BLUE-STOCKING.-The term blue-stocking, now applied to a pedantic, or independent-minded woman, is said to have derived its origin from Mrs. Stillingfleet, who lived toward the close of last century. She constantly wore blue stockings, and her company was highly prized in certain female assemblies, thence denominated, "Blue-Stocking Clubs." These little societies were composed of persons distinguished in general for their rank, talents, or respectable character, who met for the sole purpose of conversation; and were different in no respect from other parties, except that the company did not play cards.

When such ladies as Mrs. Boscawen, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Elizabeth Carter, and Hannah More met together there was other talk than mere gossip or tattle. These conversational reunions were sources of profit as well as of pleasure; and much of the strength and clearness of style which these ladies exhibit in their writings, may be traced, perhaps, to their literary encounters. Mrs. Hannah More makes the "Blue-Stockings" the subject of one of her poems. S. W. W.

TARTS OR PIES?-The philological sensitiveness of a young matron is daily being harrowed by what she calls the improper use of the word "pie."

"It is a tart, my dear," says the lady, when her lord offers fruit pasty under the name of "gooseberry-pie." "Pie," reiterates her spouse; "I like English-tarte or tourte are not English; besides, in my earliest education, on high authority, I learned that A represented applepie; now quote in reply." Here the lady fails; but in defense starts an etymological disquisition: "Pie, from pica, from pix, signifies mottled or spotted as by pitch; party-colored or speckled, not homogeneous or simple. Applied to a bird, it gives the distinguishing name to the magpie-pied or speckled bird that chatters-' mag,' being 'chatter,' not the abbreviation of 'Margaret.' Applied to a horse, it means one marked with two or more patches of color; to a buffoon, one dressed in motley. The word indicates a variety of component parts. We hear of venison pasty, the dish of the nobles at the high tables; but of the humble-pie, the dish of the serfs. The former used to consist of the flesh alone; the latter was made up of the entrails, heart, tripe, etc., called humbles-and hence termed pie. The word pie might be used of any heterogeneous compound, a pasty of conglomerated orts. The word is inapplicable to a dish having but one main ingredient. Tart, however, when applied to a pasty, betokens a viand of such succulent vegetables as possess trist juices, and offer some gustatory acerbity-tart fruits. You may employ the word 'pie,' when addressing the vulgar, in the place of 'tart,' as conveying the most approximate idea of the intended article to the minds of the unlettered; but such language is only pardonable then." Thus the lady. The gentleman, distrusting the confessions of a tortured etymology, again asks for quotations, and declines the engagement on other grounds.

CURTAIN LECTURE.-This phrase, which has acquired so much celebrity of late, if we may credit a contributor to the English Notes and Queries, is of quite an early origin. He says: "I have before me a small, but rare volume; some account of which may be interesting. Here is the title :

"A Curtaine Lecture: as it is read by a Countrey Farmer's Wife to her Good Man; by a Country Gentle

woman or Lady to her Esquire or Knight; by a Soldier's Wife to her Captain or Lievtenant; by a Citizen's or Tradesman's Wife to her Husband; by a Court Lady to her Lord. Concluding with an imitable-sic-Lecture, read by a Queen to her Soueraigne Lord and King. London: printed for John Aston, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the sign of the Bull's Head in Cateaton-street. 1638.'

"Then follows the dedication:

"To the generous Reader, but especially to Bachelours and Virgins.

"This Age affording more Poets than Patrons-for nine Muses may trauel long 'ere they can find one Mecanas-made me at a stand to whom I might commend the dedication of this small Tractate, especially bearing this Title. To any Matron I durst not, though never so modest; lest her conscience might allege unto her shee had been guilty of reading the like Lectures. To a Married man I feared to do it, lest having been often terrified with his Curtaine clamours, I might rather adde to his affliction, than insinuate into his affection. Therefore to you, O single Batchelours, and singular Virgins, I recommend both the patronage and perusal of these papers; and the rather, because in you it can neither breed distrust, nor beget distaste; the Maides not coming yet to read, nor the Young men to be Auditors. But howsoever

I

proclaime this work free from all offense, either to the single or the double,' etc.

T. H."

OLD JEREMY BENTHAM.-A curious disposition was made of the body of old Jeremy Bentham, if we may credit a recent English journal. The statement is as follows. Can it be correct?

