Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1877 — Page 3

The Rensselaer Union. ♦ — RENBBRLAER, . '• INDIANA.

. dbjld. M Thou who luwtbwm, 'mid toilful days 0f daxkMy ®teftayi StmMM gnido. My low®, my nuthful and eCvr near! I fondly trusted Thou ahouldsl b® with m® to th® v«®y epd. And thou wilt go from mo- -art dying, dead— ‘ ty- ‘ O, ®rcn now tty last, tweet breath ia fled! Long have I watched thy joyful «tep grow feeble, Thy beaming ey® wax dim, and mortal shade (lather on thy loved brow; and knew too surely In all thy beauty thou ®r® long meat fad®, Anl yet stood helplea®, with no power to hold w The life tliat in my clinging arnw grew oold. And I ntill live and breathe! Ah, my beloved!. And not no bitter e’en thy loe®—so sore The utter solitude is now my portion— Aa the sharp thought to me, that where of yore My heart had burst in speechless agony It faints not bow, throbs onward sluggishly! 1 gaae in awful calmness on thy image, E’en now, its death's gray light, surpassing fair, Cover thy early bier with pallid blossoms, And murmur o’er thee a submissive prayer, And kiss thy si lent lijm and eyes, while mine Quiver nor weep at that drill touch of thine. Life, thou hast robbed me of so countless treasures; Of youth, that would not linger long with me, Of Idve, aria hope, and joy, that grew and flourLike fragrant flowers upon'the parent tree, And pride has perished,' and fond faith is fled- — ■*■ 1 stand subdued with humbly-bended head! Give me not to know that mournful patience, That is content with bitterness alone; That saddest oouraga of a much-tried spirit, Through all its suffered >ll® 80 callous grown, It dumbly bares its bosom, to await Unflinchingly the fiercest shafts of fate. It is no royal gift, O Life, stern master, I pray of thee!—but that through coming years Thou leave me still, however long the journey, The slender boon of sorrow and of tears, Whatever else thou yet mayst give or take, My heart the single power to bleed and break. —Stuart Sterne, tn Springfield (3fa»t.) Republican.

A VISIT TO THE GREAT PYRAMID.

A visit to the Pyramids is an event in a man’s life. It is worth a voyage to Egypt. There are about sixty such architectural monuments; but the Great Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Cheops, with its two less pretentious neighbors, is woijh all thfe rest. It is the Pyramid,, as the mysterious Sphinx at its base is the Sphinx. It covers an area of about half a million square feet and rises sixty, feet higher than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It is the largest building of man’s hands in the world, though a mere pigmy as compared with God’s own pyramids—the Alps. It is the most appropriate symbol, the best welcome and the best rarewell of the land of the Pharaohs, who themselves rose like, pyramids, in solitary grandeur, far above the desert plain of slaveiy round about them. Well might Napoleon fire his soldiers by pointing them to that gigantic monarch of buildings, “ from which forty centuries looked down upon them.” And yet we see it only in its mutilated state. The vandalism of the Greeks, Romans and Saracens has robbed them of their polished red granite casings to enrich their palaces and mosques. The colossal Sphinx, too, carved out of the Solid frock, at the base of the Pyramid, is tnerely a ruin of what it was when sacrifices were offered between Its Jon-like paws fifty feet in length. And yet it makes an overpowering impression as, with sleepless eyes, it stares out, in majestic repose, overthevalley of the Nile and the vast wildernessbeyond—an emblem of sovereign royalty, intellect combined with physical strength; or rather, according to the latest view, a representation of the god Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, Who, in order to avenge the death of Osiris by slaying his enemy, the evil spirit Typhon, assumed the shape of a Iron with a human head The Arabffcall the Sphinx ” Aboo-ei-hol,” the Father' of Terror or Immensity. It reminds one of the impenetrable- 'mysteries of eternity. We shall die or Islam shall wither away, and etill that sleepless rock will be watching and watching the works of a new, busy race with those same sad, earnest eyes and the same tranquil mien everlastingly. You dare not mock at the Sphinx.” I climbed to the top of the pyramid and enioyed the magnificent view over the garden of the Nile and boundless desert which here border on each other in startling contrast. The green fields, the stately palms, the majestic river, the City of Cairo, with its citadel, palaces and mosques, toward the East, .and this oceanof sand and rocks toward the West, constitute a panorama that has no parallel in this world. And the fcdeepened by the historical associations which involuntarily pass before the mind’s eye—roahs, of the Ptolemies, of the Saracens, of the Turks, of the Memluks, of Napoleon, of Mohamet Ali, and of the present structure—the King’s chamber and the Queen’s chamber—which produce an impresAon equfcfly sMkfhg-VhXigh totally different from |hH qf th# vfew op Vistopt. Here it is the mystery of death and eternity which ©vfTwhrims tlia mind. I am not competent to judge of Piazzi Smyth’s theory, who fifids in the Interior of this royal mausoleum th? evidence pf profound geometrical and astronomical science, and in the empty sarcophagus of the KJng. metoorolpgical . ment or Standard of weight ana measure for all ages, equivalent to the .English measure, and who traces * the design to a divine revelation. He reminds me oLthose commentators Who, not satisfied. wWj the mUurpl grammatical sense of the Scriptures, put their pious and ingenious fancies into them, ana thus substitute imposition sos mcpftdtiflri. His theory is not applicable to any other pyramid. The great majority of Egyptologists rejard Ao Pyramids simply as tomlw—Theyare aitwhated tfii ftoefropolis. They are the massive and impenetrable casings of a muttony, without wta•dows, without, doors and external opening. “The fact," says Marietfe Bay, the present superintendent of Egyptian antiquities, “that one alone has accessible interior chambers from which astronomical observations might have been made as from the bottofa of the Well, ofily proves that such was pot the purpose for whiqpit was originally destined." The alleged absence of all traces of idolatry in the Pyramid of Cheops would be a remarkable testimony to an anterior monotheism.

