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The Christian Index. BY JAS. P. HARRISON & CO. The Christian Index. Publication Rooms. 27 and 29 S. Broad. St. The Socialists have abandoned their project for holding a Congress in Lon -1 don. They intend to watch the course of events, and will perhaps hold a meet ing in New York if the coming meet ing at Zurich is prohibited. “When I speak of the Dutch, I shall mean Hollanders,” said a public speak er in New York the other night, and this remark was necessary because of the common error in this country of speaking of the Dutch when it is meant to speak of the Germans, a different people, speaking a different language. The Rev. Dr. James freeman Clarke of Boston says; “I discredit the ex travagant statements which give intem perance as the root of all crime in this country, and maintain that there is a steady growth of temperate habits among the people, as compared with the customs of a few generations ago.” The number of converts made in San Francisco by Moody and Sankey during twenty weeks of revivalism is placed at 2,300. The two principal evangelists were assisted by four professional ex horters and singers from the East. Nearly all the city pastors were active in the movement, and meetings were held in several churches every evening. Augusta Female Seminary.—We call the attention of parents to the ad vertisement of this excellent and pop ular institution of learning, situated at Staunton, Virginia. It offers sup erior advantages in every respect, and for years has maintained a high and well merited rank among the best schools in the Union. The metric system of weights and measures is advancing in the United States. It was legalized here in 1866, and has now been made obligatory by the Marine Hospital Service and the United States Coast Survey. * The Boards of Education of several States have introduced it in public schools, while a knowledge of it is required for admission to most of our colleges. The multiplicity of measures in conti nental Europe—an outgrowth of the feudal system —Was long a barrier to commercial intercourse. Recognition in Heaven. —We re turn thanks to the publishers of this exellent little volume, the Lutheran Publication House, Philadelphia, for a copy. It is now in its second edition. It was written by Rev. M. Rhodes, D.D., of St. Louis, author of “Life Thoughts for Young Men.” It abounds in the most precious truths of faith and hope, happily and touchingly expres sed by the author, and it conveys the richest consolation and comfort to souls bereaved by loved ones departed to the better land on high. The Adventists used to hold that, in view of the early end of the world, church organization was improper. In 1845 a simple declaration of their be lief in the second coming of Christ was formulated. The Second Advent C hris tian Association, which is the principal Advent body, has just held a conven tion at Worcester, Mass., and on this occasion a fuller statement of principles was adopted. The peculiar points are that the finally impenitent will be des troyed, that the coming of Christ is near at hand, and that the earth will be made over for the future abode of the saints. Alluding to the indifference and coolness displayed by all save one of the condemned Nihilists recently hung for the assassination of the Emperor of Russia, an English journalist writes : “For the more resolute spirits of the secret societies of Europe the “King of Terrors”has nothing really terrible about him. They have satisfied themselves that there is no life beyond the grave. The value of a belief in the immortal ity of the soul, as an instrument of so cial police, is incalculably great, and the gradual decay of this faith with certain sections of desperate and aban doned men, is a sign of the times full of menace and alarm.” By an act of the Legislature of Ala bama creating a Board of Railroad Commisioners of that State, a provis ion of the act required the Commission ers to consult with the Railroad Com missioners of the other States, “by con vention or otherwise,” on matters re garding inter-State commerce. The Railroad Commissioners of Missouri have been consulted, and were the first to agree to holding a convention off hand. There are twenty-one States which have Railroad Commissioners, and it is probable nearly all will favor the project of holding a National Con vention some time in June, and the place to be selected will probably be Louisville, Ky. This will be the fourth convention held by the Railroad Com missions of the different States. LITERARY NOTES AND COMMENTS —Father Ryan, the poet-priest, is in Tennessee lecturing on the ‘ Poetry of the South.” —The April number of the Southern Musical Journal, published by Messrs. Ludden & Bates, is by far the best number this interprising firm have yet issued. It is printed on fine tinted pa per, its typographical appearances is improved, and it has been enlarged four pages. The choice musical pieces ' are well arranged and in excellent taste. The new serial is good, and there is a