"It was a part of Jeremy Bentham's will, that his body should be devoted to the purpose of improving the science of anatomy, and in consequence it was laid on the table of the anatomical school in Webb-street, Borough. In compliance with Mr. Bentham's wish, Dr. Southwood Smith delivered a lecture on the occasion. After the usual anatomical demonstrations, a skeleton was made of the bones, which was stuffed out to fit Bentham's own clothes, and a wax likeness, made by a distinguished French artist, fitted to the trunk. This figure was seated on the chair which he usually occupied, with one hand holding the walking-stick, called Dapple, his constant companion whenever he went abroad. The whole was inclosed in a mahogany case, with folding glass-doors, and may now be seen in University College, Gowerstreet."

A singular taste this, or a peculiar love of science, for a man to consent to have his body mummied and placed on exhibition like a stuffed bird in a case.

QUERIES PROPOSED.-The following queries invite an

On one occasion, as Mr. Smith and Judge Test were stumping the Congressional district as rival candidates, the Judge introduced, for the first time, the new subject of railroads. He avowed himself in favor of them, and said he had voted for the Buffalo and New Orleans road, and then rising to the top of his voice, "I tell you, fellow-citizens, that in England they run the cars thirty miles an hour, and they will yet be run at a higher speed in America." This was enough. The crowd set up a loud laugh at the expense of the Judge. An old fellow who was standing by me bawled out, "Are you crazy, or do you think we are fools? A man could not live a minute at that speed." The day was mine. The Judge had ruined his prospects by telling such an improbable story.

On another occasion the Judge was speaking in favor of the tariff in the highest of terms. The people knew but little about it, but what they knew was decidedly against it. Few knew the meaning of the word, and fewer what it was like. One old fellow said he had never seen one, but he believed it "was hard on sheep."

Years after this, says Mr. Smith, as I was speaking at a battalion muster in Ripley county, and had spoken over two hours, I noticed an old man leaning against a tree in front of me. As I closed he roared out, "Mr. Smith, you have made one of the best speeches that I ever heard. I agree with all you have said. Will you answer me one question before you leave the stand ?" "Most certainly." "Will you vote for General Jackson ?" "No, sir; I shall vote for Henry Clay." "Then you can't get my vote."

ANECDOTE OF METHUSALAH.-It is written in a quaint old Jewish manuscript, now in the British Museum, that the oldest of mankind, Methusalah, did not live as long as he might have done. The writer says that God promised him in a dream that if he would rise up and build him a house his life should be prolonged five hundred years. But he replied that it was scarcely worth while to build a house for so short a period; and so he died before he was a thousand years old.

A POOR CRETER.-"Long time ago," in New England, dwelt a lady equally renowned for piety, credulity, and courage. As she was in the habit of returning from meeting unattended, some wild fellows formed a project for frightening her, and furnishing themselves with a little pleasant amusement. One arrayed in black, crowned with a pair of horns, and armed with a pitchfork, placed himself behind a tree and awaited her coming. His companions were concealed at hand to watch the mischief, and participate in the fun. At last came the unsuspecting victim leisurely along-meditating, no doubt, on the discourse to which she had been listening. Out sprang his satanic majesty pro tem., and confronted her. "Why, who be you?" she exclaimed. "I'm the devil!" exclaimed the rogue in a hollow voice. "Well," said she,

man's word "you 're a poor creter !" and quietly went her way. We call that true courage, or, perhaps more properly, true faith. "With a conscience void of offense," she knew that she had nothing to fear; that she was, in truth, a mate for his betters.

THE JOURNEY OF LIFE.-Ten thousand human beings one-third, at least, have disappeared. At the middle set forth together on their journey. After ten years, point of the common measure of life, but half are still upon the road. Faster and faster, as the ranks grow thinner, they that remain till now become weary, and lie down and rise no more. At three-score and ten a band of some four hundred yet struggle on. At ninety these have been reduced to a handful of thirty trembling patriarchs. Year after year they fall in diminishing numbers. One lingers, perhaps, a lonely marvel, till the century is over. We look again, and the work of death is finished.

