the very kind wishes of our Professors, I am your obedient servant, JAMES LAUDER, C.S.

"Mr. Simpson's address for at least a week after you receive your diploma will be as under: Mr. Charles Simpson, (of America,) care of Mr. Maynard, Mathematical Bookseller, Earl's Court, Leicester Square, London.'

"We need scarcely add, says the Athenaeum, that Arkansas is a backwood State; that there is no such college as Clinton College,' and never was, and that the village schools find scarcely any support in the state. These trifling facts may not impede the desire to support LL.D.; and, therefore, wishing to be useful, we have left the London address of Mr. Simpson as we find it in his circular."

THE RIVER POPULATION OF CHINA.-Vast multitudes of people in China, says Sir John Bowring, begin and end their existence on the water. In the city of Canton alone it is estimated that three hundred thousand persons dwell upon the surface of the river; the boats, sometimes twenty or thirty deep, cover some miles, and have their wants supplied by ambulatory salesmen, who vend their way through every accessible passage. Of this vast population some dwell in decorated river boats used for every purpose of license and festivity, for theaters, for concerts, for feasts, for gambling, for lust, for solitary and social recreations; some craft are employed in conveying goods and passengers, and are in a state of constant activity; others are moored, and their owners are engaged as servants or laborers on shore. Indeed, their pursuits are probably nearly as various as those of the land population. The immense variety of boats which are found in Chinese waters has never been adequately described. Some are of enormous size, and are used as magazines for salt or rice; others have all domestic accommodations, and are employed for the transfer of whole families, with all their domestic attendants and accommodations, from one place to another; some called centipedes, from their being supposed to have one hundred rowers, convey with extraordinary rapidity the more valuable cargoes from the inner warehouses to the foreign shipping in the ports; all these, from the huge and cumbrous junks, which remind one of Noah's ark, and which represent the rude and coarse constructions of the remotest ages, to the fragile planks upon which a solitary leper hangs upon the outskirts of society—boats of every form and applied to every purpose-exhibit an incalculable amount of population, which may be called amphibious, if not aquatic. Not only are land and water crowded with Chinese, but many dwell on artificial islands which float upon the lakes; islands with gardens and houses raised upon the rafters which the occupiers have bound to gether, and on which they cultivate what is needful for the supply of life's dayly wants. They have their poultry and their vegetables for use, their flowers and their scrolls for ornament, their household gods for protection and worship. In all parts of China to which we have access we find not only that every foot of ground is cultivated which is capable of producing anything; but that, from the value of land and the surplus of labor, cultivation is

rather that of gardeners than of husbandmen. The sides of hills, in their natural declivity often unavailable, are, by a succession of artificial terraces, turned to profitable account. Every little bit of soil, though it be only a few feet in length and breadth, is turned to account; and not only is the surface of the land thus cared for, but every device is employed for the gathering together of every article that can serve for manure. Scavengers are constantly clearing the streets of the stercoraceous filth; the cloaca are farmed by speculators in human ordures; the most populous places are often made offensive by the means taken to prevent the precious deposits from being lost. The fields in China have almost always large earthenware vessels for the reception of the contributions of the peasant or the traveler. You cannot enter any of their great cities without meeting multitudes of men, women, and children conveying liquid manure into the fields and gardens around.

LOW VALUE OF LIFE IN CHINA.-The same author, speaking of the low estimate in which human life is held in the flowery empire, tells us that there is probably no part of the world in which the harvests of mortality are more sweeping and destructive than in China, producing voids which require no ordinary appliances to fill up. Multitudes perish absolutely from want of the means of existence; inundations destroy towns and villages and all their inhabitants; it would not be easy to calculate the loss of life by the typhoons or hurricanes which visit the coasts of China, in which boats and junks are sometimes sacrificed by hundreds and by thousands. The late civil wars in China must have led to the loss of millions of lives. The sacrifices of human beings by executions alone, are frightful. At the moment in which I write, it is believed that from four to five hundred victims fall dayly by the hands of the headsman in the province of Kwang-tung alone. Reverence for life there is none, as life exists in superfluous abundance. A dead body is an object of so little concern, that it is sometimes not thought worth while to remove it from the spot where it putrefies on the surface of the earth. Often have I seen a corpse under the table of gamblers; often have I trod over a putrid body at the threshold of a door. In many parts of China there are towers of brick or stone, where toothless, principally female, children are thrown by their parents into a hole made in the side of the wall. There are various opinions as to the extent of infanticide in China, but that it is a common practice in many provinces admits of no doubt... Father Ripa mentions, that of abandoned children, the Jesuits baptized, in Pekin alone, not less than three thousand yearly. I have seen ponds which are the habitual receptacle of female infants, whose bodies lie floating about on their surface.

gether," with a view of producing the best and hardest improvement. A correspondent of Notes and Queries, who appears to know all about the matter, says:

"I am told that no sooner were the words uttered from the bench, Now, gentlemen, lay your heads together and consider your verdict,' than down went every head in the box, and an official approached armed with a long wand. If any unlucky juror inadvertently raised his head, down came the stick upon his pate; and so they continued till the truth was struck out, in their veredictum; an excellent plan for expediting business.

