The Bangkok Recorder.

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The Young Voyagers;

“Come, Annie, come, Jenny—-sisters. Come aboard my ship, and we’ll have a jolly nice sail this afternoon. I’ll be a sea- captain like my father, and show you how be sails that big packet ship across the ocean. Come, girls, get in—-Annie, you shall be my mate, and little Jeany shall be cook and steward.”

The speaker was a fair-haired, rosycheek- ed boy, with bright, laughing, blue eyes, about ten years old, who during his address was busily engaged in rigging the mast and sail to a ship’s launch, which was made fast to the beach in one of those secluded, picturesque little coves or inlets, with which the South shore of Long Island, be- tween Fire Island and Rockaway, is so pleasantly indented.

The boy’s companions were two little girls of eight and six years, beautiful as angels, and so exactly like their brother in every feature, that they seemed as perfect copies—-all but the long, sunny ringlets of his exquisite face.

Annie, the elder girl, bounded lightly on the boat at her brother’s first invitation, and began assisting him about the sail.—- But little Jenny—who was tugging along a great basket, filled with pies, sweetcakes, and fruits, which they had brought from a beautiful cottage not far off, for a little pic- nic dinner—-hesitated and held back in si- lence, till her brother urged her again to get into the boat, when she began to argue with him thus:

“O, don’t let us go in the boat to-day! There is so much wind, and we might be —"

“You are a little coward, Jenny, to be afraid,” interrupted the young captain im- patiently. It’s the pleasantest day we have had in a month; it is so late in the fall that if we don’t go to-day, I am sure we shall not get another chance this year. Come, Jenny, don’t be frightened-—jump in!”

“O, I’m not at all afraid brother,” and child as she was, little Jenny’s cheek glow- ed for a few moments with a deeper vermil- lion tint at the implied question of her courage by her brother. “I’m not in the least afraid, Willie. But you know moth- er told us we must not go in the boat when it blows hard; all I’m afraid of is disobey- ing her.”

“Then you may come into the boat with- out fear, sister, for mother told me I might sail this afternoon, not five minutes before I left the house.”

“Yes, I know that Willie; but it was two hours ago, when it was calm. It blows a great deal harder now, and I’m sure moth- er would not like us to go away from the shore in the boat when there is such a high wind.”

“O, nonsense, Jenny, I have been all a- bout the cove when it blew a great deal harder than this. Mother, you know, says I am the best sailor along the coast, and just as well able to judge when it’s weath- er fit to go on a cruise, as she is. Come sisters, we can’t get drowned, for the water is so shallow now at ebb tide and with this west wind, that we could wade anywhere about the cove.”

Thus persuaded, Jenny passed the basket to her brother; and then clambering into the boat herself, she took a seat beside An- nie, in the stern sheets, and soon the launch was under weigh.

She was a great, heavy, clumsy boat, as all her class usually are, with a single lug sail of heavy canvas, altogether illy cal- culated for a pleasure craft, but little Willie Walton managed her with consum- mate skill, for so young a commander, and they had made several stretches of the cove, when as they were passing the inlet that opened out seawards, Annie’s eyes rested on the bright, blue waves of the Atlantic, far out beyond the discolored water along the coast, and clapping her hands with a certain ectacy of infantile joy, she exclaimed:

“O’ Willie, Willie ! Let us go out there and sail on that beautiful, blue ocean ! Won’t it be grand! So much prettier than this little, dirty cove, with the sand banks all about us.”

Willie sprang to his feet, and gazing out into the offing, his bright eyes lit up with the enthusiasm caught from his sister’s words, and he instantly replied:

“We’ll go out there, and have a glorious sail—just like the great ships and steam- boats, that we see go by.”

“O, don’t go out brother,” interrupted little Jenny, her cheek growing pale as the delicate lily. “Don’t Willie! Mother will be angry with us.”

“Mother will do no such thing, Jenny. She will be proud of us, to think we have been out on the ocean all alone. I can easily come back with the flood tide, that will soon be coming in.” And without far- ther argument, the reckless boy put his helm up, eased off the sheet, and away out through the inlet, towards the line of blue water outside, went the launch, hur- ried along before the strong breeze, which added to the last quarter ebb bore her away at a speed that soon sunk the yellow ridge to a mere line along the margin of the wide ocean, and the white cottages with the Venetian blinds, into toy houses dotted with bright green spots. The color- ed water which appeared from the cove only like a narrow strip dividing the white surf from the deep azure of the ocean be- yond—-expanding into a broad belt of se- veral miles in width. But with the fine breeze and the strong outset of the tide, the boat sped on ; while the novelty of their position, and the natural excitement induced by it, caused the space and time to pass unheeded by the young voyagers. And a certain dread came upon them, having gained the blue water, they looked toward the shore and saw hills, fields, houses, and orchards, blending, growing indistinct, and fading away in the distance. There was a sense of lonely, utter help- lessness suddenly shadowing their bright visions; and there was a world of pathos in little Jenny’s sweet, low voice as she laid her hand gently on her brother’s arm, and looking up in his eyes, whispered:

“O, Willie, let us go home. Mother would feel very bad, if she knew we had come away out here.”

Willie bent down his head and kissed his sister’s fair pale cheek, as he replied:

“We will go back home, Jenny, I was naughty to come off so far from land. But don’t cry, sister. I am very sorry. Don’t blame me—I couldn’t help it ; I do love the sea so much.” “No, we won’t blame you Willie, only let us hurry back ; for see, yonder is a black cloud coming up in the west, and I’m afraid if we do not—-

The child’s speech was interrupted by a groan of anguish from her brother, whose eyes for the first time had been directed towards a bank of dark, murky clouds, heaving up in the western horizon, by his sister’s remark ; and at the very instant that his vision first rested upon the black pall, a chain of heavy, zigzag lightning rose quivering along its upper edge, and a few moments later there came to their ears the low muttering roar of far-off thunder.

The young captain had hauled his little vessel by the wind, but the clumsy thing lay broad off under her ill-fitted sail. Be- sides, the wind, which she had scarcely felt while running off before it, had now increased so much that she heeled over till there was great danger of her capriz- ing, to prevent which Willie, with the as- sistance of his two sisters, set about reef- ing the sail.

This was soon accomplished, and again the boat was steered as close as she would go, which at best was little better than eight points, so that with her great lee way, Willie soon found that in spite of his utmost skill, his craft was drifting rapidly out to sea.

Nearer and nearer rolled on the embat- tled regions of black storm clouds. Loud- er came the fearful thunder crashes ; more vivid gleamed the red lightning’s flash ; wilder the shrieking gale went by, howling and screaming dread notes of terror to the young voyagers. The water—-which in with the land was quite smooth—-began to heave up in huge, foam crested waves, here and there, all round them, curling ever and breaking all feather like in long lines of showy, hissing spray. Great round drops of rain came pattering down in the water and pelting down on the thwarts and gunwales of the boat, with a sharp clicking noise that smote startlingly dis- mal on the ears of the little ocean wanderers.

