later modifications which will, we think, be found material improvements. Of its working success the teacher's experiments must be the final test; but from an examination, we do not see how it can fail to be a help in advance of any thing we have seen for the learner. It is well done up by the publishers. Principles of Domestic Science; as applied to the Duties and Pleasures of Home. A Text-Book for the use of Young Ladies in Schools, Seminaries, and Colleges. By CATHARINE E. BEECHER and HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, 12mo., pp. 390. New York: J. B. Ford & Co. 1870. This volume has the Beecher smack. It abounds with original suggestions on practical topics within its range, and is imbued with the best spirit of Christian philanthropy. Literature and Fiction. Songs of Life. A Collection of Poems. By EDWARD HARTLEY DEWART. 16mo., pp. 256. Toronto: Dudley & Burns. 1869. Mr. Dewart is the present able editor of the " Canada Christian Guardian," the organ of the Wesleyan Conference, and has given a new zest and value to that paper. He is favorably known to our readers as a too unfrequent contributor to our Quarterly. He has heretofore published a fine volume of selections from the poets of Canada, noticed with high commendation in a former Quarterly. That volume contained a number of his own poems, indicating that he was a genuine producer as well as an accomplished introducer. In his modest preface Mr. Dewart says: "Many who have uo capacity to enjoy the elaborate and involved sentences, remote and learned allusions, and 'deep inwoven harmonies' which delight those who have cultivated their taste, and adjusted their admiration to that standard, may, nevertheless, feel the power of a simple, earnest lyric, which conveys to the heart some truth never so deeply felt before." Many of the poems are in truth what he thus aims at, pleasing and graceful lyrics, expressing actual feelings awakened by surrounding events and objects. In casy, spirited versification, flexible command of language, and effective imagery, he attains all he attempts. The pieces are classified as Songs of the World Without; Songs of the World Within; Songs of the Home and Heart; National and Patriotic Pieces; Miscellaneous. Among these we are specially attracted by the patriotic pieces, in which Canada is in vested with the hue of the poetic. The poet admits the absence of chivalric and historic charms; the non-existence of storied monuments; but then behold the "forests," "lakes as blue and vast as heaven above," "green and towering hills," and Cataracts sublime Where God unvails his majesty- That strikes the ear of Time. The "Quebec Gazette " thus airily commences its spirited Centenary Song as the oldest of Canadian journals: Like the harbinger star that glimmers afar And heralds the rosy morn, A spirit of light, in the darksome night For a hundred years, amid hopes and fears, I have breasted both wind and tide. The poet greets the arrival of the eloquent William Morley Punshon in stanzas like this: Welcome! from the dear old land Mr. Dewart is correct in rejoicing over the fact that he is a Briton-he might have been a Kamschatkan or a Frenchman! But then, on the other hand, he might have been a Yankee! his failure to become which, we think he should bewail in a few notes of tuneful pathos. A Battle of the Books. Recorded by an Unknown Writer for the Use of Authors and Publishers: to the first for doctrine, to the second for reproof, to both for correction and for instruction in righteousness. Edited and published by GAIL HAMILTON. 12mo., pp. 288. Cambridge Riverside Press. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1870. Received from Hurd & Houghton too late for examination. We do not know what this queer book would be at; but as it is by Gail Hamilton, we have not the least doubt that it is a piece of mischief. The Southern Methodist Press. Periodicals. We, some years since, read a passage of a speech by the celebrated Edmund Burke against La Fayette, whom he abhorred, to this effect: His conduct toward us during our American war I can overlook; otherwise war would be perpetual." And David, we know, pronounced death upon the man who shed the blood of war in time of peace. More fierce than the Hebrew warrior, less humane than the British Statesman, Bishop Marvin of the Church South indorses a book, published in Missouri, that rakes up in the most bitter style the ravages of civil war, saying, "I have met some who say, 'Let the past sleep; let all crimes, and the bad blood engendered by them, be buried for ever.' I have not so learned Christ." Bishop Marvin appears well qualified for the position of Chaplain General for the Ku Klux. While they assassinate he can preach to match. President Grant is reported as about to send troops into Tennessee to suppress their outrages; but we doubt whether there is a guiltier foe to public peace, or a truer assassin in spirit, in all their hordes, than this same Bishop Marvin. No thanks to men like him if war be not perpetual. But nearly the entire Southern Methodist press has been pitched to nearly the same key-note ever since the proposal of reunion made at St. Louis by our Bishops. The response of the Southern Bishops has given the cue, and the Editors seem to write under a concerted panic lest their people should listen to the voice of Christian peace. They rail at "that notorious Commission; " attribute all proposals of reunion to "greed," to "love of our property." The fact that proposals came from our Bishops previous to the next General Conference is treated as 66 struggling for a position," that is, as seeking for a recognition by the Church South while avoiding a manly self-committal by our General Conference to a proposal liable to rejection. Our own statement of the advantages of a nation-wide circulation of ministry is treated as a desire to get possession of the best Southern charges, with an assurance that Southern preachers want not to preach to radical congregations. We cannot recall, in our entire reading of the Southern papers since the first year after the rebellion, either one hearty realization of the blessedness of an undivided nationality, or one cordial wish for either reunion or fraternization of the two Methodisms. The only ultimatum from that side now is, that nothing will be accepted but a square proposition from our General Conference. And we are obliged to add that this ultimatum is propounded in so uninviting, exacting, and dictatorial a style, accompanied by such displays of utter hate and hatefulness, that until a change for the better takes place, self-respect forbids our uttering a syllable farther of either reunion or fraternization. Until that change, we dismiss both words from our vocabulary. For this permanence of the bitter and divisive spirit they, not we, are responsible, and boldly and intentionaly responsible. If feud be ceaseless, and war return with returning Southern strength, the leaders of the Church South will bear a prime responsibility. Nor is there a doubt that the true sub-soil to all their hate is political. The Church South is being based on the old rebel stratum, is becoming intrenched in the old sectional prejudice that bred the war. Says the rebel General Hill, quoted in the (Methodist) Nashville "Home Journal," "We confess a warm feeling for our Methodist brethren. They made such splendid rebels! How grandly their soldiers fought, and how earnestly their chaplains prayed! We knew the latter class full well, and among them the venerable and kindly face of the Rev. J. B. M'Ferrin looms up." We repeat that the whole force of our Church should, in view of this fierce spirit, and in behalf of national peace, unity, and safety, be gathered into the great work of diffusing Southern education, to planting schools, Churches, and periodicals, and to spreading an unsectional Methodism over the South. And this in no hostility to any Southern Church, but with perfect readiness, rather, to unite in sympathy with any Southerners who exhibit the spirit of Christ, and even to encourage them to a similar nationalization by diffusion over the North. Pamphlets. Third Annual Report of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Cincinnati Western Methodist Book Concern. 8vo., pp. 20. 1869. First in importance among our missionary fields is the colored South. As Bishop Thomson beautifully remarks in his anniversary speech, the guilt of the North in her maintenance of slavery requires her not to leave the burden of the freedman's education exclusively upon the South. It is the duty of the North to carry on this work in a truly Christian spirit toward all concerned, and to co-operate as fraternally as possible, with all other laborers in the same field. Our object should be to benefit the freedman first, and then all other public interests, both South and North, religious and educational. Rightly conducted, their success would not tend to the disintegration of any great Protestant denomination, but to the increased success and moral strength of all. All hostility between different co-laborers arises, we believe, for want of a sufficient degree of the true spirit of Christ. The education of the Colored South is a matter of vital national interest. The negro is to be a voter, and it behooves all parties upon whose destinies his vote will tell to see that he gives an intelligent vote. The true course is not his disfranchisement, but his education. Give the people all the intelligence possible, and then all the power possible. The report furnishes, on the whole, a very favorable view. The good already done is great; the good yet to be done is immeasurable. Miscellaneous. Health by Good Living. By W. W. HALL, M. D., Editor of Hall's Journal of Health. 12mo., pp. 277. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1870. One of the many manual guides to health and long life by right living. They are the efforts of high civilization, to prevent and repair the evils to man's physical system which high civilization produces. Life of James Hamilton, D. D., F. L. S. By WILLIAM ARNOT. 12mo., pp. 600. 1870. We receive these two noble Scotchmen from the Carters too late to do them justice. The one the great preacher and writer, the other the missionary, they were men of shining mark. Household Stories. From the German of MADAME OTTILIE WILDERMUTH. By ELEANOR KIMMONT. Series 1. Blue and gilt. Illustrated. 16mo., pp. 307. Cincinnati: Hitchcock & Walden. 1870. A beautiful series of witching German legends. The Ministry in Galilee. By Rev. WILLIAM HANNA. 12mo., pp. 360. New York: Carter & Brothers. One of the series of Dr. Hanna's able Biography of Jesus. Home Life: How to make Home Happy. Five Illustrations. 16mo., pp. 205. The Questions of the Hour: The Bible and the School Fund. By RUFUS W. CLARK, Agnes Morton's Trial, and the Young Governess. By Mrs. EMMA N. JANVIER. Red |