* by inhal
ing a* tull a breath a- pon-ihlc, and
pounding the breast during the infla
tion, will greatly enlarge the chest,
strengthen the lung (tower, ami very
effectively ward offeonstimption.
•". Diet.— If inclined to be dyspeptic,
avoid mince pie, sausage an<f other
highly-seasoned fowl, lb-ware of ent
ing to fredy of soup ; letter to eat fisid
dry enough too employ the natural
saliva of the mouth in moistening it.
If inclined to over-eat, partake Irxx-lv
of rice, cracked wheat and other nrti
tiele* that are easily digested. Eat
freely of ri|K- fruit, and avoid exces
sive use of im-at*. Eat at regular
hours, nnd lightly near the hour of
([oing to lied. I-at slowly; thorough
y masticate the food. Do not wa-h
it down with continual drink while
eating. Tell your funniest stories
while at the table and for an hour
afterward. Do not engage in severe
mental labor directly after hearty eat
•i. KiercxAc. —Exercise, not tnn vio
lent, hut sufficient to prMlucc a gentle
|ier*piration, should Ik: liu<l each day
in the open air.
7. Condition of Mind. —The condi
tion of the mind hn* much to do with
health. Ib- hopeful and joyous. To
Ik- so avoid business entanglement*
that may cause perplexity ami anx
iety. Keep out of debt, lave within
your income. Attend church. Walk,
ride, mix in jovial company. I>o a*
nearly right as you know how. Thus
conscience will always be at ease. If
occasionally disappointed, remendier
that there is no row* without a thorn,
mid that the darkisst clouds have
a silver lining; that sunshine follows
*torm nnd beautiful spring succeeds
the dreary winter. Do your duty and
leave the r*t to God, who doetb all
thing* well.
I ndcrfcrotind Curiosities.
At the city of Medina, in Italy, and
about four miles around it, wherever
the earth i* dug, whenever the work
men arrive at a distance of sixty-three
feet they eonie to a bed of rhalk, which
they bore with an auger, five feet deep.
Tlicy then withdraw from the pit he
fore the auger is removed, ami upon
its extraction the water hursts up
through the aperture with great vio
lence,and ({uieltly fills the newlv made
well, which continue* full ami is affect
ed neither hy rain nor draught. Hut
what is the most remarkable in this
operation is the layers of enrth as we
descend. At the depth of fourteen
feet are found the ruins of an nnrieut
city, paxx*l streets, houses, floors and
different piece* of mason work. Un
der this is found a soft, oozy earth,
made up of vegetables, and at twenty
six feet, large trees entire, such as wal
nut trees, with the walnuts still stick
ing to Hie stem, ami the haves and
branciu* in a pcrft-ct state of preser
vation* At twenty-eijfht feet deep a
soft chalk is found mixed with a vast
• piantity of shells, and the bed is elev
en feet thick. Under this vegetables
arc fouud again.
The Spirit of Prophecy.
in hit memorable oration on the
completion of the Hunker Hill monu
ment, Daniel Welder described the
present situation with almost the spirit
of prophecy, in these striking word* j
" Quite too freipient resort it made
to military force ; and quite too much
of the substance of the |*-oj>le it con
sumed in maintaining nrmiet, not for
defense against foreign aggression,
but for enforcing obedience U, domestic
authority. Standing armiea are the
oppressive instruments for governing
the people in the hands of hereditary
and nrnitary monareht. A military
republic, a republic founded on mock
; election *, and supported Only by the
sword, is a movement indeed, but a
retrograde and disastrous movement,
from the regular ami old fashioned
monarchical system*.
"If men would enjoy the blessings
of republican government they must
govern themselves by reason, by mu
tual counsel and consultation, by a
sense and feeling of geuerul interest,
ami by the ac<pii<teencc of the minor
ity in the will of the majority, properly
expressed, and above ail the military
must be kept according to the langu
age of our bill of rights, in strict sub
ordination to tin- civil authority.
Wherever this hu-on i- not learned
and practiced, then? can be no politi
cal ficcdom. Absurd, preposterous is
it, a scotl and a satire on free forms of
constitutional liberty, for frames of
government to be prescribed by mili
tary leadere and the right A of nuffrage
to be exercised at the point of the
excord."