large quantity of original matter, which ' is not only interesting and instructive, but exceedingly pleasing. It is a num ber that you may send a friend with the assurance that it will be apprecia ted. Thus says the Savannah News, and we adopt its opinion of this excel lent journal of music as expressive of our own views. —The Blackwoods Magazine foi April, re-printed by the Leonard Scott Publishing Company, 41 Barclay St., New York, is like all their re-publica tions of thegreat British Magazines,full of good reading. “The Private Secre tary” is continued. “Shadwell’s Life of Lord Clyde” briefly sketches the ca reer of that gallant soldier. “Vallam brosa” is an interesting account of the former and present condition of the famed monastery. “Old Scottish Soci ety” gives a lively description of' town and country life in Scotland seventy five or a hundred years ago. "Greece and her claims” discusses the present situation in the East. There is an amusing article entitled “Freaks of the Telegraph,” enumerating many pro voking blunders caused by carelessness either in writing or transmission, which however laughable to read, must have been truly annoying to the recipients. —ln every respect one of the most notable contributions to our current magazine literature, is a paper by Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, in a recent num ber of Good Literature on “The Litera ry Profession in the South.” It is a brief yet, in the essentials, a compre hensive review of the causes which, in the days of the “Old South,” operated deleteriously upon the growth and pro gress of an indigenous literature; the dwarfing and crippling influences of the spirit of caste, and the false and contracted views of literature, and of its professors, entertained by the Southerners of the ancient regime, with a glance at the influences for some time successfully at work in removing these old hindrances, traditions and prejudices, the steady and very satis factory growth of intellectual activity, keeping step and alignment with the industrial progress, and closing with a statement of the hopeful future await ing the “New South” in the establish ment ol a shining Republic of Letters. Mrs. Preston herself wears worthily the laurel-wreath of literary fame, and, in her own person, is a representative of Southern genius, and proof of the fact that excellence in literature is rec ognized and honored in the South, as in the North, though it is not to be questioned that, for some time yet, our professional literary men and women must look to Northern sources if they desire to receive adequate remuneration for their labors. We wish that space would allow us to give Mrs. Preston’s article in full; it is so sensible, conservative, unbiased and evenly balanced. However, we must make room for the concluding part of it: Another reason of the hitherto low condition of literary execution among us has been the fact that we have been too content with ourselves just as we are; and the dead level of such stag nant content has barred progress in the direction of letters, as it has our mate rial prosperity. Our critics and j udges give a harsher name to the character istic, and call it superciliousness; and perhaps they have some reason for do ing so. Just as we have scorned to substitute for our old plantation homes, with their broad spaces, their cozy ways of living, their old-fashioned ease and refinement, the modern spruce villa, with its varied appliances for comfort, and its labor-saving mechan ism, so have we clung to the wonted system of things. It was very well under that system to insist upon the pitcher of water being brought fresh from the gushing spring an eighth of a mile off when any one was athirst, since a bevy of little black runners were glad to have something to do for a change; but now that these same run ners are studying Latin and calculus, it becomes us to alter our base and lay down the more convenient water-pipes. No doubt, too, our conservative South has been intensely provincial in many ways. Our people have lived to themselves, and so have missed the mental attrition which mingling with the world at large furnishes. They have not gone about as travelers to the extent that Northern people have. They have not been familiarized with literary circles; they have not in large enough degree seen works of art or ar chitecture ; they have not suffiicently walked foreign galleries and studied the masterpiecies of antiquity, and General Literature—Domestic and Foreign Intelligence—Secular Editorials. wandered over museums, and stood in the quadrangles of hoary universities, and grown enthusiastic over the glori ous achievements of the old world. They have not realized how all lands crown, with their highest honors, their literary and artistic workers. For the last fifteen years the South has been endeavoring to right herself. Like a great vessel that has weathered the storm with the loss of all her sails and masts, she is trimming herself as bravely as she can to meet the emer geheies before her. She sees plainly