THE happiest life, says Dr. Lyman Abbott, is one which is largely concerned with the life of others; one in which a man's thoughts are taken away from himself and fastened upon the needs and interests of those about him. No man ever got out of his weakness or his sins by continually thinking about them; the only way to get out of them is to work out. No man ever saved himself by thinking; thought without action is futile and barren. A healthy nature finds itself so continually called upon to put forth its normal activities that it has very little time, and very small inclination, to sit down and give itself up to the intellectual luxury of going over its offenses.

DR. ANDREW WILSON, in his "Notes by the Way," in the current number of Health, thus discourses on the virtues of sunlight I have alluded before to the effect of light on the development of germ-life, and have shown that wherever plenty of light is allowed access to microbic growths, these living particles fail remarkably in their development. Light

is, therefore, a natural enemy of germ-life, and this fact should be kept in mind by everybody. Certain researches have of late confirmed the destructive influences of light on the vitality of microbes. Thus, various kinds of disease-germs were placed in water, both of sterilized and non-sterilized kind. The germs, it may be added, were such as flourish naturally in water-to wit, the typhoid bacillus, the cholera-spirillium of Koch, and others. The vessels containing water were divided

No. 5.

into two series; one vessel in each experiment was freely exposed to light, the other (similar in every respect as to its contents and conditions) was enveloped in blackened paper, so as to exclude the chance of any light gaining access to the fluid. It was found that in every case light was most destructive to the contained germs. In one case, it is reported, very many germs of a particular species were present in the water, which may, indeed, be described as having swarmed with them. After an hour's exposure to the direct rays of the sun, no germs were to be discovered in the water. In the neighboring and darkened flask, germs in the same period had slightly increased in amount. When the flasks were exposed to ordinary diffuse light, as distinguished from the direct rays of the sun, germ also underwent a marked decrease, although not in so complete a fashion as in the previous experiment.

life

SUPT. MAXWELL recently gave an informal talk before the members of the Brooklyn Institute on the best methods of teaching language in the schools. Concerning the study of grammar he said: "Let the children be taught to look first for the subject and predicate of the particular sentence they are studying. When they have got the idea conveyed by the subject and that conveyed by the predicate, the meaning of the sentence will have become clear in their minds. It is very foolish to waste much time in the minutia of analyzing. In many schools a senseless routine of parsing each word in a

sentence with great particularness and care is gone through every day. A year's work-probably the sixth year of a child's stay in school-ought to be sufficient to give young pupils an adequate knowledge of grammar."

He pointed out that two-thirds of the fine distinctions made in grammars between subjective and potential cases and the like are useless, and simply do not exist in English. Grammarians have made a mistake in drawing so many fine hair-lines, in introducing the complexity of Greek and Latin into our very simple forms and constructions. No "potential cases" exist in English, nor, for that matter, in any language. The speaker excluded it from the grammar he had written, and should continue to do so, even though he never sold another book. He concluded by advising the teachers to get their pupils to grasp ideas, and not memorize forms.

IF possible, have singing in your schools. We say this alike to Teachers and School Directors. The Messenger is right when it says: "Teach the child a song. Encourage the little ones to sing. Music lessens care and heartache. Often and often the words of a song, the sweet melody, linger in the heart after the voice is silent, and keep alive the courage which had almost died; anxiety and heart pain cause heart disease, and after that quickly comes death. Song sweetens toil, and it is imperative that parents and teachers should aim to increase this means of happiness for the children, if for no other reason than to strengthen their minds and hearts for the labors to be borne in mature years."

IT will surprise many persons to learn that being pleasant is often merely a matter of habit. It must be cultivated like every other good habit. It has its root in an unselfish desire for the happiness of others, not excluding one's own family. It will require a great effort at first to check the hasty words, to forego the profitless argument, to withhold the impertinent criticism, to speak the truth in love, but it is an effort that is well repaid by the results. Rudeness is never justifiable. It is sometimes necessary to reprove, to warn, to remonstrate, even to speak gravely and plainly of faults that should be corrected; all this can be done without encroaching in any way upon the courtesy that is due from one human be

ing to another. Well-bred persons are never rude; the chivalrous man, the refined woman, hesitate to hurt the feelings of any one with whom they are brought in contact. They treat them with the respect which they exact for themselves. There is no surer sign of a flippant, illregulated, narrow mind than a disregard for the rights of others. "Be courteous" is a divine command, as binding as "Be pitiful.”—Congregationalist.

