The recent discussion in regard to drunkenness in Congress has brought out the fact that, whatever need there may be for further improvement, the evil of intemperance is much less than a few years ago. An interesting letter appeared in the Boston Transcript from a member of the House, calling attention to the flagrant drunkenness of fifty years ago, which, though so great, scarcely attracted any comment. Writes the author: "The fuss that is made over a transient and doubtful lapse into intemperance on the part of three or four members is a very high tribute to the general sobriety of this Congress. Since the close of the War for the Union drunkenness has become, for the first time in the history of the human race, thoroughly disreputable, not only in Congress, but in all public bodies and in society everywhere." He adds this testimony: "It must be obvious to all careful observers in Washington that every Congress has been more sober and better behaved than its predecessors. Of the wisdom of the Fifty-second Congress it does not become me to speak; but probably not one has contained so many total abstainers from spirituous liquors since the republic began."

The Boston Herald some weeks ago in an editorial mentioned Dr. E. E. Hale as favoring Dr. Rainsford's scheme for encouraging respectable saloons and the sale of light wines. This was certainly a mistake, as any one who will read Dr. Hale's article in Lend a Hand relating to this question can see for himself. Dr. Hale there expresses sympathy with the general purpose of Dr. Rainsford, and even wishes that his scheme might secure the desired end. "But," he says, "I have no hope of such success. Moreover, Dr. Hale goes on to show that the experience of England is against the probability of success, and the whole drift of his argument is plainly for total abstinence and against any endeavor to establish light-wine saloons.

In the death of Rev. W. W. Hayward of Medfield the cause of total abstinence among Unitarians loses one of its stanchest supporters. He was a man whom we all honored and were glad to meet. He was ever ready to speak a loyal word and to do a loyal deed. He was enthusiastic in his temperance work, and exerted a strong influence for good citizenship and true manhood. We shall miss his hearty greeting and words of cheer.

The following is from the temperance platform adopted by the Methodists in May, 1892. We give it as calling attention again to what is a great need for effective temperance work; namely, an authoritative investigation of the subject by a national commission.

"While commending the United States Senate for its action in the premises, we

condemn the Lower House of our national Congress for its repeated refusal to pass the bills providing for the appointment of a national commission of inquiry to investigate and report upon the influence of the liquor traffic upon the material and moral welfare of the country.' ""

Concerning the inexcusable neglect of Congress in this important matter William C. Gannett writes in a letter to the president of the Unitarian Temperance Society:

"Congress investigates chinch-bugs, grasshoppers, Homestead strikes, etc., but will not touch the liquor barons' industry! The presidential contests turn on protection or free trade, and the whole amount of a year's customs is a little over $200,000,000. The liquor traffic costs the consumers' pockets $1,000,000,000 annually, and the public hundreds of millions more in harm and waste, and Congress will not even inquire into the question!" Mr. Gannett urges the Unitarian Temperance Society to make this matter its special mission for the immediate future, in co-operation with other temperance organizations. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, head of the National Bureau of Labor Statistics, proposed the same problem to the society some years ago; and at one of its public meetings a resolution was passed calling for Congressional action. There is no hope, however, in mere resolutions. Public opinion must express itself in some more definite way, and so emphatically as to command the respectful attention of our national representatives. It is to be hoped the Unitarian Temperance Society will see the way clear to some effective action. C. R. ELIOT.

LITERARY NOTES.

Very choice and beautiful are the selections of poetry and prose with which Mrs. Katherine Paine Sutton has filled her little book, "Leaves of Healing," recently published by the American Unitarian Association. Her chapters are entitled Life's Victories, Death's Ministry, Immortality, The Family on Earth and in Heaven, Eternal Goodness, The Father's Will, Aspiration, The Perfect Trust. We do not know how a volume could be more full of comfort and inspiration.

