MANKIND AS SEEN BY A CYCLIST.

MR. JOHN FOSTER FRASER, having rolled round the world on his machine, so far as seas permit, has now arrived in the sober and dignified pages of the Contemporary Review. His "impressions of a world-wanderer" make a very clever and racy bit of satire. There is just enough good humour and moral anger to save the satire from sinking into cynicism.

THE ANGLO-INDIAN CASTE.

What he reports is certainly far from raising one's view of the English-speaking man over sea. He is especially hard on the Anglo-Indian

Social stilt-walking is only pursued as an art in India. Yet it is not artistic. I fancy it must be disagreeable, and that is why, after a limited study of the Anglo-Indian, I give thanks to heaven that there is no room for me to be ambitious. I saw different kinds of stilts in India. The military stilts are tall and unbending. The civil stilts are not so tall, but are very jealous of the military stilts. Then there are the common stilts, made by folks commercially engaged, rather rickety, and the cause of many a fall. If ever I go to India it will have to be as Viceroy or Commander-in Chief of the Forces.

As a casual looker-on the impression I got in India was that everybody was anxious to dazzle every one else with his own magnificent dignity. So the rambling Philistine like myself may be pardoned the snigger that flutters in the sleeve. There is no cohesion among Englishmen in India except caste cohesion. The Britisher abroad is an arrogant person and the arrogance of the Anglo-Indian is stupendous. As I am a Britisher, I suppose I am arrogant, and I daresay if I were a well-trained Anglo-Indian my arrogance would be insufferable.

66 REMARKS ABOUT NIGGERS BEFORE A HINDU. Hindus are not necessarily vulgar animals. I believe some of them have English degrees and may be said to be more cultured than a good many of their English rulers. Some of them I would even call gentlemen. But I have heard subalterns deliberately make objectionable remarks about niggers in a Hindu's presence. Then I have heard wonder expressed that the natives of India do not love the British.

CONCUBINE VERSUS WIFE.

He tells of a Hindu lawyer, highly educated and a philanthropist, who married the daughter of a well-known public man in London. His wife was "cut" by the English in India. He touches on another phase of the same question :

In India and Burma, more especially in Burma, many an official is well known to keep one or two native girls as concubines. There is no hiding the fact; no attempt is made to keep it secret; his chief's wife knows perfectly well all about the ménage. Never a door is closed to him. He dines out, flirts with young English girls from home, maybe marries one of them. All is in strict order. But let him fall in love with a native woman, honourably, sincerely. Let him be so foolish as to marry her instead of making her his concubine-what happens? Go to Burma, particularly, and find out. Is not every door slammed in his face, and his name wiped from every visiting list? Why?

THE EURASIAN PROBLEM.

Mr. Fraser predicts that the Eurasian population, rapidly increasing as it is, will one day prove a serious problem for the statesman. Be the Eurasian possessed of never so much English blood, husband even of an English wife, he is refused the name of Englishman :--

He may be fair of countenance; yet he is called a nigger, and his children will be called niggers. He finds himself the pariah of India. Sneered at, called to his face "a damned half-breed," given low wages because of his birth, he feels the iron heel of caste driven savagely into his soul.

66 THE TREATY PORT WOMAN."

Of the English folk at the treaty ports in China the "world wanderer" has a very low opinion. Their passion

is social distinction. The men are leisurely, not to say idle, in business. But "the treaty port woman is at the bottom of the mischief. "She affects the airs of a marchioness," and her extravagance corresponds :—

I have been in many countries and among many peoples, but the treaty port resident-full of warm and genial hospitality though he or she may be-is the most flippant, trashy, and ill-read person in the world. 66 EARTH'S SUPREMEST SNOB." The reader is now ready for Mr. Fraser's generalisation :

The Englishman, when he gets away from his own shores, is inclined to develop with an extraordinary rapidity into the earth's supremest snob. It's a sad confession. Our overbearing manner on the Continent has passed into a proverb. We seem to have been suckled on national egotism. And the bad side of that egotism comes out more particularly when we have to deal with Eastern nations. The mere fact of coming in contact with natives deteriorates the man, and especially the woman, and they cloak themselves in a robe of wooden dignity that would be ridiculous in England.

AMERICAN FEELING TOWARDS ENGLAND.

