or our own. They were undoubtedly well versed in the Jewish Scriptures, containing the history, poetry, and moral wisdom of their country. They had drank deeper than most of their age, priest or rabbi, of the spirit, if not also of the letter, of those wonderful classics-Moses and the prophets. To be versant in them implied, though fishermen, the knowledge of the Hebrew, then a dead language, or of the Greek of the Septuagint translation, implying therefore the knowledge of one, if not two languages, besides Aramaic, the spoken language of Palestine. Can we call that man illiterate that speaks one language, and has acquired one or two besides, and that not for purposes of trade only or chiefly, but to gain access to its literary treasures? Their knowledge of Greek, in which the Gospels have come down to us, however acquired, is a fact implying that they were "lettered" even in the modern sense, and implying a culture that may well rescue them from the imputation of being unable to appreciate the interest attaching to the record of the birth year and day of Christ. The truth is, the evangelists, in relation to their times and country, were illiterate only in the sense of being unskilled in that rabbinical learning in vogue in Jerusalem-an ignorance blessed to them, to us, to all ages-which enabled them to read and interpret, as rabbies could not do, Moses and the prophets; and made them the most pure and perfect medium of transmitting the teachings of a greater than Moses. We have talked of the evangelists being illiterate, because by trade fishermen, and because Pharisees and rabbies said so; but no man can calmly consider these facts, or read those discourses which John has recorded, without feeling that men who could appreciate those sayings of Christ which have exercised, and still exercise, some of the highest minds of our race in exploring their depths of thought, could not be intellectually unequal, or indifferent to, the record of the nativity of him whom they make known as the light and life of the world. The name fishermen expresses their social, but not their intellectual position. To what class of fishermen on our shores shall we compare a John or a Peter? Fishermen that knew, when they wrote the Gospels, two living and one dead language, and wrote in Greek; fishermen familiar with the sacred classics of their country from their earliest years; fishermen that frequented every Sabbath day the synagogue of their native village, and were accustomed in the schools of Moses and the prophets to take not a mere passive, but an active part as speakers and questioners. The apostles of our Lord were probably some of the best specimens of the Jewish common people, quickened into intellectual and moral life above the common people of every other ancient nation, by the Sabbath and the synagogue; the foremost men in the synagogues of Capernaum and Bethsaida; inquirers into the meaning of types and ceremonies, and of ancient prophecy; and waiters for the coming of Him whom they saw foreshadowed in all Jewish things, answering and asking questions about all such matters, and not unaccustomed to speak their minds. Just because they were more awake and alive to all these things, these fishermen attached themselves first to the Baptist when he announced the Messiah. At least three, out of the twelve apostles, were disciples of the forerunner, and followed John till shown by him-the Christ. Illiterate, therefore, they were not, save in the eyes of Jewish rabbies, whose light was as darkness, and whose literature was only perverted knowledge. Notes and Queries. OLD WORDS WITH NEW MEANINGS.-The "wight" of the old mythology was a spirit of some intelligence, but, under the new dispensation, the word is generally used in a contemptuous sense. The ladies have inherited a still more forcible and more unpleasant word, "hoyden." We all know what rollicking awkwardness is implied in that word, as having reference to ladies only. At one time the word was appropriately applied to heavily-skittish gentlemen also. "Hoyden" is merely a form of heathen, and the heathens were the rude dwellers on the heath, whose civility was coarse and whose vivacity was ponderous. From a similar rustic origin we have the word "pagan," also applicable to male and female, as were many other disagreeable words, which wicked and ungallant men, who make the laws of speech, now employ only in reference to the exceedingly-illused ladies. Such was the term "shrew," which, in old days, distinguished the worst of men as well as the sharpest tongued of women; and such also was the word "termagant," with this difference, that it "would now be applied only to females of fierce temper and ungoverned tongue, but that formerly to male and female alike, and predominantly to the first." The word "miscreant" may be cited to exemplify the curious fact of the settled conviction entertained by men, that to believe wrongly is to live wrongly At first "miscreant " was a mecreyant, an unbelie and it might have been inoffensively applied to the most moral of men, whose religious belief, did not coincide with our own. So zealous, however, and so charitable are we toward those who are not of ear own household of faith, that we too often look upon them as morally depraved, and