The Bangkok Recorder.

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The Gospel Railroad.

Miss Precocia's Principles.

In the most precise of country villages,
in the primmest mansion ever built, dwelt
the most precise maiden ever born—Miss
Prococia Lockwood. Even in that serious
town, where laughter was reckoned one of
the smaller sins, and the family in whose
dwelling the lights were seen burning af-
ter ten o'clock were considered dissipated,
there was a current joke regarding Lock-
wood Cottage, which giddy girls dubbed
"the Nunnery," and some went so far as
to call Miss Precocia the "Lady Superior."
Certainly never convent walls closed
themselves more grimly against mankind,
gentle and simple, old and young. What
in many an excellent spinster has been an
affectation, was genuine with Precocia.

Long ago, a pretty little cousin, who had
been her confident and companion, had
become acquainted with a rascal with a
handsome face and a serpent's soul, and
had eloped with him. They heard of her
wearing velvet and diamonds, but no wed-
ding ring, and driving about New Orleans
in a handsome carriage, wondered at and
admired for her beauty, and shunned for
her sin. And at last, after a long silence
about her doings, a faded thing in rags
came creeping at night to Miss Precocia's
cottage, begging for God's sake that she
would let her in to die. Miss Precocia did
the reverse of what most women do. She
gave a sister's hand to the poor victim.

nursed her until she died, and buried her
decently, and thenceforth shut her spinster
home to man. She was barely twenty-se-
ven, and far from plain, and she argued
thus—something in a stovepipe hat and
boots has wrought this ill—-all who wear
those habiliments must be tabooed.

She kept her resolution. From the poor-
house she selected a small servant-maid,
not yet old enough to think of "fellows."
As cook she kept a hideous old female, too
far advanced in years to think of them.
The milk was brought by a German woman.
The butcher's wife, by request, brought the
joints. Even a woman cut the grass in the
yard when it was too long, and if a man
approached the gates, ancient Deborah, the
cook, was sent forth to parley with the
enemy and obstruct his approached.

Having thus made things safe, Miss
Precocia went to New York and brought
home a dead sister's daughter, who had
hitherto been immured in a boarding
school, and the arrangements were com-
plete.

Miss Lockwood took her neice to church,
also to weekly meeting. They spent after-
noons out with widow ladies with no
grown up sons, or with spinsters who re-
sided in solitary state.

The elder lady kept an Argus eye upon
her blooming niece, and bold indeed would
have been the man who dared address her.

For her part Miss Bella Bloom was an
arch hypocrite. She had learned that at
boarding school, where ingenuity is ex-
hausted in deceiving the authorities, and
doing always exactly what is most forbid-
den. Bella Bloom came to Lockwood Cot-
tage perfectly competent to hoodwink her
aunt.

She did it. Precocia blessed her stars
that her niece was well-principled. She
hated men. She wondered how any young
lady could walk, talk, and be sociable with,
and marry them. And when she thought
she lived in a home where they could not
intrude, how thankful she was Aunt Pre-
cocia could never guess.

And all the while Bella was chafing in-
wardly at her restraint, envying girls who
had pleasant little flirtations at will, and
keeping up a private correspondence with
one "Dear George," who sent his letters
under cover to the butcher's wife, who
brought them in with the beef and mutton,
and said—-
"Bless ye, natur will be natur, for all
old maids: and I was a gal once before
Cleaver courted me."

"Dear George" was desperate. He could
not live without seeing his Bella. He
wrote bitter things about spinster aunts.
He alluded feelingly to those meetings in
the garden of the seminary, with Miss Clo-
ver standing sentry at the gate, on the
lookout for a teacher and enemy. The
first opportunity he was coming to Plain-
acres, and intended to see his Bella or die.
Was he not twenty-three and she seven-
teen? Were they to waste their lives at a
spinster's bidding? No.

Miss Precocia, with her Argus-eyed
watchfulness, sat calmly, hour by hour,
two inches from the locked door of a cabi-
net which contained the gentlemen's let-
ters, and dined from meats which had
been the means of carrying them across
the threshold, inculcating her principles
into the minds of her niece and her hand-
maiden, the latter of whom grinned be-
hind her lady's chair without reserve.
Charity Pratt, having grown to be sixteen,
also had her secret. It was the apothe-
cary's boy, who, in his own peculiar fa-
shion, had expressed admiration at church
by staring.

A few days after, Dr. Green, the bache-
lor minister, called at the cottage. Debo-
rah went out to huff and snap, and was
suddenly by big eyes. She came in.

"Miss," said she, "the clergyman is out
there."

"Where?" gasped Precocia.

"In the garden, Miss, wantin' you."

"Me? You said, of course, I was out!"

"No, Miss. Everybody receives their
pastor."

So the pastor was ushered in. He con-
versed of church affairs. Miss Precocia
answered by polite monosyllables. Bella
smiled and tit-hed. Deborah sat on a
ball chair on guard. Finally the best spe-
cimen of that bad creature, man, was got
out of the house safely, and the ladies look-
ed at each other as those might who had
been closeted with a polar bear and escap-
ed unharmed.

"He's gone, aunty," said the hypocrite.

"Thank goodness!" said the sincere Pre-
cocia. "I thought I should have fainted.
Never let it happen again, Deborah. Re-
member, I am always engaged."

"But he seems a nice, well-spoken, good
behaved kind of a gentleman," said De-
borah."

"And a clergyman."

"So he does," said Precocia. "But ap-
pearances are deceitful. I once know a
gentleman—"

"Yes, Miss."

"A Doctor of Divinity, Bell—-"

"Yes, auntie."

"Well?"

"Who kissed a young lady of his con-
gregation in her father's garden."

"Oh! auntie."

"He afterwards married her. I never
could visit her, or like him."

"Bless you, no!" said Deborah. "Now
the best thing you can do is to have a cup
of strong green tea, and something nourish-
ing to keep your spirits up. Cleaver's wife
has just fetched oysters in."

"Has she? Oh! I so love oysters," cried
Bella, and ran to get dear George's last.
It was a brief one, and in it George vow-
ed to appear at the cottage when they least
expected him, and demand his betrothed.
That evening at dusk Miss Precocia
walked in the garden alone. She was
thinking of a pair of romantic big eyes, of
a soft voice and a softer hand which she
had been surprised into allowing to shake
hers.

“It’s a pity men are so wicked,” said
she, and sighed. Although she was near
thirty, she looked very pretty as she walk-
ed in the moonlight, forgetting to put on
prim airs and graces, and to stiffen herself.
Her figure was very much like her niece
Bella’s so much so that some one, on the
other side of the convent-like wall, with
eyes on a level with its upper stones, fan-
cied it was that young lady. Under this
belief he clambered up and stood on the
top, and whispered—-

“My dearest, look up, your beloved is
here; behold your George!”

And Precocia lifting her eyes, beheld a
man on her wall, flung up her hands in the
air, and uttered a shriek like that of an
enraged pea-cock.

The gentleman discovered his mistake,
endeavored to retreat, stumbled and fell
headlong among flower-pots and boxes,
and lay there quite motionless.

The shriek and clatter aroused the
house. Deborah, Bella, and Charity Pratt,
rushed to the scene, and found a gentle-
man in a sad plight, bloody and senseless,
and Miss Precocia half dead with terror.

Bella, recognizing George, fainted in
good earnest. Precocia, encouraged by
numbers, addressed the prostrate youth—-

“Get up, young man, and go. Your
wickedness has been, perhaps, sufficiently
punished. Do go.”

“He can’t; he’s dead,” said Deborah.

“Oh! what a sudden judgment. Are you
sure he’s dead?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Then take him into the house and call
the doctor.”

They laid him on the bed and medical
aid came. The poor fellow had broken a
leg.

“He’d get well. Oh! yes, but he could
not be moved.”

“Miss Precocia could not murder a fel-
low creature, and she acquiesced.

“He can’t run off with the spoons until
his leg is better,” said Deborah.

“He isn’t able to run off with anything,”
said Miss Precocia: “and we should be
gentle with the erring. Who shall we find
to nurse him?”

“Old Todds is competent, Miss,” said
Deborah.

“Yes. Do send for that old person,”
said the lady.

