Part 19

Alaska is sadly in need of a civil government. The lectures of the Presbyterian missionary, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, on the condition of the people of Alaska, delivered at Chautauqua and published in the ASSEMBLY HERALD and THE CHAUTAUQUAN, created quite a sensation and attracted the attention of thinking Christian people in all parts of the country. There is great need of interposition by the government at Washington. The Presbyterian General Assembly, at a recent session in Saratoga, appointed a committee, with Dr. Howard Crosby as chairman, to visit President Arthur relative to giving the people of Alaska a civil government. Let missionary societies and Christian assemblies petition the powers that be until Alaska is redeemed from her present state, which is little better in some places than barbarism.

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The reasons for divorces are only equalled by the devices which parties adopt to secure them. Major Nickerson, of the United States army, sent his wife and daughter to Europe in 1880. The major promised to follow them soon, providing he could secure leave of absence. His wife waited but he did not come. He continued to write her and send money, until about a year ago he began to send his letters and remittances to his daughter. His wife asked an explanation, but he gave her no satisfaction. At last she learned through her mother that he had obtained a divorce and was married again, and that the ground on which the divorce was obtained was desertion. The bare statement of the facts in such a case teach us that our laws, as to granting divorces, are lax and unscriptural, and should be reconstructed in the interests of justice and the safety of the family as an institution against designing men.

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The Argentine Republic is doing a great deal of quiet work in education, which might even be an example to us who look upon that far-away land as out of the world. They have in their national college a greater proportion of students than either England or Germany. To obtain the most advanced methods, the government has just obtained eight young women from the normal schools at Winona, Minn., to take charge of the normal schools in the republic.

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We learn that Prof. F. H. Bailey, the inventor of the astral lantern, so highly commended by Bishop Warren and others, is now located at Northville, Mich., and that orders for lanterns, or correspondence, should be addressed to him, or to the Michigan School Furnishing Company, at that place. We heartily wish that scores of our local circles might procure one of these invaluable helps to the study of the stars.

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The present number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN closes the third volume. In October will be published the first number of the fourth volume. Its place will be supplied during the summer by the _Assembly Herald_, published during August as a daily. Price, $1.00.

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The article in the present number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN by John Lord, LL.D., is an extract from a lecture delivered at Chautauqua.

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The faculty of the Summer Assembly at Pacific Grove, Cal., have determined to make natural history a specialty. The opportunities are unrivaled, for all the wonders of the sea-shore are at their command. In order to obtain specimens of the flora and fauna of the entire coast, they have solicited members to send or bring collections of dried plants, zoölogical specimens, etc.

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Curiosity and lack of coolness were the causes of the terrible disaster which marred Decoration Day of 1883, and threw a shadow over the glory of the Brooklyn bridge. To rush to see what is the cause of a crowd, a sudden noise or confusion, is a childish act, and yet there is hardly one in a hundred but will do it. To keep still and cool when the crowd becomes a stampede is almost unknown. How to prevent a panic and how to act in a panic, are questions worthy the study of all intelligent people, and it might not be amiss to teach the principles of coolness and self-restraint to the young.

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This month Mrs. Cook brings her party of Chautauquans back to America. They have finished their “Tour Around the World,” and will spend their vacation at home until it is time to start on their “Ideal Summer Trip Beyond the Sea.” We only hope that all those who have enjoyed so much their travels with Mrs. Dickinson and Mrs. Cook, will be able to take the latter trip.

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The new cover has been well received by both our subscribers and the press. An exchange says of us: “THE CHAUTAUQUAN, the organ of the Chautauqua Assembly, Chautauqua University, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and other Chautauqua institutions, has made its appearance in a very elegant new dress. It is not only handsome but it contains more really solid, instructive, interesting and valuable matter than any periodical known to us.” A lady from Illinois in expressing her thanks for the improvement, writes: “I like the new dress of THE CHAUTAUQUAN. It is artistic, and is a reminder of what Chautauqua has been, and is, and what she still offers to the world.”

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Macnabb’s photographic studio of art, at 813 Broadway, N. Y., is sending out some very finely finished work. They offer special inducements to clubs. The studio is certainly worthy the attention of persons visiting the city and wishing pictures.

EDITOR’S TABLE.

Q. Where can an edition of the New Testament containing the authorized version and new version in parallel columns, be obtained?

A. From Porter & Coates, Philadelphia.

Q. From what book can a thorough knowledge of the New Testament Apocrypha be obtained?

A. Any work on the canon will contain more or less on the Apocrypha. Probably the best work is in French, Michael Nicolas’ “_Etudes sur les Evangiles Apocryphes_.”

Q. Is the sentence, “There is no world under our feet, no radiant clouds, no blazing sun, no silver moon, nor twinkling stars,” correct.

A. “Nor” is correlative to “neither” or “not.” Either the sentence should retain “not” before “stars,” or “neither” should be introduced into the first clause as a negative instead of “no,” so as to correspond with “nor.”