that is exactly the sense in which the innocent word is now employed. A change of a different sort has attended the word "silly." We derive it from the German selig—that is, "blessed." Subsequently it served to distinguish the innocent or harmless; later it pointed to the weakly foolish; and this change has been traced to a deep conviction of men, that he who departs from evil will make himself a prey, and that "none will be a match for the world's evil who is not himself evil." On the other hand, terms which had a reproving sense in them once, are erms of someth g like commendation now. Take, as an instance, "shrewd "Is he shrewd and u t in his dealings with others?" asks South in one of his sermons. In Wickliff's Bible iniquitas is rendered by "shrewdness;" and to "flee shrewdness" is Chaucer's reading of the prophet's injunction to turn away from evil. Thus it is seen that the shrewd fellows would do well to look to it, lest the cleverness registered in their world ledger be booked iniquity in the record kept elsewhere.-Athenæum. ster's definition is too limited, but quite correct so far as it goes.-English Notes and Queries. WHICH IS THE WEAKER SEX?-Females are called the weaker sex, but why? If they are not strong, who is? When men must wrap themselves in thick garments, and incase the whole in a stout overcoat to shut out the cold, women in thin silk dresses, with neck and shoulders bare, or nearly so, say they are perfectly comfortable! When men wear waterproof boots over woolen hose, and incase the whole in India-rubber to keep them from freezing, women wear thin silk hose and cloth shoes, and pretend not to feel the cold! When men cover their heads with furs, and then complain of the severity of the weather, women half cover their heads with straw bonnets, and ride twenty miles in an open sleigh, facing a cold north-wester, and pretend not to suffer at all. They can sit, too, by men who smell of rum and to UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE.-Have those who, admitting the unity of the human race, yet deny that climate, mode of life, and other purely-natural agents are sufficient to account for existing differences, ever shown or tried to show, when, where, and why Providence for all such persons must assume a miraculous interposition-interposed to create the distinction? And if the distinctions came about naturally, is it philosophically necessary to admit that, if causes precisely the opposite of those which effected the differences could be brought to act on the diverse sorts of men, they would all begin to lose their peculiari-bacco-smoke enough to poison the whole house, and ties and finally become like each other? J. P. L. THE RED SEA PASSAGE.-Is there any Scriptural or other evidence for believing that Pharaoh was himself drowned in the Red Sea at the same time that his hosts were overthrown? My impression is that there is not. Can any of your correspondents point out the proof of Pharaoh's personal destruction? M. QUOTATION POINTS.-These marks were not first used by M. Gillemont, but by M. Guillemets, and by the latter name they are called in France. M. B. J. DIFFER.-What is the proper preposition to be used after the word "differ?" This word is susceptible of various definitions; when it means distinct, various or dissimilar in nature, condition, or form, it should be followed by from, as, a statue differs from a picture. When its import is, not to accord, to be of contrary opinion, in is the appropriate preposition, and with is correct when used in the sense of contend, | to be at variance, as, I differ with you in sentiment. M. B. J. TOTE. This word is not exclusively applied to the af carrying, in the southern part of the United States. I have frequently heard a negro inquire, • Shall I tote this horse to the water?" Although it is now almost always regarded as a negroism, I think it had another origin, and was brought by the first English settlers in America from the old country. Chaucer, I think, uses the word to signify a summing up, the ascertaining a total amount, etc.; and I have frequently heard in Lincolnshire the phrase, "come, tote it up, and tell me what it comes to." I think, with your correspondent, Mr. Myers, that the word is derived from the Latin tollo, "to take away, to lift up, or to raise." There is also the Anglo-Saxon verb totian, "to lift up, to elevate." (See Bosworth's A.-S. and Engl. Dict., p. 226.) The definitions attached to these two words include all the applications which I have heard the word tote receive in the United States. The law term tolt, "a removal; a taking away," is evidently derived from the Latin tollo, and has the same maning as the word toto. Mr. Web ་ ་ ་『 not appear more annoyed than though they were a bundle of roses. Year after year they can bear abuses of all sorts from drunken husbands, as though their strength was made of iron. And then is not woman's mental strength greater than man's? Can she not endure suffering that would bow the stoutest man to the earth? Call not woman the weaker ves sel; for had she not been stronger than man the race would long since have been extinct. Hers is a state of endurance which man could not bear. OWE-OUGHT.