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The Christian Index. BY JAS. P. HARRISON & CO. The Christian Index. Publication Rooms, 27 and 29 8. Broad. Bt. NEW YEAR'S GUT I 'One of the most desirable and valua ble “New Year’s Gifts” that you, dear reader, can make to any one is The Christian Index for one year, and a «opy of the beautifully illustrated book, “The Story of The Bible”—both for only three dollars. Or The In'iex and •opy of our “Portrait Gallery of Geor gia Baptist Ministers,” for the same price. Also The Christian Index and the Atlanta Weekly Post, an excellent and interesting news and literary journal, will be sent one year, to any subscriber for three dollars. Send in your order. Governer Neil, of Idaho, in his message to the Legislature, says that polygamy is being rapidly introduced from Utah. —We wish to get the Biographical sketches of Revs. John Crawford, W. C. Cleveland, J. D. Carlton and M. L. Smith, and will greatly appreciate it if some friend will furnish them promptly. The Irish World reports a very rapid increase in the number of Land Leagues in this country in sympathy with Ire land’s work. Sixty-five new branches were organized in one week, mostly in the Middle aud Eastern States. General Walker estimates that the total footing up of the population of the United Stateswill show a popula tion of about fifty millions, being a gain of about ten millions over the ■census of 1870. Arbitration on the Greek frontier question has been abandoned, and w3t between that country and the Porte is deemed inevitable. The main ques tion now is whether hostilities will be postponed till March or begin now. Blanqui, the famout French Com munist, died last week. Owing to ex traordinary precautions taken by the police authorities, the apprehended disturbance at his funeral was pre jjentfd. J j-' * ' The United States is constantly ad ding to the already large list of ex ports to the Old World. The latest addition is the shipment to Europe of wild “game from the West which has assumed considerable proportions. The Warrenton Clipper says: “Read the advertisement of the Christian index. The Index has no superior as a religious journal. We unhesitatingly recommand it to every family as the paper." The Dublin correspondent of the London Times says a more repulsive and terrible yefir has never come upon Ireland and it will take many years to reconstruct the social system now in ruins. The Meriwether Vindicator says: Rev. Dr. Van Hoose will begin his minis terial labors in the Greenville Baptist church for 1881, on the first Saturday and Sunday in January. We extend st most cordial welcome to this able and popular divine. We call attention to the prospectus of The Christian Index, in another column. All Baptists in the State ahould avail themselves of the liberal terms upon which they can obtain one of the best religious papers published. —Greenesboro Herald. Mr. LeDuc, Commissioner of Agri culture, has completed arrangements for the establishment of an experiment al tea farm. The location selected is twenty miles from Charleston, and two miles from Summerville on the line of the South Carolina Railroad. ♦ —♦ It is not surprising that the Boers are giving the British trouble in South Africa. Although diluted Dutchmen, they still retain to a considerable ex tent the courage and fighting qualities of that race that defied the whole Spanish Empire, and contested with England the sovereignty of the seas. The celebrated Liquid Enamel Paint, of which Mr. C. P. Knight, 93 W. Lom bard Street, Baltimore, is the General Agent, is universally admitted to be the best in use. Builders and others will find it to their interest to consult the advertisement in this number of The Index. There is now in Ireland an army of over 30,000 regular soldiers, the Hower of the British army, so that a success ful insurrection is impossible'—The Government is at least fully determined to keep Ireland nominally under the rule of the crown, though all law con tinues to be openly trampled under foot by the great mass of its popu lation. LITERARY NOTES AND COM MENTS. James B. Hope, editor of the Norfolk (Va.) Virginian, has been invited by the joint Congressional Committee on the Yorktown Centennial Celebration to prepare the poem to be delivered on that occasion. The Committee could not have made a better selection. The poem will, unquestionably, be worthy of the theme. Hon. Robert C. Win throp, of Massachusetts, will deliver the oration. This celebration ought to be, and doubtless will be, another strong 1 link in the chain of fraternity which should bind together the people of our common country. —At a dinner given to Father Ryan, in Baltimore, Mr. Latrobe replied to the toast, “The City of Baltimore,” and sug gested that Mr. Ryan should recite one of his poems, to which the poet an swered that although