Q. Who is the author of the quotation, “Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad?”

A. Euripides.

Q. Is the aërolite illustrated on page 122 of “Warren’s Astronomy,” the one which fell at Santa Rosa, California, a few years ago?

A. It is.

Q. On page 114 of the “Geology,” does the author intend to class snakes with mammals?

A. He does not.

Q. Was Alexander of Macedon, who, before the battle of Platæa, informed the Greeks of the intention of Mardonius to attack them, their ally?

A. He was not, though secretly friendly to their cause. He had been compelled to submit to the Persians and had accompanied Xerxes to Greece in 480 B. C.

Q. What was the reason that the Almæonidæ were considered sacrilegious by the Greeks?

A. In consequence of the way in which Megacles, one of the family, treated the insurgents under Cylon in 612 B. C., they brought upon themselves the guilt of sacrilege and were banished.

Q. What is the pronunciation of “applique,” as used in embroidery?

A. Ap-pli-kā´.

Q. What poet was born the same year as Napoleon Bonaparte?

A. There were three. Ernest Arndt, a German; Charles de Chenedolle, French; John Frere, an English diplomatist and poet.

Q. What authority is there for spelling the name “Shakespeare,” “Shakspere?”

A. Many of the best authorities consider this spelling preferable.

Q. Who is the author of the line, “It flies and swims a flower in liquid air!” referring to the butterfly?

A. P. Commire, a writer of Latin verse.

Q. What is the meaning of the Roman initials S. P. Q. R.?

A. _Senatus Populusque Romanus_ (The Senate and the Roman people).

Q. Who fixed the date of the birth of Christ?

A. About the middle of the sixth century Dionysius Exigius, a Roman abbot, introduced the method of dating from the birth of Christ. It is conceded that he placed the date four years too late, a fact of no importance in chronology, as all that is necessary is to place the Savior’s birth 4 B. C.

Q. What event in English history is connected with the “Royal Oak?”

A. After the battle of Worcester in 1651, in which Charles II. was defeated by Cromwell, the former was obliged to conceal himself in an oak at Boscobel, to avoid capture.

Q. What was the faith of George Henry Lewis?

A. He was a positivist.

Q. What was his nationality?

A. English.

Q. What is the Chautauqua salute?

A. The waving of white handkerchiefs.

Q. Explain the expression, “balance of power.”

A. The division of land and wealth among nations, which prevents any one being sufficiently stronger than the others to interfere with their independence.

Q. What is the difference between the majority and the plurality of votes?

A. When a candidate receives more than any other candidate, he has a _plurality_ of votes. When more than all others, a _majority_.

Q. Are the Goths, Scandinavians and Norsemen, the same people?

A. They are not. Scandinavians or Norsemen were the names given to the inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. The Goths lived south of the Scandinavians. Although probably of the same origin, they are a distinct people.

TALK ABOUT BOOKS.

The first essential in a popular work of any kind is clearness. A glance at the contents of Prof. Welsh’s new history of English literature[E] shows that the work is so systematically arranged that one can not fail to understand it. The life of the nation which shaped the literature of each period is graphically and simply described. Each political, national, and social law which helped to form the thoughts and customs of the people, is noticed. The leading writers are discussed under the different heads of biography, writing, style, rank, character, and influence. This tabular method has, by no means, degraded the book into simply a school text-book. It has made it suitable for that and more valuable to the general reader. The style is fresh, never tiresome. The illustrations are so woven into the narrative that an idea of the plan of the book is readily seen, and besides the quotations are admirably chosen. The work has been wrought enthusiastically and conscientiously by a man thoroughly interested in what he was doing. Its reception has been his reward.

The Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle,[F] have completed Mr. Froude’s task of reminiscence editing, and given the curious public ample information about the private life and character of Thomas Carlyle. The task has not been a pleasant one for Mr. Froude, but it has been faithfully and modestly performed. These letters are curiously interesting for many reasons. They are vivacious and sparkling, full of lively character sketches, and reveal the private life of one of the most discussed men of the age. Better than all of these, they introduce us to a woman to whom Arthur Helps once candidly said: “Well, really, you are a model wife,” to whom poor Mazzini could go whenever “in a state of crisis” (as he put it); whom Mills, Jeffrey, Tennyson, and many others, honored for her wit and womanliness. She was a clever woman, and a brave one. None but a clever woman could have written these charming letters, none but a brave one could have endured a husband like Carlyle. She was too loyal to cease loving him, too strong to complain, though many a letter shows her sense of his weakness. Jane Welsh Carlyle will find a permanent place among the famous women of the century for wifely devotion, as well as for being a brilliant letter-writer.

The book is chiefly valuable for its wide range of happily-told anecdotes, and its spicy comments. Here is a picture of Lord Jeffrey and Count D’Orsay, who were calling on her together: “What a difference! The prince of critics and the prince of dandies! How washed out the beautiful dandiacal face looked beside that little clever old man’s! The large blue dandiacal eyes you would say had never contemplated anything more interesting than the reflection of the handsome personage they pertained to in a looking-glass, while the dark penetrating ones of the other had taken notes of most things in God’s universe, even seeing a good way into millstones.” She makes wise and true as well as pointed comments on the wide range of men and society that came under her notice.

