I SCO Si PA TA BIUTIKH.
A thin, lltUo fellow hud aueh a fat wlf.
v.i iut. wife(,ii.i hlpita her!
Bno looked Ilk a druro.aud lm looked like
Die,
And u look nil hl uionf y to drs ber, .
Mod blea lrt
Todreunarl ,
Mod dim bort
Todrsnerl
To wrap up her body aud wiiriii up ber tod,
Rat to. fMl loen-Uod kerp liarl
Kor bonnet kud bowi bdiI ilfcn clothe,
To eat ber, aud drink her, and aletp ber.
(I(k1 kwp herl
To tlrln k hrrl
And b'p her!
' -And Wit lierl
fib rew Hk n toriti I ; b grew like sword,
HUe took 'ml the urn Hiid iibe took all tha
. DOHIll, .
Ado Jl look a whole unfa to bear her.
' Uod imiw t r I
To twar berl
God ipwrr bet! .
lob.arhtrl
Bh apread like a turtle; beahrank llkeaplse.
And nobody rvi-r beheld the like,
Kor they had to wr rIiih io thav Dim,
God aave him I
To ahave hlml
Uodaaveblml
To abate hlml
She failed away till aha bmted one day,
Kxplmted, blew up til tae hurl
An I ah Hie ppl Uial '" Uay
Hueoovoifdovfon-Hiw!
Uod Ukn her)
An acre I
Uod Ink hurt
An acre!
. Wren Lore.
Tbo wren, tlio smallest of English
birds, is almost as grout a favorite with
tho "pot"-loving public as the roltu-rod
Ireost, and often popularly connected
with it. Many of tlio vulgur actually
boliove it to bo his wife, hence its name
in nursery loro of "Jonuy Wren," "Kitty
Wren," cto.
Tt in rnmmonlv uilocd to bo nil
Wkv to kill or iniuro it. In Cornwall
the children nay,
"Who burti the robin or lh wp a,
Will never pronptr, sea or laud,"
Halliwcll in Lis Popular Rhymes has the
following:
"The robin and the rcclbreatl,
Tlia mtuu aud lha wri-u,
II tak mil o' l heir not
Ve'll uever thrive again.
"The robin and the r'tbreat,
Tte innrilu aud the awallow,
If ye toucll cm o' llielr ees
Bad luck will aur to follow.'
' A translation of tho Welsh
couplet
may be rondcred:
"Wtinno doth a wrea'l net ateal
Bball UiKl'a blitrr anfer feel."
Ariatotlo and Tliny treat of the rever
oneo in which thin little bird was held:
it was then believed to bo the heavenly
niossongcr that brought fire to tlio earth,
though it disputed thin honor with the
eagle. According to the Popular
Legends of Normandy, in performing
this kind oflloo its plumage was unfor
tunately aeorchod, but the other birds
made tin this loss, iu consideration of
tlio service it had rendered, each of them
presenting it with a feather, except the
owl, which lias ever since been ashamed
to show itself in tho daytimo; or, as
some say, tho cuckoo is for this reason
universally despised. Again, tlio robin
wiahod to add his feather, but came, too
near, and was himself scorched.
Notwithstanding these favorable opin
ions of the bird, in Frunoe, Ireland, the
Islo of Man, otc, they formerly carried
tlioir dislike of it to great extremes, it
being tho barbarous custom to hunt this
innocent aongster. For this purpose
they procured two sticks, one to Wat the
bushes, and tlio other to throw at the
bird. Yarrell, in the British liirds (vol.
?. 1-178) . tolls ns, "It was the boast of
f an old man, who lately died at the ago
of HH.I, that he bail hunted the wren for
tho last eighty years on Christmas Day."
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St.
Stephens Pay and Now Year's Day were
tho times when this practice was ob
served. In Ireland tho "wren-boys," as
Uiey were designated, decorated them
selves with Tarioua colored ribbons, and
. went round with the birds they had
killed placed on a holly bush, singing a
characteristic song, aud soliciting gratu-
. itios for tho service they had rendered.
This practice waa very prevalent in
flalwav, Cork, Clare, and other parts of
Ireland. The aversion to tlio poor crea
ture is founded on a tradition that dur
ing the Irish reltellion a party of Royal
ists, tired out after a day's skirmishing,
sank to rest, and soon the sentinel also
incenmbed to slocp, when, as the enemy
approached them, a wren tapped on his
drum three times, which awoke him,
and saved a surprise, the rebels being
defeated. Different versions of this
story are related. Another tradition we
read in the Science ilossip is that our
Savior, desirous to le coucealed, took
refuge under a tree; the robin, perceiv
ing this, carried moss and laid it on the
tree, making the covering more dense,
at which the Ixrd waa so pleased that
He put forth His hand and loft the red
mark on its breast. Put the wren came
and carried tho mom away, and exposed
the retreat; hence it is called br them
the "devil's bird." In the Isle of Man
thev hunted it from sunrise to sunset,
' and placed it on the top of a pole, and
when all the money they could get was
gathered in, they laid it on a bier, and
carried it in a procession to the church
yard. There they made it a grave, aud
with mock solemnity sang dirges over it
in the Manx language, which tier called
its knoll. Afterward thev formed them
selves into a circle outside the church
yard and danced to music. Now they
sometimes go about "with a wren sus
pended bv the legs between two hoot
clothed with evergreens, and in exchange
for a coin give a feather of the bird, and
it is not uncommon by the end
f the day to see it quite featherloss.
