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THE Romance of History. ELFRIDA, THE STAR OF DEVONSHIRE. BY W. W. WOODSON. Edgar, the Saxon, ascended the throne in The beginning of bis reign was disturbed by contests with his factious nobles, who aspired to independent sovereignty in their extensive dominions. But the young king was of too warlike and ambitious a nature to per mit these great feudal lords to defy his prerog ative, undone after another they were forced into submission. In these wars, waged against his rebellious vassals, the king was ably seconded by his fa vorite, Ethelwald. This young noble was no less distinguished for the graces of his person than his prowess in war. In return for his em inent services, the grateful monarch had offer- ed to bestow upon him the richest of the great fiefs ot the crown; but as the acceptance of the proffered dignity would have necessitated his residence in a distant portion of the realm, it was decliped. Being deeply attached to the person of his royal master, and devoted to the gallantry and gayety of the Saxon court, Ethel wald chose to remain as a “landless lord” in at tendance on his sovereign. He was no less a favorite with the ladies of the court than with his master, and the gallant and gifted earl, for such was his title, might have formed a bril liant alliance, had he been so inclined. But while charming and agreeable to all, he had nev er been induced to pay court at the shrine of any particular fair one. Edgar, too, was still unmarried. Pressing affairs of state, and the wars in which he had been engaged, had not left him time to think of marriage, but as peace and quiet now reign ed throughout the kingdom, the propriety of seeking a partner for his throne suggested it self. Rumors of the wondrous beauty of Elfrida, daughter of the great Earl of Devonshire, had reached his capital, and he determined to send a trusty agent to the castle of the earl, who might learn by personal observation whether the lady was really as beautiful as she was rep resented. The king selected Ethelwald as his agent in this delicate mission. The young earl was bit terly opposed to the king’s marriage, for he clearly foresaw in such an event he would lose his position as the royal favorite. He there fore ridiculed, as far as he dared, his master’s project of dispatching an envoy into Devonshire, for the purpose of passing judgment on a la dy’s charms. But finding that Edgar was de termined upon the step, he set out upon the er rand with the best grace he could. Arriving at the castle of Devonshire, he was received with all the honor due to his rank and the high position he held in the Saxon court. Ethelwald was a keen judge of female loveli ness, and he was forced to confess that Elfrida was well worthy of the extravagant encomiums that were everywhere passed upon her beauty. She was certainly the most beautiful woman he had ever beheld. He found, too, to his infinite surprise, that she was possessed of much grace of manner, and all those feminine accomplishments, which were necessary to con stitute a fine lady of the period. Ethelwald at once determined, if possible, to win her for himself, and applied himself, with all the arts at his command, to make a favora ble impression on both father and daughter. Nor was this a difficult task. His handsome person and agreeable address was highly pleas ing to the lovely but rustic maiden, and he soon gained her consent to a union. The fath er, too, was not averse to a ^son-in-law, who, though he possessed not the great domain, which some of Elfrida’s suitors laid at her feet, yet being the favorite of his king, the road to preferment in both honors and lands was open to him. Besides, Elfrida was his only child, and heiress to his own broad lands, a fitting dowry for a queen. So that he need not be act uated by merely mercenary motives in selecting a husband for his only child. Ethelwald’s proposals were therefore accepted, and he returned to court and reported to the King that the beauty of Elfrida was greatly overrated; that it was only the great wealth to which she was heiress that had given rise to the wild rumors in regard to her beauty; that, reared in the seclusion of her father’s castle, she was wholly uncultivated, and possessed none of those graces which would be indispensable in the partner of his throne. The King, accepting the report of his trusted envoy, gave the matter no further consideration. Ethelwald, having waited some time to prevent any suspicion of his treachery, suggested to the King that while Elfrida’s charms had been greatly exaggerated, still her great wealth made her a very suitablo match for a poor earl like himself, and begged the King’s permission to pay his addresses to her. This was very readily granted, and the ardent young lover posted off to Devonshire, where his marriage with Elfrida was soon after solemnized. His young and lovely countess had fully expected