UNION OF LITERARY COMPOSITIONS.-At a large literary party in Edinburgh, in the course of conversation it was mentioned that a certain well-known literary character had written two poems, one called "The Pebble," the other "The Ocean;" that he was offering them to the booksellers, who, however, would not accede to his terms of publication; and that the worthy author was, therefore, puzzled not a little as to what he should do with his productions. "Why," remarked a sarcastic gentleman who was present, "I think the doctor could not do better than throw the one into the other."

THE MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.-The solid rock, which turns the edge of the chisel, bears forever the impress of the leaf and the acorn received long, long since, ere it had become hardened by time and the elements. If we trace back to its fountain, the mighty torrent which fertilizes the land with its copious streams, or sweeps over it with a devastating flood, we shall find it dripped in crystal drops from some mossy crevice among the distant hills; so, too, the gentle feelings and affections that enrich and adorn the heart, and the mighty possions that sweep away all the barriers of the soul and desolate society, may have sprung up in the infant bosom in the sheltered retirement of home. "I should have been an atheist," said John Randolph, "if it had not been for one

recollection; and that was the memory of the time, when my departed mother used to take my little hands in hers, and cause me on my knees to say, 'Our Father which art in heaven.'"

SENT THE BEST TO THE WIDOW.-Many years ago there resided in the town of York, in the state of Maine, a minister by the name of M-y. One day, observing a couple of geese flying over, he seized his gun and said, "O Lord, if thou wilt give me both of these geese, I will send the best one to widow He fired, and they both fell. One of them was a very large, fat goose, but the other was exceedingly lean. His wife thought it was hardly fair to send the best one to the widow, but he replied, "I will not lie unto God. I promised him that I would give away the best one, and I shall do it."

EFFECTS.

We have often felt that we would like to enter into the discussion of "questions of the day" more than is usual or perhaps fitting in a magazine of the designs and objects of the Repository. And we now avail ourself of the space granted by the failure of our New York letter, to produce one such paper. Nor will we promise our readers that it will be the last. There are other topics we wish to discuss.

We will not undertake to estimate the value of the ministry to society-to our country-nay, to us as individuals. It is above all computation. The religion of Christ is the element cast into human society which produces all its civilization. Without it there is no progress, no refinement, no purity. Without it the whole mass of society would stagnate in corruption. Not only would there be no civilization produced, but there would be no civilization maintained. Society would retrograde; barbarism would ensue. The necessity of the living ministry to perpetuate and spread the influence of the Gospel, is demonstrated by the fact that it is Heaven's especially ordained agency, as well as by the history of all ages. This estimate of the importance-we will say, the value of the ministry-none whom we wish to reach in this paper will dispute. Does it, then, we inquire, receive that compensation to which it is fairly entitled in view of its importance? This question involves something more than the mere recognition of the principle that "the laborer is worthy of his hire." It affects the sense of justice; but it also has a relation to the Christianity of the Church-to the efficiency of the ministry-and to the success of the Gospel among men.

What trenchant facts are there that will help to the solution of this question? We answer first, by giving one out of several that have lately called our attention to the subject. A young man, now in the prime of life, and who for ten years has been constantly rising in his appointments till he occupies the best in his conference, said to us not long since, "I shall be compelled to locate at our next conference." "How so ?" said we in surprise; "you must not, certainly." He replied, with a sad countenance and a grave tone: " 'Before I entered the ministry I had laid up about $2,300, and was then receiving a salary of $1,100. In the ministry I have labored hard, but have not received a support for my family a single year. My family is becoming more expensive, and my circumstances are becoming worse every year. I have now but little over $500 left; and I should like to know what I am to do when I have nothing to fall back upon?" We knew that that brother, as a clerk, might have received from $1,200 to $1,400 each year that he had been in the ministry; and where, including all his perquisites, his pay on an average had been less than $600. We knew also that the same firm were ready to give him $1,600 a year at that moment. Now here was a young man of good preaching as well as business capabilities, who had given up a post affording good compensation in the present, and of great prospective value, to enter the ministry; had foregone the comforts of a settled home for

$800 a year. He was not even now anxious for wealth. To be assured of a comfortable support, and some little on which to lean in the time of sickness, or for his family's comfort in case of his death, was all that he asked. We will not say what was the duty of this man. But we know he is a type of what exists in every section of the Church.