The feathers are kept as relics and safe
guards against shipwrecks for a year,
and sailors take a dead bird to sea with
them as a charm against all danger. In
Train'a "Isla of Man" we see they now
bury the bird, cot in the church-yard as
formerly, hut sear the aeashore, atnging
the. following:
"Wi basied I be wra for robin tbe bobbla.
We auaird tbew-ea fcrjik tbe ran.
We bus ed (be wra lot rvlwa the bobbin.
We healed ue wra tot evry ooe."
Their legend is that, in day long gone
by, a fairy of uncommon beauty, exerted
auch undue influence over the Manx war
riors that ahe induced manv of them Ho
follow her footsteps till ale gradually
led them into the sea, where they perish
ed. This continued so long that it was
feared the island would be depopulated,
when a knight-errant sprang up, and
finding a means of counteracting the
charms of this siren, sought her destruc
tion, which, however, aha scared by as
suming the form of tho wren. But
spoil was cast upon her which compelled
her to reanimato tbo same form every
New Year's Day, with the sentence that
sho was ultimately to perish by human
hands.
Honninl relates a hunt at Ciotat, near
Marseilles: Whon they had caught tho
bird thev blueod it on tlio middle oi
long pole, and carried it as though it was
heavy burden; then they weignod it in
a pair of scales, after which they mado
merry. Thoy call it the pole-cat, or
aula tocasxe I father oi the woodcock)
which is supposed to be engendered by
tlio polocat. a exeat destroyer or birds,
Uolliwell mentions another ceremony
still observed In Pembrokeshire on
Twelfth-Day, whero they carry this bird
called Uie kind, in a box with glass win
dows, surmounted by a wheel ; or a stable
lantern is sometimes substituted, for
which they linvo various colored ribbons.
Men and bovs go about with this, sing
ular as ther walk.
Tho wren has been culled "king" from
time immemorial; and Col. Vitlluncoy, in
tlie thirteenth number of his Collectanea
n IMut HilieniiU. lmco 07, says that tho
Druids represented this bird ns the king
oi all outers; and tunc tno superstitious
respect shown to it gave offense to tho
first Christian missionaries, and it is still
hunted bv tho peasants on Christmas
dav.
That this poor creature should bo so
Kononuly huutod, and lor so mauy aiieg'
ed different reasons, does indeed seem
stninco.
Tho names for it in all countries soem
to coincido in declaring that it is a supo
perior bird. In Hono's Year-Hook we
nnd tho following amusing legend con
corning the origin of its royal title:
"The birds, beinit determined to elect
king, ossomblcd, and dtcided that the
bird among them which Hew the highest
should have the preference. Among tho
candidates which competed were tho
caglo and the w ren, the latter being de
termined to accomplish tho toot by strut
agem. To perform this, it got nnpor-
eived on tho back of tho eagle, wiucn
felt not its weight, and llew the highest;
it bad begun its descent, when tho wren
seized the favorable opiKirtunity, sprang
from it perch aud llew higher still, and
was uuauimouslv pronounced King,
though how it reached its elevation pu
zlod all." A similar talc is current on
tho Continent.
"Iho Jutbca iu tlio Wood lias given
riso to tho pretty idea that the wren, with
tho robin, covers with leaves, flowers aud
moss any exposed dead body they may
find. Shakspeore, Drayton and Webster,
in his comedy of Yittoria Corouihona,
1012), allude to "this notion. Peed, in
his old plays, has the following lines:
Call lor the rnbbln-rvdbrrant rnd the wren,
Mlnoe o'rrahady swvra Ihey hovrr.
And with leave and fljwrr (to cover
The frlendleaa nodiea of uuburled men."
In many places it is thonght by the
superstitious that to dream of wrens de
notes great happiness and content
through lifo.
Miuksneare. with his all-seeing eve. has
immortalized the courage of this tiny
bird in Macbeth :
The Door wren.
The mud diminutive of birxls, will fight.
Her yount, our iu lue nml, agttual the owl;"
And in Richard HI., act i, scene 3:
prey where eagle dart not
"Wrena may
peicu."
-JIarper' HVX7y.
('one to the Bot.oai.