after her marriage to follow her husband to London, and she had anticipated the greatest pleasure from a participation in the splendid gayeties of the court. She was vain of her wondrous beauty, and had looked forward to many a triumph over the ladies attached to the court of her sovereign. Her mortification was therefore intense, when her husband, who had such powerful reasons for keeping her away, declined positively to take her to the city. She looked upon his refusal as an injury, and never forgave him for it. The whole story of Ethelwald’s duplicity at length reached the ears of the King, and his fury knew no bounds. Dissembling his resent ment, however, he announced to Ethelwald his intention to pay him a visit. The poor man, in great trepidation, stammered his thanks for the honor, and begged permission to go on before and put the castle in order for the reception of His Majesty. The request being granted, he set out at once, and arriving at the castle, fell on his knees and confessed to his wife the whole story of his treachery to his offended King, and implored her, if she had any regard for his safety, to con ceal her beauty as much as possible from the eyes of the King. He pleaded his great love as an extenuation of his wrong, and left her under the impression that she would be obedient to his wishes. But Elfrida was as vain and ambi tious as she was beautiful, and at once imbibed the bitterest resentment against her husband for his daring to step between her and a crown. In order to be revenged, therefore, she ar rayed herself in splendid attire, and hightened with all the arts at her command her natural charms. She entered the room in which her royal visitor was seated, leaning on the arm ot her father, who had been informed of the whole matter, and who was as indignant as herself- Ethelwald saw at a glance that he was lost; she had never before seemed so lovely, and the sus ceptible King took no pains to disguise his ad miration. He said nothing, however, toexciti the fean of his quondam favorite, but a few days later the murdered body of that uufortuuate nobleman was found in a wood adjacent to the castle. Some say that the irate monarch stabbed him with his own hand; others that he was assas sinated by the retainers of the earl of Devon shire. Be that as it may, there was now no obstacle to the marriage of the King and the widow countess, and this event was soon after celebrated with the greatest pomp and splendor. ANCIENT AND MODERN Heroes. THRILLING DEATH SCENES. BY SIDNEY HERBERT. Heroism, I am constrained to believe, is not of modern birth, nor confined to any particu lar race of people. From the earliest days of creation down to the present time, men have stood forth in sublime attitudes of heroic valor, unflinching fortitude, and patient suffering, teaching to .those around them, less brave and strong and enduring, lessons so fraught with noble inspiration that cowards became heroes, the weak-kneed grew firm of foot and strong of arm, and the faint-hearted threw doubt and fear to the winds, and bravely and patiently strove for the victory that could oDly come through the endurance and valor and hopeful ness of their own undaunted spirits. In his very interesting and timely sketch of the military genius, services and death of the lamented General Albert Sidney Johnston, G. S. A., published in the Detroit Free l J ress, Col. I. W. Avery states that the heroic death of that gallant soldier “ savors of antique glory.” My purpose, therefore, is to show, by example, what, in the light of sacred history, may properly be called “antique glory,” and by comparison of the two examples, ascertain if the modern glory is not, in all respects, equal to (in fact does not surpass in grand characteristics) the “antique.” The ancient warrior whom I have selected— King Ahab—was a mighty conqueror, and died with a fortitude unsurpassed in the annals of history; and yet he comes down to us character ized as a “weak” man. Not so with the modern example, General Johnston, the pure, strong man and fearless and faithful soldier. THE MODERN EXAMPLE. “ I know of nothing,” writes Col. Avery, “more characteristic in the history of this great war than Johnston’s heroic death. It savors of antique glory. Every circumstance was redo lent of chivalry. It illustrated alike his mili tary genius and his knightly spirit.” “On Sunday, the Gth of April, 18G2, John ston, with his eager army, began his fateful fight. It was a complete surprise in the misty Sabbath morning of a splendid army, in luxu rious encampment, unsuspecting danger. Never fought a surprised force more gallantly, nor was one ever handled more skillfully thus taken unawares. But the attack was irresisti ble. With supreme daring Gen. Johnston urg ed on the onset. He handled his army with brilliant impetuosity. Wherever there was a pause in the onward movement he led the charge in person. “To those who saw him that day, as the