enough now that “The old order oliangeth. giving place to new, And God fulfills himself in many ways I and there grows gradually over the Southern mind a spirit of acquiescence and acceptance. “Those who are observant of the signs of the times see tokens every where that predict the passing away of the hindering traditions and prejudices that, sacred as they may have seemed to the old generations, will now only prove trammels to the new. On all hands the South is beginning to en courage the rebuilding of her towns and cities: the old plantation life has lost its prestige, and never can be again what it was in the past. Neighbor hoods are trying to crowd more to gether. The impulse of vicinage is be ing felt. Our schools and colleges are everywhere coming into healthy opera tion. The weak idea of the servility of labor is fast losing ground. Fresh life has been infused into our daily and weekly press. Notwithstanding their greater poverty, the Southern people go abroad far more than they did in ante-bellum days, and thereby get the cobwebs of prejudice swept from their brains. We have text-books now issu ing from our universities; we have volumes of poems published of which even The Saturday Review and The Academy of London condescend to take note; we have begun to send forth essays and travels, and books of science that meet the commendation of the best critics of the land. We might add instances and references to verify what we have said, but it is out side of our purpose to go into any individual detail. “A bright and’attractive future, then, we believe is about to open before those among us who may hereafter give them selves to letters. With the possession of genius, which nature has not made a mattei of geography ; with the full equipment which a thorough culture demands; with the priceless inheri tance of the richest historic associa tions ; with a marvelously picturesque past, whose local coloring is the fairest which this trans-Atlantic land affords; with the material prosperity which in time must come ; with our noble rivers, our unopened mines, our varied and delicious climates, our great world staples—cotton, tobacco, rice, and su gar ; with the influx of new popula tions ; with the stir and march and thunder of the times filling our ears; with the wealth and prosperity that must give our Southern land its proper place among the great brotherhood of States —what is there to hinder this wide, vast South from taking its posi tion as a leader in the world of letters, as the equal and peer of the North? That, in the nature of things, this time will speedily come, we surely do be lieve.” —The Magazine of Art, (Cassell, Petter, Galpin <fc Co., New York), for May, reproduces an engraving in min iature, a large design for a “pictorial advertisement,” in reference to which an article appears in the same number under the title of “The Streets as Art Galleries.” The design is by Hubert Herkomer, a prominent English artist, and in conception and detail is strik ingly unique and classical. —A new edition of that beautiful book, the illustrated “Story of the Bible,” has just been issued, in im proved form. Sixty thousand copies have already been sold. Silk culture was first introduced in Louisiana by the “Company of the West” in 1718, and in Georgia about the same time. The first export of silk from the South was eight pounds in 1734. Soon after a silk house was erected in Savannah. In 1760 the co coons amounted to 15,000 pounds. This house was supposed to have receiv ed all the silk from the Gulf States. The product in 1766 was 20,000 pounds, but then Parliament reduced the price from 3s. to Is. 6d., and the product fell off so rapidly that the total amount in 1770 was only 290 pounds. South Carolina had also made commendable progress in the art, but the Revolution ary war put a stop to the culture of silk in the South. The reports of this spring’s hatching in Louisiana are encouraging. . Inter est in the industry is growing in that State, and inducements are offered to silk workers to come from France and engage in the business. —Miss Ella Dobbs, daughter of S. C. Dobbs, of Athens, joined the Baptist church May Ist, and was baptized. at night. ATLANTA, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1881. THE ANTI-NIHILIST CAMPAIGN. The following is an extract from the letter of a correspondent writing from St. Petersburg : As to the internation al campaign against the revolutionists, the Russiafi diplomatic writers see no difficulty whatever. First of all they intend to have a settlement with the Swiss republic. “We may demand from Switzerland,” says the Novoe Vremia, “that she shall expel all the Nihijjgts, S cia'ists, Internationalists, and revolutionalists generally, under penalty that Swiss citizens shall'be ex pelled from Russia, and the importa tion of Swiss goods into Russia shall be forbidden. If that should not produce the desired effect, then we may hint to Germany that Russia will not object to annexation of the Swiss republic, or at least of the northern part of it, to the