Young as he was, Willie retained in his mind much of what he had heard his fa- ther relate at various times, in regard to the management of a ship in a gale ; and the knowledge he had thus gained in the- ory, now stood him in good stead. He had heard of keeping a ship before the wind in a squall, and of scudding in a gale—- and the dull-sailing, clumsy boat was his ship. The theory which he had learned, he proceeded to put into practice ; and when the first mad gust fell upon the launch, she was going dead before the wind—-otherwise, her sail would have blown away, or she would have been swamped in an instant. As it was, she went flashing on through the wild storm and screaming surges, scudding away right out into the mighty wilderness of waters.

Ten, fifteen minutes went by, and still the war of the elements went on in all their terrible fury; and still the brave lit- tle fellow stood there at the helm, bare headed, his cap blown away, his clothes dripping with water, and steady to his purpose, steered his tiny bark on and away, before the fierce, howling blast.

Once, only, he faltered; and that was when the launch quivered for a moment on the crest of a mighty surge, and then went reeling and plunging, standing al- most on end, down into the hissing vortex of the liquid ravine. Then, a single quick cry of horror escaped the boy's lips; but the next moment Jenny crept up to his side, laid her head upon his shoulder and spoke in a low, soothing tone, that almost instantly called back his confidence, and elicited from his lips a cry of admi- ration for his sister's heroism.

"Don't be frightened, dear Willie," said the little angel. "Mother says that God watches over people that live on the seas. And don't you remember, brother, how of- ten our dear mother has told us, that Jesus loves little children? If God watches o- ver us, and Jesus loves us, we shall be safe. So, don't be afraid."

Night—dark, wild, and gloomy night, came down upon the world of waters, and still the terrible tornado raged in all its horrors of wild lightning, rain, and thun- der; and there in their frail, open boat, we leave our young voyagers speeding on and away right into the very heart of the vast Atlantic. We will bid them adieu, and glance back to their home—to their fond mother, rendered desolate in heart by the dread calamity that had befallen her in the loss of her children. At the moment when the children first embarked, Mrs. Walton had glanced outwards to the cove, and for a few moments she watched them with all a mother's fond pride, as she saw them sailing to and fro on the quiet wa- ters of the bay; and then some visitors called, and she forgot her children till just as the storm came down, when a neighbor came rushing in with the heart rending in- telligence that they had been seen only a few moments previously, several miles out to sea.

The first terrible shock almost killed her; but soon rallying all her woman's energy and motherly love, she rushed forth from her home, and regardless of the furious storm, aroused the neighbors, and besought them with all the eloquence called up by the deep anguish of her heart to lend their aid in the recovery of her lost darlings.

There was no vessel at Rockaway or Fal- kner's Island, and to venture out to sea in a storm with such small craft as were kept along the shore were worse than madness; and so immediate dispatches were sent to New-York, not only to the owners of the ship commanded by Capt. Walton, but to the pilots; and within an hour after the news had reached the city, two of the staun- chest pilot-boats manned by extra picked crews of gallant souls were under weigh, and spreading on their swift-winged course in search of the ocean-lost children.

Mrs. Walton herself hastened to the city to urge with her presence and influence, more prompt action; but the two ves- sels had been gone about an hour when she arrived, and so she repaired to the house of Mr. Alwin, the owner of the ship her hus- band commanded, to await the return of those who had so nobly gone in that mad storm in search of her three darlings.

Leaving her there in a state of fevered anxiety, hoping in the very teeth of despair, we, too, will go forth into the wild yelling gale, to look upon a most sub- lime ocean picture.

It was an hour past midnight—-dark as the deepest, gloomiest cells of an inquisitorial dungeon, save when the vivid lightning's flash lit up the Cimmerian blackness with a glare rivaling that of the brightest noon- day sun.

Some ninety miles to the eastward of Sandy Hook lay Hove to a noble ship, in- ward bound, in one of the most terrible gales that ever swept along the northern coast of America. The gale had just set in an hour before sundown, and ever since the ship had been hove to under the short- est possible canvas, heading up southwest, with the gale coming in violent squalls out at due north-west.

"Do you think there is any danger to us or to the ship, captain?" inquired one of the three passengers, who stood near the commander of the ship, partly sheltered from the storm by the projecting roof of the round house.

"Not in the least, Mr. Kinsley. You are as safe here as you would be in your own house in New-York. She is a bran-new ship, and I have had no opportunity of trying her hove to before; but I am per- fectly satisfied with her behavior. In fact, I never saw a craft conduct herself as well in a hurricane like this. 'Tis a terri- ble night, however, and God help those who may chance to be out in a less able craft than ours! For the last hour I have been thinking of my wife and children. My wife will not sleep one wink to-night, she never can in a storm like this when I am not at home. I was cast away once on the Long Island shore in just such a gale, only it was south-west. I would give a hundred dollars this moment to be at home only for my wife's sake.—-But we must—- my God, what is that?"

A continuous flash of lightning lit up the surrounding space, and as the darkness shut in again, a faint, but clear and dis- tinct—-"Ship ahoy!" uttered either by a female or a child, came down on the blast from directly to windward.

A moment after the hail was repeated, and another flash of lightning revealed a boat driving square down before the gale, and almost under the ship's quarter. Ere one could count five, the shrill, quivering cry came up from the boat, as it shot past the ship not three fathoms clear of the rud- der.

“Merciful heaven! There are three chil- dren!” yelled Mr. Kinsley, who with the captain was peering down over the taffrail as the boat flew past.

“Hard up your helm, my man,” said the captain in a voice as calm as man's could be; and then calling to the chief and third mates who were both on deck, he informed them of the fact that a small, open boat, with three children in it, had just gone past, and then gave his orders :

“Mr. Casey, please go out on the flying jib boom, and keep a lookout for the boat; and mind, Mr. Casey, if we come up with it, you can lay the ship so as to bring the boat close aboard on the larboard side—- LARBOARD, remember. Mr. Casey. Don't for your life make a mistake. Go forward now, sir, and if we save those children, five hundred dollars shall be your reward.”

Then turning to the chief mate, he con- tinued :

“Mr. Winsor, you will brace the yards all square, which without making any sail will send the vessel through the water something faster than the boat is going.— Having done this, rig six single whips, two on each of the lower yards, on the LAR- BOARD side. Place the blocks far enough out for the falls to drop about a fathom clear of the ship, and reeve off good snug sail gear, bring both ends in on deck, with a running bowline in one part and the oth- er lod along as a foil, stationing three good fellows at each. In the meantime, I will get her steady before the wind, and Frank, my man, you keep her so. Don't let her yaw an inch. Steer her as though your very soul depended upon it ; and within an hour after the ship reaches New-York, you shall have a hundred dollars.”

“And now, Mr. Kinsley, will you please call up the second mate and all the gen- tleman passengers ! I want them to stand by the whips in order to assist the sailors if necessary. We must save those child- ren, and do it too without the boat coming in contact with the ship, as that would be instant destruction of it and them in such a sea.”

“All ready, the whips, sir!” came from the mate, and that moment the young mate's voice rang out from the jib boom end, “boat right ahead! Steady as you go!”

“Now then, my lads, who'll go into these running bowlines with me, and stand by to pick up the children?” anxiously inquired the captain.

“I sir,” “I,” “I,” came from a dozen ready sailors in a moment.

“Thank you, my lads; but I only want five. I will go in one of the bowlines my- self.”

The selections were soon made, and there they stood in the fore, main and mizzen chains—the commander and five noble fel- lows—with the bowlines under their arms ready to risk their lives to save the three children.