writer did, in all the glorious fervor of that delirious success, mounted upon a magnificent steed, his massive figure seeming to enlarge to gigantic size with the ardor of battle, his noble face aflame with his indomitable spirit of fight, he was the ideal embodiment of the fiery essence of war. He threw himself with reckless indif ference into danger. The entire line of the en emy was in retreat a little before noon. “Johnston pressed the fierce pursuit of the broken foe. Oblivious of peril from the swarm ing bullets of the retreating but still fighting enemy, he rode swiftly in advance. It was in this supreme moment of victorious onset, a de cisive triumph seemingly in his grasp, that the fatal bullet struck Him; a small wound under the knee severing an artery. He never heeded it, but sweeping on in the rush, exclaimed to one of his officers, ‘ We will water our horses in the Tennessee river to-night.’ “An aide perceiving blood on his clothes, ask ed him, with deep anxiety, if he was not woun ded. He answered, in the exalted ardor of his feelings, removed above the sense of pain, ‘only a scratch!’ Even then the life-blood was flow ing from his deadly wound, and his moments were numbered. But his great soul was in the battle heat, and self was sublimely forgotten. . . . . He began to reel in the saddle—dying! Ho was lifted to the ground. His boot was full of blood, and the life current pouring out be yond recall. He never spoke again. “Removed to a ravine out ot the merciless bullets’ course, he was dead in a twinkling! Stimulants were applied in vain. The grand old man was gone from this world of strife, and the Southern people mourned the heaviest be reavement they had yet suffered in the mighty struggle. Take it all in all, with all its acces saries, and the late war, (as full as it was of ro mantic events) shows no more dramatic picture than the ‘ taking off’ of this heroic chieftain. It was a fit exit for the royal soldier to thus ex pire in the crimson tide of such a triumph!" THE ANCIENT EXAMPLE. From the above modern example of how hero ically a true and brave soldier can meet his death amid the rush and roar of battle, let us turn back far beyond the birth of the great “Prince of Peace,” and gaze upon a similar picture, hallow ed by “antique glory” and the presence of Israel’s God—the death in battle of the mighty Ahab, King of Israel, “Ahab,” says the Rev. D. O. Kellogq, D. D., “died heroically in battle. He had long waged, war with the Syrians. When his army lay on the hill-sides, like ‘two little flocks of kids,’ and the Syrian host with its chariots filled the coun try, he undauntedly led his infantry against the foe and routed them. In his victory he was mag nanimous, and the Syrians has it for a kind of proverb that the rulers of Israel were ‘merciful kings.’ “At last, after many a hard fight, Ahab rolled* the tide of war away from the heart of his coun try to its eastern frontier, in Gilead. Thither he went with his army to recover the city of Ra- motli from the Syrians. Such was the Syrian sense of his bravery and generalship, that they thought the field would be won as soon as Ahab should fall. So the command ran through a squadron of that army to fight with none but Anab. “The Israelite king, to avoid this danger and render futile the scheme, went disguised into battle. Fiercely raged the conflict, and unyield ing each line breasted the blows of the foe. In the heat of the conflict an archer drawing his bow at a venture, shot his arrow into the joint of Ahab’s corselet and gave him a mortal wound. “With no outcry the king turned his chariot to the rear, and there, lest the news of his hurt should dispirit his soldiers, he stayed himself up and remained on the field. All that after noon the blood trickled down within the corse let, and congealed in pools on the chariot floor. The king grew weaker and weaker, but his reso lution changed not. Mortal distress took hold upon him, but he would not yield. His forti tude was the bulwark of his country, the shield of his army, and it should not be wanting. Night began to fall and separate the combatants, and as the strife ceased they looked and beheld the king’s eye had glazed—the brave general was dead.” "Kimball House, Feb., 1878. Nature has given women two painful but heavenly gifts which distinguish them and often raise them above human nature—com pas sion and enthusiasm. By compassion they de vote themselves; by enthusiasm they exalt them selves. —Lamartine. Gold must be beaten, and a child scourged. —Ben Lira. SOCIETY GOSSIP. Parties, Balls, Dinings, Marriages, and other Amusements. LIFE IN THE SOUTH. —ylanta, ga. The “Mistletoe Bough” will be given Tuesday evening at DeGive’s. Two ladies of acknowl edged ability have given their entire attention to the management; and they never fail in any undertaking. The proceeds of the entertain ment will be donated to the completion of the First Methodist church of this