Ontario. It is the outlet through which all the four great northern lakes flow towards the gulf of St. Lawrence. The total descent in these 33 miles is 334 feet. About 16 miles from lake Erie the river begins to narrow, and the velocity of the current increases. There the "rapids" begin. Between this and the Falls, a distance of a mile, the descent is 52 feet. For some distance below the stream flows in whirlpools and eddies. Two miles down the river, at "Whirlpool Rapids," it becomes more tumultuous than above the Falls. By means of an elevator you here descend to the river bank, from where you witness a scene of terrific grandeur. After the swift R. R. train has whirled you for hours along its winding track, through wild mountain regions, the noted Valley of Wyoming all of a sudden opens to your view. It has an average breadth of 3 miles, and a length of 21 miles, and is bordered by rugged mountains 1000 feet high. Should you have the good fortune to visit this historic vale, be sure to approach it by way of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and from the south. On the top of the mountain an exclamation of joyful surprise called the attention of the other passengers to the sudden unfolding of the charming scene Far below us it spread out before the view; fields of ripe harvests, of young corn and grass, and numerous trees dotted the landscape, and blended their soft colors as seen in the distance with singular effect. Wilkesbarre, its largest town, lies in full view, and a busy thriving place it must be, as its humerous stacks sending out black columns of smoke indicate. The reflected sunlight in the north branch of the Susquehanna makes the river, in its stately course, look like a gleaming stream of molten silver. The far off busy reapers gathering their golden harvests, seem like Dean Swift's puny Lilliputians. The roads are mostly straight, many of which are lined with rows of shade trees. The little clusters of farm buildings look prettier from afar than near at hand. At this distance all the inequalities of surface, and all disfiguring objects are hidden from sight, and you behold only the enchantment which distance lends to the view. How very different is the effect of this view from that of Niagara Falls. This becalms the mind, and gives you a sense of great peace. That fills you with awe and shuddering dread. And standing on the brink of it, a horrid feeling that you are irresistibly drawn towards the great vortex grows upon you. On the mountain, just at the point from which you get your first view of Wyoming Valley, the engineer runs the train at its greatest speed. For more than 15 miles down the mountain side, you are swept around the curves and over the uneven road-bed with shocking velocity; and the cars swing from side to side like the rapid ambling of one of the giant monsters of pre-historic ages. Unfortunately it happens that this kind of motion, whether on waves or railways, has always had the strange effect of unfitting me to appreciate either scenery or the most savory dishes. Whew! How cruel not to put down brakes at this place so as to put one in the proper frame of mind to fully enjoy such a view. This charming valley has repeatedly been the theatre of massacre and war. More than a hundred years ago the first settlers were massacred by the savages. The Pennsylvania proprietaries bought it from the Indians. Then a Connecticut colony tried to take possession of it. Both claimed to own it. For many years the two claimants shed each other's best blood in deadly feuds. At length the two parties united to meet the fierce assaults of a common foe. The British, allied with the savages, perpetrated the great "Massacre of Wyoming." It was on the last day of June, 1778. Col. John Butler with 400 British provincials and 700 Indians entered the head of the valley. The sturdy settlers with their wives and children, were put to death with all the ferocious cruelty of which the Indians were capable. Queen Esther, a halfbreed Indian woman, tomahawked fourteen with her own bands, to avenge the death of her son. It happened near a rock which still bears her name. When the fort in which the people had sought refuge surrendered, the surviving inhabitants, mostly women and children, fled through the wilderness to seek safety in some of the other settlements. Less than 30 years later a countryman different wharves along the coast, and makes the voyage in four hours. Both banks recede and rise in gentle slopes from the water's edge, and are covered with thriving farms. As you approach the southern end and around the town of Watkins, the banks and hills become more rugged and steep. Hundreds of acres of flourishing vineyards cover them, reminding one of the vine-clad hills of the Rhine. Indeed the scenery as seen from the deck of the steamer is not unlike that of the western bank of lake Leman, or of some parts of that of lake Zurich. of these British instruments of the Wyoming Massacre," wrote