The cyclist seems to find kindred traits in our American kin. He declares that neither in the Eastern nor in the Pacific States, but in the Middle West, do you find the American, "such as we think we know him-the pushing, loud-tongued, boastful, illiterate, buy-you-up American" :

The citizen of the Republic, speaking of him in the mass, does not love the Englishman. Here in London we hear much about the Anglo-American alliance, an alliance fcunded on kinship, religion, like sympathies. But the American-not the statesman, nor the writer in the newspapers, but the average ordinary sort of man who goes to make up nine out of every ten persons you meet in the streets-has his views. I talked with hundreds of men right across the States. The general idea was this: "Yes, it would be a good thing for you English, but we've got nothing to gain. We can take care of ourselves and you can't. You want our help. As we are at war with Spain the English are taking advantage of the moment to force an alliance. You know we are the principal nation on the face of this earth; we lick you in everything; we've licked you in war; and you want to keep on the best side of us." This is the way the ordinary American regards any arrangement to diplomatically bind the two countries together. It is nothing but an endeavour on the part of crumbling and decrepit England to seek shelter under the arm of Uncle Sam.

One hears much about the alertness of the American commerical man; but he is not nearly so alert as our own commercial man and he falls far short of him in shrewdness. The reason the American seems more successful is that he makes a greater noise over it; instead of calculation he is given to bluff, and above all he is a gambler. Fortunes are built up in England. In America they are won at the hazard.

PEERS AND A KING AT WASHINGTON !

The writer has no mercy on the standing American inconsistency of ridiculing aristocracy and yet grovelling before any and every aristocrat :

A poor Persian girl never grovelled more dumfoundedly under the smile of a Shah than Chicago grov.lled in the reflected glory of one of her daughters being the wife of an English peer appointed to rule over the Indian Empire.

Mr. Fraser hazards a prophecy :

I do hope to read in a Chicago paper, ere I have finished my little strut in the world, that America has a House of Peers of its own, and that the Earl of Milwaukee and the Marquis of Wabash have been staying at Blackpool, and honoured Mrs. Jones by taking afternoon tea. Nay-and in no frivolity I say it-I should not be surprised if, some day, Americans went begging to the European Courts asking for some prince to be spared whom they can place upon a throne on the Capitol steps at Washington, encircle his brow with a crown of gold, and grow hoarse with shouting "Long live the King!"

:

THE PRESS AS THE PATH TO PUBLIC OFFICE. TRUMAN DE WEESE, of the editorial staff of the Chicago Times-Herald, writes in the December Forum on "Journalism its Rewards and its Opportunities." He strongly opposes the idea that his profession offers no career for educated young men desiring an independent old age. He argues that journalism, open to anybody, cannot be compared with callings like medicine, law, the pulpit, which require special technical preparation.

NO QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED.

The contrast he draws seems to suggest an opinion that similar safeguards might be exacted from would-be pressmen :

The State imposes no conditions of scholastic attainment or technical knowledge upon the practice of journalism. The man who assumes the responsibility of moulding public opinion, of measuring the capacities of men, of discussing the problems of statecraft, science, society, or religion, recognises no statutory restraints except the law of libel,-and even this can safely be disregarded in many States by journalists of no financial responsibility. The State requires no certification of moral or mental equipment for the practice of a profession which is capable of doing more harm to society and the State than any other calling in the whole wide range of human endeavour. A newspaper writer is not required, as a safeguard against poisoning or polluting the body politic, to graduate as a Doctor of Journalism.

A STEPPING-STONE TO BETTER-PAID CALLINGS

The career of the journalist is not to be judged by the stipend he can command :

Certainly no sane man enters journalism expecting to acquire a competency through the salary which he may command. The salary of the managing editor of the largest daily paper in America will not enable him to acquire property or provide against the future to any considerable extent. The same is tru of nearly all other salaried positions. The possibilities of such a profession must not be measured by the contents of the payenvelope. In my opinion, the most attractive fields of profitable usefulness opened up by the pursuit of journalism are politics and the business of publishing.

JOURNALISM A SCHOOLING IN POLITICS.