But the hieroglyphic inscriptions (of which one at least is mentioned by Herodotus) have long since disappeared, and the great Sphinx, to which sacrifices were offered, to said to be much elder than the Pyramid L There is no doubt, however, that monotheism preceded polytheism and underlies, in the .shape of a trinity in unity (Osiris, Isis and their son Horus), the Egyptian mythology. V < • The gigantic proportions, the antiquity and the location or the Pyramids on the border of the deterL constitute their chief interest. And this is the character of all the Egyptian monuments. The rains of temples, tombs and palaces on the Nile, especially al Thebes and Karnak, Denderah and Edfou, defy our notions of grandeur and sublimity, and excite our amazement at the mechanical skill that could remove from the quarries and pile up such enormous masses of stone; but there is no real beauty or grace in them, and all are disfigured by the ever-returning pictures and sculptures of the basest idolatry. The mind is kept vacillating between admiration of this old Egyptians as giants in architecture, sculpture and painting, and pity and contempt for them as worshipers of crocodiles and frogs, cats and beetles. They built aa magnificent tombs for their sacred bulls at Bakkara as for their Kings at Thebes. It was easier, in the days of Herodotus, to find a god on the Nile than a man; .and to these gods—half man, half beast, or all beast—their greatest works of art were dedicated. If idolatry could do so much, what should the worship of the only true and living God be able to do ? But the noblest monuments of Christianity are constructed of better material than gran£ ite and marble.