"I remember many years since witnessing a somewhat analogous case to this in the church at Dunchurch. I was an accidental attendant there, and an excellent sermon was preached; so good a one that I am reminded of a saying attributed to Chief Justice Tindal, who, speaking of a sermon that he had heard a long time before, said. It was an excellent sermon I know; I only forgot all about it three weeks ago.'

"Notwithstanding this, the weather being very hot, there were several parties fast asleep in different parts of the church. A respectable looking man, who had very much the air of a churchwarden, bearing a long, stout wand with, I believe, a fork at the end of it, at intervals stepped stealthily up and down the nave and aisles of the church; and whenever he saw an individual whose senses were buried in oblivion, he touched him with his wand so effectually, that the spell was broken, and in an instant he was recalled to all the realities of life. I watched as he mounted with wary step into the galleries: at the end of one of them there sat in the front seat a young man who had very much the appearance of a farmer, with his mouth open, and his eyes closed, a perfect picture of repose. The official marked him for his own, and having fitted his fork to the nape of his neck, he gave him such a push, that, had he not been used to such visitations, it would probably have produced an ejaculatory start highly inconvenient on such an occasion. But no, every one seemed quietly to acquiesce in the usage; and whatever else they might be dreaming of, they certainly did not dream of the infringement upon the liberties of the subject, nor did they think of applying for a summons on account of the assault."

-

SLAVE MARRIAGES.-The Baptist Church in South Carolina must be in a precious state of purity. A committee of five clergymen of the Charleston, S. C., Baptist Association, submitted a labored report, upon the marriage of slaves, at the last meeting of the Association. Their general conclusion is, that the condition of the slaves being peculiar, they cannot be held strictly to the Christian rule in respect to marriage; if taken from one plantation to another they may forsake one wife and take a new one ; they may take one at every removal. This has long been the Southern practice, and now it has been made a tenet of evangelical religion.

THE SALVATION OF INFIDEL INFANTS.-The Montreal Minerve (Roman Catholic organ) has an article entreating subscriptions to the funds of a society for the salvation of infidel infants. It states that the agents of the society have baptized three hundred and twenty-nine thousand three hundred and thirty-eight infants, of whom two hundred and seventeen thousand one hundred and four are already dead and gone to heaven. For twenty sous, according to the report of the missionaries, four children can be saved; for one thousand francs four thousand children.

AN INDIAN SUPERSTITION.-A beautiful superstition prevails among the Seneca tribe of Indians. When an Indian maiden dies, they imprison a young bird until it first begins to try its power of song, and then, loading it with kisses

and caresses, they loose its bonds over the grave, in the belief that it will not fold its wings nor close its eyes until it has flown to the spirit-land and delivered its precious burden of affection to the loved and lost. It is not unfrequent to see twenty or thirty birds let loose over one grave.

SMALL CHANGE.

ABOUT THE SPIRITS.-Byles, a mere matterof-fact, every-day, plodding, and withal rather self-satisfied genius, thus speaks of the denizens of the inner sphere, of whom we hear so much lately:

"To whisper a word in your ear, and I beg it may go no further, I am afraid of ghosts. I always was. I don't like them. I like them better with their bodies on. I don't think it decent in them to go about naked. And the least they can do is to keep away from people that don't want their society. Charles Lamb used to say that he hated sick people.' Well, I hate dead ones-at least when they venture, as the ministers say of the strong-minded women, out of their appropriate sphere. Of course I have no objection to anybody courting their society that likes it. It is a free country, and every one may choose his own associates. I only claim my right to pick out mine, and my choice, thus far, has been among the choice spirits that wear flesh and blood. When they have done with this world and gone to another, why can't they be satisfied, without wanting to come back again? I am sure I don't grudge them theirs; why can't they let me alone in mine? I don't want to intrude upon them. I never knew anybody that did, however much some have professed to know about it, and however fine a world they have told everybody it was. Let them be equally considerate toward us.