The profession of journalism requires extended knowledge of politics and familiarity with the theory and practice of government. The successful journalist must of necessity be a constant student of national issues and party politics. He need not abandon the profession of journalism to enter a public service for which years of study and training have pre-eminently fitted him. Politics and journalism go together; they are inseparable. ... As a matter of fact, the average journalist is better fitted for the public service than the representative of any other profession.

PRESSMEN AS STATESMEN IN FRANCE

Journalists are, the writer shows, taking an increasing share in the prizes of office :

Nearly every Frenchman eminent in civil life since the Revolution began his career by writing for the press. Thiers, Guizot, and Gambetta were among the more notable French journalists who achieved distinction in politics.

-AND IN THE UNITED STATES.

The process has been less marked in America, but, says the writer :

the Administration of President Harrison brought into the Federal service a larger number of trained and accomplished journalists than any previous Administration; and the Administration of President McKinley has evidenced an equally generous recognition. . . . Although the present Administration is not yet two years old, the number of journalists drafted into executive, diplomatic, and consular positions is already large. Among them I recall the following: Charles Emory Smith, Postmaster

General; Perry S. Heath, First Assistant Postmaster-General; J. L. Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General; Frank H. Vanderlip, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; George E. Roberts, Director of the Mint; J. E. Wilkie, Chief of Secret Service; Wilbur F. Wakeman, Appraiser, New York; John K. Gowdy, Consul-General, Paris; Col. Chas. Page Bryan, Minister to Brazil. . . . John Hay, Secretary of State; Henry A. Castle, Auditor, Post-Office Department; and William Penn Nixon, Collector of the Port of Chicago.

IN THE HUMBLER OFFICES.

I have no means at hand of ascertaining the number of Journalists and newspaper writers who have been appointed postmasters under the present Administration; but the First Assistant Postmaster-General estimates that there are from three to five thousand. In second- and third-class offices, at least onehalf of the postmasters are newspaper men. After an experience of more than twenty-seven years in the newspaper business, and after having closely watched through twenty years of his life (about fifteen of which were spent at the national capital) the careers of many journalists, Mr. Perry S. Heath, the present First Assistant Postmaster-General, gives it as his opinion that "no man can rise higher through any channel than through the channels of journalism."

The writer mentions a great number of Congressmen who rose to their present positions through journalism.

PERSONALITY ON THE PRESS.

Passing to the second career most open to the journalist -that of publisher-the writer denies the common contention that literary service on the press disqualifies for success in the commercial branches. "The man who ¡ writes should assert himself," as the ego of the con

cern:

We need a renaissance of the old-time journalism, which was the clarion voice of vigorous personality. Impersonalism means irresponsible journalism. Irresponsible newspaper writing means decadence of power and the gradual decline of a profession that should be paramount in its range of influence over all human endeavour. Every editorial and every article in a newspaper should be signed by the writer.

The writer ends his paper thus:

We must survey the opportunities and rewards of journalism from a higher point of view than the weekly pay-roll. In the scope of its activities; in the expanse of its field of political attainment; in the richness of those compensations that come from a realisation of the power to exalt virtue, to uncover hypocrisy, to expose fraud, to redress wrong, to promote justice, to encourage high thinking, and to touch humanity in all its impulses, aspirations, and achievements, the profession of journalism is incomparable among the vocations of men.

THE GOSPEL OF CHEERFULNESS.

EVANGELIST: MAX O'RELL.

THE first of what we hope may be a series of "Studies in Cheerfulness" is contributed by Max O'Rell to the December number of the North American Review. He begins :

In our family life, in France, we preach a delightful philosophy. We preach the gospel, the duty, of cheerfulness.

He laments that this gospel is not usually taught in England. Anglo-Saxons find life very serious and often very sad. He goes on :

The world has never been improved by scoldings. Josh Billings and Artemus Ward have been greater benefactors of mankind than Thomas Carlyle.

To us French the world is not at all sad. We preach moderation, calmness, and toleration in order that we may be cheerful.... If there is something which is bound to strike the foreigner who pays France a visit, it is the cheerfulness written on the faces of the people. There is, pervading the whole country, an air of contentment and happiness that comes from the satisfaction of aims that are attainable because they are not too high. Most Frenchmen work to secure the comforts of life, material and intellectual. When they have attained that object, they knock off work and take life easy. Very few indeed run after wealth; practically none do outside of Paris. The race after wealth, with its suppression of any more desires, kills cheerfulness.