-Very ugly words these, as now used, especially the former. That ugliness, in these "hard times," is intensified. Originally, however, the verb to owe conveyed all the sweet sensations of assured possession. It signified-what to own is now employed to signify-"to have a property in." Thus in old Chapman's translation of Homer's Hymn to Pan: "Who yet is lean and loveless, and doth owe By lot, all loftiest mountains crown'd with snow.' ALGEBRAIC PROBLEM.-Given, the two equations x+y=12, and x2=y3; to find the values of x and y. P. M. MINOR QUERIES.—Giving the Mitten.-Some querista gentleman, we take it-wishes to know why ladies "set their caps." Will he tell us how it is that we sometimes say, "She gave him the mitten?" M. B. J. The Jerseys. Whence originated the colloquial expression, "The Jersey," or The Jerseys, to designate the state of New Jersey; and why do the papers speak of our American Union as the United States and New Jersey? In the Methodist Discipline the Bishops' address to the members of the Church contains this colloquialism, and I have noticed it frequently even in other serious composition. Its historical origin is required. W. Soul.-What is the true signification of the word "soul?" We often use it in various senses; but do F. L. S. they all have the same general import? Mathematical Query.-If the diameter of a circle be thirty, what is the length of a chord which will cut off one-third of the area of the circle? J. W. H. Children's HOW TO TRAIN CHILDREN.-It is a natural and pardonable vanity for parents to wish their children to be intelligent and presentable, on family festivals, and for the inspection of friends and acquaintances. But when, to foster this innocent vanity, they keep their little ones always prim and tidy, like a new bonnet in its band-box, and cram their tender minds with all kinds of book knowledge, it is a grievous wrong, which sooner or later will yield baneful fruit. Precocious children almost uniformly die young, or grow into very commonplace adults, and it is from the healthy, wild, and almost ungovernable ranks of the nursery that a brilliant future may be predicted. The following advice from Blackwood's Magazine is worth reading in every family circle: How I have heard you, Eusebius, pity the poor children! I remember you looking at a group of them, and reflecting, "For of such is the kingdom of heaven," and turning away thoughtfully and saying, "Of such is the kingdom of trade." A child of three years of age! What should a child three years old-nay, five or six years old-be taught? Strong meats for weak digestions make not bodily strength. Let there be nursery tales and nursery rhymes. I would say to every parent, especially to every mother, sing to your children; tell them pleasant stories; if in the country be not too careful lest they get a little dirt upon their hands and clothes; earth is very much akin to us all, and in children's out-of-door play soils them not inwardly. There is a kind of consanguinity between all creatures; by it we touch upon the common sympathy of our first substance, and beget a kindness for our poor relations, the brutes. Let children have free, open-air sport, and fear not though they make acquaintance with the pigs, the donkey, and the chickens, they may form worse friendships with wiser-looking ones; encourage familiarity with all that love to court them; dumb animals love children, and children love them. Above all things make them loving, then they will be gentle and obedient; and then also, parents, if you become old and poor, these will be better than friends that will never neglect you. Children brought up lovingly at your knees will never shut their door upon you, and point where they would have you go. A CHILD'S FAITH.-We know not as we have ever seen a more beautiful illustration of the simple and unhesitating faith of childhood than the following: In the highlands of Scotland there is a mountain gorge twenty feet in width and two hundred feet in depth. Its perpendicular walls are bare of vegetation, save in their crevices, in which grow numerous wild flowers of rare beauty. Desirous of obtaining specimens of these mountain beauties, some scientific tourist once offered a highland boy a handsome gift if he would consent to be lowered down the cliff by a rope, and would gather a little basket full of them. The boy looked wistfully at the money, for his parents were poor; but when he gazed at the yawning chasm he shuddered, shrunk back, and declined. But filial love was strong within him, and after another glance at the gifts and at the terriblo fissure, his heart grew strong, and his eyes flashed, and he said: "I will go, if my father will hold the rope." And then, with unshrinking nerves, cheek unblanched, and heart firmly strong, he suffered his father to put the rope about him, lower him into the wild abyss, and to suspend him there while he filled his little basket with the coveted Corner. flowers. It was a daring deed, but his faith in the strength of his father's arm, and the love of his father's heart, gave him courage and power to perform it. LESSON OF DUTY FROM A CHILD. The following genuine narrative we commend to any Christian mother who has been tempted to neglect the morning and evening sacrifice at the family altar: One morning had passed without family prayers and I was not at ease. My heart had