Nor should we forget that the pyramids, temples and palaces of Egypt could only be built under a system ot absolute despotism or absolute slavery such as Egypt presented in the days of Moses. It was, in the lahguagMPr the Bible “a house ot bondage. ”-4ungcraft and priestcraft, in the possession of all intelligence and power, used the people as beasts of burden apd qto&anical tools. The condition.pf Egypt is not much better now. The jffiiedive, who seems to have taken Napoleon 111. for his model, builds palace after palace for himself and his 800 wives, ana constructs by forced labor railroads and sugar factories; but a more degraded, miserable, slavish and beggarly population than the Egyptians it would be difficult to find within the limits-of the civilized world. “ Backsheesh” is the first word they learn and the last they forget. You hear it everywhere from morning till night, as if it were “the chief end of man.” The Khedive grinds his people to the very dust by taxation. He is very intelligent and has all the varnish of the French civilization, but he builds from the top downward, instead of building from the foundation upward. The result is bankruptcy. But this may end in the annexation of Egypt to England, which" wul be a great blessing to Egypt, and a part of the solution of the Eastern question. Every intelligent man in Egypt (I caniyjtsdd, “ woman,” for woman expresses no wishes in Mohammedan countries) longs for English rule. It is strange that no allusion to the Pyramids should be found in the Bible, unless it be in Job 8: 14, where the Hebrew word cAaradotA (mistranslated “ desol ate-places ”in our English version) signifies a - lofty sepulcher or pyramid (from “ perami,” lofty): For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept; then had I been at rest With Kings and oounnellors of the earth, Who built themselves . The Books of Moses may be read with increased interest on the banks of the Nile, especially the Boek of Exodus. The real history of Egypt is written in the Pyramids and the Bible. To the Bible student it will always be of deep interest as the adopted home of Joseph and the patriarchal family; as the birthplace of Moses, who was there initiated into all wisdom under the fostering care of Pharaoh's daughter during the loner reign of Barneses the Great; as the training school of the people of God; as the house ot bondage out of which God called His Bon; as the temporary shelter of the infant Jesus and the holy family. And the student of church history can never forget the important service which Egypt rendered to Christendom through the learning of Origen and the orthodoxy of Athanasius. The time will come when the Cross will replace the Crescent, and andthC gospel once more illuminate the darkness of the land of the Nile. — Cairo (Egypt) Cor. N. F. Observer. ‘ <1 ■

Sam Houston and the Ham.

On a recent business trip to Houston I had for traveling companion a well-known merchant of this city, who told story after story of in Texas. One struck me as worth preserving. “ When my father first came here,” said the merchant, u he settled in Houston —then the Capital of Texas. I was put in a grocery and provision store under a very strict and parsimonious boss. One morning,.just as I had swept out, Tom, Gen. Houston’s body-servant, came into the stere. Looking round he spied a fine ham—a rard Mie in those days. Having asked the pride, he said he would take it and the President would call around and pay fofr ft." I felt proud of my sale, and called the attention of the boss to it as soon as he came in. “ ‘ Did you get the meflby?’ he asked, ; but President Houston is coming round to pay for it? f '* ss* ••‘President Houston—the dickens! Did Tom say he would see it paid!' No, sir.’ “ ‘Then you are a fool. Now, sir, you go straight to the President's kitchen and bring me that ham, unless Tom will say it shall be paid for? ' “I started off, very much crestfallen, and hot liking the job before me. But I resolutely walked into the President’s kitchen. Tom was there. < I saw my ham lying there, with a few slices out of it. and, seizing it, told Tom Unless he would undertake to see that the money was paid I must take It back. • " “ Tom cogitated awhile, and then said: ‘ Young man, take back your meat. The Gineral is a mixhty good master, but a mighty poor paymaster, and I don’t keer to involvjlate myself wjth hie debts.’ “.Thia was enough for me. I left with the ham in my hand. .. Going around to the gate, I had to pass the front door. There stood Gen. Houston, the President bf Texas, with a pocket-handkerchief in one hand and a toothpick in the other. ‘My little man,’ says hti, in his superb manner, ‘tell your'master I am under great obligations for a most delicious breakfast, and would pay him, but I really haven’t got the money. The fact is, young man, Texas is very poor, and, as ‘her President, I must share I ,her poverty.’ ” —Galweton (Texae) (for. Jy. Y. Sun. i , v i ■,'■'»»» - —The man who gets into office must do it by yanking somebody else out, and with the fecling.that some day he will in like manner be yanked.

Soft Sawder and Human Nature.