For I wish you to understand distinctly that I desire the arrangement to be perfectly fair and equal on both sides. The only request I make is the simple and rational one of our Southern brethren as to their domestic institutions-to be let alone. If the spirits will only keep away from me, I will pledge my sacred honor that I will keep away from them just as long as I possibly can. For this end, I habitually take the very best care of a naturally good constitution, so that it shall not be my fault if my part of the bargain should fall through. To be sure, I can imagine and excuse an impatience on their part to enjoy my society. There are a good many yet in the flesh who profess to like it. But let them consider how short a time it will be, even at the longest, before I shall be made free of their guild, and how very long we shall be together when that does take place. Now, excellent as my natural constitution is, and great is is the care I take of it, and though I come of very long-lived families on both sides, I can hardly expect to live much more than fifty or sixty years longer. And what are fifty or sixty years to fellows that have all eternity on their hands? They can surely wait if I can.

I

"I dare say this is not only very low in a spiritual point of view, but very unphilosophical into the bargain. I ought to be willing to investigate the phenomena, and judge whether they are natural or spiritual. But you see I am not a philosopher-at least not a natural one-and I hate to be bored. don't think I am called upon to investigate the causes of all the inexplicable things I see, because I have not the qualities of mind which are the necessary instruments of such inquiries. I could be just as easily cheated as not; and so I keep out of the way. My way of stating the proposition is this: The phenomena, as they are called, are either cheats or they are not. That, I suppose, you will admit, as Moses in the Vicar of Wakefield had to concede the preliminary proposi tion of Squire Thornhill: Whatever is, is. Now, if they are cheats, of course I don't care to trouble myself about them. If they are really the work of spirits, I desire to give them the widest berth possible for the reasons above given. And if they be a development of some hitherto undiscovered physical laws, I relegate the inquiry to the men of science who have the training and the skill for such investigations--which I have not. And when they tell me all about it I will believe them, just as I look in the almanac to see when I ar

"What! total indifference - total, entire, thorough indifference ?"

"Yes, total, entire, thorough indifference!" "Well, then, my dear father, tell me, what is it you can do with (mind) total, entire, thorough indifference?"

"Why, listen to you, Tom," said Sheridan.

The rebuff so disconcerted Tom, that he never forgot it, nor ever again troubled his father with any metaphysics.

Two Irishmen were recently looking at some people stretching a rope across Broadway from one housetop to the other, for the purpose of suspending a banner.

Put. "Shure and what will they be afther a doing at the tops of them houses there?"

Mich. "Faith an it's a submarine telegraph they're afther putting up, I suppose."

MODERN ELOQUENCE.-A correspondent of the Boston Courier gives the following extract from a sermon recently delivered by a professor of Harvard University, and asks if students are safe when exposed to such language:

"Viewing this subject from the esoteric stand-point of Christian exegetical analysis, and agglutinating the polysyntheical ectoblasts of homogeneous asceticism, we perceive at once the absolute individuality of this entity; while from that other stand-point of incredulous synthesis, which characterize the Xenocratic hierarchy of the Jews, we are consentaneously impressed with the anti-peristatic quality thereof."

A MISAPPREHENSION.-We recollect once being very much amused at the relation of the following anecdote from the lips of a very amiable, and, withal, a very modest widow lady in New Jersey. Soon after her husband paid the debt of nature, leaving her his legatee, a claim was brought against the estate by his brother, and a process was served upon her by the sheriff of the county, who happened to be a widower of middle age. Being unused at that time to the forms of law-though in the protracted trial that followed she had ample opportunity of acquiring experience-she was much alarmed, and meeting, just after the departure of the sheriff, with a female friend, she exclaimed, with much agitation: "What do you think? Sheriff Prince has been after me!" 46 Well," said the considerate lady, with perfect coolness, "he is a very fine man." "But he says he has an attachment for me," replied the widow.

"Well, I have long suspected he was attached to you, my dear." "But you don't understand -he says I must go to court." "O! that's quite another affair, my child; don't you go so far as that-it is his place to come and court you."

PUNNING BY WHOLESALE.-At one time there was a general strike among the working men of Paris, and Theodore Hook gave the following amusing account of the affair: "The bakers, being ambitious to extend their do-mains, declared that a revolution was needed, and though not exactly bread up to arms, soon reduced their crusty masters to terms. The tailors called a council of the board to see what measures should be taken, and looking upon the bakers as the flour of chivalry, decided to follow suit; the consequence of which was, that an insurrection was lighted up among the candle-makers, which, however wick-ed it might appear in the eyes of some persons, developed traits of character not unworthy of ancient Greece."