It is a sober fact that, on an average, the salaries of clerks and salesmen all over the country, is in advance of the salaries paid to ministers of the Gospel. The new clerk, while yet but a boy, receives perhaps $300 a year; the young minister, though time and money may have been spent in his preparation for his work, and though he may leave a compensating business, receives less. The clerk or salesman of skill and experience gets from $1,200 to $2,000, and even more. The minister among us, however able and devoted, or however long he may have labored, rarely receives more than from $1,000 to $1,200. If it be said that our scale is graduated to city prices, we reply that the same comparative average will probably hold good all through the country. We might, perhaps, have brought other professions into the line of comparison, but we have selected this because the facts here are tangible and to the point.

Now let us look at another trenchant fact. While within eight years the cost of living has increased more than thirty per cent., but little or no advancement has been made in the apportionment of salaries to ministers. In a few societies, or a few localities, some advance has been made; but rare is the exception where it has been proportionate to the increase of the actual expenses of living for families.

There is another thing that is not well considered by our people. When a man moves once in two years, though his actual moving expenses should be paid, there is an actual extra expenditure beyond what he would have been subjected to had he remained in the same place. There will be many little expenses attendant upon getting fixed in a new habitation, and still greater ones resulting from his not knowing how to trade to advantage in a new place and among a strange people.

Then come to the sober fact. You will not find one in one hundred of our preachers who have been able to support themselves and families upon the salaries they have received; and when they are compelled to do this from want of other resources, it has been in a poverty-stricken manner. We speak this in sorrow, believing it to be a sober fact. Some of them have inherited property, or come into possession of it through their wives, or by making their own business capabilities available to that effect. But for this many of them would have been driven out of the ministry, as hundreds of our most promising men have been, to provide for their families. It is easy to pronounce an anathema upon all such men as would turn aside from the work of the ministry, to regard the claims of their families. But let us not be too hasty to utter judgment; let us remember that causes will produce their natural effects; and still further consider how we ourselves would think, and feel, and act,

under like circumstances. You say, "If God has called a man to preach, he has no right to desist." Ay, but did not God call the Church to support the man when he called him to preach? And if so, was not one call made contingent upon the other? But, how fares it with those who, without resources, toil on and spend their days in the service of the Church? You do n't expect miracles? manna to descend in the wilderness? water to gush from the rock? Poor old man, I pity him! God will reward him by and by; but he leaves him here to suffer awhile as a rebuke to those who have reaped the fruit of his labors. An old veteran, who had spent over thirty years in the ministry, once said to us, "I have spent my days in the service of the Church, toiled hard and lived poorexcept when seated at the tables of my rich members. Now I am old; I can't stir around, exhort, sing, pray, and preach as I once could. I feel it all. No society wants me now. And if I had any possible way of getting bread for myself and my poor old wife, I would superannuate immediately. This idea of being driven to preach the Gospel for a morsel of bread drives me to distraction. But what can I do?" This is no fancy sketch. The words affected us deeply, and we give them as nearly as we can from memory. Again we say this is a type of a class by no means small; and it is a state reached, not by accident, by misfortune, but by the ordinary workings of the system now carried out. Some, it is true, are relieved and supported in their old age, by wealthy members of the Church. It is well, seeing the necessity for it exists; but, after all, it is humiliating to become dependent-a pauper in that Church we have loved and served so well; and the prospect of this is any thing but cheering to a noble, high-minded man.

This is a picture of sadness; but we think we have not overdrawn it. What then must be its effects? What must be its effects upon the ministry? Here the evil bears with direct force, and its effects will be more tangible.

In the first place, it can not but deter many young men of talent and spirit from entering the ministry. Blame such as you will; say that such ought not to be the case; that God will punish them. All this may be true; but we simply say such are, and such will continue to be the results. Anathematize the young man who shrinks from such a dreary prospect, if you will; but remember that the prospect had some agency in producing the result; and the responsibility of presenting that prospect lies upon the Church-upon you, my brother! Listen to the plea of the declining man: "I would be willing for myself alone, to endure the labor and selfdenial; but I am not willing to subject my family to the starvation system of ministerial living; I am not willing to see my wife a drudge and my children without the means of education; I am not willing to have them left without a home, and in poverty and want, if I should be removed by death!" My brother, there is something of nobleness in that plea. I see not how you can avoid being compelled to yield something to its manly dignity as well as Christian spirit. St. Paul declares that he who provides not for his own household, is denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. How can it appear that the minister is exempt from this obligation?