THE men who have accomplished much in improving the world, and left their impress upon their age, were men of prayer. The following was the daily prayer of Dr. Arnold, the head of the famous Rugby school: "O Lord, 'I have a busy world around me; eye, ear, and thought will be needed for all my work to be done in this busy world. Now, ere I enter on it, I would commit eye, ear, and thought to thee. Do thou bless them, and keep their work thine, that as through thy natural laws my heart beats and my blood flows without any thought of mine, so my spiritual life may hold on its course at those times when my mind cannot conspicuously turn to thee to commit each particular thought to thy service. Hear my prayer, for my Redeemer's sake. Amen.'

ONE of the religious journals gives the following striking illustration of a sad fact: The process of hypnotizing a person is simple. Place before his eyes, and very close to them, some bright, glittering object (a gold or silver coin is often used), in such a way that he will constantly look up to it, and let him fix his attention on this to the exclusion of all other objects. He is soon ready to obey every command of the governing will of the manipulator. There are many who are thus "hypnotized" by looking at wealth. They see nothing else. They are "mesmerized, and it is useless to reason with them till the spell is broken by the power of Him who is "mighty to save."

EDUCATION, to be perfect, must consider man in his entirety, must call out the heart power as well as the intellect power, and educate the great religious element within, as real as either and partaking of both. taking of both. We must not omit the great fundamental principles of our existence, why we are made, for what object we are placed in this world, what is our future. The very philosophy of our be

ing, the principle which determines the value of all other knowledge, cannot be ignored in a thorough education. The great infinite Being who placed us on earth and our relation to Him, the source of all knowledge and all good, must find the supreme place in education.-Ryan.

A YOUNG man is greatly to be pitied who, in this day, in this country, imagines that he was born to be entertained, amused, envied, complimented, voted for, to succeed as this world rates success.' There is for a man one success, one only. It is where the man puts the energy of his will power beside the energy of the Almighty. Foxwell Buxton labored long years in Parliament for the emancipation of slaves in the British dominions, and his name is written high on the roll of England's great statesmen. General Gordon's unsurpassed bravery and military mastery would have made him famous, but there was more than that, and he was more than famous; he commanded, he led, he fought, he lived, he died, with God, and when his nation proclaimed a day for the honor of his name, the church bells of all England were tolled. Manhood a struggle? Yes, but what that is worth having is not worth a battle? Where is the supreme glory of humanity but in sacrifice? Where has the world built its monuments but for those who have suffered for its sake? Old age a regret? Oh, yes, there are failures enough, and none know it better than they who have done best. But what follower of the Crucified ever failed of this-to find that our shortcomings, when repented of, are transformed into stepping-stones to victory, and the going down of the sun into the dawn of an everlasting day.-Bishop Huntingdon.

A LEADING Catholic newspaper, the New York Tablet, lately contained a remarkably bold and clear article on the parochial school question, from which the following paragraphs are taken:

"The pretense of the enemies of our public schools that the school-room is a point of attack against the faith of Catholic children is preposterous, and is calculated to excite the indignation and resentment of non-Catholics who know it to be untrue. Neither is it true, as pretended, that there is any attempt made in the public schools to lead the young into indifference with regard to all religion,

which is sure to end in infidelity. How, it may be asked, can the teaching of reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, singing, and kindred branches taught in our public schools conduce to indifference to religion, or a loss of faith? Is there not quite as much danger incurred in learning any ordinary branch of business, or any of the mechanical trades?

"Children attending the public schools have, besides, Saturdays and Sundays, and the hours not spent in the schoolroom, which may be devoted to religious instruction, if those whose duty it is to impart such instruction perform it.

The separate education of the youth of the country tends to destroy the principle of homogeneity in our population, creates suspicion and distrust in its ranks, which is often perpetuated after the youth attains to manhood to the injury of the individual and the community.

"Nor should it be forgotten, in relation to this problem of education, that in the majority of localities parochial schools are an impossibility, owing to the fewness or poverty of the Catholic population, and that in no place are they equal to the public schools in efficiency. This is natural, as the state can furnish better equipment than can be secured by voluntary efforts. Hence, children educated in the public schools have an advantage over their rivals in beginning their life work, and can surmount its difficulties more readily.'