In the course of a Journey which Mr. Slick performs in company with the retrorter of his humors, the latter asks him now, in a country so poor as Nova Scotia, be contrives to sell so many clocks. ** Mr. Slick paused,” continues the author, “aa if considering the propriety of answering the question, and, looking me in the face, said, in a confidential tone: ‘Why, 1 don’t care if I do tell you, for the market is glutted and I shall quit this circuit. It is done by a knowledge of soft tawder and human natur. But here is Deacon Flint’s,’ said he; ‘I have but one clock left, and I guess I will sell it to him.’ “At the gate of a most comfortablelooking farmhouse stood Deacon Flint, a respectable old man, who had understood the value of time better than most of his neighbors, if one might judge from the appearance of everything about him. After the usual salutation, an invitation to alight was accepted by Mr. Slick, who said ‘he wished to take leave of Mr. Flint before he left Colchester? We had hardly entered the house before the Clockmaker pointed to the view from the window, and, addressing himself to me, said: “if I was to tell them in Connecticut there was such a farm as this away down east here in Nova Scotia, they wouldn’t believe me—why there ain’t such a location in all New England. The Deacon has a hundred acres of dike*— * Seventy,’ said the Deacon, ‘ only seventy? * Well, seventy; but then there is your fine deep bottom; why, I could run a ramrod into it. Then there is that water-privilege, worth (8,000 or (4,000, twice as good as what Gov. Cass paid (15,000 for. I wonder, Deacon, you don't put up a cardingmill on it; the same works would carry a turning-lathe, a shingle machine, a circular saw, grind bark, and’— ‘ Too old? said the Deacon, ‘ too old for all those speculations? 'Old!* repeated the Clockmaker, ‘not you; why, you are worth half a dozen of the young men we see nowadays.’ The Deacon was pleased.

“‘Your beasts, dear me—your beasts must be put in and have a feed;’ saying which, he went out to order them to be taken to the stable. As the old gentleman closed the door after him, Mr' Slick drew near to me, and said, in an undertone: “That is what 1 call soft tawder. Aa Englishman would pass that man as a sheep passes a hog in a pasture—without looking at him. Now, I find ’—here his lecture on soft sawder was cut short by the entrance of Mrs. Flint. ‘Jist come to say good-bye, Mrs. Flint? ‘What, have you sold all your clocks ?’ ‘ Yes, and very low, too, for money is scarce, and I wish to close the consarn; no, lam wrong in saying all, for I have just one left. Neighbor Steele’s wife asked to have the refusal of it, but I guess I won’t sell it. 1 had but two of them, this one and the feller of it, that I sold Gov. Lincoln. Gen. Green, Secretary of State for Maine, said he’d give me fifty dollars for this here one—it Kas composition wheels and patent axles; it is a beautiful article —a real first chop—no mistake, genuine superfine; but I guess I’ll take it back; and, besides. Squire Hawk might think it hard that 1 did not give him the offer? ‘Dearme? said Mrs. Flint, ‘I should like to see it; where is itr *lt is in a chest of mine over the way, at Tern Tape’sstore; I guess he can ship it on to Eastport? ‘That’s a good man? said Mrs. Flint; ‘jist let’s look at it? Mr. Slick, willing to oblige, yielded to these entreaties, and soon produced the clock—a gaudy, highly-varnished, trumperylooking affair. He placed it on the chim-ney-piece, where its beauties were pointed out, and duly appreciated by Mrs. Flint, whose admiration was about ending in a proposal, when Mr. Flint returned from giving his directions about the care of the horses. The Deacon praised the clock; he, too, thought it a handsome one. But the Deacon was a prudent man; he had a watch, he was sorry, but he had no occasion for a clock. * 1 g\iess you’re in the wrong furrow this time, Deacon; it ain’t for sale? said Mr. Slick; ‘ and if it was, I reckon neighbor Steele’s wife would have it, for she gives me no peace about it? Mrs. Flint said that Mr. Bteele had enough to do, poor man, to pay his interest, without buying clocks for his wife. ‘ It’s no consarn of mine? said Mr. Blick, as long as he pays me, what he has to do; but I guess I don’t want to sell it; and beside, it comes too high; that clock can’t be made at Rhode Island under forty dollars. Why it ain’t possible I’ said the clockmaker in apparent surprise, looking at his watch •_ ‘ why, as I’m alive, it is four o’clock, and if I haven’t been two hours here —how on airth shall I reach River Philip to-night? I’ll tell you wliat, Mrs. Flint, I’ll leave the clock in your care till I return on my way to the Blates —I’ll set it agoing, and put it to the right time? As soon as this operation was performed, he delivered the key to the Deacon with a sort of seriocomic injunction to wind up the clock every Saturday night, which Mrs. Flint said she would take care should be done, and premised to remind her husband ot, it, in case he should chance to forget it. “ ‘That? said the Clockmaker, as soon as wfi were mounted, ‘that ! call Auman natur! Now, that clock is sold for forty dollars—it cost me six dollars and fifty cents. Mrs. Flint will never let Mrs. Steele have the refusal—nor will the Deacon learn until I call for the clock, that having once indulged in the use of a superfluity, it is difficult to give it up. We can do without any article of luxury we have never had, but when once obtained, it is not in human natur to surrender it voluntarily. Of 15,000'sold by myself and partners in thia province. 12,000 were left in this manner, and only ten clocks were ever returned—when we called for them, they invariably bought them. We trust to soft sawder to get them into the house, and to human natur that they never come out of it? ”

Josh Billings’ Wisdom.