he had written from his heart, he could not repeat any of his poems by heart. —Dr. Nathan Ganz, of New York, has issued his prospectus of The An archist, which will be a Socialistic-Rev olutionary Review. It is to be the organ of the wildest kind of Commun ism. This individual’s name is sug gestive of his enterprise: only a “Goose” would undertake it. —By the recent death of Mrs. Cross, “George Eliot,” English literature has been deprived of one of its most bril liant stars. She was a woman of extra ordinary genius and rare erudition. The best of her novels are remarkable studiesof human character,and her word paintings are masterly! As a novelist she stands without a rival among Eng lish female authors, and but few of the opposite sex have equaled, and fewer still have excelled her in her peculiar field. It is to be regretted that her writings revoice so strongly and sub tilely the carping, sceptical, agnostic spirit of the age—they are brilliant out cold, lacking the warmth and soul of true Christian spirituality. We may admire the masterly intellect and su preme genius of such writers, but we can neither love them nor have faith in them. —Mr. Elliott Stock, a London pub lisher, lateiy issued an edition of the New Testament for two cents. He has sold 400,000 copies at last accounts. —BlacAwootPs Magazine is always welcome, and the December number has recently been published by the Leonard Scott Publishing Company, 41 Barclay street, New York. The prin cipal contents are “The Private Secre tary. —Part II,” the new serial; “Mr. Kinglake’s New Volume,” describing the winter troubles in the Crimea; “Dr. Wortle’s School. —Conclusion;” “The Indian Famine Report,” a criti cism of the reports sent to Parliament from 1875tol880; and “Winter Sports and Pleasures,” a seasonable account of indoor and outdoor recreations in England and Scotland during the win ter season. We observe that the Publishing Co. are offering very strong inducements to subscribers to this famous magazine, and the Reviews which they publish, for this year. A new subscriber to any of the periodicals for 1881 can also ob tain the numbers of the same for 1880 without charge, if application is made direct to the Publishers. As the stock available for this purpose is limited, early application is necessary to secure such a premium. —Mr. A. Lang has translated The ocritus, Bion, and Mosehus into Eng lish prose. Mr. E. C. Stedman has for some years, it is understood, had in hand a metrical translation of these authors. —The Society for promoting Chris tian Knowledge has in preparation a series of works dealing with Early Britain, which will comprise "Celtic Britain,” by Prof. Rhys ; "Roman Brit ain,” by Mr. C. Roach Smith ; “Anglo- Saxon Britain," by Mr. Grant Allen; “Scandinavian Britain,” by Mr. F. York Powell; and “Norman Britain.” —Prof. J. S. Blackie, of Edinburgh) has translated Goethe’s Faust into English verse. —The London Folk-lore Society an nounces several new publications.' The MS. of the “Denham Tracts" is in the hands of Mr. Hardy, the editor. Rev. W. Gregor is passing through the press his “Folk-lore of the North-East of Scot land,” which will soon bo published. The MS. of Mr. Black’s “Folk Medi cine” has been received. Signor Com paretti, of Florence, and Prof. Pedroso, of Lisbon, are preparing MSS. for the Society. Harvard University has sent a transcript of the titles of its English folk-lore books towards the Bibliogra phy of Folk-lore” now being compiled by Mr. Gomme. The new number of “The Folk-lore Record” will contain a translation of some Danish stories, be sides the papers which will be road at the forthcoming series of evening meetings. —There is little danger, says the Boston Traveler, that the work of the woman who is experimenting in journ- Literature Secular E d itorta ls —Cur re nt Notes and News. ATLANTA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 188 I. alism will be of such superhuman ex cellence as to be above the comprehen sion of the average intellect. “Care is taken that the trees do not grow up into heaven;” if the work is of that exalted character, the writer is of an other guild, and has a place in the rare and radiant land of genius, and for such a writer one has not suggestion, but reverence. That nebulous indi vidual may be eliminated from this equation. It should be remarked, en passant, that the term journalism is used here distinctively from literature! While no thought is too high, no knowledge too profound, no accom plishment too refined to be of practical use in daily journalism; while the study should be to produce work that is good enough—and there is never any dam ger of its being tqo good—while this is true, it is yet equally true that the bor derland between the two fields is dis tinctive. It is a truth of to-day that there is a large amount of journalistic