THE following is from the report that appears in the Public School Art League's exhibit at the World's Fair:

The walls of all school rooms should have some color; for I have often seen children immediately and permanently recover from a persistent recurring diseased condition of the eyes when removed from a schoolroom with white walls and sent elsewhere to school, or kept at home, where the walls were tinted. The principal color of the walls should be of an even tone, so that the amount of light reflected will be the same from all parts of the surface. Waving or clouded effects are very trying to sensitive eyes. Any color may be placed in its proper position with regard to its safety for schoolroom walls by remembering the general rule with regard to the sensitiveness of the eye to the colors of the spectrum, which is that the nearer the color to the red end of the spectrum, the more irritating it is

to the eyes; and the nearer the color is to the blue end of the spectrum, the easier it is to the eyes, with the single exception that the extreme violet rays are also irritating. From this it will be seen that red and all its derivatives should be rigidly excluded. Orange also is nearly as bad. Yellow should never be taken by preference, but may be justifiable in an otherwise dark and ill-lighted room. Greens and blues are absolutely safe colors, and it is not at all necessary that the colors should be pronounced; very pale shades are often as comfortable as dark ones, and give a lighter and more cheerful room."

ONE of the Cincinnati principals, in compliance with the Superintendent's request that the principals should state the qualifications of each teacher under their charge, made the following reply as to his best teacher: "She has a good conception of the true end of education and the methods by which her aim should be accomplished. She does not neglect morals to the exclusive development of intellect; she does not load the memory with details first and essentials afterwards; she does not close her eyes to the fact that training is of paramount importance in the acquirement of knowledge, and that the power derived from such acquirement of knowledge is of more consequence to true growth than the facts themselves. She appreciates that mental powers are of slow growth; that the brain, the organ of the mind, is variously active in different individuals; that cells are concerned in all physical action; that cell activity produces waste and necessitates repair; that excessive and abnormal cell stimulation, caused by overtaxing methods, does positive and lasting injury to the welfare of the individual, thwarting the harmonious development and precluding the attainment of happiness."

IN an address which he delivered during the last General Convention in Baltimore to the students of Johns Hopkins University, Rev. Phillips Brooks spoke substantially these words: "In trying to win a man to a better life, show him not the evil but the nobleness of his nature. Lead him to enthusiastic contemplations of humanity in its perfection, and when he asks: Why, if this is so, do not I have this life? then project on the background of his enthusiasm his own life. Say to him: Because you are a liar, because

you blind your soul with licentiousness, shame is born-but not a shame of despair. It is soon changed to joy. Christianity becomes an opportunity, a high privilege, the means of attaining to the most exalted ideal-and the only means. Herein must lie all real power; herein lay Christ's power, that he appreciated the beauty and richness of humanity, that it is very near the Infinite, very near to God. These two facts-we are the children of God, and God is our Fathermake us look differently at our neighbors, very differently at God. We should be surprised, not at our good deeds, but at our bad ones. We should expect good as more likely to occur than evil; we should believe that our best moments are our truest. I was once talking with an acquaintance, about whose religious position I knew nothing, and he expressed a very hopeful opinion in regard to a matter about which I was myself very doubtful. Why,' I said to him, 'you are an optimist. 'Of course I am an optimist,' he replied, because I am a Christian. I felt that as a reproof. The Christian must be an optimist.

IN speaking of Eastern life at the World's Fair, Harper's Bazar says: "One need not go to the East to-day to see the picturesque life of the Moslem. He need only buy a ticket to Chicago. There, in precise reproduction, he gazes, for instance, on the street life of Cairo, the bunched-up and loose-flowing garments that have not changed their styles since Abraham rode under desert palms, and Isaac alighted from his camel to meet Rebecca. The slow-moving camels, the donkey boys, the venders of fruit, and the shop-keepers in the doors of their dingy bazars, are to be seen in our White City of Enchantment just as if they had stepped bodily out of a scene in the "Arabian Nights." Here is the Egyptian juggler with his mystery and his cunning sleight of hand, which our clumsy Occidental wizards simulate in vain, their tricks being open as the day in comparison with his. This caravan denotes the arrival of pilgrims from Mecca. They have made the sacred journey in hope of gaining heaven's pardon for their sins and setting a goodly sum to the credit side of their account with the next world. That there is a wonderful fascination for Occidentals in these scenes of life and costume from Oriental lands, brought down from the