Ip I ever offer to swap places with any man in this world, it will be with the one who can eat anything and not have the nightmare. I like to see all things true to Nature, a hornet that can’t sting is a melancholy failure. Ebenezer my boy, don’t forget this, a good listener will please more people than a good talker will. Most people would rather believe what, is not so than confess their ignorance. A certain amount of pride is very proper, a peacock without any pride at all would be a dead loss. Cunning never won a lasting victory yet. How many people there are in this world wh? have just brains enough tod6ubt,and to differ, but not enough to decide. When anybody wants to sell then is the time to buy, and when anybody wants to buy, then is the time to sell. It requires-great stamina of character to be a successful fool. If we would increase in wisdom, we have got to forget a large share of what we think we know.

There is one thing that even old age can’t cheat us om ot, and that b memory pf a good action. The great blessing of adversity is, it gives our enemies a chance to pitch into us and our friends a chance to defend us. The best time to -ask advice of your neighbors is after yqu have made up your mind just what you are going to do. There may be some perfectly happy people in tub world, out they cannot prove it. It is actually easier to earn two dollars and a half than to take care of one after you have earned it. An illustrious pedigree is a risky possession, the world won’t compare you with yourself, but are all the time comparing you with die skeleton of your grandfather. He who can control his anger gains two victories, one over himself and the other over his opponent. One of the moat difficult things for an author to understand is, that a well-written paragraph will outshine and outlast a poorly-written hook. The man who writes a bad book is worse than the one who poisons • a spring, the spring will run itself pure in time, but the book festers and corrupts for all tinr.e.— N. Y. Weekly.

Stand By Each Other.

In these pinching times, when multitudes are on short supply and thousands of families are being compelled by hard necessity to step down from their former positions, the duty of brotherliness is doubly incumbent. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Enforced idleness is to an industrious person a galling yoke, but the last few years have demonstrated that, however willing one may be to work, the procurement of that work is not always possible. What is Our duty toward that large deserving and suffering class Which we all find among our relatives and friends? Shall we withdraw a portion of our deposits from the savings-bank and place it at their disposal ? To the mercenary spirit this is a tough proposition. To the generous soul that has been baptized of heaven it is a very simple one. The first object of money, and one of the greatest pleasures of life, is to turn sunshine and joy into the homes threatened with despair. Reader, do'you wish to be happy? Work that mine. Be assured that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Huxley ridiculing prayer; and Moody delighting in it, both agree here. Let us, as we iourney along, make this desert of ours bloom as the rose. Where there’s a will there’s a way. If we have within us the spirit which springs up like a bubbling stream, we cannot help but do good, refreshing, irrigating work as we put in our three-score years and tern We do not often enough ask ourselves the question whether we have kindly relatives or devoted friends who are carrying heavy burdens and are in a tight place. Life is a battle. Brave soldiers stand by each other in the camp and on the bat-tle-field, and when disease or the bullet strikes them they endure nobly. On the waste of waters sailors are as true as steel to each other. The flag of distress stirs their inmost soul and induces large personal sacrifices. These are excellent examples to follow everywhere. Selfishness is die ogre which disfigures society. It’ has seated itself in the Christian Church and it is the blemish, the besetting sin in many a Christian home. It is an influence from below, not from above. In prosperous times we floated along pleasantiy’with associates in the countingsouse and the factory. Orders were issued by the Captain of the craft that sail should be taken in. This one and that was dismissed from service. Heads of families were thrown out by hard necessity. Well, how do .we who, continue in the service and under pay act in this crisis? Do we consider the wife and the children of our cashiered associate? Do we economize and make sacrifices that we may in the meantime give our unemployed friend a helping hand ? Yes, if We are the sons of God and Were rightly educated at the firfeside. The sons of Belial, no matter what their professions, have no solicitude on occasions like this. They are sorry, but their sorrow is from the teeth outward. Their hands, by impulse of principle, never find their way into their pockets, or If they do it is only that they may clutch the greenbacks more closely, that they and their family may live in luxury. Let every little circle, then, stana by each other when the storm is on. Let us look less upon our own cares, and more upon the heavy burdens of our neighbors and acquaintances. If you have this world’s goods, and see your brother have need, and shut up your bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in you ?—A. F. Witneee.