And old Todds came. He, of course,
dwelt in the house. The doctor came eve-
ry day.

The apothecary’s boy invaded the hall
with medicines; and finally when the
young man came to his senses, he desired
earnestly to see his friend, Dr. Green.

“Our clergyman his friend?” said Pre-
cocia. “He must have been misled then;
surely his general conduct must have been
proper. May be this is the first time that
he looked over a wall to make love to a
lady. By all means send for Dr. Green.”

Thus the nunnery was a nunnery no
more-—two men under the roof; three visit-
ing it daily! What was the world com-
ing to? Miss Precocia dared not think.
Bella was locked in her own room in the
most decorous manner, while her aunt was
in the house, but when she was absent,
Deborah and Charity sympathized and
abetted, and talked deliciously to George,
lying on his back, with his handsome face
so pale, and his spirits so low, poor fellow!

Troubles always come together. That
evening Miss Precocia received informa-
tion that legal affairs connected with her
property, which was considerable, demand-
ed her presence in New York, and left
that establishment, which never before so
much needed its Lady Superior. She re-
turned after three days, towards evening,
no one expecting her.

“I will give them a pleasant surprise,”
she thought, and slipped in the kitchen
way. There a candle burned, and on one
chair sat two people—Charity Pratt and
the druggist’s boy. He had his arm around
her waist!

Miss Precocia grasped the door frame,
and shook from head to foot.

“I’ll go to Deborah,” she said. “She can
speak to that misguided girl better than I.”

She entered. Deborah was in the back
area scouring tea-knives. Beside her stood
old Todds, the nurse. They were talking.

“Since my old woman died,” said Todds,
“I hain’t seen nobody scour like you—and
the pies you does make.”

“They ain’t better than other folks,”
said Deborah, grimly coquettish.

“They are,” said Todds; and to Miss
Precocia’s horror, he followed up the com-
pliment by asking for a kiss.

Miss Precocia struggled with hysterics,
and fled parlorward. Alas! a murmur of
sweet voices. She peeped in. Through the
window swept the fragrance of the honey-
suckle. Moonlight mingled with that of
the shaded lamp. Bella leaned over an
easy chair in which reclined George Love-
boy. This time Precocia was petrified.

“Dearest Bella,” said George.

“My own,” said Bella.

“How happy are we!”

“Oh! so happy.”

“And when shall we be together again!
You know I must go. Your aunt don’t
want me here, Bella, I must tell her. Why
are you afraid of her?”

“She’s so prim and good, dear soul,”
said Bella.

“Ah! you do not love me as I do you.
George!”

“You don’t. Would I let an aunt stand
between us?”

“Oh! George, you know I have told you
that nothing can change me. Why, though
you had stayed lame, and had to walk on
crutches all your life, it would have made
no difference, though I fell in love with
you for your walk. I don't deny it.

"Oh! oh! oh!" from the doorway, check-
ed the speech. Those last words had well
nigh killed Miss Precocia Lockwood. Hys-
terics supervened, and in their midst a
gentleman was announced. The Rev. Pe-
ter Green.

"Show him in," said Precocia, "I need
comfort. Perhaps he may give it!" And
for the first time in her life she hailed with
joy the entrance of a man.

Mr. Loveboy left the room a stealthily
and as speedily as possible. Bella follow-
ed him. Charity was in the pantry hiding
her head, and Deborah returned to the
cellar.

Alone the Lady Superior received the
Rev. Peter Green. She faltered and blushed.

"You are, I presume, already aware of
the fact that I am much disturbed in
mind," she said.

"Yes, madam, that is perceptible."

"You are my spiritual adviser, sir. To
you, though a man, I turn for advice," and
she shed a tear or two. "My own house-
hold has turned against me," and she told
him all.

"My dear madam, do you not know that
old Jonathan Todds and your faithful De-
borah intend to unite their fortunes next
Sabbath?"

"Oh! the old sinners. Are they in their
dotage?"

"And that Charity Pratt, who seems a
likely sort of a girl, has promised to give
her hand to Zodock Saltz on Thursday!"

"Oh! Dr. Green. What do I hear?"

"The truth, madam. Can you hear
more?"

"I hope so."

"Then it is time that you should be in-
formed that Miss Bella Broom and Mr.
George Loveboy have been engaged a year.
They have corresponded regularly. It was
to see her he climbed the garden wall and
met with his accident. Don't give way,
madam—-don't."

"You're very kind," said Miss Precocia,
"but it's awful! What would you advise?"

"I should say, allow Todds and Deborah
to marry next Sunday. And Charity and
Zeddock on the day they have fixed. And
I should sanction the betrothal of your
niece and Mr. Loveboy, and allow me to
unite them at some appointed day."

"My own niece!" said Miss Precocia.

"Oh! my own niece."

"Do you so seriously object to marry-
ing?" asked the pastor.

"No—-no," said Precocia. "It's this aw-
ful courting, I dislike."

"I agree with you," said the the pastor.
"I have resolved when I marry, to come
to the point at once. Miss Precocia, the
parsonage needs a mistress. I know of no
lady I admire and esteem as I do you. Will
you make me happy, will you be my wife?

Precocia said nothing. Her cheeks
burned; her lips drooped. He came a lit-
tle closer. He made bigger eyes at her
than ever. At last his lips approached and
touched her cheek, and still she said no-
thing.

In such a case, "speech is silver, and si-
lence is gold."

Deborah was married on Sunday, it be-
ing her fortieth birthday. Charity on
Thursday. Miss Bloom gave her hand to
George Loveboy in a month; and on the
same day a brother clergyman united Pre-
coccia and the Rev. Peter Green. And the
nunnery was broken up forever.-—THE
NORTH AMERICAN.

Recent Cruise of the
“Opossum.”

WE promised some further particulars
about Lieut. ST. JOHN’S recent cruise. It
seems that when he reached Mina Bay
there was no sign of the junk he was in
search of. On shore there was a pirate
village, but the inhabitants decamped
and it seemed at first as if there were no
means of obtaining any information.
The OPOSSUM came to, however, and her
commander went on shore to look about
him. Lieut. ST. JOHN’s tendency to look
about him, and make discoveries for him-
self default of previous information, of-
ten leads to useful results and on this oc-
casion brought about the success of the
cruise. He fell in with an old Chinaman
uncommunicative to begin with, but
eventually willing to betray his friends to
save his pigs and poultry which the
OPOSSUM’S people made a FEINT of car-
rying off and “confiscating” as Artemus
Ward says, for the benefit of Her Majes-
ty’s navy. He pointed out a small creek
in which the required junk would be
found and sure enough within a very
short distance of the gunboat, the stolen
vessel and one other of smaller dimen-
sions were discovered, though hidden so
thoroughly by the intricacies of the shore
that a day might have been spent in a
fruitless search for them if there had
been no information to guide the hunters.
The “peilongs” (pidgin for pirates) all
got away except one who tried to hide
himself but was found on board the largest
junk, stowed away in its innermost re-
cesses, where were also found the prison-
ers who had belonged to the junk before
she was taken by the pirates. Lieut ST.
JOHN burnt the smaller craft, and brought
away the other to Hongkong. By a ruse
at Sow-ke-wan in returning he captured
another rover and eight of her piratical
crew. She was hauled up on the beach
and when surprised some of the men be-
longing to her escaped but one man was
luckily taken who though not belonging
to the gang of pirates perhaps deserves
to be made a more striking example,
than they themselves. This was a Chinese,
watchman belonging to the colonial police
who was caught in the act of extorting
hush money from the pirates. The junk
was hauled up within a short distance of
the police station and this rascal was ac-
tually selling himself almost within sight
of the sergeant to whom he should have
given information of her presence. He
was taken prisoner with the rest and
will of course he tried in due time.