Even parents-Christian parents-often feel a natural reluctance to having their children enter the ministry from this very cause. Said an old minister to the writer, not many years ago, "I desire above all things that my

sons should be good Christian men, and be settled in some regular business, by which they can make an honest livelihood. But I can't say that I would like for any of them to enter the ministry. I have suffered too much in my feelings, and in my family, to desire it." It was a sorrowful conclusion; it was sorrowfully uttered. We can not say that we thought it altogether right; and yet we felt that we might have said the same under similar circumstances. Here is a fact from a cotemporary journal, that may help our judgment in the case. "A faithful servant of his Master," says the writer, "who, in addition to his salary, has been obliged to spend the whole of his patrimony, that he might live decently and educate his children, lately said to me, that one of his sons, with a very imperfect education, and less than twentytwo years of age, was earning more annually, as a clerk in a city store, than he, the father, had ever received as his annual salary, though the latter was a finished scholar, and an able and eloquent preacher."

A few years since, one of the most devoted and useful men in an eastern conference died, after preaching over twenty years. From a small patrimony he had spent on an average over seventy-five dollars a year, and when he died, leaving a widow and a large family of children, most of them young, he left scarcely enough to support them two years. The oldest three sons of that deceased brother have obtained clerkships, and support the family. The youngest of the three, probably about seventeen, is now receiving as much as his father ever obtained for a ministerial service that was held in high esteem in the Churches.

A writer in the Observer says that "even the children of ministers are often suffered to enter secular employments without remonstrance, because their parents know too keenly the trials of their own vocation, to wish them entailed upon their posterity. An intelligent layman lately said to the writer, 'If I had a dozen sons, I would not let one of them go into the ministry!" Said an excellent minister, 'If my sons are led by Providence to the ministry, I will not object; but after all that I and my family have suffered in it, I can not advise them to enter it.'" Again we say we would not care to justify all such feelings; but we must consider the circumstances under which they have their origin.

Again, this grinding system of inadequate support tells sadly in its influence upon the intellectual character of the minister. Books and periodicals of sterling value-discussing the new and great questions of the age, as well as the old questions of theology and of science in the light of recent discoveries-abound. From these magazines of knowledge, the minister is not only to store his mind with fresh material for the illustrations of the truth revealed, but his own powers will be expanded and invigorated as he grapples with these great subjects. His intellect will never stagnate; it will be well stored with truth; and be able to wield it with a giant's power. But what shall the minister do, who can get scarcely food enough to supply the cravings of his children? He may thirst for knowledge-for expansion; but he is in bonds. Nor is this all. How can that man find leisure or heart for the study of books or of subjects, who is placed upon the rack of necessity, and compelled to watch the egress of every copper-to study the most pinching economy, and that, too, with sleepless and tireless energy-every day and every hour-that the daily necessities of his family may not go beyond his scanty

ability? Such a state of things has dwarfed the intellect of many a noble nature, and shriveled many a soul that might otherwise have answered noble expectations. What! put the minister upon the rack-compel him to study all the week how he may escape from starvation, and then expect in him that growth and expansion of intelleet, and that careful preparation and study for his pulpit which you demand! Why, the thing is absurd. You may as well demand the luscious fruit from the naked rock, made bald by the pelting storm, and blistered by the burning sun. If fruit grows there at all, it is in spite of the barrenness your system would produce. But you say, "We do n't care so much about learned and studied sermons. We want spiritual, feeling addresses that go to the heart." Here then we meet you on your own ground. This starvation policy is as detrimental, often, to the piety of the minister as to his intellectual progress. How can it be otherwise? The same causes that abstract his mind from study, abstract it also from piety. It engenders over-anxiety and carefulness about what he and his family shall eat and drink; at the same time there is a sense of wrong lurking at the bottom which poisons his peace. This very thing has been the origin of that spirit of speculation and worldliness, which has shorn so many of their strength. But for their own and their families' necessities, they would never have felt the pressure or had excited the feeling which has led them out into worldly enterprises. Both the intellect and the piety of the minister, then, are liable to be sadly endangered by the inadequate support they and their families receive. It is an absurd idea that the pinching of daily want is essential to the preservation of ministerial piety. It savors of the old leaven of Popish penance. Equally absurd is it to depend upon the minister's poverty, rather than his piety, to produce "spiritual and feeling sermons." The fact is, the grand originator of deep and earnest feeling, after sound and ardent piety, is deep and earnest thought. The connection between deep piety, an able ministration of the word of life, and a well-developed, manly character, more intimate than we are apt to imagine.