Next to the pirate ship Alabama
the Shenandoah, whoso loss off the
island ot Scotia in the Indian Ocean
was reported tbe other day, waa the
most famous of tho rebel priv-teera
which preyed on tho commerce of
the North during the late war. She
was built at Glasgow, Scotland, and
aunched under the name oi the Sea
h.inj. un septonuer u, iso-, 6no
was purchased for tho Confederates,
and after being fitted out, cleared for
Matauioroa. At Madeira she met tho
steamer Laurel, which had previous-
sailed trom Liverpool with a cargo
ot war materials, and oluccrs and
men for tho Shenandoah. These, were
transferred to tho rebel ship, which
then bej:an her piratical career. She
subsequently went to Melbourne, and
thero strengthened ber armament,
eparting front that port in Febru
ary, 1SG5. On Juiy 2Sth, in that
year, intelligence was received in
New York that the Shenandoah had
destroyed eight wbal ng vessels in
tho Arctic seas. This news came by
way of San Francisco, where it was
brought by the bark Milo, which bad
been spared from destruction in
order that sho might take the crews
of tho burned vessels to the United
States. This and subsequent reports
ot the ravages worked by this
scourge of the seas created intense
excitement and anxiety throughout
tho Now England whaling ports.
lobtilitica had long before, come to
an end, but still reports continued to
arrive of the Shenandoah's destruc
tive work, ller captain, it wa said,
had been told of Lee's surrender, but
refused to believe it, and consequent-
r continued his cruise, rmaliy, ou
November 6, l$o5, the rebel pirate
ship ai rived at Liverpool, and was
there given up by ber commander to
the british authorities. Her othcers
and crew, numbering 133 men, were
allowed to depart without punish
ment, and after some delay the She
nandoah was surrendered to the con
sul of the United Stales at Liverpool.
She was subsequently the subject of
almost as much diplomatic corres
pondsnce as the pirate Alabama. The
Geneva arlitralurs decided that the
British Government, by tbe 4'ailure
to exerciae due vigilance, became re
sponsible tor all the acts of the She
nandoah after Lr departure trom
Melbourne, an J the loaaes to Ameri
can citizens caused thereby were in
cluded in the Geneva award of 115,
000,000. "There newr waa any situation so bad
that it could not be wont," says aa
Amenoaa philosopher, l or instance, a
maa on t-ia gallows might be lot in ta
woods without evea a dog for eompasy.
AX ABLE LPtlTBB
"OX PAHAHIT1KM IS KATl'RB AND SOCIKTV,"
DKMVERKD BV TROy. It. B. ( NORTON AT
THB IKDXPEKDKNT CHURCH, OAkt-AMJ,
CAUKOH.N1A. .
Dr. Le Conte has suggested that evolu
tion Is the law of time, as universally
eravitation Is that of unRce.
Thero is a divino. fiery, infinite energy
pervading nil the Infinitudes of mutter
and spirit j
It Droiects itself into the realms
warmth and light, and produces flowe
birds of paradise, and all tbe children
thnliiriit. It nours through the dens
darkness, and produces organisms that are
incomplete, larval, monsiroui, buujiuic
i .... 1
Him icriiuic i ,
The t.hvsicist speaks in ourfrars words
incohiprehetiHiDie in uioir vim mcmi...
Me talks about atoms uuu iuiicj, u
anmdoof motion; light and life, not i
entities or substances, but fortis of vibra
I .... Ma hi.U u h to iriiaeine in i
whirling dunce of infinitesimal spheres,
going on and on, wunoiu omniums
end, forever; atoms clasping hands m
tiny groups and systems, vibrating, puls
ing. scattering, but ever forming anew
: r..i. uirni-tiirta rif organic life
And yet God, working in nature, does so
without any referonce to our human mor
alities or tastes.
It plcaneth Hlm.tne Eternal PhlM.
To ulny Hl iweel will. gUU and wild.
The vhiiII tlmt nlowa. I.nineoae wall light,
It the Inn where He lodgei for a ulgbt.
Wtmt rroS uch irv-lr, If the ooerf
1 bat bloom an a fade like meadow nowers,
A bunch of fiaiirsnt 1 1 1 tea be.
Or lliesia'aof elemlly t
Alike to Him the beltr. the worae;
The t Io lug Augol. the ouicaat corse."
n;nr adorns to cire notliinz for vast
ness, or beauty, or refinement, in our
sense ot the words, sno loves me nmu
no tim it.ua thn dove: she creates
more toadstools than roses; she gives usf
many mosquitoes, out lew oirus ot para
Devils are legion, but angels visits are
r.. r,r lint il'opii ami uou is one. iiiu
........... n .... tin... la in aa stilcndkllv
armed as Sir Galahad, going forth! in
quest or tlio noty ur.ui. auu iuw
,i... i, dii Ti-n wins tu be no fijre
in nature tending ltilierentiy ana neocs
Siinly upward, to lllgutr icu.ui oymiuai
being. , l
involution rr devolution eouals evolu
tion. P.eooil is as powerful as propnl-
,1 linuscs on California
street bill (San traliciscoj, oiu e.icu
. i r . .....1
lm a ttiousanii b.aik-
irni-n li,m.n. suicides, in order
thut the world may have one bonanza
king.