Rev. A. D. Mayo has been giving a series of lectures at the hall at the Boston Young Men's Christian Union on "Five Representative States (Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and California)," and another on "Three Makers of American Life (Columbus, Washington, and Lincoln)." It is hardly necessary to say that the lectures have been very able, instructive, and entertaining.

Rev. A. N. Somers of La Porte, Ind., has an attractive list of subjects for lectures,

แ

and will be glad to fill engagements at very reasonable rates. His lectures on "The Mythology of the American Indians" and "Legends in the Sunny South" command great interest.

The editor of the London Christian Life, in an article on the recent reception given to Edward Everett Hale by the Unitarians of that city, says: "It was a piece of interesting news to us, what Dr. Hale said of his distinguished fellow-countryman, Benjamin Franklin. We all knew he was a worshipper in Essex Street Chapel, London, the friend and correspondent of Priestley, Price, and Lindsey; but Dr. Hale discovered, in looking through Franklin's manuscripts, that during the war with England he never failed to send on his church subscription to London. He was a man careful of his money, yet he set the good example to us all that we should not find a reason to be stingy in our support of our church. We heartily thank our visitor for this interesting anecdote of the eminent Dr. Franklin."

Some members of the society of Friends who cherish the memory of Lucretia Mott have raised the money necessary to place a tablet in her memory in the Women's Temple in Chicago.

Tennyson at eighty-three is busy with new work, and as fond as ever of reading his own poems aloud, doing it well.

Rev.

Dr. Henry Van Dyke of New York, who bas written a good deal very enthusiastically about Tennyson's poems, has been visiting him at Aldworth.

The September number of the Evolutionist, Rev. James H. West's Boston bimonthly, comes to hand, filled with Mr. West's poems. They are thirty-two in number. "Visions of Good" is the title given to the collection. The poems are forward-looking, earnest, and strong.

Under the title of "A Woman of the Century," Mr. Charles Wells Moulton of Buffalo, N. Y., is publishing a large book which is to contain biographical sketches and portraits of one thousand of the women of America who are best known in literature, education, philanthropy, religious work, medicine, and so forth. The volume is edited by Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore.

D. Appleton & Co. have just published a volume from Prof. T. H. Huxley, entitled Essays on Some Controverted Questions." Most of the essays have been contributed during the past six or seven years to the Fortnightly Review and the Nineteenth Century, without premeditated purpose or internal connection, in reply to attacks upon doctrines which Prof. Huxley holds to be well founded, or in refutation of allegations respecting matters lying within the province

of natural knowledge. The famous controversy with Mr. Gladstone, beginning with the article on "The Interpreters of Genesis," has been included.

One of the most important publications of the year is the new edition of Chambers's Encyclopædia, in ten volumes, all but one of which are now ready. It is largely rewritten and brought thoroughly up to date, and is easily the best of the smaller works of the kind. Not the least part of its excellence lies in the fact that its Biblical and theological articles are in line with modern thought and research.

Prof. Tyndall has just issued a new and much enlarged edition of his "Fragments of Science." The first edition of this popular and instructive book was published some twenty years ago as a single volume, which was made up of a score or more of his detached essays, addresses, and reviews. The book was afterward revised, some of the papers recast, and from time to time new ones added until, the size of the work becoming somewhat unwieldy, the present two-volume edition was decided upon. This contains fifteen additional papers, and represents the author's latest changes and revisions. The volumes are uniform with "New Fragments," recently issued; and the three together include all the occasional writings which their author has decided to preserve in permanent form.

Messrs. Macmillan & Co. have in press, to be issued very shortly, under American copyright, a long-expected "History of Early English Literature," by Rev. Stopford A. Brooke. The work promises to rank at once as one of the indispensable volumes in every reference library.

Following Prof. Driver's "Literature of the Old Testament," the initial volume in the "International Theological Library," comes "Christian Ethics," by Dr. Newman Smyth of New Haven, in the same series, published by the Scribners.