On an occasion of this sort, however,
the folly of adhering to English forms in
the administration of justice, is made very
apparent. Here are a set of wretches
about whose guilt as pirates, doubt would
be ridiculous. The same course will be
pursued with them, however, which would
be adopted in London in the case of a
man charged with picking a pocket.
They will first be brought up before a
police magistrate, and a preliminary in-
vestigation will be held, the sole purpose
of which is to make the friends and allies
of the pirates in Hongkong acquainted
with the witnesses, and the nature of
the evidence to be brought against the
prisoners. They will be committed for
trial, and a considerable period will elapse
during which the friends of the accused,
possibly their partners in business, hav-
ing a pecuniary interest in their escape
and resumption of operations, will have
the opportunity of buying the evidence
or suborning false testimony to contro-
vert it. Money is of course all powerful
in dealing with native evidence, and that
is by no means scarce amongst the firms,
engaged it, the profitable occupation of
piracy, which have their offices and head
partners in this colony. The tenacity
with which the English mind sometimes
clings to English forms of legal procedure
even in cases where it is utterly powerless
to grapple with peculiar characteristics
of Asiatic crime, is some thing wonderful.
For years it has been the common re-
mark by every one who speaks of this
subject at all, “the pirates always slip
through the meshes of the law, when they
are tried at Hongkong,” and yet we go
on with the laborious farce of enveloping
them in this net which we know to be
full of holes. No reasonable man wishes
to see any human creatures, even Chinese
pirates hanged without a fair trial. None
at any rate, but Evangelical clergymen
entertain a wish of the kind, and then
only in the case of their own country-
men under denunciation at Exeter Hall.
What is needed in the case of pirates
brought to trial at Hongkong is a special
tribunal,-—composed say of the Chief
Justice, and assessors with special know-
ledge,—before which pirates captured by
the gunboats should be brought to trial
immediately they arrive. Of course, such
a tribunal would have the power of re-
manding prisoners if there were any
really substantial reasons for so doing,
but it would be found in the great major-
ity of cases that the evidence taken im-
mediately, before it had been corrupted,
would be quite clear and conclusive.

THE TYCOON AND CHIOSIU.—-We are
g'ad to give our readers an authent'c estate-
ment of the present prolitical posilion in
the Inland Sea. Two Ambassadors from
the Tycoon, Ogasa-wara-iki-no-kami and
Nagiu-Mondo-no-kami, are at an island
in the sea called Hiro-shima, situate near
the Eastern boundary of Chiosiu's do-
minions. They are endeavouring to open
negotiations with Chefoo Kiosayeh, Hizen
and Tosa, neighbouring Daimios, with a
view to bring moral pressure to bear on
the hostile chief and induce him to listen to
propositions made to him by the Tycoon's
government. Hitherto their attempts
have met with no success. Chefoo and
Kiosayeh have declined to attempt the
conference, and no answer has been yet
received from the two latter. The de-
mands of the Yedo cabinet are:—-that
the present princes of Chiosiu, Daizen
the father and Nagato the son, should re-
tire (in favour of two other princes of
the house or to be adopted) and that ter-
ritory capable of producing annually
100,000 kokus of rice shall be given up
to the Tycoon to recoup him for the in-
demnity which he is now paying to
the Western Powers for the affair at
Simonoseki.

These terms Chiosiu, secure in his own
strength and his alliances, has absolutely
refused. He will fight with reluctance, but
will certainly fight rather than yield to
the demands of the rival noble.—O.T.R.

Peking.

Private letters inform us that a pe-
culiar kind of diphtheria has become very
prevalent at the capital, and large num-
bers have already fallen victims to it.
The new American legation will shortly
be completed, and will probably be in
readiness for Mr. Burlingame on his
arrival.

Wen Seang has gained an important
victory in the neighbourhood of Moukden,
and is expected to return in a few months
to Peking.—OVER. TRADE REPORT.

Bangkok Recorder.

A Translation.

I have seen an article in the Bang-
kok Recorder, to the effect that the
Government of Siam has already made
treaties with the different European
powers, and should therefore employ
some one to translate into the Siamese
language, a work on International
Law; so that they might understand
something of this matter. There are
two ways of taking care of a country.
One way is, by laws and treaties. The
other way is, by strength and imple-
ments of war. Siam is a country which
has but little strength, and must there-
fore be taken care of by laws and trea-
ties. If the government would em-
ploy some one to translate a work on
International Law at the cost of
$ 1000, for one volume, and $ 2500, for
another, it would cost less than one or
two gun-boats. The gun-boats too
would soon decay, and wear out, but
the International Law would remain a
lasting benefit to the country. There
have been many things suggested in
the Bangkok Recorder, which the
Siamese government already knew.
In regard to this last suggestion how-
ever, I would beg to answer a few
words. He who is thus continually
raminding the Siamese government, of
these things, has undoubtedly great
love for the country. But the gov-
ernment had already some time pre-
vious, taken into consideration the
subject of having a work on Interna-
tional Law translated into the Siamese,
for the benefit of the country, but the
difficulty has been that they have been
unable to find any one who, was will-
ing to undertake it, or able to accom-
plish it. They can translate the easy
parts, but the deep portions are too
many for them. And any who have
been willing to undertake it have al-
ready tried their hand, at translating
other books, but have introduced Eu-
ropean words &c., that the Siamese
cannot understand the translation. For
these reasons therefore, the govern-
ment has remained silent on the mat-
ter. But if there is any one who will
undertake it in earnest, and will not
omit any thing, but will give a literal
and idiomatic translation, so that the
Siamese can understand every portion,
the government will employ such a
one to translate a work on Internation-
al Law for its own use. But a tran-
slation which it could not understand,
would be of no benefit. I hear how-
ever that — — has already had
portions translated in substance, which
answers the present purpose.

The above is one of those spicy,
and ironical little communications, we
frequently get from a certain quarter,
and is by no means flattering to those
who make some pretensions to the Sia-
mese language. In translating a work
on International Law into the Siamese
language, there are several difficulties
in the way. In the first place those
interested in the affair, have hitherto
been unwilling to pay a sum, sufficient
to induce any one to devote his whole
time to it. The translating of the large
work, would be a work of years, and
any one who would undertake it would
expect to be well paid. Some one en-
gaged in another business, might, by
devoting odds and ends of time to it,
eventually accomplish it, but it would
almost be a work of a lifetime. A
smaller work, such as Wheaton's, might
be translated in this way. Then again
the translation could not be expected
to be as good, as if a person devoted
his whole time, and attention to it.
The Rev. Dr. Martin has prepared a
compendium of Wheaton, and tran-
slated it into Chinese for the Pekin
government. Another difficulty in the
way, is the poverty of the Siamese
language. It would be impossible, to
find terms, and words, in the language
to express every thing, and the trans-
lator would have to transfer a num-
ber of terms, which would create a
necessity for explanatory notes &c.
All this would be attended with addi-
tional labor. Again it is impossible
for any one not born here, or at least
brought up here from childhood, to
make classic Siamese, which they ap-
pear to expect. All that a European
could expect to do, would be to make
it understood by the Siamese. In this
the Siamese look for too much. To
translate therefore a work on Interna-
tional Law into Siamese in such a way
that every portion of it would be un-
derstood would be rather an undertak-
ing, but we think there are those who
can do it if there is sufficient induce-
ment forthcoming.

Death of a Royal Son.

The Prince Chrone Rooog-raai" be-
ing the 24th son, and 48th offspring
of His Majesty the present reigning
King of Siam, was born on the 21st of
August 1860, by the noble Lady" Sa-
neval; who has had three sons and one
daughter to His Majesty.

The Prince during the last two years
had occasionally been suffering from
the disease of rupture, and on the night
of the 23rd of May 1866, he become
very ill. His urine was stopped during
about 30 hours, and about 3 1/2 or 4 A.
M. on 27th May (civil time) A. C. 1866,
he expired. He was only 5 years and 7
month old.

His eldest full brother is 12 years
old, his second eldest brother is 10,
and his youngest full sister is 4 years
old.

LOCAL.

The following Siamese vessels have
changed hands viz., the Eng Bee, for
600 catties, the Comet, for 550 catties,
the Flying Fish, for 290 catties.

We are informed the French Cor-
vette C. Mange, has arrived on an of-
ficial visit, and to acquire passes for
the French exploring party who pro-
pose traveling up the Mei-cong river,
from Saigon through Siamese, British
and Chinese territories, as far as Yang-
so-can to Hankow.

H. I. M. Consul and the Comman-
dant had an audience of H. E. the
Kalahome this morning.

The news from Saigon by the Cor-
vette is most satisfactory, political and
commercial affairs are improving daily
under the able Governor Vice-Admiral
de la Grandiere.