'lue preservation of the fittest msans
too oltcn me preservauuu oi " oin.--,
liar,a.l mivst I'll n 111 1117. best SmiOred. Ollt
of the 'intiuite wreck and waste of jast
. ... .1. u.. .....i
ages have come to us me u
humming bird, the palm tree and the
rose; but how much agony, strurgle,
deatn, forgotten lives, destroyed race, do
these triuiuptis of her w irk represent?
And fur ofteuer her selective choice rests
upon diametrically opposite endowments.
The naEelle perishes that the hyena or
tiger mav grow strong; the vulture tears
the huuimiog bird; ttie poison oak stran
gles and outlives the rose. Out of mil
lions of uvea sunken la torpor, squaior,
.....i;. ...rii.- fun- ci.iniH ariHp: men that
litu AuvrUn hulls and liotis re
stored to the flesh; men with the brain of
a god, the physical presence 01 uypenun,
tlx. nittnii.1 iwn-iiun of a kinizof beasts.
Such nien we see iu the stock exchange,
tie places ol political power, biiujciihics
n ilia milnit i.iniHtiiiios cuidins armies.
b'yron, Goethe, Ibnton, Mirabeau, Bis
marck, Napoleon I were of this type.
rit.l.. nnA amnna milllOnfl flf in.stliriCfS
Villi VMVV ft
do we see a crest bruin fitted to be the
temple or a still uiviner uie. uuo inci
ter one Washington, one Lincoln, one
ictor Hugo aspiring, unseiusu, uiine,
lining like stars above the dusty desert
ri.i.i..r.- lint iliMit ri:it ones are few
udeed. "Xatnraeeems best to loveaver
iires. mediocrity, the pettv and the com
monplace. Like aCotuanche.she rejoices
n torture, blie rorgives no sins, iveep
iten upon her treadmill or you shall go
itider the wheel. She experiment
rudely; he casta away her failures mer
ile!y. Our geological museums are full
,f il.-'fr .riiMiii of forms exoerimoutul.
ntative," transitional, too clumsy and
ii.xmth to keep pace with the inarch ol
in a t,u fiimul in tilirf ami feeble III brain
Inno niulnrA. I cannot find ailV law Ol
natural progression toward the heights of
pirltuai Uelllg. .ew natural puweia aiiu
rces only intensify inherent tendencies,
"v-il i iVtAiiivri m.?res.-ive. self-reDro-
duciive. It is not a vacuum or negation.
I'k. .:..! ......!. ....I n,.ti,M h.ivA
iiv euuaiviiai naiium iuuiuiv urn.
. . . . . I
diiitsl t lie vast iroint oi 100 iwiui auu
splendid cup of the ictona Lily, but
v u.bo tlisiil tbo deadly venom of the
.riili unit thi inhni. 1 canuot find in
nature any force tending to change the
I,mi int. ttia Imli- or t.i ili-;rov Itia lion
and preserve the iamb; oru make the
upa or CJVuius less ueauiy; or io umiiii
in the power of sin and arrest the hell
ward uiurvti amony mea. The germs of
evil have a rtrungo and terrible fecund
it v. If Nature hud been left to her owu
will, Uuiaua would still bav been a trop
ical swamp, brooded over by .a deadly
miasma, ruled over by the anaconda and
a.ifator.
It had been built up out of the waste,
the sk'Uti and tlime of the. continent,
vomited from tho mouth of the Amazon,
aud flung, as a mass of abhorred refuse,
upon the shore. Bia.k. stattuaut rivers
wauiid thnxivru its swauipy forveV; hid
eous reptile xnd the uucleau pelican
bie.istet i.s nitt; and a cloud of pison
ou efll jvmm torever hung over it. But at
U a generation of UboHoiis, aturxly
Dutchmen overthrew the rvigu of Nature;
the ax and s(ade, wielded tor centuries,
have turned the pestilent morass iuto a
tropical paradise. So it must be every
where. ir the e..rtb and man are to te
fuliy reileemrd it mut l thruugh the
worklug of forces higher than thoe
merely naturaL
Our evolutionist philosophers speak f
the three fvmxs working toward the end
ot whii h they are the Xjeilur8.
1. Heredity. This tends to produce
fintvof type, by handing down to each
generation Uie vharacteriaucs ot its an
cestors. 2. Tbe influence of eavironmenU.
This work mainly apoa germs and em
bryos, modifyiug then upward or dowu
Ward, acrorUiu to the Data re of circutn-S-aucen.