Mr. Bryce has about finished preparing a new edition of his "American Commonwealth." The entire work has been revised, and several chapters of absolutely new matThe publishers, the ter have been added. Macmillans, have promised the book by October 1.

Among the illustrated fall books in the Harpers' list will be new and handsome editions of George William Curtis's "Prue and I," with illustrations by Albert E. Sterner.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Dr. S. G. Howe, the Philanthropist. By F. B. Sanborn. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. Cloth, $1.50.

Hygienic Treatment of Consumption. By

M. L. Holbrook, M.D.

Holbrook & Co.

New York: M. L. Cloth, $2. The Speech of Monkeys. By R. L. Garner. New York: Charles L. Webster & Co. Cloth, $1.

Columbus. An Epic Poem. By Samuel Jefferson. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Cloth, $1.25.

Leaves of Healing. By Katharine P. Sutton. Boston: American Unitarian Association.

First Steps in Philosophy. By William M. Salter. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co.

A Treatise on Mortgage Investments. By Edward N. Darrow. Minneapolis: The W. A. Edwards Printing Company. Paper, $1.

Snow-Bound. By John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Cloth, $1.50.

By Lewis G.

Glimpses of a Better Life. Wilson. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son. A Syllabus of Psychology. By William M. Bryant. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Index of All Lines of Hymn and Tune Book of the American Unitarian Association. Boston: Geo. H. Ellis.

Sixty-seventh Annual Report of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. London, Essex Hall, Essex Street, Strand, W.C.

Southern Women in the Recent Educational Movement in the South. By Rev. A. D. Mayo, M. A. Washington: Government Printing Office.

PAMPHLETS.-The Growth of Memory in School Children. By Thaddeus L. Bolton, A.B. Reprinted from American Journal of Psychology, Vol. IV., No. 3, April, 1892.

The Liberal Faith as a Basis of Character, Reason in Religion, Practical Use of the Bible. Sermons by Rev. Marion D. Shutter, D.D. Minneapolis: Hall, Black & Co.

THE REVIEWS AND MAGAZINES.

We name below some of the more important articles in the magazines and reviews of the month:

The New World (September). The Essence of Christianity. By Otto Pfleiderer.

Ecclesiastical Impedimenta. By J. MacBride Sterrett.

New Testament Criticism and Religious Belief. By Orello Cone.

Thomas Paine. By John W. Chadwick. Social Betterment. Nicholas P. Gilman. The Role of the History of Religions in Modern Religious Education. By Jean

Réville.

A Poet of his Century. By E. Cavazza. Divine Love and Intelligence. By James C. Parsons.

The Review of Reviews (September). The Progress of the World. Louise Michel: A Character Sketch. W. T. Stead.

Strikes and their Remedies.

By

"A King's Daughter" among the Lepers of Siberia.

The Century Magazine (September). The Grand Falls of Labrador. By Henry G. Bryant.

Pioneer Pack-horses in Alaska. By E. J. Glave.

Christopher Columbus. V. The New World. By Emilio Castelar.

Architecture at the World's Columbian Exposition. IV. By Henry Van Brunt.

The Andover Review (September). Hexateuch Criticism. By C. R. Brown. Amiel. By Ellen Urania Clark.

The Bible in the College. By George S. Burroughs.

The Sanitarian (September). Responsibility of the National and State Governments for the Purity of the Water Supply. By Benjamin Lee.

Those "Errors in Ventilation. 99 A Reply. By R. Harvey Reed.

The Increase of Crime and Moral Education. By H. Martyn Hort.

Intoxication and Crime. By A. Motet.

The North American Review (September). A Forecast of Mr. Gladstone's New Administration. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. A Plain Talk on the Drama. By Richard Mansfield.

Reminiscences of John Bright. By his Nephew, Charles McLaren. The Homestead Strike. iam C. Oates, Hon. George T. Curtis, and T. V. Powderly.

By Hon. Will

NEWS FROM THE FIELD.