A Regatta is talked of for Thurs-
day next at Paklat, and we hear a
number of new yachts are entered to
complete with the Kestral, and from
what has been ascertained that famous
craft is very likely to lose her prestige
at the coming trial.

The Siamese Government has re-
ceived definite news regarding M. Au-
baret's return to Bangkok, there ap-
pears to be no doubt about that gen-
tleman assuming his official post in Ju-
ly or August. We hear he is to be
the bearer of an autograph letter
from H. I. Master to H. S. M.

The Siamese Consul at Singapore
decorated his flag staff on the 16th
Anniversary of H. S. M's Coronation.
The Penang Consulate was similarly
adorned.

We learn another attempt is to be
made in bringing down teak rafts
from up country. Three of our re-
sidents have again left for Rahààng and
its neighbourhood, to endeavour to
convey to Bangkok the logs that have
laid up there these two years, we wish
them success.

Can the Theatre be Purified?

In your very interesting "Letter
from the Fireside" of December 14th,
1865, you say of the theatre and opera,
"I wish I could write them down till
they are made decent,"-—thereby in-
timating the practicability of purifying
the theatre and rendering it a proper
place of amusement. Allow me to
say that the theatre never can be re-
formed; it ever was and is a curse to
the world, and a school of vice and
corruption. Soon after its establish-
ment in Athens, the moral dramas of
Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides,
were found too slow for the vitiating
tastes of the "fast men" of the time;
ranker food was demanded; and, the
sluice-gates once opened, the tide of
corruption swept on with such over-
whelming force as to destroy all order.
The theatre, Rollin declares, was the
principal cause of the downfall of the
Athenian State. It became such a
hot-bed of sin that the more virtuous
and wise of the heathen,—Plato, Xen-
ophon, Seneca, and Tacitus,—were
forced to raise their voices against it
as the corrupter of youth and the dis-
grace of the nation. The Lacedæmon-
ians would not tolerate a theatre with-
in the republic of Sparta. The celeb-

rated Tertullian wrote thus: "We
(Christians) have nothing to do with
the frenzies of the race-ground, the
lewdness of the play-house, or the
barbarities of the bear-garden." Miln-
er says: "A Christian, renouncing
the pomps and vanity of this wicked
world, and yet frequenting the play-
house, was, with the Christians of the
first three centuries, a solecism. The
effusion of the Holy Spirit, during
those centuries, never admitted those
amusements at all." It is painful to
know that the very sin is now so fash-
ionable that even men of prominent
standing in the Church sometimes are
glad to avail themselves of any excuse
to enter the place dedicated to irrelig-
ion. Archbishop Tillotson designated
the theatre as a "mighty reproach to
Britain,—the devil's chapel, the school
and nursery of vice and lewdness."
"An English theatre—the sink of all
profaneness and debauchery," said
Wesley. Romanists and Protestants
have repeated these denunciations, and
yet the evil survives in as full strength
as original sin.

Its apologists call it the school of
morals (?), and say that "it holds the
mirror up to nature;"—yes, and what
sort of nature? The holy nature
possessed by man when fresh from the
hands of his Creator? No: but the
sullied, perverted nature ruined by
the arts of Satan. We need no such
mirror.

Thousands have been totally ruined
—body and soul—by the theatre; but
has a soul ever been reclaimed from
crime by its specious wiles? Never;
not one. Let its friends refute this
assertion, if they can. Let them fur-
ther prove the moral tendencies of the
play-house by the lives and deaths of
its attaches, and by the character of
the main portion of its audiences. I
solemnly believe that no person in-
structed in the Bible, or who has any
glimmering of truth, ever enters one
of these temples of sin without a pain-
ful consciousness (except his conscience
be calloused) that he is committing a
sin, which, if unrepented of in this
life, must everlastingly condemn him
before the Judgment Bar of God.
Oh, what madness to plant thorns for
a dying pillow! A young friend,
when on his death-bed, expressed to
me his bitter contrition for having at-
tended the theatre, although his mo-
tive had been improvement in eloca-
tion and artistic effects. Mistaken
ideas! as if the art of mimicry could
be of use in any intellectual or worthy
calling! But a still deeper infamy is
his who becomes a volunteer,—a
DRUMMER,—for Satan, by pertinaci-
ously enticing another to the play-
house for the first time, and thus,
probably, insuring the loss of a soul.
Of such a case I have lately been told,
and the instrument was very insigni-
ficant, too. For the first visit to the
theatre is often the initiatory step to
every other species of vice, as, proba-
bly, nearly every criminal can testify.
If they that turn many to righteous-
ness shall shine "as the stars for ever
and ever," what will be the doom of
those who lure the ignorant to ruin?

On coming forth from the heat of
the late conflict, it was natural to hope
that our brave soldiers would hasten
to the house of God to offer up devout
acknowledgments for their preserva-
tion from death. How many of them
have so done? On the contrary, al-
lured by the emissaries the Drum-
mers—of evil, they have thronged—
many of them creeping on crutches
and with half-healed wounds—to those
plague-houses of the land which were
never before so numerous or so flour-
ishing: many of them, poor fellows!
to renounce the God whom once they
adored.

The stage, until a comparatively
recent date, was considered so infam-
ous that no woman ever appeared upon
its boards, the female parts being sus-
tained by boys. Nor is it any better
now, notwithstanding the pseudo-cen-
sorship exercised over it. Look over
some of the favorite stock plays
(Shakespeare himself will not always
bear rendition without judicious prun-
ing), and the majority of them will be
found to be dissolute, profane, and
infidel in tendency. It is virtually
impossible for any person who fre-
quently witnesses them to help becom-
ing vitiated in morals, puerile in mind,
and skeptical of virtue. As for piety,
it is utterly out of the question for a
true Christian to be a habitue of the
theatre. One of the most distinguish-
ed English tragedians, it is said, re-
fused to permit his daughter ever to
enter a theatre for fear of contamina-
tion. Put a play on the stage destitute
of immorality, profanity, impure al-
lusions, or vulgar jests, and the mul-
titude would scorn it as "flat, stale,
unprofitable." The earlier English
plays were, mayhap, more openly im-
moral—-some of them—-than those of
our day; but were they so sugar-coat-
ed, so insidiously subversive of morals,
so subtly wicked? If religion is ever
introduced it is in some such low, dis-
gusting buffoonery as the * *, a bur-
lesque on decency and common-sense,
which a church-goer should blush to
own he had ever seen, if the grace to
blush remain. When virtue is repre-
sented, it is in some mawkish, senti-
mental guise, such as might nauseate
an astute Fejee Islander, as much as the
unspeakable grossness of the modern
ballet would shock his delicacy. In
the letter alluded to, you also speak of
a gentleman who accompanied his lady
friends to a late operatic performance,
and was so ashamed of himself that
he could not look the ladies in the face
while the opera was performing. And
yet many modest matrons and maidens
gazed at it all quite unabashed. Had
he but persevered in going, he, too,
might in time have become hardened.

Pardon me if I write with warmth.
My heart is grieved at the seeming
indifference of those who ought to
attack this Python—-of origin far more
vile than that of its fabled prototype
of the Nile; at the culpability, in act
and example, of people who know
better, and in the pitiful cowardice
displayed everywhere by laymen who
ought to rebuke sin fearlessly.

No, Mr. Editor, dream not of re-
forming the play-house; that Utopian
experiment has been tried, unsuccess-
fully, for some thousands of years;—-
it is an irremediable evil. The only
cure is eradication. These remarks,
somewhat modified, apply also to the
opera, which, indeed, to persons of
more refined tastes and culture, is more
alluringly dangerous.

The Government and the
Fenians.