Thanks to their artistic temperament, the French are able always to look at the bright side of things and see their beauty.

Away, they cry. away with the man who is not cheerful, who is not grateful to God that he is allowed to breathe the perfume of flowers, to enjoy the hallowed joy of a pure woman's love, to hear the prattle of children, the sounds of Beethoven's symphonies, to set his eyes on Raphael's pictures, to contemplate the glorious beauty of nature. The world is full of joy, full of beauty, and we want the great thinkers to make us discover it.

"WE TAKE OUR WOMEN EVERYWHERE."

One of the secrets of French happiness is the domestic ascendency of woman. Perhaps with an implied fling at Comte's domestic trinity, Max O'Rell declares that the Frenchman" easy-going, good-tempered man "-has been, is, or is going to be "under the government of three generations of women "-mother, wife, daughter"and he enjoys every one of them." "He is master in all the great questions of life, but his conduct in all the details of everyday life is on the principle of the rule of three." Club-life has thus no roots in French life. "We take our women everywhere." The writer rejoices that in French cities they can be taken everywhere. "Our streets are clean, attractive, cheerful." He can take his ladies for a stroll after theatre in the streets of Paris or New York. But "in London . . . I have to see that the carriage is brought right opposite the door, that I may quickly push my ladies inside and take them home like criminals, to spare them a minute's sight of the London West End nights." The writer declares, on the testimony of a manager, that the really low places of " gay Paris" would have to shut up shop but for their English and American patrons. Such places are noted for their lack of French cheerfulness :

We take our pleasures gaily . . . On Sundays, the masses of the French people throng to hear good music under the trees of our public gardens, or crowd the museums to behold the

66 THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD." The writer generalises freely :

The more nations I make the acquaintance of, the more deeply confirmed I get in this conviction, that the Frenchman, with all his faults and shortcomings, is the happiest man in the world. .. It is among the masses in France that, after all, I find the greatest amount of happiness. The Frenchman is a cheerful philosopher. He knows best of all how to live and enjoy life. Moderate in all his habits, he partakes of all the good things that Nature has placed at his disposal without ever making a fool of himself. He understands temperance in the true acceptation of the word, which means, not total abstinence, but moderation. When you say that a country has a temperate climate, you do not mean that it has no climate at all; you mean that it has a climate which is neither too hot nor too cold. We have no teetotalers, because we practically have no drunkards.

THE FRENCH WORKING MAN.

The Frenchman is badly governed; he is a bad politician, and a worse Republican; but, if he can envy the public life of most European nations, they, in turn, can envy his private life. The French working man goes to the theatre and can be heard humming operatic airs; he knows every picture that is to be found in the Louvre Museum; he is an artist, who can impart to his work that artistic feeling which is the result of several generations that have beheld the national works of art and have learned, not only that they are beautiful, but why they are beautiful.

The masses of the French people live well and enjoy luxuries that are unknown to the corresponding classes in England, in spite of their Free-trade.

HAPPINESS AND BUSINESS.

The Frenchman will never allow even business to interfere with his happiness. His comfort, and that of his wife and family, are his first consideration. Money-making is not for him an end, but only the means to an end, comfort and happiness.

Max O'Rell effectively contrasts two pictures: a young Chicago man, possessed of twenty millions, a palace of a home, a beautiful wife, and "the loveliest little girl" for daughter, who had no time to tell the child stories, and died of a disease "that starts from the top of the head and takes from two to three years to kill you in a lunatic asylum," and a prosperous French hatter in St. Malo who could not serve the writer with what he wanted until, first, he had finished dinner; second, had been to his club; and third, had ended his game at dominoes; whereat Max O'Rell was delighted. "This man has solved the great problem, the only problem of lifehappiness." This lively homily on cheerfulness concludes:

Be cheerful, spend your life in returning thanks that you are alive. Rejoice, be happy, make as many people happy as you Live well, and live long. You will never have another

can. chance.

THE Australian girl-" a Daughter of Greater Britain" --is sketched by Mrs. Campbell Praed in the Girl's Realm. The chief fault found with our town-sisters at the Antipodes is their over-eagerness to ape the manners and fashions of the home country. The Australian appears to best advantage as "Girl of the Bush," who however far in the Wilds is herself, active, fearless, capable, yet with a knack of refinement. Marie Belloc sketches the Queen's favourite grandchild-Princess Eva of Battenberg.