I' iipriiiciplcfl Performance.
A citizen who should Ik* preparing
himself for the unknown life beyond
the grave instead of being up to such
trick-, removed the sotting from his
big gold ring the other day, leaving a
decided vacancy. He get# on a struct
ear, holds his hand so the ring must
Ik* seen, anil pretty soon n man bends
forward and remarks:
" Kxcuse me, sir, but you have lost
the s< t from your ring."
"So I have," replies the owner, a
he look- around on the floor.
livery passenger la-gun to pe< r
around, and the man who makes the
discovery finally a-k- :
" Was it valuable
" It wa- a thousand dollar diamond."
There is nnothi r movement on the
part of the passengers. Home look
along the wat, and under it, and aotne
make a dive for jaiirl buttons and oth
er small objects.
"When did you miss it?" a-ked the
first man as the search weakens a little.
"A year ami a half ago, when I was
attending camp meeting in Illinois !"
Then every |assotigor strnigbteus
tip, each eye look- into vacancy, and
not the faintest smile -an lie seen on
any face.
A (arson boarding the ear just then
would wonder what great man in the
city had just ilb-d, and if the passen
gers were on their way to take a sad
tare well look at the remains.
A Woman Killed by a Pin.
hontili# N' York tlmM.
Sophia Ivchrliergcr, ageil twenty
four years, a native of Germany, eight
months ago, incautiously placed a pin
in her mouth. Ssm after she was
taken with a sudden fit of coughing
and accidcutly swallowed the pin.
She became greatly alanuisl and at
on<-c sought the advice of the family
physician. Kvery effort wa made to
cause the dislodgment of the pin, but
without avail. She soon experiences!
severe jiains in the throat, which
gradually extended to the chest and
from thence to the region of the stom
ach. She suffered considerably in
health and. as a consojucncc became
a confirmed invalid. Her appetite
failed her nnd she wasted away until
she became emaciated. Dr. J. W.
Kauney, of East Forty-sixth street,
attended her during her illuess, but
wa unable to do more than alleviate
her sufferings, while death approached
hy imperceptible degrees. The |>a
ticiit sank gradually until she expired
last Tuesday. The post-mortem re
vealetl that the pin passed through
the alMlominal walls.
A Ncwsboj's Fanny Adientnre.
V ilntitl(h* f?t C I M.
At the time the big rain storm came
along, vesterdav, Tony Freebone, a
news boy, was tioubletl up in one of
the dry good* Uixcs in front of Louis
Otterbourir's, on Market St., one block
from the river. The terrible torrent of
water began to move the box, ami
pretty s<s>n it began to gain *|>eod, and,
ill common with a lot of barrels and
Imxes, floated rapidly toward the riv
er. Two or throe men were running
about trying to stop the floating box
*, and Mtotmdad in chocking four of
them, though, as luck had it, the box
Tony was in slipped hv and was plung
ed into the river. Nobody knew there
was a I toy in it, but by the time the
box had goue under and conic up once,
everybody on Market street was ap
prises! of the faot by bearing a sera*
of Veils that even deafened the thunder
for a time. Looking in the direction
of the river, the boy, scrambling over
a sinking box, was seen, and three col
ored men ruhod out and made for him
in a boat. They reached hint in good
time nnd got him ashore safe- Tony
is done with sleeping in boxes, and
hereafter will pick out the highest i
roost he can get- I
The ran**' of Thunder.
; trusn Ktur.
I liMTif lately uns-n it #*ta.U-4j in
ujiori <;l*ctri'iijr and magneti*m
that the phenomenon of thunder i* not
fully accounted for by any tlusiry as
I ret brought forward. Whether thin
be ao or not I am not sufficiently ac
quainted with the subject to eay. I
U-licve the commonly accepted theory
i* that u vacuum i* created in tlie jtaiii
of the eh* •trie spark, and .that the sub
sequent in-rush of the air jtroduera tho
detonation. If, however, it be allowed
that the electric spark is not a materi
al substance, hut merely a natural
force or mode of motion, the possibil
ity of this theory in at once dis|x>sed of.