“Steady! stand by, now! Here they come!—look out!” screamed the officer from the jib boom, and a moment later the dim outlines of a boat, loomed up by the lee cat-head. Another of breathless ex- pense, and the boat was abreast of the fore chains.

“Stand by the forward whips! Look out there in the main chains! Veer away men! now, Harry, Now!” and down went the captain and his companion, down into the boat.

A breath later, and the shout came ring- ing up, “Look out, main and mizzen chains! Sway away, on deck!” and up by the run came the two men, each grasping a child in his arms.

“Main chains, there! In God's name, have you got her!” screamed the captain, rushing aft with the boy he had saved still in his arms.

“Ay, ay, sir! All right,” answered a brave fellow, clambering in on the deck with little Jenny grasped tight by her clothes.

“Father!” exclaimed the little girl, clasp- ing the captain about the neck. “Father! Father!” echoed back two treble voices.

“Almighty God, I thank thee! Saved— saved—saved!” and Capt. Lester Walton sunk fainting on the deck. He knew the children were his own from the moment they passed the ship's stern, and his indom- itable self-control had borne him up till they were rescued; when the reaction came he sank down insensible.

At an hour before sunset on the follow- ing day, the ship was at her berth in New York, and the meeting between the dis- tracted mother and her loved children there, in the cabin of her husband's ship, is too sacred a picture to be profaned by a mere pen-and-ink copy.

If such an intense effort to save the tem- poral life of those three children be most suitable, praiseworthy, and sublime, how much more so is the whole hearted and per- sistent efforts to save souls from eternal death unto eternal life.Ed.

The Highlander's Prayer.

A Scotch Highlander, who served in the first disastrous war with the American colonies, was brought one evening before his commanding officer, charged with the capital offense of be- ing in direct communication with the enemy. The charge could not, well be preferred at a more dangerous time. Only a few weeks had elapsed since the execution of Major Andre and the indignation of the British exasperated almost to madness by the event, had not yet cooled down. There was, however, no proof against the High- lander. He had been seen, in the grey of the twilight, stealing out from a clump of underwood that bordered on one of the huge forests, which then covered much the greater part of the United Provinces, and which, in the immediate neighborhood of the British, swarmed with the troops of Washing- ton. All the rest was mere inference and conjecture. The poor man's de- fence was summed up in a few words. He had stolen away from his fellows, he said, to spend a few hours in private prayer.

"Have you been in the habit of spending hours in private prayer?" sternly asked the officer, himself a Scotchman and a Presbyterian.

The Highlander replied in the af- firmative.

"Then," said the other, drawing out his watch, "never in your life had you more need of prayer than now; kneel down, sir, and pray aloud, that we may all hear you."

The Highlander, in the expectation of instant death, knelt down. His prayer was that of one long acquainted with the appropriate language in which the Christian addresses his God. It breath- ed of imminent peril, and earnestly implored the Divine interposition in the threatened danger, the help of Him who in times of extremity is strong to deliver. It exhibited, in short, a man who, thoroughly con- versant with the scheme of redemp- tion, and fully impressed with the necessity of a personal interest in the advantages which it secures, had made the business of salvation the work of many a solitary hour, and had, in con- sequence, acquired much fluency in expressing all his various wants as they occurred, and thoughts and wishes as they arose.

"You may go, sir," said the officer, as he concluded, "You have, I dare say, not been in correspondence with the enemy to-night."

"His statement," he continued, ad- dressing himself to the other officers, "is, I doubt not, perfectly correct. No one could have prayed so without a long apprenticeship; fellows who have not attended drill always get on ill at review." —Hugh Miller

Little Things.

Great virtues are rare; the occasions for them are very rare; and when they do occur, we are prepared for them— we are excited by the grandeur of the sacrifice, we are supported either by the splendor of the deed in the eyes of the world, or by the self-com- placencey that we experience from the performance of an uncommon action. Little things are unforeseen; they come in contact with our pride, our indol- ence, our haughtiness, our readiness to take offense; they contradict our in- clinations perpetually. We would much rather make certain great sac- rifices to God, however violent and painful they might be, upon condition that we should be rewarded by liberty to follow our own desires and habits in the details of life. It is, however, only by fidelity in little things that a true and constant love to God can be distinguished from a passing fever of spirit.—Fénelon.

Inferential Reasoning.

A physician took a young student to see a patient who was confined to his bed. "Sir," said the physician to the sick man, "you have been im- prudent; you have eaten oysters."

The patient admitted that he had Returning home, the student asked the doctor how he discovered that the man had eaten oysters.

"Why," replied the doctor, "I saw the shells under the bed."

A few days after the student was sent to visit the same patient. He soon returned, however, saying that he had been kicked out of the house for telling the patient he had been impru- dent; he had eaten horseflesh.

"Horseflesh! you young fool- what do you mean?" cried the doc- tor.

"Because I saw a saddle and a pair of stirrups under the bed"

Bangkok Recorder

The Siam Telegraph.

The concession of the permission to make the Telegraph from Rangoon to Singapore, and the regulations under which it has been granted, have been approved and signed by the Siamese authorities, and Mr. Read has left on his return to Singapore. We wish him every success in the undertaking he is engaged in, as it is one on which depends much of the future commer- cial prosperity and political security of this country, and we shall be in- deed glad to hear that the British Go- vernment has taken a favorable view of the subject. We understand that the rulers of the tributary states un- der the rule of Siam, through which the line may pass, must be consulted, and their approbation obtained, but this should prove no impediment to the successful termination of the scheme, as the approval of the sup- reme government at Bangkok, if pro- perly represented to those chieftains, must ensure their compliance and we therefore, confidently expect that a representative of the Company will be here before long, empowered to secure the ratification of all agree- ments, and to commence operations.

Naturalization.

The following is a postscript that should have been appended to the article on na- turalization which appeared in the pre- vious number. Ed.

With respect to naturalization it has been brought to our notice that, the French Missionaries contend that His Majesty the Emperor has taken all Roman Catholics in these countries under his protection, and therefore that they have a right to the good offices of the French Consul. This argument would be very appropriate in a time of religious persecution; but where the utmost freedom in the prac- tice of different creeds exists, and is guaranteed by Treaty, it cannot be ad- mitted; and a native christian, is as liable to the laws of his country, and can no more change his allegiance to his King, than the Buddhist or Maho- medan. The teachers of the people should ever remember that they have been instructed by high authority to "render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's," and as they teach so should they practice.

Our Buddhist Champion

In reply to our article in No. 14.