German empire. This, no doubt, will put an end to the revolutionary mach inations at Geneva.” It is proposed, further, that the authorities of Paris and London shall be vigorously “in structed” not to harbor the.revolution ists. The broad Atlantic does not stop the Nihilist-eaters, and they go even to NeA York. But here they propose a different policy. “Having in view,” they say, “ the close, friendly relations existing between all the Russias and the United States, the recent proof of which we have had in the dispatches of the President, of the United States Senate, and the Assembly of the State of New York and remembering the gratitude of the American people to the la‘te Czar for the great services rendered by him to them during the civil war, we shall respectfully request the Federal and State governments of the republic to expel at once all per sons of regicidal tendencies, who can bring nothing but dishonor to the as yet glorious republic.” “What do you think of the inter national anti-Nihilist campaign?” I asked a Russian friend, a well-known writer. “It is nothing else but hunting for a mote in our neighbor’s eye, and over looking the beam in.ourown eye; or, in plain Russian, it is barking at the moon. The tragedy of the situation is this : The Czarists cry out, ‘Give us the Nihilists and we will annihilate them, will tear them to pieces, and will blow them to dust.* But that is the main diffie 1 Ity— how to get them. Go, searUt for them in the ground, hunt for them in the brains of men, and squeeze them out of the hearts of wo men. No, the Czarists have no such powder, and so the Czardom is well nigh gone. Vechnaia Pamiat (eter nal remembrance) to it!” International Cotton Exposition. Our readers will find on the eighth page a view of Oglethorpe Park, At lanta, with the plan of the International Cotton Eposition buildings, wherein will be held from October sth, next, to December 31st, the most important and interesting exhibition ever held in the Southern States. The building will be ready for the storing of the goods, machinery, etc., in September. The exhibition will not be confined alone to cotton. While this pro duct will have the preference and be sonfined to the main exposition build ing it is the purpose of the management to make as large and varied a display as possible of all the Southern products, woods and minerals. Several of the leading railroads in the South will make special exhibits of the products on their lines of road, and there will be an extensive exhibition of this kind from the different Southern States, all to be grouped in separate buildings. The grounds and buildings will have electric lights, and'the Exhibition will be open such nights during the week as the management may direct. The enterprise has met with the ap probation of the leading merchants and manufacturers of the United States. Money has been subscribed freely, and in the cotton manufacturing districts of England the proposed Exposition has received liberal aid and general in dorsement. The Exposition will be of the utmost benefit to the industrial progress of the South, and cannot fail of exercising a fine influence everywhere. The publishers take much pleasure in announcing that the Editor-in-chief, Dr. Tucker, will be assisted in the la bors of the editorial department by Dr. D. Shaver, whose abilities as a writer and editor are too well known to re quire elucidation. The combined la bors of Dr. Tucker and Dr. Shaver as sure to the readers of The Index an editorial page of unsurpassed excel lence. The publishers earnestly call the at tention of our brethren, and of readers generally, to the Department of Cor respondence, which will be especially under the supervision of Dr. Shaver. He will attend to the communications from pastors, churches, etc., with which they may favor us, giving prompt per sonal attention to all queries and re quests. He will organize a corps of contributors, which will give new life and interest to this department. We cordially request all the brethren to send us communications, and to assist us from week to week in making this part of the paper entertaining and val uable. This department is one of unusual importance, a medium for inter-com munication among the churches, and a reflector of the thoughts, wishes, pur poses, suggestions and interests, special and general, of the denomination, in dividually and collectively. As such, it requires the constant assistance of brethren everywhere to maintain its usefulness and essential variety. Due attention will be given to all commu nications, written to give information, or upon any subject legitimate to our columns. Brethren are requested to direct all communications intended for publica tion, direct to The Christian Index, Atlanta, Ga. Mr. Parnell, the Irish Land-League revolutionist, does not like the Land Bill introduced by Gladstone, to relieve the Irish tenant troubles and to restore peace to that distracted country. The measures of relief proposed by Mr. Glad stone are of a most important and far reaching nature, handling