Russian Serfdom.

In this northern part of Russia, a very large portion of the land—perhaps as much as one-half —belonged to the State. The peasants living on this‘land had no misters, and were governed by a special branchof the Imperial administration, In a certain sense they were serfs, for they were not allowed to change their official domicile, but practically they enjoyed a very large amount of liberty. By paying a small sum for a passport they could leave their villages for an indefinite length of Hine, and so long as they paid regularly their taxes ahd dues they were in little danger of being molested. Many of them, though, officially inscribed in their native villages, lived permanently in the towns, and not a few of them succeeded in amassing large fortunes. Of the remaining land, a considerable portion belonged to rich nobles, who rarely or never visited their estates, and left the management of them either to the seifs themselves or to a steward, who acted according to a code of instructions. On these estates the position of the serfs was very similar to that of the State peasants. They had their communed laud, which they distributed among themselves as they thought fit. and enjoyed the re-, maifiaer of the arable land in return for a fixed yearly rent. Some proprietors, how. ever, lived on their estates and farmed on their own account, and here the condition of the serfs was somewhat different. A considerable number of these, perhaps as many as 10 per cent, were, properly speaking, not serfs at all, but. rather, domestic slaves, who fulfilled the functions of coachmen, grooms, gardeners. gamekeepers, cooks, lackeys, and the like. Their wives and daughters acted as nurses, domestic servants, ladies* .maids and seamstresses. If, the master organized a private theater or orchestra, the actors or musicians were drawn from this class. These serfs lived' in the mansion or immediate vicinity, possessed no land, except perhaps a little plot for a kitchen garden, and were fed and clothed by the master. Their number was generally out'of all proportion to the amount of work they had to perform, and consequently they were always imbued with an hereditary spirit of indolence, and

performed lazily and carelessly what they had to do. On the other hand, they were often sincerely attached to the family they served, and occasionally proved by acts their fidelity and attachment. How the distinction between serfs and Slaves gradually disappeared, and how. the latter term fell Into disuse', I need not here relate; but I must assert, in the interests of truth, that the class of serfs above mentioned, though they were officially and popularly called “ courtyard people,” were to all intents and purposes domestic slaves. Down to the commencement of the present century the Russian newspapers contained advertisements of this kind—l take the examples almost at random from the Moscow Gatetie ot 1801 s “To be sold, three coachmen, Welltrained and handsome; and two girls, the one eighteen and the other fifteen years of age, both of them good-looking and well acquainted with various kinds of handiwork. In the same house there are for sAletwo hair-dreaeers; the one twenty*! one years of age, can read, write, play on a musical Instrument, and act as huntsman ; the other can drees ladies* and gentlemen’s hair. In the same house are sold pianos and organs.” A little farther on—a first-rate clerk, a carver, and a

lackey are offered for sale, and the reason assigned Is superabundance of the articles in question (aa itliehMton). In some instances it seems as if the serfs and the cattle were intentionally put in the same category, aa in the following: “In this house one can buy a coachman and a Dutch cow.” The style of these advertisements and the frequent recurrences of the same address show plainly that there was at that time a regular class of slavedealers. The humane Alexander I. pro hibited publicadvertisementsof th is kind, but he aid not put down the custom which they represented; and his successor, Nicholas, took no active measures for its repression. Thus until the commencement of the present reign—that is to say, until about twenty years ago—the practice was continued unaer a more or less disguised form. Middle-aged people have often told me that in their youth they knew proprietors who habitually caused young domestic serfs to be taught trades, in order afterward to sell them or let them out for Lire. It was from such proprieton that the theaters obtained a large number of their best actors. Very different was the position of the serfs properly so-called. They lived in villages, possessed houses and gardens of their own, tilled the communal land for their own benefit, enjoyed a certain amount of self-government, and were rarely sold exceptaspart of the estate. —lfdcAanzts WaUace't .Rtmfia.