NEW AND EASY CURE FOR CONSUMPTION. MR. JAMES ARTHUR GIBSON contributes to the Nineteenth Century "a personal experience" of "the open-air cure of consumption." In 1895 he had completely broken down, eighteen months later he was pronounced by two doctors to be suffering from acute phthisis. After three months' milk diet in Ireland, he went to Nordrach, in the Black Forest, where the new treatment is followed, and spent three and a half months there. He returned home quite cured, having increased his weight from 9 st. 12 lbs. to 12 st. 8 lbs., and his chest measurement by 6 inches. He has been three years at work since, and is better now than when he returned. Mr. Gibson next gives a rough outline of the treatment as carried out by Dr. Otto Walther, and to a great extent originated and perfected by him, at Nordrach, in the Baden Black Forest, Germany.

PLENTY OF FOOD.

Of Dr. Walther's treatment the principal features are three :

(1) Over-feeding-Dr. Walther holds that there can be no cure without weight-gaining. He . . . stuffs his patients to their utmost capacity. It is amazing the amount one can eat when forced to it-twice or three times as much as one would feel inclined to eat. There is no harshness used, but somehow the Doctor is able to make every one eat the amount necessary. The food is of ordinary kind. . . . Every one gains weight... This over-feeding causes no ill effects. As the weight increases, the patient begins to feel more fit. . . . The cough leaves him after the first few weeks. . . . The meals are at long intervals and there are no snacks allowed between whiles. Breakfast at eight, dinner at one, and supper at seven o'clock. .. No medicines are ever given.

PLENTY OF REST.

(2) Regulation of the amount of exertion and rest.-Dr. Walther gives great attention to this matter of regulating the amount of exertion, for he says that more consumptives kill themselves by doing too much than in any other way. Each patient has to take his temperature, by the rectum, four times every day, and to note it on a chart. The Doctor visits him three times a day, and can tell at a glance from the temperature chart if the patient is doing as he ought, and instructs him accordingly: whether he is to be in bed, to lie on his couch, to sit outside, or to go a long or a short walk.

PLENTY OF FRESH AIR.

(3) Pure air--From the moment of arrival until leaving Nordrach the patient never breathes one breath of any but the purest air, as Nordrach is in the Black Forest, at an elevation of 1,500 feet, surrounded by trees, and a long way off from a town or even a village. The casement windows of the sanatoria are kept wide open day and night, winter and summer, and in some instances the windows are taken completely out of the frames. Thus it is practically an out-door life the patient lives continuously. There is therefore no danger of chills on going out in any kind of weather or at any hour, as the temperature within and without is equal.

Food, rest, air: these homely remedies have sent back "hopeless consumptives" so stalwart as hardly to be recognised by their friends.

QUITE FEASIBLE IN THIS COUNTRY. There is no peculiar charm in the Nordrach air. The writer says:—

I asked Dr. Walther if he thought his system could be carried on with hope of success in this country. He said that it could be worked here quite as well as at Nordrach, or as in the balmiest clime; that all that was required was a place where pure air was to be had, situated well away from a town, at a fair elevation, and the man to see that the system was properly carried out. I am now convinced that this is perfectly true. Absolutely nothing else is needed. . . . And this is the crux of

the whole matter. It is possible to cure here, on the spot, almost all the people of this country who are ill of phthisis. Why, then, are sanatoria not erected at once to cure the hundreds of thousands of those who are ill, and who have not the meanto go abroad-hundreds of thousands who are as certainly doomed to death as if they were already under the sod, if som such steps be not at once taken?

Dr. Walther will take no more than forty to fifty patients, feeling it impossible to overlook more.

stances.

FRENCH WOMEN AS CO-OPERATORS.