As regards the subject of religion on which much has been written and published, we have no desire to lift up any religion and endeavor with it to overthrow Christianity, because we are aware that religion is a thing by which men get a livelihood among all the religious sects that exist, the same as men resort to paddy fields and orchards for a living. But to tell the truth, the heart is one way and the mouth another. The mouth will speak in praise of a religion which it holds as its own. And to be honest, we must say that men according to the wisdom they have are necessarily incredulous of Christianity, and hence ask many questions about it for in- formation, and if you do not answer their questions their doubts will not be solved. If instead of answering their questions directly to the point, you give evasive answers, lugging in irrelevant matter, you do thus cover up and hide the point in question. For in- stance we put to you some questions about the rainbow, the sacred bow and arrow of God; you did not at- tempt to answer our questions, and logged in the subject of lions and other stories evincing a delirious mind. To answer your antagonist in this way is, according to an old proverb, said to "be taking the side and pushing his fellow." It is like two persons tisting. One uses his fist in the pro- per way, another instead of using his fist suddenly turns his side, and with it pushes his antagonist against the wall. Now this is what the Siamese denom- inate pushing with the side. The per- son who thus meets his combatant in argument virtually despises, and ridicules him greatly. Even the sacred books condemn the practice of evasion in argument, saying, "whoever being enquired of for information, brings forward irrelevant matter for an answer, and for the purpose of burying up the point in question is guilty of pushing his enquirer away from him, thus revealing clearly that he is an angry and captious man." Such persons fall under the charge of being given to fault finding and scoof- fing. Such conduct is in no sense be- coming.

Now as regards the idea that vast numbers of Siamese will sink into hell because their king is leading them thither—-why do you speak of it? The king of Siam is causing many very many to go down to hell is he? Why do you not rather speak of the lord Jesus as causing innumerable hosts to go to hell! To illustrate our meaning. When Jesus rose from the dead it is recorded of him that he secretly ap- peared to his apostles whom he loved—- that he came and went stealthily showing himself to only one or two at a time, thus conducting himself as a ghost does when it appears unto men—- never appearing unto great multitudes at once. Now why was this! Do you think such conduct was suitable in one professing to be Almighty? A God like this was it, who became famed for his power to make an atone- ment for sin, and to bear the sins of the whole world in the place of sinners? Boasting as he did that he was the one propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world, why did he conduct him- self thus?

The early teachings and history of the Teacher (Jesus) and the teachings of his followers who go about preach- ing Christianity at the present time—- praising and glorifying Christ, do not agree together. The early and latter teachings do not harmonize.

Again when it is said that Jesus came into the world and went about preach- ing the gospel an indefinite period of time, and that he then ascended to heaven, how are we to learn where heaven is—whether above or below, at the west or the east, at the north or the south? And when he ascended, why did he ascend from a forest of trees where only a few could see him? Why did he not go up, and sail about in mid heaven so that the multitudes could be- hold him: or fly around the world three times or seven times, and thus display himself to all men, and give all the privilege of hearing his teachings in all parts of the habitable world! Could he not have done this! Had he done it, it would have been in accordance with the fame which his modern fol- lowers proclaim of him, and would show that he is indeed the true God, able and willing to save all the world from sin and from hell, and take them all to heaven. Had he displayed such power at that time, giving all the in- habitants of the world to see and hear him at once, would not all the world have been converted to him long ere this! and would there be now any more necessity of going about evan- gelizing the nations with great labor, and great expense of paper and book- making! Had he taken this course all mankind would have become be- lievers in Christianity without any sectarianism, and hence would all go to heaven, not one being left to sink to hell.

Again the Roman Catholic Teach- ers and Protestant missionaries be- lieve in and pray to Jesus in heaven praying to him day and night without ceasing as being the most High and the most excellent One. Still they do not agree together; but quarrel about the doctrines of Christ. The Protes- tants speak against the Roman Catho- lics and reproach them, affirming that they hold many religious tenets which are not taught in the Bible, that their teachings are not in harmony with the law of God, that they have introduced into their system of doc- trines commandments of their own which are not of God. As for exam- ple they teach that men ought to worship the image of Jesus and of his mother, and have established customs, and hold them sacred which the Bible does not sanction. As for the Roman Catholics they find fault with the Protestants charging them of being rebels against the religion of Jesus following their own unscriptural ways.

Thus do the two sects reproach and quarrel and hook each other like cattle. Now where is he whom they adore as God? Does he know how they treat each other? Both sects profess to hold and observe the instructions of the Lord Jesus, and seek him by prayer, and supplication every morning and even- ing. Now it would seem suitable that he whom they thus worship should make both parties to see and feel alike so that they no more reproach and hook one another.

Why do you say that God nourish- es and sustains the world in all its parts and particular? Where is he that no one can see him? If he knows all men and knows that all his follow- ers love and adore him greatly, why does he not manifest himself to them so that they shall see him clearly? As to other sects holding different views of the christain religion we have no occasion to say anything, because they are far away from us. But Protes- tants and Roman Catholics are living among us and therefore we have sin- gled them out in our remarks.

Now for the above reasons we stand in great doubt of the christian reli- gion. Persons who have indeed some wisdom disagree greatly about the re- ligion which they mutually hold and practice very differently. The Catho- lics and Protestants are agreed in go- ing about cursing all others who are not christians, saying that the king is levying the people en masse and lead- ing them down to hell. Who will be the cause of their destruction? Will it not be attributable to Jesus and those who bear his name? It is Je- sus himself who causes men to go to hell. It is the teachers of his religion that lead men thither, because they do not show good evidence as they should of the truth of what they af- firm. They do not show that which corresponds with the cause, with the fruit, with the beginning or the end. The religion of Jesus is like unto Children calling to one another in sport-—O children children! it is late and you are not yet asleep. Let the tookaas come and eat out your livers! There is no profit in using religion as a thing to sport with in this way. Is not religion a means for gaining alivi- hood? What man who has any know- ledge of mankind, and has seen any- thing, does not know that every reli- gion, whether false or true, is in the beginning started and propagated by tradition, and that men coming after- wards take it up and carry it and put their trust in it. And finally they fall to speaking invidiously of other per- sons saying—-this man is a believer, that man is an unbeliever, people of that sect will go to hell, people of this sect will go to heaven. Now where shall we get any light to show us where hell is, or where heaven is? Who knows? Who among men has seen the one or the other that he should feel authorized to speak thus of either? It is all in vain thus to talk.

Domestic Animals of Siam.

As our former chapter was on the interesting subject of Dogs so this, to be in due order, must be on the scarce- ly less interesting topic of Cats. These highly domesticated animals are not nearly as numerous as the canine tribes, yet the habitations of men in Siam seem to be quite overrun with them, being in far greater proportion to the people than you will find in Europe or America. They would ap- pear to be full as prolific as their neighbors the dogs, but the latter so tyrannize over them as to prevent an equal increase. As in all parts of the world so in Siam it is natural for dogs to tease cats by barking and growling at them, and on the other hand for cats to attempt to hold their peculiar rights under the table, in the sink room, and all over the house by grow- ling back with hair all on end and then in a favorable moment, in the twinkling of an eye pitch into their faces giving them a terrible scratch- ing. A strange dog cannot stand such treatment however powerful he may be at his own home. A little mother cat will send any such creature out of doors in a jiffy with terrible cry- ing for mercy. But dogs when they come to feel at home at any place, gradually get the upper hand of the cats, especially, if they are pinched with hunger, and will pitch upon them with terrible and destructive vengeance.