city,and we trust that our people will give them the encourage ment that their efforts deserve. There was a very delightful Hop at the Mark ham Monday evening. Two Macon belles were the attraction. Atlanta has been unusually gay this week; de lightful attractions at the theatre, while balls and parties have followed in rapid succession. The Misses Brockenborough add very much to the attractiveness of Pryor street. The Anderson matinee, Wednesday evening, despite the horrid condition ofAiie streets, was largely attended by both sexes. We found such violent oppositions to the “M. A. S.,” that we had to change its name. Why, some of the gentlemen actually looked horrified when we mentioned it. Yet the purposes of the “Sans Souci” are virtually the same. The Macon Telegraph says: “Henry Rich ardson is fast making an enviable reputation as an accurate and ready reporter." Now we are willing to all the clever things said of this gen tleman, but contend that he is sometimes rather more “ready” than “accurate.” How cruel of him last Sunday, to state so positively that a brilliant young lady was seriously contempla ting going upon the stage. Wonder who she can be ? We had the pleasure, yesterday, of seeing an exquisitely colored * photo” of Mary Anderson. It was—of course—executed by our talented artist, Mrs. Oliver. We should be proud to have such rare talent among ns, and should encour age it. It is a loss to any community^/hen such men as Gen. Garlington removes from its midst. Atlanta will always be happy to welcome him back. Wonder what became of all the valentines sold in this city. No one admits having received any, yet the news dealers report large sales. The most delightful event of the week was the reception of the “Sans Souci Social Club,” Thursday evening, at the residence of Mr. J. W. Fears, on Pryor street. Excellent music, fair women, chivalrous and elegant men—what more could we desire to make an evening perfect. The Club is under the management and chaper- onage of six of our most popular matrons, while Mr. Terry Towns is Treasurer, with charm ing assistants, Misses Taylor and Lowry; Miss Ellis is Secretary. The mombers will be notified of the time and place of the next meeting. The Hon. G. J. Elkins, of Washington county, Ga., was recently married to Miss Clara J. Shackelford, one of Atlanta’s most accomplished young ladies. All About Women. Miss Mary Bowers, a daughter of Mrs. D. P. Bowers, made her first appearance before the •footlights hist ’reek at the 56e*»Vpark> Theatre, Brooklyn. Mrs. Brown played Leak, and her daughter Madeline. Aimee appeared last week for the last time in New Orleans, in “La fille de Madame Aogot” and “La vie Parisienne.” Olive Logan writes a very interesting letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer, containing spicy but good-natured gossip about Mrs. Hirch’s — Lord, Miss Hannah Rothschild, and concludes with a dissertation of American Notions in Eng land. The young ladies of Nashville give Neck-Tie parties, served up with oysters and coffee. Mrs. Agnew, of New Orleans, will soon make her debut as “Juliet,” and her career is watch ed with interest by a large circle of friends. Mrs. Dorset, of Minneaopolis, has just been admitted to practice law in all the courts of the State of Minnesota. Madame Modveska “Camille” is said to make hundreds a week. ’Tis said when she is called before the curtain she does not wear the stereo- t> ped smile of the actress updta her face, but simply goes to the front with the same expres sion of countenance she wore during the play. Madame Firmin-Didot, a woman of co asider- able talent, and widow of the eminent French publisher, has just died at the age of eighty-one. The new Queen of Italy, Margaretta, is one of the most beautiful women of royal blood in Eu rope. She is twenty-six, and eight years the senior of her husband, who is her cousin. Janauschek exhibited her jewelry in one of the Main street establishments, and they, of course, attracted immense attention from men, women and children. All About Men. Senator Harris, of Tennessee, who has been confined to his bed for several days in Washing ton, is improving, Mr. Charles L. Flannagan, late of the Wash ington National Republican, will shortly be married to Miss Fanny B. Ward, the fashion writer of that paper. Hon. Carey Young, of Tennessee, was taken seriously ill a few days since, with a threatened attack of meningitis. V Cardinal MeCloskey, accompanied by his secretary, Rev. John W. Farley, sailed for Liverpool last Saturday, to attend the conclave at Rome. Offenbach makes Don Quixote the hero of his new opera bouffe. Mr. W. W. Corcoran, the great Washington banker, has recently given 85,01)0 to the Vir ginia Historical Society. Longfellow says if he responded to all the requests sent him for his autograph and his “photo,” he would spend a third of his income just in these trilies. It is to be regretted that Col. Wm. H. Cham bers, of