a poem entitled "Gertrude of Wyoming," founded on this bloody tragedy. Thomas Campbell had never seen Wyoming Valley, in fact had never visited America. He relied for his material on a few books of travel, and on certain his torical works. This accounts, in part for the inaccuracies of his otherwise meritorious work. Out of a moiety of truth his fancy wove a story, in which the sufferings of his heroine are pleasingly depicted. Its local descriptions are weak. The reading of Scott's "Lady of the Lake" around Loch Watkins Glen, at the southern end of Katrine will help you greatly to enjoy the lake, has only of late years been and understand the scenery of this ro- brought to the view of the sight-seeing mantic region, but the reading of "Ger- and sight-seeking public. It is a sort of trude of Wyoming in this valley Niagara on a small scale. You enter the would shed very little light on its histo-mouth of a gorge scarcely 100 feet wide, ry, geography, or the customs of its bounded by perpendicular rocks hunearly inhabitants. The work has its dreds of feet in height. As at Niagara merits, and helped to place its author Falls, the lower formation of rocks is among the poets of his country. Some softer than that towards the surface, things which he ascribes to its early where by disintegration the gorge settlers are true now, but were not widens, so that the base of the Glen is then. wider than the top. Artificial footbridges and stairways, steep and lofty, assist the tourist in his adventurous climbing. Along narrow footpaths cut out of the rock, right on the edge of precipices, you creep along with cautious step, under the little falls of water percolating through the overhanging rock. Here and there a sudden turn surprises you with a charming cascade. Indeed these abrupt, startling surprises meet you on every hand. In In returning from Niagara Falls a picking your path through this wild, very pleasant route is the one by way of rugged split in the mountain, along the Seneca Lake and Watkins Glen, in brink of water-falls and precipices, you western New York. For beauty and wonder whether anybody had ever been picturesquenes of scenery, this is one killed here, and whether such a fate of cur loveliest American lakes. It is might not be in store for you. Only 37 miles in length, and from two to four let your foot slip a few inches, or your miles in breadth. It lies 441 feet above head reel at certain unprotected points the Atlantic, and 210 above lake Onta- of your path, and—well, you might be rio, into which its waters flow. Its hurt. How ever Nature managed to greatest depth is 630 feet. Until March split this narrow opening in the moun22, 1856, it was never known to be fro- tain here, I can not divine. All through zen over. Steamboats furnish the tourist the rocks on both sides are divided into with charming voyages between the ex- masses of from 20 to 30 feet wide, both treme ends. Geneva, at the north end, ends of which are as even as if they although not to be compared with its had been sawed off from top to bottom. great namesake in Switzerland, is quite Whilst the shapes of these rock-seca thriving town, surrounded by a fertile tions are different, the regularity of their country. Our steamer touches at the size and surface reminds one of the "Thou wert once the loveliest land of all Sweet land! May I thy lost delights recall yore, Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania's shore." What a grand theme this story of Wyoming would furnish for the genius of our own Whittier ! closely fitting columns of the Giant's preserve her purity. Socially, woman Causeway, in the north of Ireland. was not an independent being. She was How this little mountain stream strug- an inferior creation, dependent on her gles and toils to get out of this Glen, now playing about peacefully in a little pool, back of a high rock, then rushing aside round rock curves and over the waterfalls, until it emerges into the beautiful lake where it ends amid scenes of beauty and peace. Thus after life's battles comes the Christian's world of peace and glory. In sooth this two miles walk of two hours through the Glen was a novel experience. The sun shut out, the weird, wild scenery, with no sound around us but that of our own steps and our suppressed voices, without escort or guide, two weary climbers with trembling delight, toiled their way over the difficult path. We reached the end at the top, at early twilight, although in some parts of the Glen it is twilight all day long. A carriage in waiting took us down the steep road to the village, af fording us an evening view of Seneca lake and its surroundings. husband; for except as a wife, her existence was scarcely recognized. Of this theoretical position of woman, abundant proof is given in all the early didactic literature of Russia, and especially in the Domostroi, that curious manual of household economy written in the time of Ivan the Terrible. The wife should be blindly