Siamese love cats much more than dogs. The latter are regarded as having a vicious nature, the former as being meek, gentle, and loving. The people have many superstitious notions about cats, handed down both by tradition and books. They are highly regard- ed, not for their mousing propensities, but for the superstition that in some mysterious way they bring prosperity to the family which nourishes them. And there is a great choice in them for this end. The possession of a silver colored cat is accounted one of the best insurances for future pros- perity. A black cat with nine white spots upon it in the right places is ac-

counted a great prize. The spots must be placed one on each foot, one on the forehead, one on the neck, one on the belly one on the back and one on the tail. A cat with more white spots than these, but not pro- perly located has no particular mer- it. A jet black cat with black claws is accounted one of the very best, but such are rarely if ever found. It is strange that the Siamese with all their veneration of the white Elephant, white monkeys, white squirrels, white crows, etc., should evince a great dis- like of white cats; and this too, we are informed, because they are prone to lead their owners into misfor- tune. Consequently such cats every where meet with great neglect and sometimes with cruel treatment from even Buddhists.

It is affirmed and believed that cats are sometimes not only pledges of good to their owners, but positively bring good things to them. As for example it is said a good cat will sometimes go to a neighbor's house or boat and stealthily bring away a purse of money and lay it down at her owners feet. Such deeds would of course be enough to establish the notion that cats of the right stamp are invaluable living pledges of "better times coming" to the families with which they are connected.

Some cats are highly prized because of some peculiarity about the lens of their eyes which their owners fancy are "pearls of great price" in the process of forming. Some of the lens appear to be bluish, some greenish, and others white. Not long since a Siamese Prince of high rank sent a cat to us for examination, wishing to learn our estimation of the pre- cious stones that had been formed in his eyes. We had a look at the crea- ture much in the style of an Ophthal- mic surgeon, and found both lenses simply opaque and consequently the eyes were blind in the day time with a little improvement in the evening, being precisely the symptoms of a common cataract of the eye. It seemed to be quite a sad disappoint- ment even to those sereants of the Prince, to hear our opinion that there was no value in the two white pearls in the cats eyes. It appears that the Siamese never kill the cats to get these jewels, but wait patiently until the creature dies a natural death, and then watchfully wait for the de- composition of the eyes until they can at leisure disengage them from the mass of putrifaction. Such relics are preserved with the greatest care as having power to protect the possessor against evil spirits and deadly wounds from enemies. They are often set in a little gold frame, somewhat as a pre- cious stone is set in a finger ring, and then by means of a string around the waist worn over the stomach as an amulet. It is believed that the best of these stones will render a man in- vulnerable to swords, daggers and even to gun shot. Who knows but the Siamese soldiers under Nai Pan the Siamese Ambassador in Paris in 1660 had something of the kind about them?

There is a peculiar propensity in Siamese cats to be born with a mal- formation of their tails. The tail is short at the best, and the end of it for an inch or more is crooked almost at right angles and remains permanently so. It is a great deformity, but one which some Europeans seem to re- gard as an evidence of a good mouser. The Siamese themselves have no par- ticular love or hatred for such tails. An American sea-faring wag, a year or two since, hit upon quite an appro- priate name for such cats. He called them the crochet cat because their tails were somewhat in the shape of a crochet needle.

As to mousing propensities, Siam- ese cats never have any because they seldom if ever see a mouse to catch. But they have no want of employ- ment in catching rats, for they are ever abundant and yet we must say that they appear to go at this their proper business, generally, with very little spirit. Perhaps it arises from their having been brought up and educated in a Buddhist country where animal killing is quite disreputable!

It is a very rare occurrence for a cat to be killed by a direct intention of a Buddhist. The horror of killing them is much greater than that of dogs. The reason of this seems to be, that they are regarded as being far more valuable to man as pledges of temporal good than dogs, and be- cause they seldom do any thing to arouse the anger of man. They ap- pear so amiable and loving, that it is like pulling teeth for Buddhists to raise their hands against, them. If at any time they become troublesome by their great numbers in a house, they are picked up and carried away blind-folded to a distant temple or homestead, and there turned out to seek a living as best they can among utter strangers. We not unfrequent- ly find on a evening or early in the morning one or two kittens cast as foundlings at our door; and a dirty white cat an utter stranger, miserably emaciated is just now trying to ingra- tiate himself into our favor. But he has to stand afar off from our mother cat and her aristocratic family old and young. There has already been sev- eral terribly snarling fights between them, and the stranger has been thoroughly beaten and gone to seek refuge with our neighbor, who, strange to say, had no old settlers to hinder his entering quietly in.

[He was permitted to remain until his thieving propensities led him into the cookhouse, where he found a chick- en all ready for dinner, and helped himself to the whole of it, when he was forcibly expelled by being pitch- ed into the nearest temple grounds. G.]

Spring and the Tamarind
Tree.

Though our dry season is continuing beyond the usual bounds, with quite an uncommon absence of showers at the vernal equinox and with extraor- dinary heat, it is nevertheless a spring time for very many of our trees which have deep roots. It is quite cheering to look upon the new dresses with which they are now coming out. Tamarind trees, especially, are to us exquisitely beautiful. We have nine or ten of them in our door yard. These trees when planted in rather isolated lo- calities uniformly take charming forms, having a short trunk with magnificent branches arranged with the greatest disorder, but with the most pleasing variety of wildness. The trees which we planted fourteen years since when not more than an inch in diameter two feet above the ground, are now sixteen inches at the same hight. This rapid growth will indicate the great strength of this soil. And it should be borne in mind that the wood of the Tamarind is as hard and close grained as that of an apple tree, and not any of your soft timber which naturally grows with the rapidity of a sugar cane.

The trunks of our Tamarind trees are not more than six feet high, at which elevation the trees divide off in- to many crooked yet smooth limbs, standing outward and upward at such angles as to form a uniform hemisph- erical top, about 90 feet in circumier- ence, extending upward in a most beautiful curve from 15 to 20 feet from the top of the trunk.

The largest Tamarind trees that we have seen in Siam would not, probably, measure more than four feet through 6 feet from the ground, with trunks less than 20 feet high,and tops superseded extending upward to the hight of 50 or 60 feet.

The usual appearance of the Tam- arind foliage is much like that of the locust tree of America, but with a smaller and more delicate leaf and a richer green. Twenty eight or thirty leaflets an inch long and a quarter broad grow on one leafstalk, and from 10 to 20 leafstalks on one of the smal- lest branches. The new leaves now unfolding are exquisitely delicate and beautiful, displaying a variety of tints as the purple, the pink, the red and the pea-green.

The time occupied in casting off the old leaves is not usually more than a fortnight, and some times less than that. It is curious to observe the per- fect harmony among the trees in changing their livery without any ap- parent external influence like that of a blast from frost to force them to it. You may see the trees in the morning quite thickly covered with old leaves. A little brush of wind or a dash of rain will in less than an hour precip- itate the most of them to the ground, and display all of a sudden the beauti- ful new dress that had till their been quite hidden. And you will be sur- prised to observe then, for the first time, charming clusters of pink and red flower buds, and even blossoms already developed. These are of the general form of pea flowers, but much smaller and more delicate, their petals being penciled with yellow, pink, and purple on a ground work of pearly white.

The fruit of the Tamarind is a large, crooked, and rough pod from four to six inches long and less than one in diam- eter. It requires about ten months to bring the pods to perfection. When ripe, the seed and pulp are quite loose and rattle in the dry pod which has then become a brittle shell. The natives are very fond of the fruit in a green state and eat it with the seed and pod. Its keen tart gives a good relish for food. You can usually purchase 4 or 500 pods of Tamarinds for 7½ cents, the pulp and seeds being taken out of the pods and neatly packed in pack- ages of 100 or more each. But this year it is so scarce that you can scarcely get 100 pods for that price.