Alabama, will not permit his name to go before the Democratic Convention for Gov ernor. Dr. Seymours has been confirmed as Bishop of the new Diocese of Northern Illinois. “All Sorts.” The Yale boys are publishing a daily newspa per “for amusement.” We like their candor, but really that is of course the only dividend a new journal can expect. ’Tis told of Mary Anderson that while she was in Nashville several weeks since, that upon discovering a mouse in her dressing-room, she screamed loud enough to create a panic behind the scenes, and here some man laughs at it, and says she can go on a stage and bulldoze any first-class Macbeth. Suppose she can; yet she is a woman, and consequently afraid of a mouse. Shreveport, Louisiana, and Little Rock, Ar kansas, both are to celebrate Mardi Gras. Here comes theYreport that they are actually selling maideittiiatirmpVn Racine, Illinois, to the highest bidaersyjtftie auctioneer conducted the sale like an honest man, but he must have felt discouraged: for the highest price paid was twenty-five cents, although the young lady was beautiful, and warranted to be without false teeth, false hair, and altogether an eligible match. The Amateur Minstrels of Macon, Georgia, have canceled their engagement with Colum bus. What a pity ! Columbus has been sigh ing for the minstrels. She is fearfully jealous of Atlanta and Macon. During Mardi Gras in Memphis, Sothern will appear in his great roles of Dundreary and the Crushed Tragedian. ' The entire State of Kentucky seems to be aroused on the Temperance question. John B. Gough has been lecturing in Louisville, while there is noble work being accomplished every day in all parts of the “blue-grass country.” Talbotton, Georgia, is becoming aggressive. It wants a telephone, a county fair and a public library—all this right away. She isn’t willing to wait. Why don’t John Gorman get all these things for his native county? Skating has beenjrevived.and is in some cities quite a fashionable amusement. Ten years ago it was all the rage, but the statements of the physicians that it was injurious, put astop to it. Even the church-going infants of Toledo are precociously wicked. On a recent Sunday, “a child grabbed all the coin on the contribution plate. She was finally convinced that the date for resumption had not yet been reached. Why should the Floridians bo so fortunate? How tantalizing it is to read of their delicious fruits and vegetables, lovely flowers and de lightful weather. The orange orop has been re markably fine, and the natives predict even a finer field next year. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in his sermonjlast Sunday, spoke of the late Pope as “that dear and good old man, who had just gone to Heav en from the Pontifical chair. When Pius IX died,” said Mr. Beecher, “that instant God’s an gels bore him gently as a little child in the arms of its mother, into the presence of his Savior. It was not because he was Pope, but because a new heart had been given him. The nature of the Pope was all love.” ■ • ♦ » • ■ ■ Beautiful Thoughts. Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food is to the body.—Cicero. Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be. Custom will render it easy aDd agreeable.—Pythagoras. Truth comes to mortals gently, tenderly and sweetly, filling them with a peace that passeth understanding. Error clouds, affrights, angers and debases the soul. By their respective fruits we may know them.—Jarves. Mistakes rule the world, or very nearly so. Religion, politics, love, are alike their sport. We call the result to ourselves fate, destiny, or any other name which will assuage wounded amour propre, or our disappointment in finding out, after a long and weary travel, that we have mistaken our road for want of proper attention to the signboard.—Jarves. Whatever expands the affections or enlarges the sphere of our sympathies—whatever makes us feel our relation to the Universe and all that it inherits in time and eternity, to the great and beneficent Cause of all, must unquestionably refine our nature and elevate us in the scale of being. —Channing. Men must endure their going henoe, even as their coming hither ; ripeness is all.—Shak- speare. I have heard that death takes us away from ill things, not from good. I have heard that when we pronounce the name of man we pro nounce the name of immortality.—Emerson. The earth flourishes, or is overrun with nox ious weeds and brambles, as we apply or with hold the cultivating hand. So fares it with the intellectual system of man. If you are a parent, then, consider that the good or ill dispositions and principles you please to cultivate in the mind of your infants may hereafter preserve a nation in prosperity, or hang its fate on the point of the sword.