talent among women. It is a power that may be well utilized. The pro fession is an eminently practical one for women, and a bright, sensible woman will discuss certain phases of the world’s news, or of home and social life, with a swift,sympathetic insight, which brings a valuable ele ment to a profession that, of all others, demands the united strength of both men and women. No better advice could be given an aspirant than the terse little counsel of Emerson, “If you want success, succeed.” And so to the girls who long after the flavor of print er’s ink we would say, “If you want to write, write.” —Says the Athenxum: “As the papers have been announcing various sums from £IO,OOO to £30,000 as the price paid for ‘Endymion,’ it may be as well to say that Lord Beaconsfield will eventually receive £IO,OOO. It may also be added, fol the benefit of the curious, that the novel was begun some ten years.” —The Mobile Register severely con demns Mr. Cable’s Grandissimes, espe cially in the point most lauded by the Northern critics—the life-like portrayal of Creole nature and manners; the Register says : “Mr. Cable is very in correct in his sketches of Cregie life. The Creole population which, with its customs, language and curjous w,.'iys, still thrives in New Orleans, is grossly misrepresented by the author of the ‘Grandissimes,’ and even to-day after 'the rude storm of misfortune has swept over its once so opulent and princely homes,’ they are the same genteel and captivating race, with the same noble bearing and dignified character. Many of the incidents of olden times, handed down by the tradition to the descend ants of the old regime, and known to every Creole child below Canal street, are distorted to suit the author’e pur pose. The story of Bras-Coupe for instance.” Mr. Francis Adams, in his work on the American school system, says: “The most conspicuous feature of the American school system is its repre sentative character. The doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, pervad ing all American social and political organizations, is carried to its fullest limit in the schools of the country. The principle to which the people are most attached is thus fitly exhibited in the institution upon which they set the highest value. * * * The simple principle of the American school laws is that the people can bo trusted to attend to their own busi ness.” And as a corollary the fact should be added that the history of the com mon school system shows that wherever the free school system has once obtained a foothold, no retro grade movement can be permanently successful. Local or sectional preju dices may retard its progress, but the good sense of the people will in the end tirumph over all obstacles. The idea lying at the foundation of the American School system is found in the apothegm : “An ignorant peo ple may be governed, but only an edu cated people can govern themselves.” The doctrine which has been incorpo rated into many of the State constitu tions, and is the governing principle in all, is that “knowledge and learning as well as virtue generally diffused throughout the community are essen tial to the preservation of a free govern ment and of the rights and liberties of the people.” Hence, for the protection and perpetuation of free government, they have inserted in their State con stitutions provisions requiring the leg islatures to establish and provide for the maintenance of an efficient and uniform system of public schools, free to all children of the State within the school ago. The Legislature of Illinois will, at its approaching session, be asked to pass a law making it an offense to sell, give, hire or loan a pistol or other deadly weapon to any minor. This is an excellent law, and a similar one should be adopted by every State in the Union. “DOES INSURANCE INSURE?’ The severe article in this month’s Harper’s entitled “Does Life Insurance Insure,” which denounces the life in surance system as unworthy of confi dence, unreliable and dangerous to those who trust in it, has attracted considerable attention on account of its alleged mis-statements. An article affirmatively discussing the subject is to appear in a short time. The New York Commercial Bulletin, in a lengthy editorial deprecates the .magazine ar ticle and, in conclusion,Mys : Whatever, therefore, may be said re specting the disgraceful frauds of for mer years cannot fairly be fastened upon either the system of life insur ance or the compaiues whose survival attests both their soundness and the security of that system. And it ap pears to us to be about time to stop this raking up of old scandals, which, while they prove nothing against life insurance per se, only avail to gratify spite and obstruct the progress of a business which is a,public need. The question, “Does life insurance insure?” is a proper enough