Tamarind wood is durable, hard and beautifully veined. The natives use the tender leaves in their curries, as they do also the pulp. The seeds re- duced to a fine powder and boiled forms a tenacious paste, and a strong wood cement, if a little glue be added.

Fruits of all kinds that should be ripe in April and May when most needed of all seasons of the year, are very scarce this year. It was pre- dicted early in February, when we had an uncommonly copious rain, that that would surely produce a great crop of mangoes and other spring fruit; but it proves to have been a false prophecy. And the prin- ciple cause of the failure we conceive to have been the drought in 1864 which cut off the rice crop. The im- pression made then on all these fruit bearing trees was too deep to be ef- faced by ever so favorable rains in so short a space of time.

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the "Bangkok Recorder."

SIR,-—I have been thinking for some time that I would try to write you a kind of a letter of condolence, but the truth of the matter is, I am a "shock- ing" bad writer, and the weather has really been so hot, that I could not get myself worked up to the writing point, or in other words I could not get the efflatus up. Some folks may say I have not got it up yet, but then we can't mind what every body says. I suppose there never would have been a great man in the world, if he had kept taking into account what every one had to say about him.

But speaking of the weather-—it is very difficult to write these days, with the thermometer at 96º in the shade, and also having enjoyed the luxury of a night sweat during the previous night. In the early morning it is ge- nerally quite pleasant, but the sun soon rises, and like the rest of us, is apparently not the least bit refreshed by his night's repose, and keeps roast- ing away at us from the time he rises until he sets. A slight shower of rain the other morning accompanied with some thunder, had a salutary ef- fect upon the atmosphere for a time, but it soon passed off again. Flitting clouds however, and the watery ap- pearance of the sky indicate that ere long we will be refreshed by copious showers. Almost every body says that this is the warmest weather they have ever experienced in Siam, and what every body says must of course be true. There is a tendency in hu- man nature, however, to apply the su- perlative degree to the last scene through which they have passed, what- ever that scene may have been. Did you ever see a ship Captain who did not consider the last gale or storm through which he had passed the most severe one he had ever been in? Whether the thermometer has really stood higher than it did through the hot season last year, or not I can't say, but I can say that I have never expe- rienced anything which so much af- fected me as the last few weeks. The fault however may not be in the wea- ther but in me.

But I am going astray from the sub- ject with which I started out; and you must take this as a kind of prologue to that which is to come. It may be imprudent in me to do so, but I deem it my duty to inform you, that for some time you have not been so firm- ly fixed upon the throne of the "Fourth Estate" as you might rea- sonably suppose. A rather formidable conspiracy has been in progress against you, and although the principle dan- ger is now past, or at least so far as I can see it is past, I still deem it my duty to congratulate you upon what you have escaped, and condole you upon any trouble that may yet be in store for you. You have unfortuna- tely brought down upon you some of the "powers that be" and also some of those that "would be." It is even whispered that some of those from whom you might expect better things, secretly wish for your demise. But it is also whispered that those powers to which you are most immediately amenable, are all right, and if that be so, you need not fear, though a host encamp against you. The fact is your kingdom diffuses too much light for some of your neighbors; and there are fears that some dark regions might be illuminated, and some revelations made. If I were a monarch, there is no other realm in which I would ra- ther reign than in yours, but at the same time I suppose there is no other, in which the duties of the sovereign are more arduous. Especially is that the case in a place like this where the loyal subjects are few, and each one has his own peculiar views and tastes. Every one too is a critic, and can talk learnedly upon the subjects of law science, theology and of business, in short all those subjects, with which you have to deal. Should the Edi- tor attempt to instruct them upon these subjects, of course he is ridicul- ed as being incompetent. I don't of course pretend to say that you do al- ways exactly right, or that you are not sometimes justly criticised, or that your selections, and editorials are al- ways the very best, under the circum- stances. You, like the rest of man- kind, have your failings, but you mean to do right. Your intentions are good. Men as a general thing like to see themselves in print, but they are sometimes particular about the connections. You should be ex- ceedingly careful not to mention any of their faults, or short comings, but always put in a little praise or flattery, whether they deserve it or not. It don't cost much, and a little goes a great ways. Make it general too, don't heap it all on a few. With a little care you may weather the present storm, and afterwards manage to steer clear.

You will ever find me ready to con- dole with you upon any appearance of grief, and in the mean time I remain as usual.

LOCAL.

MARRIED.

On the 26th inst. at the residence of Captain John Bush Harbor master and M. Attendant-—by Rev: Wm. Dean D. D.—-Mr. James Clifton Campbell of New York, Inspector of customs in this city, to Miss Mary Greig of Edinburgh.

There were about 44 resident Eu- ropeans and American to witness the ceremony, after which the whole party partook of a sumptuous dinner with appropriate toasts, given by the Am- erican Consul, the English Consul, the Harbor Master and others.

His Excellency Chow Phya Kala- home the Prime Minister kindly gran- ted the party the use of his brass Band, who played several airs during the dinner. After dinner dancing com- menced and continued until after midnight.

The premises were very elaborate- ly decorated with flags, flowers, and evergreens, and had a most imposing appearance.

Every one appeared happy and well satisfied both with the ceremony and the feast. Dr. Dean was highly com- plimented for the satisfactory manner in which he had performed the marri- age service.

H. S. M. Gun-boat “Impregnable” left on the morning of the 25th bound for Singapore. W. H. Read Esqr. went as passenger. It is we believe intended that the “Impregnable” shall take the place of the “Chow Phya” in conveying mails between this and Singapore until the latter shall have undergone thorough repairs in Dock at Singapore.

Our American friends T. Miller and G. Clark left for Hongkong on the 21st. inst.

J. Hood Esq. Am. Consul, we un- derstand, has changed his residence from the Chandler mansion to the brick house of Messrs Pickenpack Thies & Co. a location more central than the former.

On Saturday evening the 21st inst. while the daily shipping reports of Messrs Dyer, Schmidt & Co. were be- ing printed, one of the men who came with the boat, being left in charge of it at our landing, while the other was getting the reports, stole the boat, and as far as we know, has not since been heard of. The other man remained in our compound till about 6 A. M. on Sabbath morning.

As the weather is always a never failing topic of remark in all our dai- ly meetings, so it may not be thought altogether out of taste and place for this issue of the *Bangkok Recorder* to speak the 3rd or 4th time on this fruitful theme. As all our previous remarks were made before the type came to a fixture on the bed of the press, we may on the eve of this day report that the residents of Bangkok enjoyed the great luxury of a thun- der shower this morning. The rain though scanty was enough to cheer all our hearts and enliven greatly all the families of the vegetable kingdom in the metropolis. The electrical influ- ences and the rain combined have brought the temperature down 10 de- grees, at least, and have even extended so high as to cheer the king of day.

As the water of our noble river, in consequence of the long absence of rain, has become quite brackish, and as our stores of rain water and fresh river water taken in November and kept for drinking purposes had become nearly exhausted, we hoped to have replenished our stores to day. But it requires a copious rain to wash off suitably the filth from our tiled and thatched roofs that has been accumul- ating on them during the course of two months of drought, and the rain this morning was not sufficient for that. Hence we are living in hope that our Heavenly Father will send us another shower soon, of which there is every probability we shall have an abund- ance.