—Horace Mann. Life, to the man of wisdom, is the harbinger of those benefits which Time’s sickle cannot mow down or the chemistry of death impair; or lessons which, whether heeded and treasured up or not ii our early years, are the primal causes and necessary rudiments of an eternal education. The wise man thinketh that the life of this world, like a golden harp ot' infinite magnitude, yieldeth to the use made of it; music floats out from its vibrating wires, or dis cord goes rolling and winding through the tis sues of being, just as we play upon it.—A. J. Davis. For Science the volume of inspiration is the book of Nature. Confronting all, it needs no societies for its dissemination. Infinite in ex tent, eternal in duration, human ambition and human fanaticism have never been able to tam per with it. On the earth it is illustrated by all that is magnificent and beautiful, on the heavens its letters are suns and worlds.—Draper. O ! it is the saddest of all things that even one human soul should dimly perceive the beauty that is ever around us, “a perpetual benedic tion !” Nature, that great missionary of the Most High, preaches to us forever in all tones of love, and writes truth in all colors, on manuscripts illuminated with stars and flowers.—Mrs. L. M. Child. Men say their pinnacles point to heaven. Why, so does every tree that buds, and every bird that rises as it sings. Men say their aisles are good for worship. Why, so in every moun tain glen and rough sea-sliore. But this they have of distinct and indisputable glory—that their mighty walls were never raised, and never shall be, but by men who love and aid each other in their weakness.—liuskin. Carlyle on the Book of Job.—I call the book of Job, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with a pen. One feels, indeed, as if it were not Hebrew— such a noble universality, different from noble patriotism or sectarianism, reigns in it. A noble book! All men’s book! It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem, man’s destiny and God’s ways with him hereon earth. And all in such free, flowing outlines; grand in its simplicity, and its epic melody, and repose of reconcilement. There is the see ing eye, the mildly understanding heart. So true every way;.true eyesight and vision for all things, material things no less than spiritual; the horse—“hast thou clothed his neck with thunder ? ’—he laughs at the shaking of the spear. Such living likenesses were never since drawn. Sublime sorrow, sublime reconcilia tion; oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind; so soft and great as the summer night, as the world with its seas and stars ! There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit. When fanatics and bigots are permitted to moald the religious ideas of youth, infancy mast suffer, not only from spectral torments, but it must also imbibe notions of the Divinity which change him from a father to a monster.— Jarves. The idea of bringing all men on an equality with each other has always been a pleasant dream; the law cannot equalize man in spite of nature.— Vanvenargues. The borrower runs in his own debt—Emer son. Phrenological Department. BY PROF. J. M. GARST. INTRODUCTORY. The Phrenological Department of the Sunny South will be devoted exclusively to the science of life and mind as based upon the principle that the brain is the source or seat of all the powers that belong to the animal organism,both physiological and psycological. The leading principles of phrenology, as dis covered by Gall,and as taught by his followers, will be in a great measure adhered to, but at the same time, many errors in the popular system of phrenology will be pointed out—new truths will be developed and new discoveries will be given to the world—the result of twenty-five years ex perience in the practice of phrenology. It was held by the late distinguished S. R. Wells, who has written and published more on the science of phrenology than any other man in this coun try, that phrenology, as he taught it, is estab lished beyond reasonable controversy. But this position cannot be sustained. It is a well-known fact that phrenology is in its infancy, and there fore must be very imperfect as a complete sci ence of mind. Indeed, it cannot be supposed that the founders of a system so vast and com prehensive in all its bearings, could Lave done little more than lay the foundation upon which future generations could build a complete struct’ ure. Since the days of Gall and Spurzheim, but lit tle advancements have been made in phreno logical science. The system in general use at the present day is substantially the same as that practiced by those illustrious pioneers in the field of mental science. But the spirit of the age demands tnat phrenology should keep pace with the rapid strides that are being made in every department of physical science. The ob- I jects, therefore, of this department are two-fold: | First, to teach the well-established principles ! of phrenology; second, to correct errors that have been incorporated into the popular system ; of phrenology, and to offer new facts