Our Government has pursued a very
sensible and discreet policy with regard
to the manifestations and alleged purposes
of Fenianism in this country. There have
been some calls from the other side of the
water for it to “put down” Fenianism;
but it was evident that those who made
those demands were entirely ignorant of
the nature and powers of our Government.
On the other hand there had been with
some of our citizens an idea that the Gov-
ernment was winking at what was virtual-
ly a violation of international comity, that
it intended in this way to pay England
back for her violations of neutrality during
the war. Societies were formed and funds
were raised in England to aid our rebellion:
let there now be funds and societies here
to aid the Irish rebellion. Privateers were
fitted out at English ports to ravage our
commerce: let privateers in turn now sail
from our ports to destroy English com-
merce. As a Confederate Plenipotentiary
had a conference with Earl RUSSELL so,
in return a Fenian “Centre” had an inter-
view with President JOHNSON. As raids
for arson and murder upon our soil were
got up in Canada, so, in like manner, were
raids for similar purposes in Canada, per-
mitted to be organised upon our soil.

Such petty and pitiful argumentation as
this has been employed by American jour-
nals, and our Government has thus been
accused of the most contemptible and
hypocritical conduct.

Now, it is quite true that there has been
a great deal of sensational writing in cer-
tain newspapers for some weeks past about
a gigantic raid into Canada that had been
projected by the Fenians, and the Cana-
dians have been wrought up into a high
state of excitement by the telegraphic re-
ports of these stories. But the day on
which, according to all accounts, the grand
DENOUMENT was to take place has just
passed away, and all was as quiet on the
St. Lawrence as it is on the Potomac. The
Irishmen in Canada avouched their loyalty
to the provincial Government; the popula-
tion in general were under arms; but
neither an enemy nor his shadow appeared
on the frontier.

Now, knowing very well beforehand that
such would be the case, what would any
one have had our Government do? It
could unquestionably have got up a real
sensation, and probably have precipitated
a heavy quarrel, by making a tremendous
show of counteracting Fenian projects. Had
it issued proclamations prohibiting Fenian
raids—had it called out the militia to en-
force our public obligations—had it station-
ed a heavy military force along the bor-
der, we have no doubt that amid the pre-
vailing excitement that would have been
aroused, and in the divided sentiment of
the people, the Fenians would have been
sharp enough to get a few hundred men
through the lines somewhere, who would
have pitched into the first place they could
find in genuine Irish style, and then, when
once the rumpus had opened, who can tell
what would have been its developments
and termination! There is no question
that under these circumstances the public
excitement would have become general
and deep, and Fenianism would quickly
have gone forth in practical action, had
our Government gone furiously to work to
crush its shadow, as some desired. It was
far the most sensible thing for the Govern-

ment to act precisely as it did. It saw no
signs of any violation of our neutrality,
and it certainly could not be expected to
believe or act upon the windy nonsense
published by newspaper reporters. As for
any interference with the organization
known as Fenians, so long as it violated
no law of the land, and made no practical
attempt to disturb our foreign relations,
no one who comprehends the rudiments of
our political system could suppose it pos-
sible. And the same may be said of any
attempt to prevent the publication of the
exciting falsehoods about Fenian projects
and schemes, which have of late been the
staple in some of our public journals. The
Emperor of the French took the trouble,
in his late speech, to draw a comparison
between his Government and ours; but we
may take this opportunity of pointing forth
one of the differences between them, in the
fact that while his government extin-
guishes public societies, organizations and
journals as it sees fit, ours is happily not
endowed with such powers.

So of the so-called Fenian privateers.
We have heard of some half-a-dozen as
having been purchased on the lakes and
in the sea-coast cities. We have heard
many times, through the sensational sources
already alluded to, that they were about
to sail for somewhere to execute some
portentous Fenian purpose. But we im-
agine that the Fenian head-centres are
better informed about the matter; and
that the apparent unconcern of our au-
thorities is simply owing to the fact that
there is no cause whatever for concern.

It is not at all likely that there will be any
call upon our Government for interference
with Fenian movements in the future.
The American Government has lately
shown its determination to prevent rigidly
all infringements of international law un-
der all circumstances. CRAWFORD and his
men, who lately made a breach of our
neutrality for the purpose of aiding the
Mexican Republic, with which we sympa-
thise, were seized and put in close custody,
to await their trial, and the officers of our
army who connived with him were also
summarily, dealt with. Again, in the re-
cent case of Senor M‘KENNA, charged
with an attempt to fit out privateers for
the Chilian service against Spain—the
Government had him promptly arrested, on
evidence being furnished, although it is
sure the sympathies of the American peo-
ple were not with Spain in her quarrel
with Chili. In these instances, our Gov-
ernment gave decisive evidence of the
policy it will pursue in these matters. But
there is no likelihood, at present, that it
will ever be called upon to carry out its
policy against filibustering or privateering
on the part of the Fenians.—-NEW YORK
SEMI-WEEKLY TIMES.

MR. GORDON D. RAMSAY.—-The pro-
vost marshal, against whom charges of
murder are pending in Jamaica, was
employed as clerk in a merchant's of-
fice in Birmingham in the year 1849.
Pecuniary embarrassment compelled
him to leave the town, and he enlisted
in the 17th Lancers, with which regi-
ment he served in the Crimea. He
was in the Balaklava charge, and was
wounded in the leg. He went with
his regiment to India, and served in
the Indian mutiny. He afterwards
got his discharge, and returned to
Birmingham, where he remained for
a short time, and then went to Jama-
ica, where his relations resided. He
there got into the police force. In
Birmingham he was remarkable for a
superabundance of animal spirits, but
those who knew him say that there
was nothing cruel in his disposition.
Lake, the newspaper reporter, was in
the same office with Ramsay in Bir-
mingham. He is the son of a Jama-
ica merchant-—hence his leaving Eng-
land for that country. He was for
some time at the Wesleyan College in
Sheffield. He has some coloured blood
in his veins. Judge Kerr, who has al-
so been mentioned in connection with
the proceedings in Jamaica, is a bro-
ther-in-law of Mr. Alfred Tennyson,
the poet laureate.—-Home News.

THE SCREW STEAMER SHENANDOAH,
which created such terrible havoc a-
mongst Federal vessels during the
American war, has come under the
hammer of Messrs. Kellock and Co.,
shipbrokers, at Liverpool, and was
sold for £ 15,750, the purchaser being
Mr. M. I. Wilson, ship-owner, of Li-
verpool. When this vessel was bought
for the Confederate government, two
or three years ago, she was sold for
£ 35,000.—-Home News.

Rules for Study.

Somebody has written these rules to be
observed by students.

1. Learn one thing at a time.

2. Learn that thing well.

3. Learn its connection, as far as pos-
sible, with other things.

4. Believe that to know every thing of
something is better than to know some-
thing of every thing.

-—Toil is the price of sleep and ap-
petite of health and enjoyment.

—-Those who are careful to avoid of-
fending others, are not apt to take of-
fence themselves.

Piracy in China waters.

Sir,—-In the last China, Siam, and
Straits papers I observe that reports
of piracies still continue to occupy
their columns. There seems to be no
abatement of the evil. On the con-
trary, it continues, to be as rife, and, if
anything, more glaring than hitherto.
The British Government has gone to
a great deal of trouble and expense in
its endeavours to suppress it, but in
vain. Piracy must and will continue
to exist and flourish so long as the ex-
cuse for every junk and boat trading
in the eastern seas going heavily arm-
ed and doubly manned exists. All ef-
forts to suppress piracy must be futile
while the difficulty of distinguishing
between pirates and legitimate traders
lasts. This difficulty will continue un-
til the Siamese, Chinese, and petty
chieftains in the Eastern Archipelago
be prevailed upon to agree to a total
disarmament of the trading craft un-
der their respective control. This ef-
fected, a united marine police—-say
men-of-war of every nation trading to
the East-—should make a simultan-
eous search for armed junks and prahus,
and exterminate all found in the pos-
session of offensive weapons. The fact
of being found armed after the pro-
mulgation of sufficient notice of the
law being taken as prima facie proof
of guilt. This seems to me to be the
only safe and certain remedy for an
evil the magnitude of which cannot be
comprehended by those who do not
know what an exorbitant tax on com-
merce the arming and manning of ev-
ery real trading junk and prahu is.
This indirect impost on trade would
be removed at once by the remedy
which I have suggested, and the hon-
est trader of every tribe and nation be
benefited. This matter should be press-
ed on the attention of the Chinese
and Siamese Governments without de-
lay. It is absurd in the Peking Gov-
ernment to expect British gunboats to
continue any longer a thankless and
apparently interminable crusade a-
gainst every pirate who can afford to
bribe the mandarins for traders' papers.
It should be told that such assistance
as has hitherto been rendered in the
suppression of piracy must be with-
held, unless it takes measures whereby
the trader and the pirate may be dis-
tinguished, and the latter brought to
justice. And the impossibility of dis-
tinguishing between the two (except
on chance occasions) renders it imper-
ative that a general disarmament
should be proclaimed and carried out
with the least possible delay. Once
take away the excuse for going armed
and make the mere possession of weap-
ons of offence proof of guilt which
would entail instant destruction, and a
comparatively small naval force will
sweep piracy from the Eastern and
China seas. By last accounts from
the East we are informed that a
scheme has been proposed to form an
Eastern Trinity Board to supply bea-
cons and lighthouses on the dangerous
coasts of China and Japan, the said
board to derive its authority from the
whole of the treaty powers, and its
funds from a tax levied on ships trad-
ing to China and Japan, and payable
at the port of entry. This scheme,
you say is, in your opinion, "practic-
able." I am of the same opinion, and
with you wish it success. Its benefit
to trade will, however, be but small,
compared to the results derivable from
that which I have suggested.