We are glad to inform our distant readers that it is indeed true as sur- mised by us in our last issue, that Mes- srs J. Thomson and H. G. Kennedy have returned from the famous city Ongcor in Cambodia. They arrived on the 17th inst, coming from Cam- poot up the gulf in a small country boat. They were absent on their tour of observation nearly three months, spending about three weeks at the mar- vellous temple in ruins and its vi- cinity. They seem to think that "the half had not been told them" of what they saw, and that they them- selves, even, have only entered the vestibule of future discoveries. In- deed so far as our poor *Recorder* is concerned, their ideas are as yet quite inexpressible. But we hope by much importunity to induce one or both of those scientific travelers to take up their pens to give us at least a smatter- ing of what they have seen and learn- ed in that second Ninevah.

We learn that the "Hard Case" spoken of in our issue of the 13th inst. promises to result in good not only to the noble Siamese sailor who so valiantly fought the pirates and helped to save the "Conqueror," but also to the cause of Siamese sailors generally. It will be remembered that that Siamese *Tar* was not only turned adrift without any substantial applause from the owner of the ship or any one else, but also with scarcely money enough to pay the Surgeon's small bill for his care of the wounds he received in resisting the pirates. We published substantially that state- ment of the hard case in our Siamese "Recorder" a few days later, and that together with a few plain and practi- cal remarks we appended seems to have hit the mark at which it was aimed, and roused a determination on the part of Chawsôoa ———— to deal well by that sailor. It may be that he had the good intention before, as he inti- mated to us in conversation a week since, but, if all be true that has been reported of that sailor, Mr.—was cer- tainly culpable in keeping it locked up in his own bosom so long.

It seems to us that the commanding officers of Siamese merchantmen should take special pains to honor such of their men as the one above refer- red to, as naval commanders do their remarkably gallant men. In doing so they would do much to awaken a noble enthusiasm in Siamese to per- form like deeds of valor in like circum- stances. This spirit is but in its in- fancy as regards the Siamese in every department. But as it has been born, and is really breathing among them, it may and must be well nourished as it has been in Europe where it was once as puny and infantile as here. Let all Siamese owners of ships and their commanders take up this infant destined for great good and glory in Siam and feed it with the best milk of their approbation. Let the Sia- mese government lend her powerful hand. Let all the monied men and others of influence contribute to its growth and well being. And then, not many years hence, Siam will not be wanting for gallant men in any department, whether of literature, ag- riculture, commerce, the army, the navy, the church or the state.

Prices Current.

EXCHANGE—-On Singapore 1 P cent dis- count 10 d. s. Hongkong 3 P cent discount 30 d. s. London 4s. 8d. 86 m. s.

Good Wives.

THERE is nothing men like to write about better than good wives. This is reasonable enough, for there is noth- ing, certainly, in which mankind are more interested. "A good wife," says one, "is to a man wisdom and courage, and hope, and endurance, "The pow- er of a wife," says another, "for good or evil", is almost irresistible." "No spirit," it is said again, "can long re- sist bad domestic influences;" and yet again, "No condition is hopeless when the wife possesses firmness, decision, energy, and economy." "A bad wife," remarks one of the authors already quoted, "is confusion, weakness, dis- comfiture, despair," ",bad enough, is it not, good woman! Then of home, the same son says: "If at home, a man finds no rest, and is there met with a bad temper, sullenness, or gloom, or is assailed by discontent, complaint, and reproaches, the heart breaks, the spirit is crushed, hope vanishes, and the man sinks into total despair." There is, however, another side of this picture. Influence is not all on one side. Man has some influence. Women may be happy or miserable as they have good or bad husbands; in fact, they may become good or bad as they are influenced by those to whom they are indissolubly bound. And we believe husbands have a little to do with making homes happy as well as wives. If when the wife has done her best to make home happy, her efforts are met by reproaches, and temper, sullenness, gloom, discontent, and complaint, by a husband who thinks the whole sphere of a wife's duty lies in listening to his fault-find- ing, ,bearing his ill-nature, and return- ing caresses and smiles for his irrita- tions and peevishness; in short, mak- ing it her chief end to bear and soothe his reasonable and unreasonable com- plaints, it is not strange she, too, should sink into despair.

Neither husbands nor wives have any just claim on their other halves to supply all the stock of goodness for the uses of the family. If a married man desires a better wife, let him teach her to be good. Let him prac- tise the art of goodness himself, and exercise towards her all of those ami- able qualities he would so delight in being the object of. Almost invaria- bly it would be happiness lent, to re- turn eventually with a liberal interest. British Workman.

English Feeling about
Jamaica.

An able Englishman writes of the shudder that the Jamaican massacres threw over England as follows. The rap which the last paragraph gives the author of the Sartor Resartus is ra- ther severe.

"I am glad to say that the last in- telligence from Jamaica has created a most painful impression throughout England, and the attacks in the Gov- ernor's speech against the Baptist mis- sionaries have excited the indignation of the "religious" world to an unpre- cedented degree. My own impression is that, quite apart from any other considerations, the political pressure which the Dissenting communities can bring to bear upon all borough mem- bers of Parliament will ensure deci- sive action on the part of the Govern- ment. Governor Eyre will probably be recalled, and a commission of enquiry sent out to Jamaica. Such reparation, God knows, is alight enough. I wish I felt sure it would be granted. In spite of the experience of the last five years, I never realized till now how strongly our educated classes were imbued with a sort of sneaking pro-slavery sympathy. Mr. Carlyle has much to answer for; his influence as a teacher, I am thankful to say, is dying out; he has outlived his literary reputation; and the public has grown weary of his tricks of writing, his constant repetitions and his stilted style. But the influence of his servile wor- ship of brute force, his brutal con- tempt for the weak, and his prepos- terous deification of the one duty of work, has survived his fame. His twaddle about Black Quashee, the "eternal veracities," and the rest of the dreary jargon in which slavery was really held up to honor and aboli- tionism to contempt, have left an evil leaven in the minds of the present generation of our governing classes; Possibly I write too strongly, but then I feel strongly on this matter. If you could see, as I have seen for years, how deep the sophistries to which Carlyle gave utterance have worked their way into the minds of educated Englishmen, you would, I think, share my feelings. In my judgment, the author of the "Latter-Day Pamph- lets" has done as much to pervert the moral sense of his countrymen as he has to degrade their language. More than that I cannot say."

—Sentimental arithmetic calculates thus:—-Two glances-—make one look; two looks—-make one sigh; four sighs —-make one waltz; three waltzes—- make one palpitate; two palpitations -—make one call; two calls—-make one attention; two attentions-—make one fool (sometimes two); two fools—- make one flirtation; one flirtation plus two bouquets equal to one engagement, equal to one marriage.

HEALTH AND WEALTH.-—There is a difference between these two temporal blessings—-health and money. Money is the most envied, but the least en- joyed; health is frequently enjoyed, but the least envied; and this superiority of the latter is more obvious, when we reflect that the poorest man would not part with health for money, but that the richest would gladly part with all his money for health.

Yourself.