The Properties of Light and Color.

Thk idea that everything can be added to light by passing it through colored transparent substances, or by reflecting it from colored surfaces,; is utterly erroneous, and proceeds simply from ignorance of the nature of light. It has been proved by Isaac Newton, and since his time by innumerable experiments of various kinds, that pure white light, such as comes from the sun to us, contains all the colors, as well as heat and chemical activity, and that they may be separated, or the light analyzed, by simply passing it through a prism of a transparent substance. The possibility of such a separation • has . been , understood only since the adoption of the vibratory theory, which also explains the nature of the caloric, luminous, colored and chemical rays. According to this theory, the vibrations, when at comparatively low velocity, manifest themselves as heat only; when the vibrations are rapid pnough to produce 450,000,000,000 waves per second, they become visible as red light; Five hundred billions produce the sensation of orange, 550,000,000,000 that of yellow, and so on through green, blue aad violet, the latter resulting from 850,000,000,000 of vibratings per second. Vibrations still more rapid are invisible to the human eye, but their existence is demonstrated by their chemieal action, in the same way aS the invisible vibrations below 450,C00,000,000 per second manifest themselves as heat only.

Densely transparent media retard the light, and this retardation will affect the rapid vibrations more than those of slower velocity; and under certain circumstances such media will cause light to be deflected 'from its course in such a way that the most rapid vibrations Will be most deflected and the slowest least. This is the principle of refraction, by which light can be separated into its caloric,'chemical and luminous rays of different colors. The refraction of light, permitting the examination of the colors Into which it has been split up, is the fundamental principle of the spetrosedpe, by which the Nature of various luminous and illuminated substances can be determined. The apparent colors of objects are caused by their reflecting rays of vibrations of certain velocities, and neither reflecting hor absorbing others; and the hues or transparent colored objects are similarly produced. They pass only certain rays, and absorb the others; ana the reflected or transmitted color is then called the color ot the object In order to perceive such a hue, it is essential that the light by which it is illuminated contains that color; and this is directly demonstrable by illuminating objects with light of one color, when objects of all other colors will appear black or gray. Buch a light can, for instance, be produced by burning alcohol in which common salt has been mixed; this produces a pure yellow flame, ana objects of whatever color, when seen by daylight, if illuminated by* Such* a flame, will Only show this color. Human faces, for instance, have in this light a ghastly, death-like appearance.

An ordinary ns, lamp, or candle light is not a pure white, being deficient in blue rays, and has an excess of red, orange and yellow; a white object cannot, by such a light, be distinguished from a yellow one; light bltae hannot be distinguished from green, and dark blue looks almost black. In regard to the nature of colored Objects, yrhethqr painted or dyed, and of transparent media, such as colored glass or liquid solutions, the analysis of their colors by means of the spectroscope shows that what we call simple colors are. in most cases complex. Only those colors are pure and simple which we obtain by the prismatic refraction, namely, the spectroscopic colors. The blue cobalt glass,, for instance, which is now called mazarin glass, is proved by the spectroscope not to owe fts violet shade to the very refrangible and chemically active violet ray# at the extreme end of the prismatic (spectrum; but on the contrary, this part of the spectrum is totally absent front light passed through blue glass. The special shade Of tile mazarin glass is caused by the fact that its blue is, tempered by a considerable quantity of the less refrangible red rays at the other or caloric extremity of the spectrum, and even with a trace, of orange. Its blue is, therefore, of less chemical activity than the prismatic blue, and of course in all its functions, such as heat, chemical action,