S. Natural selecUoa. By the operation
of this priudle, the tronk-4, mort cv.n-
nin l-sf KrniiOd aJ iirkt coucealed
an ma' lixe, while other prnsh is the
. . -r-1 . e . J .
stru, !t lor exrateiice. iu iww reuu
i...IaI.LvI nsrfMioo. It Vtl ia
ihetekM of car senul a ri.'pi ritual
briog. Neerthe!estir.t-ul exa-'uuoa
is a costly gJX. Wbea ooe svtil aecends
t
in
li
to
pir
fi
K
d
I
tin
the
the
tu. nn.rt mmv wa. look in ir front the
merely natural sutnd-point, seem to see a
throng pressed down thereby to lower
levels. Human vermin and weeds, hko
thnia itnnrrnnoni in lower nature, have a
fatal fecundity. The doublo flower, the
costly product of a century or culture anu
care, hears no fruit. The large-brained
;.;.. ,.,., la rlvinir out of its birth
place; but how tbe Five Points, the sand
lots, the Chinatown swarm.
One of the strange phenomena or the
i;r nr luver nature is Darasitism. This
word refers to animals and plants that
fieil nrev uDon others. In nil the
life of the sea parasitism is almost uui
.i,. i- onH tiia wnndurful erowth of med
ical science is teaching us things concern
ing the relation or parasitism io uiseaw,
in mirnril tn which ignorance is bliss. Iho
i:n..n iwatiant Hto the raw sausages at
their harvest leasts, and died in horror of
gnawing death worms, as lornine as mi
which overtook Philip II. or King Herod.
Tho "germ theory" assumes that all
zymotic diseases, like cholera, diphtheria
bv different
auu jtiwn wvi . ,
species of minute fungous plants, bred in
filth, whose spores, uoating everyucio
invisibly, are inhaled and germinate in
human tissue.
But this much we learn from nature:
naraaitium ia nlifava degradation. The
dodder, with its pale, bloodless tissuos, and
iU feeble, loathsome life, is closely re
lated to the beautiful convolvulus. Some
naturalists speak of the sacculina, a lively
and perfect little crustacean, which some
times attaches itself to the head of a flsh,
and begins to feed upon the living tissues
of its host; and at last its brain disap
pears, its limbs are changed into clinging
rootlets, aud it becomes a mere sac of un
conscious or semi-conscious jelly, ifs in
dividuality gone, its identity practically
mcrired in that of the animal it had se
lected for a prev. In the realms of hu
man life the same law holds; parasitism is
degradation.
The Brand things of nature are always
bah irit4 In itieiiliinl distinct. The stars
oxtipv each a central portion in some
region of the vastness of space. Each
keeps the secret of Its own fiery heart.
The grand men concede little to prece
dent; each, in his inmost nature, tends to
solitariness; ho wants air, light, elbow
room, freedom from abstresive contacts,
for body aud soul. The Polyd-life of the
Au nnd iiiHHSPil. eni'li form
OWU V I V X. V. - J
penetrating and 'feeding upon the other,
till parasite can hardly be uisiinpuisncu
from its host. The lower grades of human
lir.t vii.Mi- n similar ureMriousness and
tendency, mutual suction and absorption.
The feeble student intensines ins iccum-
ness bv fieding upon the fruits ot his
brother's work. Every popular minister
is Biirrounded by a parasitic group, feed
in.r n rum hi thnnclils and therefore
sinking into mental feebleness through
tbe desuetude ot their own reasoning
powers. 1 need not speak oi tue neipiess
wives, sons, daughters, drunken husbands,
n,ir .viti.. nunn imrtnpr or HH re III. a 11 a to-
ing down into torpid decay; nor of the
stock jobbers, political rings, thieving
n.tv-i.ntnnri KvtVms of religious oppres
sions, which are, in some measure, para
sitic upon the world's life; but confine ray
thought to the degraded tramps, vagrants,
Iwunn anpnk thioves. the acari and nedi-
cuirupon the body politic The fast mul
tiplication or thee is one oi tne niosi ter
rible of the phenomena of bur social evo
lution. Our social order is about that of
wild beasts. Uooui for the king ! Koom
for the strong arm, the vast cold brain,
the heart oi granite, the cheek of brass!
f.ir th Lir'pst eounetition. the
niOMt meiitless monopoly. Every one for
nuiseir. Ah, now sail mai we musicom-
iluin llm nnivprlv "tho ill vil take the
hindermost!" In the pitiless struggle the
weak go down. To him that hath shall
be given; from him that hath not, that
whiL'h he seemeth to have is taken away.
The best government, we say, is that
which governs least. All mat humanity
needs is free schools and the ballot in
every hand. The saying is unspeakably,
monstrously lake.
The tramp is a new phenomenon upon
this continent. Whence does he come?
: is a complex problem. Formerly,
uierica was building oOOO to 8000 miles
1 railroad per rear. Many thousands of
laborers, endowed with little but mere
luscle. were sDadintr those endless lines
of embankmenis. That work is measura
lilv .(.ma Tho vnst niiiltiolicatiuii of la
bor-saving machinery has enormously in-
reased the demand for educated, skilled
nor; but the work has less ana ies a
lace for the two-hated bog-trotter and
lumsy clodhopper, the work which
ese can periortu pertains lessanuiessio
world s Hie. iney sin lower anu
wcr in every facet and libre of their
iing, as huiiiHiiity sweeps on w arn aim
at mum Tlioir montui .111, 1 nhvsical
characteristic are hardened into heredi
tary types. We are breeding np a mighty
swarm of human beings, as parasitical,
verminous, loathsome, an the lazzaroni of
Naples,
Aua what are e dmng to cure mis
great evil? We must do all Nature will
) nothing for us. fae loves ami muiu
lm, li iirr tvne. We must overcome
them, as ever in the realm of Nature, by
special and artificial method.