Think about yourself, about what you like, what respect people ought to pay you, what people think of you, and then to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil every thing that you touch; you will make sin and misery for yourself out of everything God sends you. You will become as wretch- ed as you choose, on earth or in heaven either.—In heaven either, I say; for that proud, greatly, self seek- ing spirit would turn heaven into hell. It did turn heaven into hell for the great devil himself. —-Kingsley.

LOVE.

Nor the palaces of pride,

That Love will fold his wings up,

And rejoicingly abide.

But in meek and humble natures

Its home is ever found,

As the lark that sings in heaven

Builds its nests upon the ground.

-—Laman Blanchard.

General Schurz's Report.

This report on the condition of things in the Southern States is much the most important that has come to us. We are almost ready to say, it is worth the rest combined. The choice of such a man as Carl Schurz for the duty he has done implied an earnestness of purpose and a deter- mination to obtain the whole and the ex- act truth, which reassured the friends of liberty and terrified its foes. For this man had eyes to see, mind to com- prehend, heart to feel, and tongue to speak. He accepted the trust under a profound sence of responsibility; he went; he devoted three months to the task of observation in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the Department of the Gulf. He had every facility, and he used every opportunity, neglecting no means of information, and drawing swift but sure inferences as he went along. Here we have his report. It covers nearly three broad pages of the Tribune with fine print, exclusive of the great mass of documentary testi- mony in every form by which his sep- arate statements are made good. To that documentary testimony he appeals for proof that he has studiously avoided overstatements, and has uttered no lan- guage stronger than was warranted by his convictions.

A calmer, quieter, more reasonable more careful, but at the same time, more terrible, paper was never written. It describes a state of affairs in every aspect appalling. It has many subdi- visions; it treats of many subjects; it touches on every phase of life and thought; it searches keenly the whole Southern mind; it lays bare the very nerves of the social system; but from no quarter does it bring any but sad tid- ings, and in no direction does it point to any certain deliverance. The situ- ation of the Union men throughout the country he visited affected him sadly. The further his observations extended, the clearer it became to him that their existence in the South was of a preca- rious nature. Gov. Sharkey even ad- mitted that, if our troops were drawn from Mississippi, the lives of Northern men would not be safe. And Gen. Os- terhaus assured him that, in the event of withdrawing the troops, the state of affairs would be intolerable for all Un- ion men and all recent emigrants from the North.

If this be the state of feeling in re- gard to the white loyalists, what must it be toward the black? On every ground, and in every particular, as de- plorable as can be imagined. As black people, as people who stood by the government, as people who have been slaves and are now free, as people who were always despised, and who now, in addition to being despised, are both hated and feared, they are subjected to every species of annoyance and perse- cution. The mere specification of their various indignities would occupy more space than our whole article must fill. Their ignorance and docility are practiced on in every conceivable way. They are cheated, over-reached, pillag- ed, turned adrift, insulted, beaten, tied up by the thumbs, maimed, and mur- dered, without stint. Every device that cunning can hit on is resorted to for the purpose of reducing them again to the condition of slavery. Both the former slaveholders and the non-slaveholders "are possessed by a singularly bitter and vindictive feel- ing against the colored race." In Alabama, which Gen. Howard's re- port passes over so smoothly, "the efforts made to hold the negro in a state of subjection appear to have been of a particularly atrocious nat- ure." In portions of the northern part of Mississippi, "the colored people are kept in slavery still." "Reports from sub-commissioners nearest that locality show that the blacks are in a much worse state than before." In South-western Georgia, "organized patrols, with negro hounds, keep guard over the thoroughfares, and the un- fortunate who attempts to escape, or he who returns for his wife or child, is waylaid or pursued by hounds, and shot or hung." Nor is this the worst. General Schurz tells us that the white people cannot and will not do justice to the blacks. Those who accept the fact of his emancipation do not ad- mit the law of his liberty. They have no faith in his capacity for any but menial work in the cities, and plan- tation work out of them. They have no faith that he will work at all except under compulsion. They have no faith that he can take care of himself without patronage. They have no faith in the experiment of free black labor, though some are willing to try it. With very few exceptions, they are opposed vehemently to all efforts toward his mental, moral, and social elevation.*****

In a word they refuse all light on the negro's character and condition, assuming that they alone know any- thing about him, and insisting on making the degradation they have brought him to the standard of his capacity. He must bear the blame for everything that goes wrong. He must be held answerable that nothing goes right. "I heard a Georgian planter argue most seriously that one of his negroes had shown himself cer- tainly unfit for freedom, because he impudently refused to submit to a whipping."*****

It is almost superfluous to say that in the South itself Gen. Schurs finds no remedy for its social decrepitude. While cheerfully admitting that there are many intelligent, liberal, and right-minded men among the former slaveholders, their number is insig- nificant in the population, and their influence hardly appreciable on the mass of public opinion. Both leaders and people submit from sheer neces- sity, and openly say so. Save in ex- ceptional instances, there is an entire absence of national feeling; there ap- pears to be no disposition to accept the results of the war in a loyal spirit, no wish or purpose to adjust any department of society to a new order of things. The states have made or- dinances abolishing slavery, but they will not be looked on as barring the establishment of a new form of servitude." Bloody collisions, rest- less fluctuations, and anarchical con- fusion may be expected to follow from the course generally adopted toward the negroes. There is no help if the General Government does not give it. The only safety is in its presence with law and force. To withdraw the troops, Gen. Schurz declares, would be exceedingly perilous to loyal people of every condition and color. The negro must be secured in his personal and civil rights; he must be educated; he must have the freedom of the courts; he must have the suffrage. On this last point the General is par- ticularly strenuous. He considers the suffrage of vital importance to all concerned; but he has no expectation whatever that the Southern people will ever, on their own motion, be in- duced to grant it. The masses are strongly opposed to it. The per- secuted Unionists were the only people that were found to favor it. Outside of Louisiana, but one Southern gen- tleman of social and political standing was met who approved of it. The only way of securing that crowning achievement is, in Carl Schurz's judg- ment, to impose it as a condition pre- cedent to "re-admission."—-N. Y. In- dependent Jan. 4.

Old Type in New Uses.

The energetic and irrepressible Mrs Swisshelm has started her new paper at Washington, The Reconstruction- ist.

It it printed in the type formerly used by the Washington Weekly News, and the editor says of it:

“Taking it in preference to a new office, all mixed and pied, and filled with sand and cobwebs, as it was, has cost us some delay, and made the appearance of our paper less attractive than new type would have done; but our attention once turned to it, we could not resist the desire to make this old type talk for freedom once at least before it was consigned to the furnace and purified by fire. Here, at the capital of this boasted free country, where it had advertised the coffee and the slave pen, where it had reported spread-eagle Fourth-of-July speeches side by side with calls for ‘likely young negroes,’ it must proclaim the year of jubilee. These old cuts of runaway slaves, must not melt in the fervent heat of the indignation of God and man until they have advertised another class of runaways.

“There is poetic justice in making this old type tell the world that God is faithful and true, that He heard the prayers of His saints, wrung out by it in agony when the loved, and soon to be lost, were thereby offered for the southern market. The cries of the oppressed did enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth; and the year of His redeemed is come. Thank God, old type! thank God that the slave is free, and will soon vote, here in Washington, and in every state of this Union, without bowing to his former master and saying, “by your leave, sir!” —-Lo. Co. News.