ete.', to far bUnw tM driglnal unchanged ‘"wJ hare gone Into the detail, of these rather elementary matter* for the purpose of expoalng the ignorance those who ’sssasax have used blue glass long ago. In order to moderate the intensitr« the U«M forth® photographer, who poaseee comuioa settle zgsatagtefii an impediment and the ndceemuy“Ame of exposure is rather extended, tar fta UM than dtherwise. Tt ls itrita*? that foch errors can prevail for yean, «ffien a rimsolar spectrum, to de the saore With U sensitized surface under a series of colored strips of glass. The writer of this artic e < did this more than thirty year* ago by the Daguerrean process, and satisfied himscj# about tha following points: 1. The chemical effect of the prismatic spectrum extends, fqr iodide of silver, from beyond the violet 1h the blue. 2. W hen bromine is used in connection with the iodine, it extends to within the green. While the yellow and red rays appear* to have .no effect on silver compounds, but may possess it for other substances. 8. In photographing pigments there is the utmost, diversity in th® results, according to the nature, of the pigment—much greater than the differences in shade leqd ,ps .tp expect. A> a general thing, the pure reds, orange and yellow, such ha are produced by vermilion and chromato* lesd. are photogfoptacally inert, and give blacks. The blues are the most active, most ’of all being ttltoaMZrlne, pext the lakes. But even the. red carmine takes well, as it has a violet shade; butwmbng tlte bluee, those bofderIna on green take least, and hence foliage tends to give dark efitects. which are only slightly corrected by using bbomihe. 4. In using ;as negatives stripe of colored glass to print in sunlight, muefi depends on thehhadh and intensity of the color. In general, jthq.chemical effect followwthu prismatic series from red to blue; but,the. most effective bide glass is always found to be far inferiors the sunlight alone, pure and simple. And this fact is sufficient to settle the question about the special vlrttiei claithea’fof Mae glass: it cannot possibly have any not already possessed by sunlight. However, If people,, ate indiiced by its pretended curative properties to take sun baths, which they otherwise might neglect, they may be oftefi benefited by the salubrious influence of the radiation of the mighty orb/an influence which cannpt sufficiently be »P----preefate d; "but the blue glass would probably get the credit which exclusively be-' longs to glorious old Sol.— American'.

The Practice vs. the Theory.

Stebbim was walking down town yesterday morning tor his health. Mr. McPeters was going up street to church. 4 9 . ff tfto,streetjßat below,, and McPeters. had been standing looking at ftp when l he started on Ms Way, therefore, he was on the outer pide of thewdMt, Just us be got under headway he met Stebbins on the same side of the walk coming down. . .. h They stopped, facipg each other. , McPeters had often laughed to see men meet apd both dodge the same way at the Mr. Styptojns W frequently -itamtoked still toe other fenow would turn out, and the parties pould pass without* , making themselves ridiculous. . They both had the presence of mind to think this grand’ truth at the same mo“Standstill," said McPeters to Mmself, * • and see how easy this trouble is overcome.” “As you are," murmured Stebbins, firmly, thinking how he Would brag bwre tigers, glaring at each other. t> Determine, tion was in the eye of McPeters. Pertinacity gleamed steadily from the orbs of Stebbins. It seemed a geoS while,but it was probably aoi mare than half a minute, When it occurred to McPeters that he was just as big a. fool for standing there waiting for Stebbins to move aside as he would be to move himself. • t - > • At the same instant it occurred to Stebbins that .there was more than one way to make himself ridiculous, and he would step arid A informing the family, When he got home, that the plan wouldn’t work. So Stebbins stepped to one side. So did McPeters. ? r < Stebbins hurriedly stepped-bgefc. ■?! McPeters was' there before.him. What do you m«m, sirP> said Btfcbbl^WlmrA>D^u I mean f" quoth McPeters, defiantly. 'i- > «’ 1 ‘•Well,now, turn out?’reMStebbins. “Trim out yourself,” said McPeters. “ I’ll be blamed if I do it agrin,” said asyou please, ’‘ responded “ I’ve turned out all Ttn going to.” “IPs. a- pretty how-dy’e-do u you’ve got to stdfiß msh on the street tbiSWiy," uw *•*"- You did," “Ididn’t do anything of the kind,” "You «d. sir." ’ 7 “ Kflm afrl” Stebbins is. a sensitive ,man, and bn wouldn’t Ihke this. He ran against McPetefrs, intending to walk over that unon Stebbins ksuled ofib aad gave Meresponded by striking eh* tvfltebblm’ who bad (tollreled holered «pfilce," and the MMfaomStreet Stattoh. Whett about lowed which resulted in the release at hereafter when this subject comes up for discussion, and fitebbijia, ft is safe tossy, did not discuss the absurdity cf such meetings with his usuri cheerfhlnsss at the family dinner-table yesterday.-* Chiiago Inter-Ocean. —Canada hre one J Judge who is a. tenccd his son.to, the Pen itentianr lor five out of the family Bible.