Thus far we have worked according to
system or rorethouhU e nave maue
these degraded and sinking men, each
sovereign voter. e have enacted laws
muiKin.. ahnrl terms of imprisonment
upon vsjrants; we have given sporadic
half-dollars to meu who are sunken
deeper thereby; we have impseJ upou
HLnrvinj ami desperate men the stern
command, "Move on!" Alas! whither?
But in all our legislation and methods
of execution we have followed no large,
comprehensive, remedial policy. Our
criminal law iuvolves a vast system of
make shifts and temporary expedients.
There is in it ne healing for the terrible
uli-er which is gnawing the vitals of so
ciety. The pre-uiupiion of our laws is
that every man has, or can acquire, self
control, the power of selfaupport; that
every criminal may be reformed, if he
only be puutbed euoiuli to learn that the
way of the transgressor is hard. Thepre
aiiuiption is fle.
Life U too heavy a burden for thou
sands. There are men organically weak,
needing aid, guidance, the helping baud.
The tendency to ciime is a disease, a
mallurmation io many .instances. The
recent report of the surgeon in charge at
aa eastern peuhentiary announces that
the dissection of the brain of many hun
dred men who have died in prison on the
gallows conclusively prove that crimi
nal are diseased aud deformed ia their
nerve a'.ruc.ure in a vaat majority of
casea, and this malformation ia aa heredi
tary characteristic of great feneration of
men. Wtll remember the temblestory
which Mr. DugvUl ha told us concerning
The Joke," now "Margaret, mother of
rrimiukls," an abandoned woman, seot
down to posterity a generation of who a
sore Ihaa5u0 were known and recorded
a felo is, nek thieves, paupers ackproe
t tales. Oae experience came home to
me years ago, of which I have already
It
ot
1
Pi
1
h
the
lo
be
pa
f
anntnn In nrint. but concerning which
perhaps, a repetition is pardonable, for it
has been the experience ui ou uu. a.
ring at the door bell announced the com
ing of a tramp worthy special notice. He
was a bull-necked giant, with a face on
every line of which nature had written
"beast." Ho wanted clothing and money;
he was just out of the peniteutiary at Sao
Quentiu; he could get work nowhere; no
oody wpnted a felon in shop or home. I
could well believe his story. There was
no place for hlra in society. Seven years
of prison life had blotted out the last
vestige of manhood. Only the cowurdlv
crutltv of the hyeiia remained. Doubt
less ui'y half dollar was spent at the dram
shop, and paved the way to a renewal of
crime; for no other life was possible for
such a. being us this.
A little later, journeying In a coasting
steamor along our lower coast, my
thoughts dwelt upon the rango of islands
enclosing the Santa Barbara channel. At
present they are pastured with sheep, but
very few people ever set loot upon them.
One of them has a considerable stream of
water and a large fertile valley. Why
not purchase this and found a penal col .
ouy here ? W hy not begin to weed these
alnula nnf nf hnmun Ror'ii.t.v ?
f.... . I I . I I ....
Villa mere impulses auu icuiiciii;ii;d ia
has nothiiiL' lo do: but, when these have
ripened into the overtuct, the duty of tho
executor of the la n beginu. It should say
to the organic criminal: "llus island is
henceforward to be. your homo, lou
shall have abundant, healthful work, sul
ficieut for self support, rigidly enforced.
You shall be cleauly in person und sur
roundiiiLM. and decent iu speech. You
shall have, at proper seasons and inter
val, onnortunities lor moral und intel
lectual culture, such as you are capable of
uli irinir. But here your root snail per
ish; you shall not go forth again into so
ciety, to rear a family in your own like
ness, and send the stream of your brutal
izing life down to curse tbe coming
generations."
I cannot but feel that society has the
right to protect its owu future; that it is
suicidal to turn the organic criminal
loose upon the world, to an inevitable
reoetitioil of crime. There is no kindness
in such procedure; no mercy to the crimi
nal, or to the commonwealth upou which
he is parasitic. Healthful labor, restraint,
enforced order and cleanliness, and the
final extinction of his debased race these
are the highest blessings that can be con
ferred upou linn. AS to tne criminals
who are not organically and hopelessly
such, there should be a court of pardons,
composed of our wisest physicians, which
should decide whether any ono of these
could safely be released to the life of so
ciety. Only in some such fashion as this
cau the criminal elements be weeded ouf
As for the pauper and vagrant classes,
we must taxe positive ami rcmeuuti
action. Thero should be in every coun
try a farm and shops, furnishing work,
food, shelter, enforced cleanliness and ab
stinence from poisons to every tramp,
vagrant and habitual druukard. There
should also bo a place for worthy
men, temporarily needing shelter and
food, and willing to give in re
turn honest work. There might also be a
school for children, and such a gradation
in relations and style of clothing, among
those forcibly restrained, as would en
courage well-doing. At preseiit society
supports its parasites at enormous
coot in the way of arson, highway rob
bery, insurance, and policy expenses. It
were far better to do this work in a sys
tematic and orderly fashion, and in a
manner which tends to uplift and heal.