Sometimes-alas! too often-the pressure of poverty crushes the very manhood out of the preacher. He takes to begging; becomes a sort of Church pauper, and is recognized as such by the members. He goes around among his parishioners, suggests the wants of his family, asks for this thing and for that. This course may meet the commendation of some; it suits their self-complacency to "give to the preacher." But its practical effect is to rob the man of God of all respect-too often of all power. In an important sense, the pastor is the instructor, the educator of the people. To be effectual in this work, he must command their respect. He who contents himself with being called a "good fellow," "a fine beggar," has but mean and unworthy views of the dignity of his profession, and of the higher and nobler elements of his work. And he who would place these epithets, as encomiums, upon the minister of Jesus Christ, shows his utter want of appreciation of the higher intellectual and spiritual elements of a minister's character and work.

But the effect of this inadequate support does not expend itself entirely upon the minister and his family. No society can dwarf the intellect of a preacher by withholding the means of mental nutriment, and subjecting him to the most narrow and pinching calculations to cut down the wants of life to inadequate means; no society

can place a minister in a tenement whose unfitness-not to say meanness-and whose rough and poverty-stricken aspect, without and within, is such that the members who lay claim to any refinement or social position, are ashamed to visit the home and family of the pastor; we say such a state of things can not exist by the permissive agency of any society, and yet that society retain the respect for the pastor which is essential to his greatest usefulness. With older members of the Church, the effect may not be perceived; but its influence upon their children will be felt. We give utterance only to one of the laws of reason and common-sense, when we say, that to command an influence over the intelligent and cultivated young people now every-where rising up in our congregations, the minister must have the means for his own cultivation and for the elevation of his own social position.

The

The real cause of this great want of suitable support is not, generally speaking, in the want of ability. Our members have increased in material resources, and in social position, many fold; and in many places without any perceptible increase of liberality in this respect. We are pained to be compelled to find the great cause in the low estimate that is placed upon ministerial services and character. Not many years ago a merchant, who was at the same time a steward in the Church, wanted a clerk. An applicant for the place appeared, presented credentials of a satisfactory character, and within ten minutes was hired at the rate of $600 a year. same week the preacher came to the charge. The stewards found great difficulty in allowing him the pittance of $400. The clerk was a young married man, with one child; the preacher was a man in the maturity of his strength, with a wife and five children! The services to be rendered by the one possessed an appreciable value; those to be rendered by the other did not, and were awarded a pittance less in the spirit of giving compensation than in that of granting a reluctant charity. To remedy this evil we must have a proper appreciation of the value of ministerial services-value to our civilization, to all that we have, or enjoy, whether of temporal or spiritual good. The conviction must become universal as it is just, that the ministry is entitled to as good and liberal a support as any other legitimate sphere of labor. We ask not that ministers should be made rich, not that they should be pampered with luxury; but that they should have a generous and adequate support-a support that comports with the nature of their work, and with the credit and honor of the societies they serve.

We simply add, that in this discussion we have not had an eye exclusively to the pecuniary or other interests of the ministry. We are of that class, and are wedded to them by the strongest ties of sympathy and interest. Their weal is our weal, and their woe our woe. But we have higher motives. We want to see the ministry made strong-young men of intellectual and manly vigor, as well as of deep piety, brought into it--its present power and efficiency promoted by the full development of the force already in it; we want to see all this; but we want to see it not for the sake of the ministry, but for the sake of the Church, that she may have able men, strong in the might of intellect and in the power of God, to stand up in her pulpits, and break to her congregations the bread of life. The individual sinks into insignificancethe class is forgotten; but how the Gospel of Christ shall be made efficient in the redemption of the world is allimportant and absorbing.