In the first December number of the Revue des Deur Mondes M. d'Haussonville has an interesting paper or the economic position of women and the various methods of improving it. M. d'Haussonville notes that workingwomen make far less noise in the world than workingmen, and he drily attributes that to the fact that th former are not electors. In some ways it is surprising. in view of the well-known independence and self-reliance of the average Frenchwoman, to find that co-operation has made such great strides, but M. d'Haussonville does not think so, for he excuses the much greater proportion of men in the French Co-operative Societies by the plea that the wages of the women are generally se low; certainly 418,227 women, as compared with 114.758 men, is not a bad proportion, considering the circumM. d'Haussonville explains that French Co operative Societies are divided into three classes: first, those of recognised public utility (a very small number; secondly, societies approved by the Minister of the | Interior; thirdly, the societies authorised by the Prefect of Police in Paris, or the Prefects of the Depart ments in the country. Of these three he deals only with the second class; in this class there are 5,326 societies composed entirely of men, 2,143 composed of men and women, and 227 composed of women alone. The cock and hen societies include 133,425 women, while the exclusively hen societies number 29.993, making a total of 163,418 women co-operators in the societies approved by the Minister of the Interior. M. d'Haussonville further limits his inquiry to these 227 exclusively feminine societies, because he wishes to study the phenomenon of mutual aid among women free from the disturbing element of the other sex. These 227 societies subscribed in the year 1895 a total of over £15,400 sterling; their expenses amounted to about £17,800 for medical aid, sick pay, funeral expenses, and so on. The deficit is a serious matter; it is of course covered by charity, and by the gifts and subscriptions of honorary members. Of course this is a very excellent form of charity, but those who desire the economic inde pendence of women would undoubtedly much prefer that these mutual unions of self-help should be really selfsupporting. M. d'Haussonville shows that the proportion of honorary members is greater in the case of exclusively feminine societies than it is in the case of mixed societies. In the former the proportion is 36 honorary members to 138 participating members, while in the latter the proportion is 29 to 136. M. d'Haussonville goes on to deal with three or four particular societies, into whose affairs it is not necessary to follow him. As regards the general question of independence of those unions for working-women he frankly avers that the acceptance of charity is essential, and he even encourages the subscriptions of the benevolent, in order that the unions may establish clubs and systems of lending money without interest for the benefit of their members.

THE NEW

CATECHISM.

AN ECCLESIASTICAL PORTENT.

WHAT he declares to be "one of the most wonderful and far-reaching facts of the wonderful century now hasting to its close" is heralded by the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes in the Contemporary Review. This is a "little catechism" consisting of fifty-two questions and answers one of each for every week in the year-prepared by a committee of the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches of England and Wales-a committee of which Mr. Hughes was both permanent chairman and secretary. Rev. Dr. Dykes was the draftsman.

WHOM THE COMPILERS REPRESENT.

66

From the list of members given by Mr. Hughes, it appears that the Committee consisted of twenty persons, of whom two were laymen (though both professional theologians). Of the twenty, five were Congregationalists, five Wesleyans, three Baptists, two Primitive Methodists, two Presbyterians, one New Connexion Methodist, one Bible Christian, one United Free Methodist. These men were not appointed by their own communions, but by the committee of the Free Church Council. They acted on their own personal responsibility." But, says Mr. Hughes :We represent the substantial beliefs of the majority of those who profess the Christian faith in the United Kingdom, of the great majority of the British Empire, of the overwhelming majority in the English-speaking world. On the lowest calculation we are the kinsmen and the spokesmen of not less than 80,000,000 of Evangelical Christians, almost all of whom are citizens of the most progressive and powerful nations in the modern world.

SAMPLE ANSWERS.

66

The Catechism in which Mr. Hughes seems to see a genuine Formula of Concord, falls into five sections, following (1) the Nicene Creed, (2) the ten Commandments, which are given “a careful Christian interpretation," (3) the Lord's prayer, (4) the doctrine of the Church and of (5) the "last things." A few of the questions and answers cited by Mr. Hughes may be given here :The first question and answer are: "What is the Christian religion?" "It is the religion founded by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has brought to us the full knowledge of God and of Eternal Life." This question strikes the keynote of the New Catechism. We begin, not with metaphysical abstractions, but with the Incarnate Christ; and our object is to discuss, not a verbal creed, but a living religion.

In our fundamental definition of God we have taken care to say that "He is Love," thus removing one of the greatest blemishes in the Catechisms of the past.

When we pray "Thy Kingdom come," we pray "that the Gospel may spread and prevail in all the world, till the power of evil is overthrown and Jesus reigns in every heart and governs cvery relation of human life."