It in u well-known fact that the po*age
of electricity in a high Mate of term ion,
through a mixture of oxygen and hy
drogen, not only iauw* an explosion,
hut also caue* the formation of water,
and it M-CIBS to rue that, given the ex
istence of free oxygen and hydrogen in
the region of the electric disturbance,
the phenomenon of thunder is suffici
ently accounted for. Whether the
normal amount of hydrogen in the air
in sufficient to cause the stupcuduou*
noise o) thunder 1 am not ooni|ietciit
to judge, hut if not, i would suggest
that the presence of an abnormal
amount might iie accounted for by the
process of tin electrolysis, which
would probably occur In-tween the
two poles of the thuuder-cloud fa-fore
the tension became so great as to cause
a rupture of the circuit and conse
ouent din-barge of the electric spark,
l would aim draw your attention to
the fact that every thunder-clap is
immediately followed by an increase
in the quantity of water dejtosited in
the shape of rain. I ha* not this point
to the formation of water by the ex
plosion of the ga-<- * As I myself am
unable, faith from want of means and
time, to invc-tigate the matter, 1
should be glad to find that some one
ix-tter qualified had taken the subject
in hand. It is a frequent exja-riniciit
of I>r. Tvndall's to "how his audience
red clouds; I feel convinced that by
follow ing this line of inquiry he could
give Us a real thunderstorm.
The Jews.
M'ses, the wisest of law-givers, waa
aJi w. Joshua, one of the eleven-1
general's in the world, was a Jew.
David, "a man after God'sownheart,"
was a Jew. Solomon, the wisest (so
called of men, whose fame is greater
to-day tlian when lie built the temple,
was a Jew. All the prophet* were
Jews; all the apostle* were Jew-;
Jcsu* Christ himself wa.-a Jew. His
mother was a Jewess. In every ago
and country the Jews have done their
whole duty to ihe country in which
they have resided, and to society.
Marshal Sou It, one of Napoleon's
ablest marshals, and who stood faith
fully bv him to the last at Waterloo,
wa a .few. Judah I'. Benjamin, one
of the ablest ami most faithful of nun,
and to-day the 1< ading lawyer of Eng
land, is a Jew. ."senator Jonas of
l/iui-iatia is a Jew. The present prime
minister of Great Britain i* a Jew.
The Itolhschilds are Jew-. From tho
earliest dawn of history to the present
time, the Jews have furnished their
full share of brave and honorable
men, and of pure and beautiful women.
None have surpassed them in public
spirit, in works of charity and devo
tion to principle.
A large (alifornia band Holder.
The largest w heat grower in Califor
nia is Dr. 11. J. Glenn, whose rancbe
in Colusa county embraces 60,000
acres, or about 04 square miles of good
land, nearly all arable. He has this
year 45,000 acres in wheat which, it is
estimated, will yield 000,000 bushels,
worth, at HA cents a bushel, f07A,000.
And yet, with failures of cro|, which
occur about two years out of five, and
the heavy interest he is paying on
loans, Dr. Glenn is. iwrha|s. not so
well off a* an independent farmer who
owns only one hundred acre* and is
out of debt. Nearlv all the princely
fnrmcrs of Illinois of ten years ago have
come to bankruptcy, and it will lie a
wonder if Dr. Glenn escapes that foe.
Fader the new Constitution the great
ranehe-owners will have their unculti
vated lands assessed at the same value
as the cultivated, a provision that will
force them to break up their estates
and sell them out in small farms.
A(XX)R!!fO to the most recent cml
| dilations—those of I'eterman— the
Imputation of the world is now 1,424,-
000,000. It is well known that uot a
few thinkers have called in question
the account of the origin of mankind,
! as given to the Biblical writing*, on
I I lie ground that it was impossible that
in the |>criod in question so many
j could have descended from two anrxw
! lors —Adam and Kve. This objection,
however, Euter has undertaken to
meet by showing that, ill a pneess of
doubling the population from noc pair
it might amount to any conceivable
number. It has been laid down that
a imputation ran double itself in
twenty-five years. It is true that,
if the population in<reaM*l to its pres
ent pitch in AKW year*, it may have
doubled itself every two hundred years.
The inhabitant* of the earth would
thus, in two hundred years, approach
3,OOO.ttOH,000; and at. the same rate
the difference between the birth nitca
and the denth rates would lie nearly
constant, although ihqpise lvoa varying
widely.