Every one in the least acquainted
with the East knows that the arma-
ments of native craft cost as much as
the craft themselves; while the ex-
pense of manning them under the pre-
sent system is in all cases doubled, in
many trebled. The recommendation
given in your last London and China
Telegraph, in the article headed
"Straits of Malacca," for trading ves-
sels to go more heavily armed if they
wish immunity from attack, cannot, I
fear, be successfully carried out. Hon-
est traders cannot, in point of arma-
ment, hope, unless at a ruinous cost,
to compete with pirates; whereas the
remedy which I suggest, if carried in-
to effect, is a clear gain of at least 100
per cent. to the honest native, and
leaves to the pirate but little hope of
pursuing his guilty calling for any
great length of time in the very teeth
of native and foreign gunboats, as he
now does. The importance of my
subject must be my excuse for its pro-
lixity.—-Yours sincerely,-—NAUTICUS.

Public Meetings.

On home topics Reform is still the prin-
cipal one. Out of Parliament no move-

ment of any great importance has taken
place. The debate on the second reading
of the Bill was preceded by a meeting of
the Liberal party at Earl Russell's official
residence, at which the final explanations
of the Government policy were made.
Of course complete unanimity prevailed,
as those members of the party who intend-
ed to support Lord Grosvenor's amend-
ment stayed away or remained silent. Earl
Russell spoke for above an hour in sup-
port of the Bill, and stated that after the
second reading Government would speed-
ily lay their Bill for Redistribution on
the table of the House of Commons, and
that they pledged themselves to stand or
fall by it as absolutely as by the Franchise
Bill. He also stated that in his opinion
it was just and expedient that the same
Parliament which passed the Franchise
Bill should also pass the Bill for the Re-
distribution of Seats. A meeting of Lord
Derby's supporters also took place at the
residence of the Marquis of Salisbury,
attended by a large body of Conservative
members, who were unanimous in their
determination to support the amendment.
More public meetings have been held, the
most noticeable being those at the Man-
sion-house, Westminster, Finsbury, and
St. Martin's hall. At the latter Lord
Elcho gallantly faced the noisy crowd of
which it was composed in order to vin-
dicate himself from the charges which
have been brought against him of having
vilified the working classes. At first the
meeting refused to hear him, but Mr.
Thomas Hughes got up and declared that
if Lord Elcho was not listened to he would
not speak himself; upon this his lordship
was allowed to go on, and eventually his
speech was loudly cheered. The press
generally condemns the measure; of the
respectable daily journals (among which
it is needless to say Mr. Bright's organ
cannot be classed) all but two—the DAILY
NEWS and the GLOBE—-are against it;
and the GLOBE, being avowedly a Minis-
terial organ, cannot fairly be counted as
an exponent of public opinion. No very
unusual excitement was observable out of
doors on the day of the debate on the
second reading, and we need hardly say
that the working classes had too much
good sense to follow up the mischievous
suggestion thrown out as to their assembl-
ing in thousands from Charing-cross to
Palace-yard. In Palace-yard, however,
there was a fair sprinkling of lookers-on,
and by 3 o'clock some three or four hund-
red were waiting about. Mr. Fawcett,
as he was led slowly along Palace-yard by
a friend, was the first Liberal member
who elicited any expression of opinion
from the people. He was very warmly
cheered, and in fact his reception was
almost equal to that of Mr. Gladstone
himself. This applause naturally drew
together an increased number of spec-
tators, on the old metropolitan principle
that people stop to see what other people
have assembled for. The term "assembl-
ed," however, conveys a rather exag-
gerated notion of the number who actually
waited. At no time were there more than
between 600 or 700, not much more than
is usual on a "Budget night." Mr. Goschen,
the Duke of Argyll, Mr. Layard, and
Mr. T. Hughes were all recognised as
they drove up, and were warmly applaud-
ed, not by cheers as much as by clapping
of hands. Mr. Gladstone also was cheered
with great enthusiasm as he drove past to
the Speaker's entrance. Beyond these
few tokens of passing feeling there is
nothing to record of what was expected
to be a sort of great outdoor Reform
demonstration.-—L. & C. Express.

In the House of Commons the second
reading of the Franchise Bill was moved
by Mr. Gladstone on the 12th instant;
whereupon Lord Grosvenor brought for-
ward his Amendment in a comprehensive
but somewhat feeble speech. Lord Stan-
ley, on the other hand, seconded the
motion in an address which will long be
remembered as an example of clear and
consistent reasoning, vigorous energy and
sincere liberality. He ruthlessly exposed
the blindness and folly of a piecemeal
reform of the representation, and with
masterly logic showed that no measure
was deserving of support unless it em-
braced at once not only the franchise, but
a careful redistribution of seats and a
rectification of the boundaries. An ani-
mated debate ensued, during which the
Marquis of Hartington made a weak effort
to reply to Lord Stanley, but rather lost
ground than otherwise. The second night's
debate was dull, with the exception of
two speeches—those of Sir Bulwer Lyt-
ton and Mr. J. Stuart Mill. The former
was more than usually eloquent, and his
address was attentively listened to by a
crowded house. Mr. Mill is so far the
only supporter of the Government who
has made anything like a consistent reply
to Lord Stanley, but even his speech,
although a masterpiece in its way, had
little effect on the cogent arguments of
his opponent. At the preliminary meet-
ing of the Liberal party it was whispered
that some Earl Russell only counted on
a majority of about thirty; the course of
the debate so far connot fail to have a
diminishing effect on this small number,
and if there be any truth in a rumour
lately current, to the effect that Lord
Grosvenor's Amendment was drawn up
by no less a person than Earl Grey,-—then
the chances for and against the second
reading of the Bill seem pretty evenly
balanced,—-with perhaps a slight prepon-
derance AGAINST.-—L. & C. Express.

THE ESCAPE OF STEPHENS.—-The Head
Centre, who is still in Paris has there
given the following statement relative to
his capture and escape:—-" My arrest took
place because I wished it. For many
hours I knew that the police were on my
traces, and it was my pleasure to be ar-
rested in order to prove that I could es-
cape with the greatest ease. While in
prison I was treated with the utmost re-
gard. I wanted for nothing, and in this
respect I cannot too highly praise the
English Government. But it was absolutely
necessary to depart. I had expressed my
desire to do so to a person of whom I was
sure, with whom an unexpected circum-
stance put me in communication, and the
prison doors, so to speak, stood open be-
fore me. I don't know whether any one
meant to stop me, but around me I saw
only accomplices. 'But once out of prison,'
observed a listener, 'how did you manage
to leave Ireland?' 'Once out of prison I
fled to the country. Money and a revolver
were given me. I then heard that a reward
of £40,000 was offered for me, and that
any one who discovered me was to bring
me to Dublin dead or alive. I remained,
up to the time of my getting on board
ship, in the country, living during the
day in a hut, and going out at night to
reach another. In every place where I
took refuge I was well known. Indeed,
I was expected there. Notwithstanding
the large sum offered by the Irish Govern-
ment for my apprehension, nobody ven-
tured to inform against me; and this
single fact proves that Ireland was at my
disposal.' 'And now what are your plans?'
'I am going to America for an army of
200,000 men who are expecting me, and
I will return with them to deliver Ireland,
my country, from the British yoke."