Question: "What is the Holy Catholic Church?" Answer: "It is that Holy Society of believers in Christ Jesus which He founded, of which He is the only Head, and in which he dwells by His Spirit; so that, though made up of many communions, organised in various modes, and scattered throughout the world, it is yet One in Him.”

Question: "For what ends did our Lord found IIis Church?" Answer: "He united His people into this visible brotherhood for the worship of God and the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments; for mutual edification, the administration of discipline, and the advancement of His Kingdom."

Question: "What is the essential mark of a true branch of the Catholic Church?"

Answer: 66 'The essential mark of a true branch of the Catholic Church is the presence of Christ, through His indwelling Spirit, manifested in holy life and fellowship.'

We found a formula of peace in the statement that the Sacrament of Baptism signifies "the washing away of sin and the new birth wrought by the Holy Ghost in all who repent and believe.'

THOMAS CARLYLE AT FAMILY WORSHIP. THOMAS CARLYLE is much to the fore in the January Century. His "Dramatic Portrayal of Character" is the theme of Miss Florence Hotchkiss's prize essay in the Century's college competition; and the paper does the lady and her college-Vassar-great credit. Mr. John Patrick writes on "The Carlyles in Scotland," and illustrates his paper with photographs taken by himself of Thomas at Kirkcaldy in 1874.

"GET ME A PIPE AND AN EMPTY ROOM." Two stories of the great man may be quoted. First comes one which has been variously told :

A professor, nominally related, at least, to the host of St. Brycedale, Kirkcaldy, was rattling off his day's peregrinations he had breakfasted at St. Andrews, dined in Aberdeen, "And now," he added with gusto, "I am sitting at supper in St. Brycedale with the great Thomas Carlyle." The storm burst. "For God's sake!" roared the sage to his niece, "get me a pipe and an empty room!"

HE WOULD READ A CHAPTER.

Next is a picture of the sage at family prayers at the house of a friend in Kirkcaldy :

one or

The host, Provost Swan, an old pupil of Carlyle when he was school-mastering in Kirkcaldy, was proud of his distinguished visitors, and made them feel at home in his mansion. Untainted and untried in his faith, he kept up, bachelor though he was, the nightly practice of family worship; or "the readin',” as it was then best known in the vernacular of the people. Oftener than once he had asked his illustrious guest to conduct the ceremony. Carlyle was always in need of a smoke at such times, and so generally withdrew to his own rocm. One evening, however, when the conversation was quiet and genial, and two other friends were present, the provost once more pleaded with Carlyle to lead the service. He would rather be excused, but the kindly pressure and earnestness of his host made him volunteer to read a chapter to the company. The big Bible was soon on the table before him. He opened it and turned to the Book of Job. Carlyle was always an excellent reader, and his firm and sonorous voice soon filled the room. All present were deeply interested, and the provost was charmed at the idea of such a great man conducting family worship in his house, so he quietly touched the bell-the bell calling the scrvants to evening prayers. Soon they appeared in the doorway with their Bibles in their hands. Carlyle looked up and stared as if he had seen an apparition, and gave a strangely scowling murmur, fancying, perhaps, that he had been inveigled into a position he hated.

AN AWE-INSPIRING "LESSON."

Again, however, he resumed reading with greater apparent willingness than ever; he was warming with his subject. Verse after verse he continued to roll off. The company were puzzled, not apprehending whether the reader was treating them to a travesty or had become so absorbed in the subject-matter before him that he could not stop. Still he went on reading. Chapter third, in which Job curses the day of his birth, was reached. Carlyle's voice became stronger, more effective, terrible; and more than one of the company began to wonder if this were not the veritable Job himself come to earth again. The aweinspiring voice rolled on, and in tones, too, that will live in at least one memory while it lasts. Rapt attention was still giv.n to the reader, who was now in the sixth chapter.

HOW THE SPELL WAS BROKEN.

"God

Job is still crying aloud in his despair, and in the sixth verse he asks, "Is there any taste in the white of an egg?" bless me!" exclaimed Carlyle, "I did not know that was here!" The spell was broken. Most of the company were vainly endeavouring to conceal a smile or muzzle a laugh. Miss Aitken took in the situation at a glance."Uncle," said she, gently tapping his arm, "the company is waiting." In a moment he closed the Bible with both hands and an emphatic smack, then rose and retired to his own room.