question ; but it is not to be fairly answered by those who know nothing about the subject, but -who rattle around it with a muck-rake, adjusted only to gather what is bad and discard what is good. A system , whiffi has held its own for more than two centuries, and whose exponents in the United States alone, have, since 1868, distributed among policy-holders some $600,000,000, for death claims, endowments, surrender values and dividends, is not flippantly to be dis missed to contempt or denounced as a £i&re. That life insurance does insure, the millions who have been its benefi cuM ies stand ready to attest. And, leaving the dead past to bury its dead, we.can truly affirm that the system was never before so solidly founded or so secure in its future as at this very mo mqpt. The American life companies can show to-day, on the average, $l2O for every SIOO of liability; their management is absolutely honest, con servative and economical; their finan cial condition is sounder and more se cure than ever; and, in short, they will bear favorable comparison, as regards all tic essentials of security and good T- with any other business i j tsoevsr. This’ is saying a great know, but we believe it to be the truth and susceptible of demonstration. What sense, then, is there in propounding such a conun drum as “Does Life Insurance In sure?” The statistics of United States trade and commerce for the year 1880 are most gratifying in character. Our ex ports and imports aggregate $1,594,- 000,000, with balance of trade in our favor of $73,000,000, and a net coin and bullion receipt of $84,000,000 in excess of all imports of specie. Our imports aggregate $760,989,056, of which not more than half were manu factures. Our exports foot up $833,- 294,246, of which breadstuff's covered $588,036,835, cotton $211,535,905, pro visions $121,900,814, and illuminating oils $34,903,011. In these products the United States has no competition, the foreign demand is always increas ing, and our supply is limited only by the demand. We exported during the year $16,379,107 in tobacco, $9,931,- 418 in manufactured cotton, $13,344,- 195 in horned cattle, $5,404,418 in furs, $7,689,232 in tallow, $5,086,118 in leather, $6,259,287 in oil cake and $2,717,563 in refined sugar. Ameri can vessels carried ; $280,005,497 of these exports and imports, while sl,- 300,466,596 were carried in foreign vessels. Os interest, in connection with the allusion to the Steven’s battery, to be found in the “Peace Notes” in another column, is the following item furnish ed by the New York correspondent of a daily paper: “The work of breaking up the old Steven’s battery atlloboken, recently sold at auction, was com menced this morning. The battery is composed mostly of huge wrought-iron plates, which will be sent to the found ry and melted up. Very little of the structure can be used, and it will all go back into the furnace.” The White House is a rather expen sive institution, aside from the Presi dent’s salary of $50,000. The staff of employes in and about the executive office requires $32,000 a year, and the stationary and miscellaneous appoint ments some SB,OOO more. This is ex clusive of SIO,OOO a year for care and repairs of the mansion, $15,000 for lighting the house and grounds, $2,000 for fuel, $5,500 for the greenhouses, and a single item of $30,000 for refur nishing. —— l ■ • - By the burning of a tenement house in New York last week ten persons were burned to death and several oth ers were seriously injured. The Union loss during the war was 327,184 ; the Confederate nearly 209,- 000. This is the • ocently verified offi cial account. —An important bill before Con gress is the one introduced by Mr. Reagan, of Texas, for the regulation of inter-state commerce. A correspondent who has ascertained the temper of the House in regard to this proposed mea sure of government says that five-sixths of the members agree that some mea sure asserting the authority which Reagan’s bill recognizes in the Federal government should be passed. But this is legislation upon a new line, and both House and Benate will act with deliberation. Some of the great railroad mono polies whose special interests are con sidered by their managements as para mount to the common interests of the whole people,are opposing the bill with great vigor and pertinacity. There is peculiar force, therefore, in the action of the New York Chamber of Com merce. At a recent meeting the report of the special Committee on Railroad Transportation was unanimously adop ted. The report sets forth the import ance of proper legislation to regulate railroad charges; discusses the two rail road bills now before Congress, known as the Reagan bill and the Henderson bill, and urges the necessity of encourag ing competition and preventing the organization of pools and combinations. It shows that