VERY GRATIFYING.-The editor of the Nashua Telegraph has occasionally a glimpse of selfmade sunshine upon his pathway. He is honest about it, and declares that it does him good to have his pride flattered once in a while:

"We realize the benefit of it once a year. Every April the assessors come round and ask how much money we have got at interest; how much stock we have got in the public funds or banks; and various other questions which are supposed to be put only to the 'solid men." If there is anybody around, we straighten up slightly, expand our corporosity, and in as heavy a chest tone as we can command, we answer, enough what that is. So do we." About the same as last year. They know well

MORAL AND EXAMPLE.-Somebody, we know not whom, has given to the world the following: "Listen," said L, "listen and attend, and you shall have a moral and an example. When the wasp now in the window entered the room, you flew at it with all kind of violence. I wonder it didn't sting every one of you. Now, in future, let a wasp when it comes have its little bout, and make its little noise. Don't stir a muscle-don't move a lip-but be quiet as the statue of Venus or Diana, or anybody of that sort, until the wasp seems inclined-as at this moment-to settle. Then do as I do now." Whereupon, dipping the feather end of a pen in the cruet of salad oil, I approached the wasp, and, in the softest and tenderest manner possible, just oiled it upon the body-the black and yellow, like a groom's waistcoat-when down it fell, turned upon its back, and was dead in a minute. "There, girls," said I, "see what kindness and a little oil does. Now here's moral and example. When a husband comes home in an ill-humor, don't cry out and fly at him; but try a little oil-in fact, treat your husband like a wasp."

EXAMINATION.-A lad had come to a clergyman for examination previous to his receiving his first communion. The pastor, knowing that his young friend was not very profound in his theology, and not wishing to discourage him, or keep him from the table unless compelled to do so, began by asking what he thought a safe question, and what would give him confidence. So he took the Old Testament, and asked him, in reference to the Mosaic law, how many commandments there were. After a little thought he put his answer in the modest form of a supposition, and replied cautiously, "Aiblins (perhaps) a hunner." The clergyman was vexed, and told him such ignorance was intolerable,

which he has not repeatedly visited; and he has treasured up many facts and interesting incidents which occurred within his own knowledge. These, "the Old Chief," for such he is, having been formally inaugurated by the name of Ra-wah-wah, has collected in a volume just issued by Swormstedt & Poe, entitled, Life among the Indians; or, Personal Reminiscences and Historical Incidents Illustrative of Indian Life and Character. He has made an interesting book, which is illustrated by a portrait of himself, taken when he was a young man, and by hideously life-like pictures of several celebrated Indian warriors. The reader will not only gain much information relative to the red men and the effect of missionary labor among them, but may 66 sup full of horrors" in the perusal of Indian cruelties. Here is a specimen of

fiendish vengeance:

"The preparations for the horrible tragedy were soon completed. A large stake was driven into the ground, and piles of dry wood heaped up around it. Colonel Crawford's hands were then tied behind his back; a strong rope was produced, one end of which was fastened to the ligature between his wrists, and the other to the bottom of the stake. The rope was long enough to permit him to walk round the stake several times and then return. Fire was then applied to the hickory poles, which lay in piles at the distance of six or seven yards from the stake.

"The colonel, observing these terrible preparations, called to Girty, who sat on horseback, at the distance of a few yards from the fire, and asked if the Indians were going to burn him. Girty replied in the affirmative. The colonel heard the intelligence with firmness, merely observing that he would bear it with fortitude. When the hickory poles had been burned asunder in the middle, Captain Pipe arose and addressed the crowd in a tone of great energy, and with animated gestures, pointing frequently to the colonel, who regarded him with an appearance of unruffled composure. As soon as he had ended, a loud whoop burst from the assembled throng, and they all rushed at once upon the unfortunate Crawford. For several seconds the crowd was so great around him that Knight could not see what they were doing; but in a short time they had dispersed sufficiently to give him a view of the colonel.

"His ears had been cut off, and the blood was streaming down each side of his face. A terrible scene of torture now commenced. The warriors shot charges of powder into his naked body, commencing with the calves of his legs, and continuing to his neck. The boys snatched the burning hickory poles and applied them to his flesh. As fast as he ran around the stake, to avoid one party of tormentors, he was promptly met at every turn by others, with burning poles, red-hot irons, and rifles loaded with powder only; so that in a few minutes nearly one hundred charges of powder had been shot into his body, which had become black and blistered in a dreadful manner. The squaws would take up a quantity of coals and hot ashes, and throw them upon his body, so that in a few minutes he had nothing but fire to walk upon.