Undoubtedly Robert Browning’s “Jocoseria”[G] has been the most read and most thoroughly noticed of any book of poems of the season. It is a simple little volume of but ten poems. The best of them all is the unpretending one beginning:

“Never the time and the place And the loved one all together! This path—how soft to pace! This May—what magic weather! Where is the loved one’s face?”

The most influential book of the present day is undoubtedly the novel. They constitute four-fifths of all the books read. The philosophy of its development has become not only a question of great literary interest, but one of educational and moral interest. Mr. Sydney Lanier, in 1881, delivered a course of twelve lectures before the students of John Hopkins University, on this subject, and they have recently been published in book form,[H] forming a highly interesting and philosophical discussion. His object is to show that the growth in sentiment since the days of the Greeks has been so great that the old forms of literature and art have been inadequate to express our ideas, hence in the last two centuries three things have been developed—Science, Music, and the Novel. He gives most copious illustrations from modern novels to uphold his principles.

Lovers of American poetry and poets will be glad to welcome the recent “Life of William Cullen Bryant.”[I] Soon after Mr. Bryant’s death in 1878 his papers, containing useful materials for a biography of his life, were sent to Mr. Parke Godwin, a gentleman of long connection with the press, in order that he might prepare a memoir of the poet. Mr. Godwin has collected most of Mr. Bryant’s letters, his editorial writings, and the newspaper articles concerning him, until he has been able to lay before his readers a very complete and exact biography. Necessarily the work contains little of intense interest. Bryant’s life was a quiet, laborious one. Fifty years of it were spent in editorial work in which, as the author well says, “the labors consist of a series of incessant blows, of the real influence of which it is hard to judge.” But his career as editor and poet are well treated in a simple, pleasant narrative, which leave one with a profound respect for the upright, just and noble father of American poetry.

In September, 1881, the Presbyterian Church lost one of its most honored ministers by the death of the Rev. Cyrus Dickson, D.D., the Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions. The Presbytery of Baltimore at once arranged to prepare a memorial. The work was committed to the Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, D.D.[J] The biography which Dr. Eaton has produced is a simple story of a devout, self-sacrificing Christian. Such books never fail in their purpose. The story of a life is, after all, the most influential of stories.

One of the best of the many sets of school readers, is the “Globe Readings.”[K] Beginning with the simple primers of two grades there are six readers in which the selections are very carefully graded, followed by a “Book of Golden Deeds,” by Charlotte Yonge; Lamb’s “Tales from Shakspere;” Scott’s “Marmion;” “Lay of the Last Minstrel,” and “Lady of the Lake;” Cowper’s “Task,” and Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield.” The series has been carefully edited, and the notes give just the amount of help necessary to young readers.

The “Home College Series”[L] has reached the number of thirty-two. They cover a great range of subjects. History, science, biography, art, house-keeping, penmanship, wise-sayings, political economy and religion, and will be valuable reading for spare moments.

The last issues of the charming “Riverside Literature Series,”[M] are “Biographical Stories” and “True Stories from New England History.”

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FOOTNOTES:

[A] A lecture delivered at Chautauqua, August 17, 1882.

[B] Extract from a sermon delivered at Chautauqua, 1882.

[C] Eighth Round-Table held at the Hall of Philosophy, August 15, 1883.

[D] For Prof. Bailey’s address see Editor’s Note-Book.

[E] Development of English Literature and Language. By Alfred H. Welsh, M. A. S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago.

[F] Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle. Edited by James A. Froude. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

[G] Jocoseria. By Robert Browning. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.

[H] The English Novel. By Sydney Lanier. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.

[I] A biography of William Cullen Bryant, with extracts from his private correspondence. By Parke Godwin. D. Appleton & Co., New York.

[J] Memorials of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Cyrus Dickson, D.D., late Secretary of the Board of Home Missions. By Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, D.D. Robert Carter & Brothers, New York.

[K] Globe Readings from Standard Authors. London: Macmillan & Co., 1883.

[L] Home College Series. New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1883.

[M] Numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10, of Riverside Literature Series. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1883.

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Transcriber’s Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired. The more usual Fräulein is spelled Fraulein in this text.

Page 566, “Calvanist” changed to “Calvinist” (is a Calvinist, but not)

Page 579, “dose” changed to “doze” (sense-overseer begins to doze)

Page 587, “exsited” changed to “existed” (Normans, and existed)

Page 587, “yoeman” changed to “yeoman” (southern yeoman delighted)

Page 595, “our” changed to “our” (generally given out)

Page 595, “person” changed to “persons” (the fifty persons present)

Page 602, “langguage” changed to “language” (about posy-beds, the language)

Page 602, “inqury” changed to “inquiry” (inquiry. Great forestry)