[News items are solicited from all our ministers and other workers. Send them to the EDITOR OF THE UNITARIAN, 141 FRANKLIN ST., BOSTON, before the 18th of the month.]

The seventy-first session of the Essex Conference of Liberal Christian Churches will be held with the North Church, Salem, Wednesday, October 12.

The Younger Ministers' Association will meet with the president, Rev. F. B. Mott, Monday, October 31, at 4.30 P.M., at the Parish Hall of the Third Religious Society in Dorchester. It will be the annual meeting. The wives of the members are specially invited. A. WALKLEY, Sec'y.

MINISTERS' INSTITUTE.-The next session of the Ministers' Institute will be held in the Church of the Channing Religious Society, Newton, Mass., Rev. F. B. Hornbrooke, minister, October 17-19. The opening sermon will be preached on the evening of the 17th by Rev. Horatio Stebbins, D.D., of San Francisco. The exact order of the

papers has not yet been arranged, but these are the speakers and subjects: Prof. A. V. G. Allen, "What constitutes Progress in Theology?" Prof. Egbert Smyth, "The New Theology"; Rev. E. H. Hall, "The New Unitarianism"; Rev. Merle St. C. Wright, "The Grounds of Faith within and without the Soul"; Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, "Are Acquired Qualities inherited?" Prof. Francis G. Peabody, "Sociological Investigations in Europe"; Prof. J. P. Peters, "The Psalms"; Prof. A. V. W. Jackson, "On Certain Parallels between Zoroastrianism and Christianity." Reports on new books will be made by Prof. Royce, Prof. Toy, and Rev. N. P. Gilman. One evening will be devoted to a platform meeting on "The Religious Signs of the Times," with twenty five-minute addresses by prominent clergymen of different denominations. The Newton parish will furnish free entertainment to all ministers who send word to Rev. F. B. Hornbrooke, Newton, Mass., in time for him to receive their notification before October 15. It is desirable that the time of arrival and departure should be known. Those who may desire only meals or other partial accommodations can be promptly. served if they make their needs known

GEORGE W. COOKE, Sec'y.

The annual meeting of the Unitarian Sunday School Society will be held in the First Parish Church, Portland, Me., October 5 and 6, with the following order of exercises:

Wednesday, October 5, 7.45 P. M., sermon by Rev. Minot J. Savage.

Thursday, October 6, 9-9.45 A.M.: devotional meeting, conducted by Rev. Alfred Gooding of Portsmouth, N.H. 9.45-10: business meeting; opening session of the Unitarian Sunday School Society. 1010. 15 reading of directors' annual report. 10.15-11: discussion of directors' report, election of officers, and miscellaneous business. 11-12 M. three twenty-minute addresses on "The Work of the Unitarian Sunday School Society": (1) Rev. Grindall Reynolds, Boston, Mass., The Unitarian Sunday School Society as a Sower of Seed; (2) Rev. W. R. Ramsay, Manchester, N. H., The Unitarian Sunday School Society as a Helper to the Sunday Schools; (3) Mr. J. O. Norris, Boston, Mass., The Unitarian Sunday School Society as an Aid to Citizenship. 12–12.30 P. M.: general discussion and remarks; speeches limited to five minutes each. 12.30-2, intermission and collation. 2-2.15 P. M.: opening of afternoon session and transaction of unfinished business. 2.15-3.30, addresses of fifteen minutes each: (1) Rev. J. L. Marsh, Saco, Me., "What is the Main Object of the Sunday-schools?" (2) Rev. George H. Young, Lawrence, Mass., "Where is the Chief Responsibility?" (3) Rev. F. B. Hornbrooke, Newton, Mass., "Bible Classes and Teachers' Meet

ings"; (4) W. H. Baldwin, Esq., Boston, Mass., "How to improve the Spiritual Condition of our Sunday-schools"; (5) Rev. J. C. Jaynes, West Newton, Mass., “The Personal Relation of Teachers and Ministers to the Pupils." 3.30-4.30: general discussion and remarks; speeches limited to five minutes each. 4.30, adjournment.