a most dif ficult subject in a wise and statesman like manner, and unqestionably offered in good faith and for patriotic pur poses. The bill has received the in dorsement of the wisest men of all parties, and will receive the support of the conservative people of Ireland. We are afraid that the real ground for the ill-will displayed by Mr. Parnell toward these pacificatory measures, lies in the fact that their adoption will nec essitate the retirement of this noted gentleman from the front place of a revolutionary movement, with its at tendant personal renown and promin ence in public affairs, unattainable to him in other and more peaceful direc tions But the preferment of any individual, however great he may consider him self and essential to the welfare of a cause, must give way to the promotion of the common welfare of a people. Personalism and patriotism are essen tially antagonistic. We thirik Irish affairs have now reached a crisis favorable to that coun try,and any captious attempt to obstruct the cure would savor strongly of dem agoguism. Rome Bulletin: “Colonel Alfred Shorter has donated the magnificent sum of SI,OOO to the cause of rebuild ing the colored Baptist church of this city, which was destroyed by fire some few weeks since. The donation is lib eral, and Colonel Shorter deserves much credit for the spirit which prompt ed the gift. Nearly SSOO, additional has been realized by other volunteer subscriptions, making in ail a neat sum with which to inaugurate the work. The church is to be built of brick, and is estimated to cost $3,000. We con gratulate Rev. Jeff Milner, the pastor, for the success which has, so far, crown ed his zealous efforts.” —The Columbus Times says: The services on Mott’s Green, Sunday after noon, were very largely attended, it be ing estimated that about one thousand people were present. Dr. DeVotie con ducted the services, assisted by Rev. J. W. Domingos. These services always draw large numbers of people who never go inside a church, and they are un doubtedly doing great good. We earnestly trust that the venerable man of God, Rev. Dr. J. H. Campbell, who has devoted so much of his attention to this work, will yet see the rich results of his labors. —Meriwether Vindicator : Antioch Baptist church, when completed, will be one of the handsomest country churches in the country. It will be ceiled, painted, and furnished with blinds and neat slatted seats. The good people in the vicinity of the church deserve commendation for their progressive spirit. —A recent issue of the Eatonton Messenger says: During the past two weeks the colored people have been holding a special protracted meeting. A large number of. them have recently been baptized. Last Sunday week about twenty-five were “baptized in Christlast Sunday, over thirty re ceived the rite, bat were not immersed. ♦ —The introductory sermon at the Sunday-school Convention of the Cave Spring Association was preached by Rev. R. D. Mallary, President of Shorter College. His very appropriate text was “Feed My Lambs.” In his ser mon Mr. Mallary very appropriately call ed the Sunday-school the “Chris tian Nursery.” —The last Sunday-school Conven tion of the Stone Mountain Association passed a resolution requesting the Sun day-schools within the bounds of the Association to take up a collection for the use of the Convention before July Ist. We trust that there will be a lib eral response. ESTABLISHED I 811. GEORGIA NEWS. —The rice crop is growing finely. An enormous cotton crop is being plant ed in North Georgia. —The question of a cotton factory in Grif fin is again being agitated. —The small grain crops of Putnam and Jasper are good this season. —The Walton railroad is now completed to within 200 yards of Monroe. Rockdale county is going to vote on the fence question at an early day. —The Methodists in Dublin are preparing to build a new house of worship. —The question of prohibition is being vigorously agitated in Houston county. Covington Star : “The peach crop now promises to be much better than was expect ed some weeks ago." —The County Commissioners of Tabot county have placed the liquor license at five hundred dollars. —The Montezuma Weekly says: “The crop prospect in our vicinity was never bet ter. Everything is flourishing." —The Talbotton Branch Railroad has been completed, and trains are now running through from that town to Bostic Station. —Mr. T, J. Howard, of Oglethorpe county, made sixty bales of cotton last years with ten hands, and did not plant a seed until the last of May. —The Swainsboro Herald says: “We are gratified to know that the prospect for a fruit crop in this vicinity is good. Peaches and apples will be plentiful.” —Dr, James B Underwood, a prominent citizen of North Georgia, died last Friday night at Cave Springs. He was a brother to Judge Underwood, of Rome. —Seven thousand dollars have been sub scribed by the members of the First Metho dist church to remodel and repair their building in Athens. Several thousand are needed still, —Mr. Joseph N. Boyd died in Hogansville last