Robert Bloomfield and his
"Farmer's boy."

This true poet of nature was born in
1766, at a small village in Suffolk. His
father died in the same year, leaving his
widow with five other children besides Ro-
bert. To obtain a maintenance, she opened
a school, and taught her own children the
elements of reading, along with those of
her neighbours. Besides this education,
Bloomfield was taught to write for two
or three months at a school in the town
of Ixworth. At the age of eleven, he
went to work upon his uncle's farm, re-
ceiving only his board for his labour. In
his fifteenth year, he was removed to London,
to join his two brothers in making shoes
in a garret in Bell Alley, Coleman Street.
At this time he read about as many hours
every week as boys generally spend in
play. He next wrote a few verses, which
were printed in the LONDON MAGAZINE;
and he was observed to read with much
avidity a copy of Thomson's SEASONS,
which first inspired Bloomfield with the
thought of composing a long poem, such
as the FARMER'S BOY, the idea being
favoured by a visit of two months to his
native district, where he had often held
the plough, driven a team, and tended
sheep. He returned to London and shoe-
making; but some years elapsed before
he produced his FARMER'S BOY, which he
composed while he sat at work in his
garret in Bell Alley, with six or seven
other workmen; and nearly six hundred
lines were completed before Bloomfield
committed a line to paper. The poem
was published in 1800, was translated in-
to French and Italian, and partly into
Latin; 26,000 copies were sold in three
years; and it was the dearest of the low-
ly-born poet's gratifications, when his
book was printed, to present a copy of it
to his mother, to whom he then had it in
his power, for the first time, to pay a vis-
it, after twelve years' absence from his
native village.

Bloomfield was a little boy for his age.
"When I met him and his mother at the
inn" (in town), says his brother, "he
strutted before us, just as he came from
keeping sheep, hogs, &c., his shoes filled
full of stumps in the heels. He, looking
about him, slipped up; his nails were un-
used to a flat pavement. I remember
viewing him as he scampered up,—how
small he was. I hardly thought that lit-
tle fatherless boy would be one day known
and esteemed by the most learned, the
most respected, the wisest, and the best
men of the kingdom."—SCHOOL-DAYS OF
EMINENT MEN.

The Beaver.

So much that is wonderful has been re-
corded of the beaver, that intelligent
writers have not scrupled to express a
belief, that it possesses but little of that
surprising sagacity and skill ascribed to it.
Mr. Joseph Sansum, of New York, gives
an account of the Canadian beaver, which
confirms the general character given of
their habits and economy. He tells us,
that in the recesses of Canadian forests,
UNDISTURBED BY MAN, the beaver is a
practical EXAMPLE of ALMOST EVERY VIR-
TUE, he is a pattern of conjugal fidelity
and paternal care ; laborious, frugal, hon-
est, and ingenious. He submits to Gov-
ernment, for the benefits of association;
but is never known to make depredations
upon his weaker neighbours. Wherever
a number of them come together, they
combine to perform the common business
of constructing their habitation; appar-

estly acting under the most intelligent
design, no contention or disagreement be-
ing ever observed among them. When
a sufficient number are collected to form
a town, the public business is first attend-
ed to; and as they are amphibious anim-
als, provision is made for spending their
time, occasionally both in and out of the
water, so that they seek a situation which
is adapted to both these purposes.

A lake or pond, and sometimes a run-
ning stream, is pitched upon. If it be a
lake or pond, the water in it is always
deep enough to admit of their swimming
under the ice. If it be a stream, it is al-
ways such a stream as will form a pond,
that shall be convenient for their purpose;
and they never fix upon a situation that
will not answer their views. Their next
business is to construct a dam, this is al-
ways placed in the most convenient part
of the stream; the form of it is either
straight, rounding, or angular, as the pe-
culiarities of the situation require; and
no human ingenuity could improve their
labours in this respect. The materials
they use are wood and earth; they choose
a tree on the river side, which will readily
fall across the stream; and some of them
apply themselves to cut it through with
their teeth: others cut down smaller trees,
which they divide into equal and conven-
ient lengths, some drag these pieces to
the brink of the river, and others swim
with them to the spot where the dam is
forming: others are engaged in sinking
one end of these stakes; and as many
more in raising, and securing the other
ends of them; some are employed, in car-
rying on the plastering part of the work;
the earth is brought in their mouths,
formed into mortar with their feet and
tails, and spread over the intervals be-
tween the stakes; saplings, and twigs be-
ing interwoven with the mud of the
stream.

Where two or three hundred beavers
are united, these dams are from six to
twelve feet thick at the bottom; at the
top, not more than two or three. In that
part of the dam which is opposed to the
current, the stakes are placed obliquely;
but on that side where the water is to fall
over, they are placed perpendicularly.
These dams are sometimes a hundred feet
in length, and always of the exact height
which will answer their purpose. The
ponds thus formed, sometimes cover five
or six hundred acres; and to preserve
the dams against inundation, sluices near
the middle are left for the redundant
water to pass off.

When the public works are completed,
the beavers separate into small compan-
ies, to build cabins or houses for them-
selves. These are build upon piles, on
the borders of the pond. They are of
an oval construction, resembling a bee-
hive; and vary from four to ten feet in
diameter, according to the number of
families they are to accommodate.
These dwellings are never less than two
stories high, generally three; and some-
times they contain four apartments.
The walls are from two to three feet
thick, formed of the same materials as
the dams. On the inside, they are made
smooth; but they are left rough without,
and are impenetrable to rain. The low-
er story is two feet high, the second is
formed by a floor of sticks covered with
mud, and the upper terminates with an
arched roof. Through each floor there is
a passage, and the uppermost is always
above the level of the water. Each of
these huts has two doors, one on the land
side, to admit of their going out that
way; another under the water, and be-
low where it freezes, to preserve the com-
munication of the beavers with the pond.

No association can appear more happy,
or be better regulated, than the tribe of
beavers. In September, they lay up their
winter's stock, which consists of bark and
the tender twigs of trees. Then com-
mences the season of repose; during the
winter they remain within, every one en-
joying the fruits of his own labour, with-
out pilfering from any other.

Towards spring, the females bring
forth their young. Soon after, the male
retires to gather firs and vegetables, but
the dam remains at home. The male re-
turns occasionally, but not to tarry, until
the end of the year; should however, any
injury happen to the works, the society
are soon collected by some unknown
means, and join all their forces to repair
the damages.

When an enemy approaches their vil-
lage, the beaver who perceives the stran-
ger, strikes on the water with his tail, to
give notice of danger; and the whole
tribe instantly plunges into the water.

In a state of nature, undisturbed by
barbarous and selfish man, this provident
animal lives fifteen or twenty years, and
prepares the way for several generations,
by adapting his dwellings to the increase
of his family.—BRITISH WORKMAN.

A New Island.

A new island began to rise above the
level of the sea in the Bay of Thera
(Santorin) on the 4th Feb., and in
five days it attained the height of from
130ft. to 150ft., with a length of up-
wards of 350ft. and a breadth of 100ft.
It continues to increase, and consists of
a rusty black metallic lava, very heavy,
and resembling half smelted scoria
which has boiled up from a furnace. It
contains many small whitish semi-trans-

parent particles, disseminated through
the mass like quartz or felspar. The
shape of Santoriu on the map gives an
idea of its volcanic formation. It ap-
pears to be the eastern half of an im-
mense crater, stretching in a semi-
circle round a bay in which the sea
now covers the seat of volcanic action.
The destruction of the south western
rim of the crater let in the water. The
north-western portion is the island of
Therassia. The bay is about six geogra-
phical miles long, and upwards of four
broad. Near the centre there are three
islands which have risen from the sea
during eruptions recorded in history
—-Palaia, Nea, and Mikro Kaimene,
or Old, New, and Little Burnt (Island),
naming them in their order from west
to east. The present eruption com-
menced on the 31st January. A noise
like volleys of artillery was heard, but
without any earthquake. On the fol-
lowing day flames issued from the sea,
in a part of the bay called Vulkanos,
where the water is always discoloured
and impregnated with sulphur from
abundant springs at the bottom. The
flames rose at intervals to the height
of 15ft., and were seen at times to is-
sue from the south-western part of Nea
Kaimene. That island was soon rent
by a deep fissure, and the southern part
sank considerably. On Feb. 4th the
eruptions become more violent and the
sea more disturbed. Gas forced itself
up from the depths with terrific noise,
resembling the bursting of a steam
boiler; flames arose at intervals, and
white smoke, rising steadily, formed
an immense column, crowned with a
curled capital of dark heavy clouds.
The new island was visible next morn-
ing, increasing sensibly to the eye as
it rose out of the sea at no great dis-
tance to the south of Nea Kaimene.