obedient in all things, and for her faults should be severely whipped, but not in anger. Her duty is to keep the house, and look after the food and clothing, and to see to the comfort of her husband; to bear children, but not to educate them. Severity was inculcated, and to play with one's children. was esteemed a sin,-a snare of the devil. The wife was bound to stay chiefly at home, and to be acquainted with nothing but her household work. To all questions on outside matters she was to answer that she did not know. It was believed that an element of evil lurked in the female sex; and even the At the Glen Park Hotel we found most innocent sport between little boys good quarters and kind treatment, and and girls, or social intercourse between a fine view, not excelled, if equalled by young men and women, was severely any other hotel there. I assured the reprehended. The Domostroi, and even obliging proprietor that I was pleased Pososhkof, as late as the eighteenth cenwith his house, but that the truth would tury, recommended a father to take his compel me to warn my friends against cudgel and break the ribs of his son, his lying agent, who met us and button- whom he found jesting with a girl. holed me on the steamer; which claim Traces of this feeling with regard to of veracity I hereby honestly meet. women are still found in current proWhether the proprietor is responsible verbs. "A woman's hair is long, her for the conduct of his agent, it is not understanding is short," runs one profor me to say. I have, however, been verb; "The wits of women are like the reliably informed that the proprietors of the principal hotels at Niagara Falls are pecuniarily in league with the swindling practices of the cabmen of that place. wilderness of beasts," says another; while a third says, "As a horse by the bit, so must a woman be governed by threats." The collections of popular stories and anecdotes are full of instances of the innate wickedness and devilishness of the female sex, with Women in Russia in the Seventeenth references to all the weak or wicked women of sacred and profane history. In the "Great Mirror," compiled in the seventeenth century, we even find the obstinacy of woman exemplified by the well-known anecdote of the drowning woman, still making with her fingers the sign of "scissors." Although this was the theoretical position of woman in Russian society, practically in small households, where suggested that such sermons were framed on the theory that sin could be taken from men, like Eve from Adam, by putting them into a deep sleep. women were important factors, there riers of Morpheus. A gentle trickle of were great divergencies from the strict talk, as the juice of poppies, concludes rules of the Domostroi. In the higher the course. It was Sydney Smith who ranks of life the women are more carefully guarded and restrained, and in the family of the czar the seclusion in the Terem, or women's apartment, was almost complete. This was in part due Are there not dull speakers in other to the superstitious belief in witchcraft, vocations? Take the morning paper the evil eye, and charms that might af- and read how the floor and galleries fect the life, health, or fertility of the were emptied when the Honorable Humroyal race. Neither the czarina nor drum arose. The lazy freedman, even, the princesses ever appeared openly in is driven from his snug roost by the public. They never went out except in tiresome platitudes of the dreary oraa closed litter or carriage. In church tion. But suppose the senator was exthey stood behind a veil,-made, it is plaining and enforcing a law that has true, sometimes of gauze; and they been expounded and pressed upon the usually timed their visits to the churches public for eighteen hundred years in and monasteries for the evening or the print and by the voice, times without early morning, and on these occasions number, we may be assured that the no one was admitted except the immediate attendants of the court. Von Meyerberg, Austrian embassador at Moscow in 1663, writes that out of a thousand courtiers, there will hardly be found one who can boast that he has seen the czarina, or any of the sisters or daughters of the czar. Even their physicians are not allowed to see them. When it is necessary to call a doctor for the czarina, the windows are all darkened, and he is obliged to feel her pulse through a piece of gauze, so as not to touch her bare hand! Even chance encounters were severely punished. In 1674 two chamberlains, Dashk of and Buturlin, on suddenly turning a corner in one of the interior courts of the palace, met the carriage of the Czarina The German says, "How do you find Natalia, who was going to prayers at a yourself?" or, "How goes it?" The convent. Their colleagues succeeded Frenchman, "How do you carry yourin getting out of the way. Dashkof self?" The Turk, "How is your digesand Buturlin were arrested, examined, tion?" The Englishman, "How are and deprived of their offices, but as the you!" and the impulsive American, encounter was proved to be purely for- "How d'ye?" A bow is a courtly tuitous and unavoidable, they were in a few days restored to their rank. And yet, this was during the reign of Alexis, who was far less strict than his predecessors.