not grown cold; it was burning with the love of God; but in my extreme timidity I had, in the absence of my husband, omitted this duty, because my father was with us. I knew that in traveling about he had wandered from Christ, and though I recollected bowing, when a child, about the domestic altar, yet my mother had died and the altar was broken down. With much trembling I omitted our usual family worship. The next morning, when breakfast was over, my little daughter came with a Bible in her hand and said, "Grandpa, we always have prayers, night and morning, when papa is gone; will you read?" "Do you pray, Minnie?" he asked. "Yes, sir, I pray; but I meant family prayers." "Well, dear, you read a chapter and let mamma pray this time." In a clear voice she read aloud an appropriate chapter and we kneeled in prayer. After rising from her knees she took her slate and pencil and sat quietly down, and as the peace that follows duty performed flowed into my sonl, I could not help exclaiming to myself, "Blessed child, a lesson hast thou taught me! May I never forget it! May I never lack thy simple faith and thy unfaltering courage! Come here, my bairnie, Come here to me: Rosy-cheeked apples You shall have three. All full of honey They dropped from the treeLike your bonny self, All the sweeter that they 're wee. Come here, my bairnie, Nor shake your fair head; You are like my own bairn, Long-long dead. Ah! for lack of nourishment He dropped from the treeLike your bonny self, All the sweeter he was wee! O! old, frail folk Are like old fruit-trees; They can not stand the gnarl Of the cold winter breeze. But Heaven takes the fruit, Though earth forsake the tree: And we mourn our fairy blossoms, All the sweeter that they 're wee. Come here, my bairnie, Come here to me; Rosy-cheeked apples You shall have three. All so full of honey They dropped from the tree Like your bonny self, All the sweeter they are wee. THE LITTLE SHOVEL, OR PERSEVERANCE.-We have selected the following because it teaches little girls and boys how much even little hands may accomplish by perseverance: A poor woman had a supply of coal laid at her door by a charitable neighbor. A small girl came out with a fire shovel and began to take up a shovelful at a time and carry it into the cellar. A friend said to the child, "Do you expect to get all that coal in with that little shovel?" The child answered, "Yes, sir, if I work long enough." Now, little boys and girls, no matter how small your "shovel " is, only "work long enough" and you will conquer. SAYINGS AND DOINGS OF THE LITTLE ONES.-Few things are more difficult to transmit, in their native purity, to paper, than the sayings of the little ones. They drop with artless unconsciousness from rosy lips, and sparkle and glow like dew-drops in the morning sun. But the attempt to gather them is too often like the attempt to gather dew-drops-they run to water. Now and then, however, we find one of native purity and simplicity. God's Cars.-One evening, not long since, little Branch C. stood in the door with his mother watching the white, fleecy clouds as they were swiftly driven before the wind, sometimes for an instant half-concealing the crescent moon with their wavy wreaths of snow, and sometimes their pure folds were gemmed with brilliant stars as they moved majestically onward on the viewless pinions of air. A glow of enthusiasm lighted up his almost infantile face as he watched their rapid and graceful motion, and he eagerly exclaimed, "Ma, are the clouds God's cars? does he ride on them?" CELESTIA. Reading on the Plate.-One of our neighbors has a little boy of four years old who manifests the instinct of childhood in an unusual degree. Curiosity is but the first faint feeler of the soul, reaching out in its primitive strivings to comprehend the strange mysteries of earth, air, and intellect. Little Elliot G. one day went with his mother to make a visit. When they were seated at the tea-table, the lady of the house "asked a blessing" before eating. This was all new to him, and he did not understand the meaning of this simple act of devotion; so he looked on silently with wonderful gravity till she had finished, then he looked up in her face with a puzzled air and said, "Have you got through reading on your plate? Did you read all was on it? I should n't think you could see with your eyes shut up." C. R. C. Got the Chicken Salad.-Little Charlie, who was sitting in the room where his sister Clara lay sick, heard the doctor tell his mamma that Clara had the chicken-pox. For some time after the doctor left Charlie looked rather dubiously toward his mamma, and at length said inquiringly, "Mamma, Clara 's got the chicken salad," and then appeared quite satisfied that he had obtained the true secret of his sister's sickness. G. How the Stars are Made.-Our little Anna Hall was looking at the stars one beautiful, clear night. After watching them thoughtfully a long time, she came running to her sister say. ing, "I know what makes the stars! I know! I know!” "What?" asked the sister. "God takes a stick and makes holes all through the sky and lets the light shine down out of heaven. That makes the stars." O. H. B. Wayside Gleanings. THE GARDEN AND ITS LESSONS.