—The Queen of England is now so-
vereign over, it is said, one continent,
100 peninsulas, 600 promontories, 1,000
lakes, 2,000 rivers and 10,000 islands.
Her subjects number more than 150,000,-
000. By a wave of her hand she can
summon an army of 500,000 soldiers and
a navy of 1,000 ships of war and 100,000
sailors. The Assyrian empire was not
so wealthy as that of Great Britian; the
Roman empire was not so populous; the
Persian empire was not so extensive; the
Arabian empire was not so powerful; the
Carthaginian empire was not so much
dreaded, the Spanish empire not so wide-
ly diffused.

—'Jeannie, it's a solemn thing to get
married." "I know it, father," re-
plied the sensible damsel, "but it's a
great deal solemnner not to "

Prices Current.

EXCHANGE—-On SingaPore 1s. 13¾ 10d.
Hongkong 2 % cent discount 80 d. a. Lon-
don 2s. 9¾d. 6. m. s.

The opening of the Mint.

At the Mint yesterday morning, a small
round disc of silver was presented to one
of the coining presses by Lady MACDON-
NELL, and instantly returned by that in-
telligent machine, as the first new dollar
at the Hongkong Mint. Other pieces of
silver have doubtless been impressed with
the approved device before now, but
these were unimportant trial dollars.
That coin of which we speak is the first
legitimate new dollar, the eldest child of
the Mint; despite those unorthodox pieces
of money, its brothers and sisters, that
have seen the light before their time.
Truth to tell, it came out oily, but was
notwithstanding, the herald of the new
currency, was wiped clean with much
tenderness and respect, handed round
and admired as a remarkably fine child,
and carefully pocketed by His Excellen-
cy. No public ceremony took place in
honor of commencing business. To en-
tertain a crowd of visitors in a build-
ing intended for work of an important
kind, is a troublesome task at the best,
but to do this before the routine of work
has become familiar to the staff would
have been a more embarrassing duty than
could fairly have been thrown on the of-
ficials of the Mint at the outset of their
career. The GOVERNOR therefore, Lady
MACDONNELL, and Mr. MERCER, accom-
panied by Mr. STEWART, and one or two
others, present as a matter of business,
composed the whole party which was yes-
terday escorted round the building by
Captain KINDER.

An establishment like the Mint is one
which gives material for descriptive writ-
ing in such extraordinary abundance that
it is not easy to break from the subject,
but we do not now wish to repeat a nar-
rative already told or weary the readers
with scientific details that may not be in-
teresting to all alike. The Mint is now
A FAIT ACCOMPLI, no longer a project of
uncertain prospects but an active business
the initial success of which has proved
extraordinarily great. As we have said
before, there has been a rush of custom to
the Mint. The bankers may keep their
opinions in reserve and talk about sending
some bullion as an experiment if they
like, but it must be admitted, when
$2,000,000 are brought to the premises
on the first day, that they seem inclined
to try the experiment on a large scale.
We have often in these columns spoken
of the Mint in no very friendly spirit,
because it has swallowed up a reserve
fund which was not devoted to that pur-
pose by the wish of the colony, and
people who are economical enough to
save money ought,—-not to speak extra-
vagantly,—-to have a voice in its disposal.
But now we HAVE the Mint and it is
clearly wise to make the best of it, clear-
ly also the most straight-forward course
to acknowledge that according to all ap-
pearances, it is possible to make of it, a
very good Mint indeed.

Yokohama.

DEATH OF MR. MACDONALD.—-It is
with deep regret that we announce the
death of Mr. Macdonald, first assistant
to Her Majesty's Embassy in Japan. For
some time past he has not been well, as
was evident to the other members of leg-
ation, rather by occasional incoherence
and a non-disposition to speak except in
monosyllables, which was quite foreign
to his ordinary habit. On Wednesday
he was at a pic-nic, and nothing at all re-
markable was observable—-but on Thurs-
day morning, Dr. Willis, who had watched
his changed manner for several days told
him, that he had been expecting that he
would consult him, but as he did not, he
thought it his duty to speak to him, and
urge that he should seek some change of
air and scene. In this Mr. Macdonald
seemed to acquiesce, and probably would
have either taken a trip home, or paid a
visit to his old chief Sir Rutherford Al-
cock at Pekin. He intended to go to
Yeddo that morning, but felt so tired
from the preceding day's pic-nic—-that
he postponed his journey. About a quar-
ter past five on the same afternoon, he
was walking with two friends near the
store of Messrs. McKechnie & Co., when
he was seized with paralysis—and having
been first taken into McKechnie's he was
immediately after removed to the Com-
mercial Hotel. Dr. Willis and Dr. Jenkins
were speedily with him, and did every-
thing that could be done for him—-but
from the first it was evident there was
very little hope of recovery. His right
side was completely paralysed—-and to all
enquiries, there was but one reply—-that
the worst fears might be entertained. Sir
Harry Parkes and Mr. Myburgh and sev-
eral gentlemen of the legation were with
him very quickly, and remained for a
considerable time. The Rev. Mr. Bailey
also arrived the instant he heard of the
seizure, but found Mr. Macdonald quite
unconscious. He remained throughout
the night that he might be of service
either in his vocation or otherwise assist
Dr. Willis and other watchers. The suf-
ferer rallied slightly about 6 A.M. on Fri-
day—-but never fully regained conscious-
ness, and soon relapsed into his former
hopeless condition. He died at 4.20 P.M.
on Friday. He was 28 years of age—-
and was a native of Inverness, although
principally brought up in London. He
entered the diplomatic service in 1859,
and was much esteemed, not only for his
abilities and business like habits, but for
His gentleman like demesnour and thor-
ough amiability of character.—-JAPAN
HERALD.

Chefoo.

Recent advices confirm the rumours
received vis Hankow some weeks ago, to
the effect that Mr. M. C. Morrison was
murdered while on his way from Peking
to Hankow overland. Our correspon-
dent considers that the report still re-
quires confirmation, although the native
officials appear to believe it.—-O. T. R.

The Punjab.

The Punjab is in high spirits at the con-
cession of that increase in the pay of gov-
ernment officers to the level of the salaries
elsewhere, which ought to have been made
long ago. Once more the Punjab will be
the province most coveted by the best
men in India. It used to be so in the
Dalhousie period, when the North West
was stripped of its most promising civilians.
Since that time, owing to delay in the in-
crease of pay and the comparative absence
of prizes, the Punjab has rather been a
nursery for Oudh and Central India. We
trust that we may take this increase as the
first instalment of justice to the middle
and lower ranks of all classes of officials.
Is it the dawn of a new and more generous
regime, when Government will assume its
old position during the reign of the Court
of Directors, of a liberal master exacting
hard work but paying good wages? Let
Mr. Massey reply, for Earl de Grey will
doubtless sanction liberal recommenda-
tions from the Government of India in
spite of his council and secretaries, who
consider India salaries enormous when
compared with their own and think noth-
ing of the rise of prices, the ravages of
climate and the bitterness of separation.
In the Punjab living is now almost as dear
as in Calcutta. Notwithstanding splen-
did harvests the price of all agricultural
produce is dearer than in the year of the
great famine, owing to the export of
wheat and all the finer grains in enormous
quantities to Bombay. A careful com-
pilation of the records of trade and prices
at Lahore shews that, but for the impro-
tation of coarse pulses from Malwa, the
people there would starve. But the
peasantry must be enriched by the dif-
ference between the dear grain exported
and the cheap grain which takes its place.
MAULMAIN ADVERTISER.