Very often the vagrant has no organic
tendency to evil. His sin is weakness.
Place around him the strong arm of legal
restraints ; keep him busy, clean, well
fed, healthy; stimulate tho brain with
new ideas; and perhaps we are laying tho
foundations of a new aud higher life for
him and his.
I have timidly ventured one or two
suggestions, only hoping that these will
turn other minds in the direction of social
scieuce. The law of human society is yet
to be written. Our modern social frame
work is the product of ages of barbarism,
and of blind, stumbling emperiment. Like
Topsv, it has 'growed," as best it could.
It is evidently true of it, as of Topsy, that
Uod did not make it.
It is time to begin, with heart and soul,
the study of the science of society. Look
ing at the seemingly hopeless confusion
that prevails the questions concerning
land limitation, water-right, suffrage, di
vorce, aud thousand similar themes w e
can seo that society is neither standing
upon open sea nor solid laud, but is built
upou a quaking quagmire. Strong, loving,
thinking men and women must drive deep
the piles and lay the granite foundations
upon which the structure of the redeem
ed world shall yet alise.
But here we shoul-' take our stand; that
legal precedents, common luws, existing
constitutions, must not be permitted to
hamper our thoughts. Laws and consti
tutions if they are not, at least should be,
the outgrowth of human needs. Man
has no natural rights, especially where
such alleged rights are incomputable
with the best good of the great social
unit. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happi
ness, for the individual, must stand aside
to make way for the needs of our integral
humanity.
I rejoice that there is the prospect of a
more careful study of these ureat themes;
that the scholorshipaud culture crystaliz
ing about our university are organizing
for such momentous research. It is well
that the giant brain of Herbert Spencer
ha-s led the way, laying broad founda
tions for future work; but it is needful that
others enter the field, studying the spirit
nat as he has studied tne material rela
tions of man to society; contributing the
complement of the vast circle of research.
Hitherto, philosophy has been hopelesa.
This great rolling orb, with its life-long
tragedy, sorrow, sin, suffering, was too
much tor mau's weak arm to grapple. In
Epicureanism, in Asceticism, in pleasure
or despair, eating the lotus and drinaing
the nepenthe, men were coutent to live
on, shutting their eyes and ears to the in
buite misery, and waiting till IJod's puri
fying fires shcuid sweep where the deiuge
swept before. But I thing ttat the day
spring of a higher hope is arising iu hu
man hearts- The measure of human sin
aud wretcheduesa is almost infinite, but
not to innch for divine and houiau
knowledge, labor add love. What sweet
aogsuons, promises, visions of better
d) , sometime come to as oat of nature!
Such a one came to me, not long ago, as I
looked from the window of my mountain
home upon the Pacific, sleeping below.
It was suit night, but a faint gray glimmer
along tht eastern borison showed that
the morning was at baud. The ocean
was dark and still, and heavy mists hunt
over it like a palL But, a 1 auhed and
waited, the dawn sent forth iu first purple
ray, which wa caught and reflected upon
the buat of one great moon lain cone
that Biood. like av mighty prophet, and
sent down to the dark world below its J
trst faint promise of ihe morning. Other
nAaVa imifvlif 4tiA J:
whole earth was illuminated whh
perfect day. The poisonous night Vi?
the shadows, bata and owls, fuina A
darkness, myste.y and horror,
away and were seen no more. Bu iti
ark flew heavenward; the flowers opened
their cups; tho earth was full of tlieC
of beaty and melody. The mists BWeD
away from the surfuce of the ocean a?,
trust they yet will from tho ou"i !
glorified humanity, and it lay lik L
of glass mingled with fire, the p'r?
Image o the gold and crims..., S
above. .My heart accepted the proill
of that hour. Xmii niiiu, f
and I thanked the father that ,eTd:
given to earth a promise of her Golden
... ..... ........ , ccij mummy.
The British and Thrlr Beer.