-The spring has opened with all its beauty. We would say to our friends, scattered through all our agricultural districts, do not forget the garden. While your broad acres are made to teem with the promise of a harvest that is to enrich the purse, lay the garden under tribute for the enrichment of the head and the heart as well as the purse: The garden is a bound volume of agricultural life written in poetry. In it the farmer and his family set the great industries of the plow, spade, and hoe in rhyme. Every flower or fruit-bearing tree is a green syllable after the graceful type and course of Eden. Every bed of flowers is an acrostic to nature, written in the illustrated capitals of her own alphabet. Every bed of beets, celery, savory roots or bulbs, is a page of blank verse, full of belles-lettres of agriculture. The farmer may be seen in his garden. It contains the synopsis of his character. The barometer hung by his door will indicate certain facts about the weather, but the garden lying on the sunny side of the house marks with greater precision the degree of mind and heart-culture he has reached. It will embody and reflect his taste, the bent and bias of his perception of grace and beauty. In it he holds up the mirror of his inner life to all who pass; and with an observant eye they see all the features of his intellectual being in it. In that choice rood of earth he records his progress in mental cultivation and professional experience. In it he marks, by some intelligent sign, his scientific and successful economies in the corn-field. In it you may see the germs of his reading, and can almost tell the number and nature of his books. In it he will reproduce the seeds thought has culled from the printed pages of his library. In it he will post an answer whether he has any taste for reading at all. Many a nominal farmer's house has been passed by the book agent without a call, because he saw a blunt, gruff negative to the question in the door or yard. THE MODERN YOUNG LADY.-Some one-perhaps a crusty old bachelor-has furnished us a pen-portrait of a modern young lady. We give it place, but hope none of our young lady readers sat for the drawing: 'T is ten o'clock, A. M. Slowly she rises from her couch, the while yawning, for being compelled to rise so "horrid early." Languidly she gains her feet, and O! what a vision of human perfection appears before us! Skinny, bony, sickly, hipless, thigh less, formless, hairless, teethless. What a radiant belle! What an ideal beauty! What an inspiration for an aspiring poet! What a model for a sculptor! What a tempting bait for some hopeless bach! The ceremony of enrobing commences. In goes the dentist's naturalization efforts; next the witching curls are fastened to her "classically-molded head." Then the womanly proportions are properly adjusted; hoops, bustles, etc., follow in succession; then a profuse quantity of whitewash, together with a "permanent rose tinge," is applied to her sallow complexion; and lastly the "killing" wrapper is arranged on her symmetrical and matchless form. The modern young lady is complete. But this is not all. The modern young lady is accomplished. She is talented. She can entertain an army of masculines. She is well versed in literary topics. Praises Milton, because she knows it's safe. Never speaks of Byron-thinks he is immodest. Knows there is a number in Greek called dual, a tense called aorist, and a grammatical verb called tupto. She converses in French, can make "killing eyes," and say "je pensi a toi." She can thump immoderately on the piano; can scream up to E flat pure, head voice; can carry her chestnotes down to F. She sings any quantity of those "sweet little things of Madame Stockhausen's, but always has an awful cold." She "launches into the world of fashion;" considers herself quite a belle; falls in love with a pair of mustaches; thinks said mustaches are the "sweetest she ever saw;" mustaches is flattered by her smiles; thinks her vastly entertaining and asks "Pa;""Pa" consents, and the twain are made one. Mustaches rejoices in the effigy of his painted squaw, and modern young lady finds too late that it takes a fool to win a fool. TELLING FORTUNES.-The marvelous in our nature has a strong proclivity for fortune-telling, or, rather, for having fortunes told. The practice is not indicative of highly-developed intellect, nor is it morally commendable. But there is a kind of fortune-telling which may be safely and usefully practiced. We will simply give the data, and let our young readers look around and judge for themselves what kind of a fortune-teller we are: To begin with the young. When we see a child obedient to his or her parents or teachers, or any one else toward whom the subordinate relation has become necessary, we have no hesitation in predicting that good fortune will accompany such a child into early manhood or womanhood, and insure a fair start in adult life. If the case be that of a young woman, who is respectful toward her parents, affectionate to her brothers and sisters, benevolent in her disposition, attentive to the cultivation of her mind and habits, not vain, nor selfish, nor foolish, we may safely foretell usefulness and happiness in life. Such a one will remain unmarried rather than accept a poor husband; and should it be her fortune to become that terror