an advance in freight rates of five cents per hundred pounds upon the grain crop of the West is equivalent to an export tax of seventy five million dollars, which comes out of the pockets of producers. In con clusion, the committee submit the fol lowing resolutions: Resolved, That the public welfare urgently demands that the commerce by railroads should be controlled and regulated ; that such regulation should take the form of: first, positive laws, defining public rights ; and, second, a supervision by an executive power, to see that these laws are carried into effect; that with inter-State commerce these laws and supervision should be provided by Congress, and for those railroads exclusively within the juris diction of a State, similar action should be taken by the Legislature of that State. Resolved, That of the measures now pending in Congress for the regulation of inter-Statye commerce, the bill known as the Reagan bill, in the opinion <vf this Chamber, is the one best calcu lated to protect public interest, and that it should become a law without unnecessary delay. Be it further resolved, That an addi tional and separate bill, not inconsistent with the Reagan bill, should be passed providing a National Board of Railroad Commissioners, to see that all laws of the United States relating to railroads are duly executed, and generally to supervise the operation of inter-State railroads. To our Subscribers.—We are com pelled to ask the indulgence of our subscribers, and beg them patiently to wait until the date of their recent pay ments are extended on the printed slip found on each paper. We have not been able to keep up with this depart ment of the business, owing to the pressure upon us. We shall try to have it all right in a week or so. If any of the subscribers, new or old, should fail to get this number, let us know, and it will be mailed to them at once. A New Route.—The President hav ing signed the bill allowing the erec tion of a bridge over the St. Mary’s river, the completion of the Waycross and Jacksonville railroad will be push ed ahead with renewed vigor. With steel rails and a solid roadbed this new route will give the Savannah, Florida and Western railway a short cut to Jacksonville, Fla., and make that the great through line of travel from the North and West to the fair and sunny “Land of Florida.” —Messrs. J. H. and H. P. Jones, of Herndon, Ga., advertise the world-re nowned “Jones’ Long Staple Prolific” cotton seed. We advise every farmer to send to them for a descriptive circu lar. This variety has achieved na tional fame for its preeminent qualities. A dispatch from Rome states that the Pope has requested all the Roman Catholic journals to submit their art icles on the state of affairs in Ireland to the Vatican authorities. A serious rebellion is in progress among the Boers in Africa against the British government. A Transvaal Re public has been organized. A reign of terror prevails. The Communists of New York, like those in Boston, will soon begin the publication of a journal devoted to hostility to the United States Govern ment. —There is a bill before Congress to appro priate $150,000 to Savannah harbor, $50,000 to the Brunswick harbor, SIO,OOO to the sur vey of the St. Mary’s river, and a like sum to the survey of the Ogeechee river, —Cylinder Oil. Mr. E. H. Kellogg, New York, advertises the famous anti corrosive cylinder oil. See card. ESTABLISHED 18 2,1. GEORGIA NEWS. —There will be a Railroad meeting at Carnesville on the first Tuesday in February 1881. —Hon. Joseph E. Brown gave one hun dred tons of coal for the relief of the poor in Atlanta. —A new paper, the “Walton News,” is now being published in Monroe, Walton county, by Messrs. Walker and Ray. —On account of the bad weather, the Street Railway Company of Atlanta sus pended the running of cars for two days. —Eighty families of negroes, numbering over 150 souls, left in a body frbin Randolph county for Texas. They were induced to emigrate by a former resident of Cuthbert. —The Brunswick Advertiser says: “The denizens ot Tarboro, Camden county, had a little melee Christmas day. Result: Two dead and three wounded—all turpentine hands.” —The Washington Gazette says that near ly all the white families in that neighbor hood have raised meat enough, not only for their own use this year, but also for all their hands. —The Columbus Advertiser is the latest candidate for public favor in the newspaper line. It is published at Harlem, Columbia county, with John A. Shivers, proprietor, and J. W. Veronee, editor and publisher. —There is a general inquiry for homes in North Georgia, and by February next some thirty families from Michigan, New Jersey and Florida will have located on the line of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air-Line Rail way. —The Special Committee of the Georgia Historical