Friday, aged 104 years. He had had the services of a physician only once in the last fifty years, and had lived in Troup county since 1830. -The Atlanta Post-Appeal learns “from a reliable source that a pure coal bed has been discovered within five miles of Covington. Specimens of the coal have been tested, and and it is said to be of excellent quality.” —The Oglethorpe Echo says about $50,000 has been “spent in the past two years, dig ging gold in this county, without any return whatever. Both mines have now been aban doned, and the valuable machinery left to rust.” —The Cherokee furnace, at Cedartown, commenced its new blast on the Bth, and made its first run of pig iron. The Phillips mill company have placed their saw-mill in the iron works yard near the creek. Saw legs for the same will be delivered by the railroad. —Treasurer Speer received $8 002.35 from the sheriff of Floyd county as the net pro ceeds of the sale of the Rome Bank building, furniture and safe. The treasurer credited the above amount to the Rome Bank. This is the first installment that the State has re* oeived from the bank since it collapsed. —GainesvilleSouthron: “Our Clarksville and Tallulah Falls friends are greatly elated at the prospect of an early completion of the Northeastern railroad to those points. We don’t blame them; we are glad of it ourself. It will open up that country amazingly, and improve Habersham and Rabun counties a hundred per cent- in two years.” —The Eatonton Messenger says: 1 ' Mon ticello has a Young Mens' Christian Associ ation that is bound to accomplish some good. In addition to the meetings held in Monti cello, the Association sends out to the differ ent churches of the county, on Sundays on which there is to be no regular service, some one of its members, who conducts services at such church, and practically fills the vacant Sunday. This is a good idea on the part of the Association.” —The rolling mills at Atlanta has gone into the hands of a Receiver. The bill ask ing for the appointment of a Receiver was drawn by Messrs. Hopkins & Glenn, repre senting W. S Thomason and G, J Foreacre, Trustees, and sets forth the fact that the Georgia Iron Works Company is indebted to bondholders in the sum of $250,000, as is evidenced by first mortgage bonds, SIOO,OOO of which is due 1890, and $150,000 of which is due in 1900, all bearing interest at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum. —Mr. Wolffe, of Montgomery, agent for Erlanger & Co., the German bankers, who are the owners of the Alabama and Great South ern railroad from Chattanooga to Meridian, has negotiated for the purchase of the Bruns wick and Albany railroad, with a view to extend it to Eufaula and thence to Meridian or some more desirable point. Orders have also been received in Atlanta to construct a bridge over the Chattahoochee river and commence laying a track on the old roadbed on the Georgia Western railroad. This will put some thirty miles in operation from At lanta in a few months. —The Savannah News says: “Tea culture in Georgia is, at last, an assured success. By reference to our telegraphic columns this morning, it will be seen that a number of representatives of the leading tea houses in New York met together on Saturday and sampled several specimens of tea grown in Liberty county, this State, under the super vision of United States Agricultural Com missioner LeDuc. The tea was drawn and, upon being tasted, was pronounced equal to the finest Indian Tea, while the opinion unanimously expressed was that the quality could, with cultivation and experience, be materially improved. "This offers a new and valuable industry to Georgia. With tea culture brought to per fection in the State, an avenue of great wealth will be opened up to our people, for since thousands of tea drinkeis would infi nitely prefer what they knew to be a pure article to the adulterated and much manipu lated imported teas, the demand would, at all times, be fully equal to the supply." —We have more than once adverted in these columns to the rapid increase of divor ces among the people of New England, amounting last year, if we remember rightly, to over ten per cent, of the marriages in the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and to a still larger per cent, in Maiut,. But, unless our own people improve in their ways, we shall not have occasion to go to New England to find texts for lectures upon the laxity of matrimonial obligations. The dockets of our own court are beginning to show an alarming increase in such cases, and, while many of the parties are negroes, the fact is scarcely the less deplorable for, as we are to have tnese people among us, it is best that they, as well as the whites, should live faithful to their marriage vows. We notice, in a late numberjof the Atlanta Con stitution, shat a list of thirty-one couples is published who applying for divorces. We are sorry to see these things. It ought not so to be. The State, the Church, ana socie ty, in its home life, should find a remedy for so great an evil, and apply it.