-Eugene Schuyler, in Scribner. About Dull Sermons. Without controversy or apology, certain sermons are dull. The introduction is a tale that is told, very quieting to the nerves. The divisions are the cou audience would thin down to the officials of the chamber, and they would protect themselves by wool in their ears and the softest lounges within reach. And more, suppose he had been speaking on the same subject three times a week for years, would not every servitor however well paid resign with a preference for grubbing sassafras bushes in a lonesome field to the intolerable suffering of listening to that stale rehearsal. The wonder is not that sermons are dull, but rather at the variety and grasp in such public addresses.-Richmond Christian Advocate. Modes of Salutation. practice; the lifting of the hand to the hat a military salutation; handshaking prevails in the Uuited States and England, and kissing in France. In Africa demonstrations cf delight are made by falling down on the back and kicking up the heels; in America by clapping hands. The Arab, to express his friendship, hugs and kisses his adorer, if permitted, and then asks for backsheesh; in some tribes they rub noses. The Yankee, when he is puzzled, scratches his head, the Chinaman his foot.-Ex. The Sunday-School Department. "The Aunties." BY SIGMA. The of their own or of their kindred. Of them we can say, they loved their neighbor as themselves. When they gave to the poor or to some benevolent object, it Every one has an influence, either for was not of their abundance but what good or for evil. Without it, personal they earned with their own hands. It intercourse would be impossible. If is not necessary for them to work, yet if one would work for the good and true, you visit them to-day, you will find there is nothing which he ought to es- them busy quilting for some one. teem so highly and guard so carefully money thus obtained is given to the and prayerfully as that influence which poor. In meeting the wants of the deshe conveys to his fellow-men. This titute, it is always done in an indirect, "the Aunties" did. I had the privi- modest way. Through me, they have lege to meet and live with them for ministered, more than once, to the wants nearly two years. They are the daugh- of the poor in my charge, though they ters of a clergyman, who went to his re- belong to a different branch of the ward many years ago. The one is a Christian Church. widow, and the other a maiden lady. They are still living, and their ages are respectively seventy-five and seventyfour years They live in the village of C and county of C-in this State. They are known and regarded as Aunties" far and near. When I first met them, I could not help but ask myself the question, why is it, that every one seems so much attached to them? The problem was soon solved in my own mind. They made it the rule of their lives, rather to speak of the good qualities of an individual, than of his defects. What a noble rule, for both young and old; yet how few practice it. The natural tendency in man is to magnify the bad qualities in others. If a man's influence shall be for good, he must not, he cannot foster and satisfy this inclination. He must crucify it-"bring it under" and develop a purer principle; if he cannot speak well of an individual, he can say nothing about him. Another element in the solution of the above problem is their earnest consideration of the poor. To those in destitution and want, they were at all times real "Aunties." I have every reason to believe, that they are as much concerned about the welfare of others, as they are Such self-sacrifice must be admired even by the ungodly; it wins the confidence and affections of every one and gains a popularity that is as high above, that won by the influence of wealth or worldly honor, as the infinite is above the finite-a popularity that will stand the test of the day of Judgment. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me. وو These "Aunties" have many other traits, which I might speak of, if time and space allowed. They are great Sunday-school workers; especially the older one. She will go into the streets and lanes, the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in. Having passed five years, beyond the allotted time of man, nothing could even now, save sickness alone, keep her away from her class. She makes the members of her class feel that she is not only an Auntie" but a mother as well. Would that we had more such teachers in our Sunday-schools. Too many will not be Uncles and Aunties to the children of their classes; they will stand aloof from them as though they were too insignificant to awaken their care, sympathy and love. |