The importauco of beer umv m .
by the fact that the English make Baro
nets out of their brewers. Tho Lion
Brewery, which is tho first object whieh
strikes my eyes as I wako u., ln .,
morning, looking out of tho window at
my lodgings near Waterloo Bridge i8 1
marvel of resourco. It has
from which it pumps up the thousands
of barrels of water always in the tank on
its top; it cools two hundred barrels of
boiling boer every hour; its cellars and
store vats oro enormous, and you littlo
realize, when you are walking in tho
stroets in its vicinity, that boer is gliding
in pipes beneath your feet, in great
streams voluminous enough to drown
every London brewer at one and the
same time. A single brewer has a coon
ering establishment capable of turning
out eighty thousand barrels yoarly, and
maintains a veritablo army of draymen
and porters, every ono of whom is a giant
in sUture. The brewers' employes of
London, if enrollod in a few regiment
and sent into a foreign land, would create
a most formidable impression as to tho
size of the inhabitants of Albion. And
when one thinks that all this industry is
for the siniplo purpose of making a
liquor, which befogs tho senses and
deadens the ambition of tho working
classes, ho cannot help marveling much.
The English, like tho GermanB, are born
thirsty; their climate enables thorn to
drink immense quantities, but no one
has ever heard that the climate prevents
the liqnors of all grades from having the
same disastrous effects that they have
elsewhere. Beer, boer, beer 1 Hot and
cold, morn and night beer beer beer!
This sums up the British workman's
lifo. A friend of mino required some
extensive repairs in his studio, and was
obliged to employ two or three workmen
for a couple ot weeks. He says that they
begged beer money of him on an average
every two days. When ho indicated that
he did not care about giving it, they
managed to lose an hour or two of time,
so that he lost more than he gained by
refusing. Beer seems to bo omnipresent.
Mr. Flower, tho worthy man who has
done so much for tho Shakospeare mem
orial, is a brewer, and his establishment
makes Startford-on-Avon better known
to nine out of ten Englishmen than than
Shakespeare's tomb does. The beer trade
in India is enormous. Why Englishmen
wish to drink, in the East Indian cli
mate, a liquor which is as unhealthy as.
possible, it is difficult to say. The out
come of English civilization in South
Africa will bo an enormous brewery.
Then, indeed, the negroes will be civil
ized. Think of an establishment like
that of Barclay, Perkins & Co., in South-
wark, where thirty-live hundred barrels
of porter may be seen in a single vat.:
These thirty-five httndrod barrols of:
porter are worth, at market rates, lony-;
five thousand dollars. If the men who
are brewing were engaged in manufac-
turmg cheap food, to be sold at the same
price as beer, I wonder if the half -starved
public would buy it as readily as they do
beer, which does them no good. No, I
am sure they would not. One of the
crazes of the English common folk is
that unless they can see an immense
piece of meat before them the are having
nothing to eat. luey wasio enuugu iu
keep them in plentv, if they only had
a small amount of education in cookery.
They like, too, the pot-house, with its
steaming odor ot man jinueeu, i imu
tha smell of beer permeates every nook
and cranny of London), and they prefer
to siMsnd their money there rainer iuau
around their own tables They sit in a
kind of befuddled beatitude on tne
clumsy benches, with their pewter mugs
in their hands; and on particularly wet
and nasty nights it is as much as the
publicans can do to get them to stir from
the place, when midnight "and the half
have sounded. Fancy them drinking hot
beer (and adulterated beer, also) as if it
were meetar. London Curr. Uotton Jour-
Axotueb Ixyestiox. The vorsatile
inmnt nf a Western inventor, who
HI.. UUI. F V. t
.i un r.,uu dm limn in the far-
UUUUUI.S3 luivov.. i It
distant future when the forests shall
cease to clothe the hills and uaios, auu
the demand for lumber suau pru.r
Tastly in excess of the supply, has sue-
; .i.-.'ci'ntr a. anbstitnto for the
ecru iu r .
natural product of the virgin or the cul
tivated sod. His plan is to use that
fragile vegetable, straw, and by peculiar
process make ito a substance as hard ana
indestructable as oak timber. It
claimed that this process couverts wheat
straw into timber which is susceptive oi
as fine a polish as mahogany ana oiw.
walnut, at a cost not in excess of that oi
the best clear pine. The straw is hrst
manufactured by the onlinirv paper
mill process into straw-board, and a
sufficient number of sheets of this of the
risht size are taken to make the required
.- , . ci-i. ..,vi nit aoftened
into a chemical solution, which is. or
course, the inventor s secrei. a
noer oi pasieooaru i iiunv.-;
rated the pile of sheets is pressed be- f
tween a aeries of rollers, which -
date them so that when they dry tue
- . ... oi imAil
whole is a hard atici. it is ai -the
process render this wood substitute
impervious to water, and the chemical
used are such as to mat it fireprool.
But. the sanguine inventor has only
made samples taas lar. I -, -
Tribune. ' ' "
Dean Stanley ay Theodore Tarter
mra the atrmuTPst imDUlM to the study
of acientiflc theology in this eoantry.
tx-Uovernor x v. ioim
eently dispensed HJ0,UW in
churchea and hop Uls- The lye and
Ear -Hospital, of New York City. f
f io.Outf, and the d.bt (?11.00.) of t
old brick church near Lis Loose ca IJ'
avenue was paid.
b
u
tl
0!
tl
ft
a
b