Platform Meeting, Thursday evening, 7.30: addresses of twenty minutes each. Speakers: Rev. Mary T. Whitney, Cambridge, Mass., "What shall we do with our Young People?" Rev. Henry Blanchard, D.D., Portland, "How to create Greater Enthusiasm in Sunday-school Work"; Rev. B. R. Bulkeley, Concord, Mass., "The Bright Side of Sunday-school Teaching"; Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D., Boston, Mass., "What are our Chief Needs?" Rev. Albert Walkley, Brighton, Mass., "Forward!"

Friday, October 7, there will be opportunities in the forenoon, and such other part of the day as may be available, for those in attendance to enjoy the social and excursion pleasures of the city and harbor. It has been planned that Thursday shall be thoroughly devoted to the consideration of Sunday-school interests, and the same plan leaves Friday entirely clear for sight-seeing and sociability.

Belding, Mich.-Rev. J. T. Sunderland of Ann Arbor preached here morning and evening, August 28. There is quite a liberal element in this growing manufacturing town. Mr. Sunderland spoke in the Christian church. In the evening a very strange thing happened: the minister of the Methodist church dismissed his congregation, so that he and they might all go and hear Mr. Sunderland.

Beverly, Mass.-Rev. E. C. Butler, who has been critically ill with typhoid fever, is now out of danger, and steadily improving.

Boston, Mass.-The return of the ministers has been attended with a good deal of excitement this year, owing to the relentless quarantine officials, who unswervingly resisted the spread of the cholera germ, even though it temporarily arrested the spread of the gospel itself. The stress of the difficulty fell upon that rear corner office on the first floor of 25 Beacon Street, which is the "Central" of our denominational system. We understand, however, that the connections upon the ministerial switch-board there concealed, were made with such dexterity that, upon the reopening of our city churches, not one assembled congregation failed to receive a gladdening and inspiring service and sermon. This was accomplished only by the devotedness of our assistant secretary whom telegrams pursued even to his midnight slumbers.

-Among the many ministers returning from abroad none received heartier greetings

-We are glad to hear that the First Parish in Brighton has sold its church property for a business site on good terms, and will immediately proceed with the building of a new church, which is to be one of the best in the city.

Denver, Col.-On September 11 a memorial service in honor of Whittier was held at Unity Church. Appropriate music was sung by the choir, and all the hymns were by Whittier. There were readings from "My Birthday," "Sunset on the Bearcamp," "Massachusetts to Virginia," "My Psalm," and "The Eternal Goodness." Mr. Eliot closed with an address describing Whittier in his threefold character of an interpreter of the beauty of nature, an inspirer of true patriotism, and a prophet and psalmist of natural religion.

Unity Sunday-school has elected officers as follows: superintendent, C. E. Montague; assistants, W. H. Wadley, R. L. Hinchman; secretary, Mrs. E. H. Park; treasurer, Theodore Smith. The school starts with twenty complete classes, and the attendance severely taxes the accommodations.

The church has begun the new year in good spirits. Since Mr. Eliot's return from his vacation the attendance at the Sunday morning service has never fallen below six hundred. The Unity Club, Ladies' Aid Society, Women's Alliance, and Young People's Club are all busily engaged in outlining plans for the coming winter.

Des Moines, Ia.-The Leader of September 11 prints an able sermon by Rev. L. A. Harvey on "The Value of Labor Organizations."

Hinsdale, Ill.-The Unity Club is just out with a very elaborate and suggestive programme for the year beginning October, 1892. The course takes up various institutions of to-day, as the Family, Ballot, Taxation, Immigration, City Government, and traces their origin in the earliest form of society and their later growths up to to-day, and further considers their future development. Very careful references are given to the literature of each subject.

Iowa City, Ia.-The Unitarian church makes an interesting announcement of plans for the fall and winter. Series of sermons