"The terrible scene had now lasted more than two hours, and Crawford had become much exhausted. He walked slowly around the stake, spoke in a low tone, and earnestly besought God to look with compassion upon him, and pardon his sins. His nerves had lost much of their sensibility, and he no longer shrunk from the firebrands with which they incessantly touched him. At length he sunk in a fainting fit upon his face, and lay motionless. Instantly an Indian sprung upon his back, kneeled lightly upon one knee, made a circular incision with his knife upon the crown of his head, and clapping the knife between his teeth, tore the scalp off with both hands. Scarcely had this been done, when a withered hag approached with a board full of burning embers, and poured them upon the crown of his head, now laid bare to the bone. The colonel groaned deeply, arose, and again walked slowly around the stake. But why continue a description so horrible? Nature at length could endure no more, and at a late hour in the night he was released by death from the hands of his tormentors."

The old chief relates several remarkable instances of female heroism. Some of them, indeed, we should incline to think too highly colored, but for the known candor and truthfulness of the relator. Here is a story, which he heard from the lady herself, at the time a member of a Christian Church:

"The house of a Mr. Merrill was assaulted by savages. Hearing the dogs barking, Mr. Merrill opened the door to ascertain the cause. He was fired at, and fell wounded into the room. The savages attempted to rush in after him, but Mrs. Merrill and her daughter succeeded in closing the door. The assailants began to hew a passage through it with their tomahawks; and, having made a hole large enough, one of them Un

attempted to squeeze through it into the room.

dismayed, the courageous woman seized an ax, gave the ruffian a fatal blow as he sprang through, and he sunk quietly to the floor. Another, and still another, followed, till four of the number had met the same fate. The silence within induced one of them to pause and look through the crevice in the door. Discovering the fate of those who had entered, the savages resolved upon another mode of attack. Two of their number clambered up to the top of the house, and prepared to descend the broad, wooden chimney. This new danger was promptly met. Mrs. Merrill did not desert her post; but directed her little son to ent open the feather bed, and pour the feathers upon the fire. This the little fellow did with excellent effect. The two savages, scorched and suffocated, fell down into the fire, and were soon dispatched by the children and the wounded husband. At that moment a fifth savage attempted to enter the door; but he received a salute upon the head, from the ax held by Thus Mrs. Merrill, that sent him howling away. seven of the savages were destroyed by the courage and energy of this heroic woman. When the sole survivor reached his town, and was asked, What news?' a prisoner heard his reply, Bad news! The squaws fight worse than the long knives."

་ ་་

Mr. Finley's labors as a missionary, and his success in winning these savages to Christ, are told with brevity and great modesty. His mode of examining those who had united with the Church was skillful; and we must make room for an extract, showing his modus operandi:

"At the last quarterly meeting we held this year, in the examination of characters, I called the name of one of the chiefs, who was a leader, and asked if there was anything against him. One rose, and said, 'I heard that he cut wood on Sabbath evening.' He answered, Yes, I did, on one occasion; but it was last winter, and it was exceedingly cold, and I thought I must freeze or cut wood, and I chose the latter; but I do not think there was much harm in that.' I then asked him where he was the day before the Sabbath. He said he was abroad. I asked him if his business was not such that he could have been at home if he had tried. O yes,' said he, it was not very pressing. I then said, I think your neglect on Saturday made you break the Sabbath. You ought to recollect the Sabbath is the Lord's day entirely, and he has commanded us not to do our own work. He then said, 'I will remember this, and do so no more.'

"The next was accused with having sold a pound of sugar on the Sabbath. He confessed the charge to be true; but said that he had forgotten entirely that it was the Sabbath, and he would do so no more.

"Another was accused of neglecting his class as a leader; that he spent too much of his time in the woods hunting, and neglected his work; that he was too worldly to lead people in the way to God; that a leader ought always to keep his eyes fixed on God and the road to heaven, and walk in it; for if he stepped out of the way, his flock would all follow him; then he must look to his feet.

"Another was accused of being too dirty in his clothing. Look at his shirt,' said his accuser; it looks as if it had never been washed. Now, if I know anything about religion, it is a clean thing. It certainly has made our women more particular, and nice in their persons. They now work, and clean themselves and their houses, and all looks as if religion had been at that house. And if religion cleanses the inside, will it not the outside? That brother is too dirty to be a leader of a clean religon. Look at his