of all sap-heads, whether of the male or female genders, "an old maid," we will not abate one jot from our prediction. If the case be that of an honest, energetic young man, who has successfully advanced from the position of apprentice and journeyman into that of a master mechanic or boss, we can tell his fortune without much difficulty. So with regard to those who have chosen a profession as the means of livelihood. Let us see how they conduct their business. If they do this intelligently, industriously, and honestly at the start, they will be very apt to continue to do so, and success will be sure in the long run. Unprincipled men in the same line may get ahead of them at the beginning, but they will fare best in the end, and so illustrate the truth of the maxim that honesty is the best policy. We will confess that we are no fortune-teller if it does not so turn out. VALUE OF GUMPTION.-Save us, Webster! Yes, Webster saves us in the use of that word, which was certainly coined no where else than in Yankee-land. Mr. Willis, in the pleasant sketches written some years since for the New York Mirror, thus illustrates the value of "gumption:" I was amused, a few days since, with a contrast between two who were working for the same wages-worth describing, because it illustrates some truth-the difference between the common American mind and the common European. We were prepared to throw our bridge across Idlewild brook. A quite little, narrow-shouldered American, with my horse hitched to a drag, was drawing stone for the road-way beyond, and a broad-shouldered fellow from the old country was digging earth to fill in. As I stood looking on for a moment I saw a thrifty little cedar, which was partly uprooted, and requesting the digger to set it upright and shovel some dirt around it, I walked on. Returning a few minutes after, I saw my cedar, erect enough, but its roots still ex posed. "Why did n't you cover it with dirt?" I asked. "Sure, sir," said sturdy Great Britain, with a look of most honest regret that he had not been able to oblige me, “you told me to shovel it, and I had no shovel." He was working with a spade! It was not ten minutes after this that I saw my little Yankee dollar-a-day unhitching the horse from the drag. "What are you going to do?" I asked. "Why, there is no more stone to be got on this side," he said, "and that the carpenter do n't seem to be coming along to fix this bridge. I thought I'd step over and get What's-his-name's oxen and snake them timbers up, and then haul 'em across with a block and tackle, and timber over, and put on the planks. I could draw stone from the other side then." Here was a quiet proposal to do what I looked forward to as quite a problem, even for a professed mechanic. I had bespoken a carpenter for the job three weeks before. There stood the two abutments six feet high and twenty-five feet apart, and a stream swollen by the freshet and hardly fordable on horseback rushing between; and how those four immovable timbers, thirty feet long, were to be got across, without machinery and scaffold to span this chasm of twenty-five feet, I was not engineer enough to see. It was among the "chores that a man with common gumption could do easy enough," however, as my little friend said, and it was done the next morning, with block and tackle, rollers and levers--he going about it as naturally and handily as if he had been a bridge-builder by profession. There being no higher price for day-labor with his amount of "gumption" and day-labor such as the other man's, who could not conceive how a spade might be used for a shovel, shows how common ingenuity is in our country, and how characteristic of a Yankee it is to know no obstacle. THE CONCEIT TAKEN OUT OF A COXCOMB.-We saw the conceit taken out of a coxcomb the other day in a manner which we may not repeat lest we be thought personal; but it reminded us of a good story told of Talleyrand: A young coxcomb had been putting on airs in the presence of the statesman and wit. At length he exclaimed with a swaggering vanity and in a tone that attracted the whole company, "My mother was renowned for her beauty. She was certainly the handsomest woman I have ever seen." "Ah!" said Talleyrand, surveying him keenly from head to feet, as though taking his measure, "it was your father, then, who was not good looking!" A LITTLE ABSENT-MINDED.-The latest instance of absent-mindedness that has come to our notice is the following. The author, we trust, will not be offended at our use of his note, but will enjoy the joke as well as the rest of our readers: Dear Sir,-Will you procure for me and forward by express a copy of Alford's Greek Testament? Send the bill and I will remit the amount immediately. I am in great haste for Truly yours, it. P. S. Since I wrote the above I have found a copy in our village bookstore. So I will not trouble you. PROHIBITED DEGREES.-The following jeu d'esprit is a fine hit upon the present relations of Napoleon III to the Italian states: As befits a Knight companion The nephew of his uncle Casts sheep's eyes upon his Nice. But if this close attachment To a tie he dares to draw, Let him beware lest Europe Invoke the Canon Law. 1 The Imperial Idea All must desire to please, But such a union is within "Prohibited degrees." |