Society on selecting an orator for the annual meeting, February 14, announce that the address on that occasion will be delivered by Mr. Charles C. Jones, Jr., of Augusta. —Fuel has been very scarce and the price of it, in consequence, very hisrh in Atlanta and Columbus. The poor suffered greatly duringthe recent extraordinarily cold weath er. Their sufferings, however, were mitiga ted to some extent by organized charity. —The citizens of Bainbridge are preparing to liberally entertain the State Agricultural Association, which will meet there next February. No organization in Georgia con tains more intelligence or general wisdom than this Agricultural Society. —Mr. 8. W. Thornton, President of the Talbotton Railroad Company, states that the iron, rol ing stock, and all necessary equip ments for the road have been purchased. The laying of the track will commence with- ' in a few days, unless unavoidably prevented, and the road will be pushed steadily forward to completion. —Hood is growing very rapidly From a correspondent to the Hamilton Journal we learn that ths merchants do a fine bue.qess, commanding the trade of a large aixj pros perm.v sectrae. The be itico'rpo rated, and a mayor, aldermen and a marshal elected. The hotel is nearly completed, and a livery stable is being built. Lands have advanced considerably in value. —Augusta is to have an increase in her banking facilities. The Legislature, at its recent session, granted a charter for the Citizens' Bank, of that city, and the compa ny is speedily to be organized. The capital of the bank will be $200,000, which may be increased to SSOO 000. Business will be be gun as soon as $200,000 shall have been sub scribed, and teu per cent, thereof paid in. The Chronicle and Constitutionalist, allud ing to this new bank, says: “ The banking capital of Augusta is now only about one million two hundred thousand dollars. Be fore the war it was three millions, and the banks had the privilege of issuing three dollars for every one of capital. Very often nearly the whole banking capital of the city is locked up in cotton, to the serious incon venience of business, and an increase of capital, therefore, would be a great bless ing.” —The Rome Tribune touches, in its last issue, on a subject of exceeding interest to the entire State, being the Servant Girl question. It says: “We have repeatedly been requested to ask if our people cannot devise some means to get rid of the existing house-servant nuisance. It is true, as many have represented to us, that many of our present servants are utterly unreliable, and a great nuisance to housekeepers. Periiaps the Chinese would be an improvement, and perhaps if a move was started in that direc tion that many of the ill-paid and almost starving seamstresses of the large cities would gladly accept places as servants in Southern families, where they would be well treated. We will allow a reasonable space in our col umns for a discussion of this important and vexatious subject. At present the burden under which housekeepers are suffering is one they should resolve not to bear.” —The Augusta Evening News speaksjubi lantly of that city s progress; it says: "The new Augusta is not only constantly improvs ing, but is progressing more rapidly than any Southern city. Glorious prospects are ahead of us during the year just opening, and improvement is substantial because Au gusta has the natural advantages and finans cial ability necessary to success. facto ries are going up along our canal, and the banking capital of Augusta is about to be increased by one of the finest banks in the State. The Sibley Mills is no more of a cer tainty than the Citizens' Bank, for both are in the bands of prominent, safe and monied men. “Improvements are going on all over the city, but most conspicuous in the heart of Augusta, and in a nest of buildings that, when completed as contemplated, will give our city an appearance at once magnificent, solid and commanding.” —From Mr. Redding, of the Agricultural Department, we get the following record of thermometer for the 30th of December, the coldest day during the recent severe weath er: Gainesville—Four degrees below xero ; depth of snow six inches. Athens—Ten degrees above zero. Thomaston—Four degrees above zero; depth of snow two inches. M oun t Airy—O ne degree below zero; depth of snow four inches. Oxford—Five degrees below zero ; depth of snow six inches. Augusta-Six degrees above zero; depth of snow two and one-fourth inchee. Brunswick—Seventeen degrees above zero; no snow. Orange and banana trees injur ed. Thomasville—Thirteen degrees above zero; no snow—rainy. LaGrange—Four degrees below zero; depth ot snow six and a half inchee. Atlanta—Two degrees below zero; depth of snow six iuche*. Rome—One degree above on 30th, and one degree below on 31st; depth of snow four and a half incbee.