and im- I provements that will tend to the development or j complete science of mind. Questions with reference to the teachings of i phrenology on any subject are solicited, and will | be promptly answered in this department. All persons asking questions, whatever may be their peculiar opinions, will be treated with proper respect. No prejudices in favor or against any established doctrine, or creed, or party, or sect, will be indulged in, but every question will be answered in the light of scienee, regardless of popular opinion. The following subjects, in reference to which phrenology is a sure guide to truth, are suggested for questions: Love, courtship, marriage, government and education of children, general education, national govern ment, religion, materialism, spiritualism, mag netism, psychology, hygiene, medicine, insanity. The editor of this department is alone respon sible for the opinions expressed here; and, as he aims to express the broadest, most liberal and scientific views on all subjects be hopes that no one will become offended if he should here find teachings contrary to what he has been taught to reverence as truth. How a Wife Cured her Husband of an Over-Fondness for Liquor, I A woman residing in this town becoming tired I of the constant potations of her husband, deter- i mined to try a desperate remedy to cure him. One night he came staggering into the house ; and said that he was a Very sick man, and in a j moment or two he was comfortably settled on the sofa in a drunken sleep. His face was a red- ! dish purple, his breathing heavy, and altogeth- ! er he was a pitiable object. The doctor was sent for post haste, and mus tard applied to his feet and hands. When the doctor came and telt his pulse, and examined him, and found that he was only drunk, he said. “He will be all right in the morning.” But the wife insisted that he was very sick, and that severe remedies must be used. “You must shave his head and apply blisters,” she urged, “or I will send for one who will.” The husband's head was accordingly shaved closely and blisters applied. The patient lay all night in a drunken sleep, and notwithstanding the blisters, it was not till near morning that he began to beat about, disturbed by pain. About daylight he waked up to a most uncomfortable conscience of blistered agonies. “What does this mean?” he said, putting his hand to his blistered head. “Lie still—you mustn’t stir,” said the wife, “you have been taken very sick.” “I am not sick.” “Oh yes, you are; you have brain fever. We have worked with you all night.” “I should think you had,” groaned the vic tim; “what’s the matter with my feet?” “They are blistered.” “Well, I’m better now—take off the blisters, do !” he pleaded piteously. He was in a most uncomfortable state—bis head covered with sores, and his feet and hands were still worse. ‘•Dear,” he said, groaning, “if I should ever get sick in this way again, don’t be alarmed and send for a doctor, above all things, don’t blister me again.” “O, indeed I will—all that saved you were the blisters, and if you ever should have another such sp dl, I should be more frightened than ever, for the tendency, I am sure, is to apoplexy, and from the next attack you would be likely to die, unless there were the severest measures used.” He made no further defense; suffice to say, he has never had an attack since. Better Times for the Farmer. The American farmer certainly needs encour agement; the encouragement of a better market, and a better financial system than the bankers and brokers, assisted by the government, have given him. The Agriculturist thinks that he will have his chance soon, viz: “ The experience of the past few years goes to show, that there will be no danger of * over production’ in the future. We need not fear to raise as large crops as we can. The foreign market is large and steady, and will need all we can produce in the way ot grains, meats, provis ions, and dairy produce, to supply it. The low prices of the past few years have brought this about, and therefore have not been by any means an unmitigated evil. While we have been de pressed and troubled by a reduced income from our farms, which has sorely embarrassed those who have been in debt, this has been the means ot stimulating farmers generally to do better by their tarms than they had formerly done. In no previous period has stock been so much im proved as during the few years jnstpast, and we have in consequence, found a market in Eng land for meat, which has saved our home market from demoralization. At no time before the present has there been so much of artificial fertilizing, and never before such anxious inquiry about the possibility of enlarging the crops, and using the most effective economy in forming operations. Jonathan Swift — ‘A project for extracting sunbeams out of encumbers.’ Washington Irting—'Free livers on a small scale who are prodigal within the compass of a guinea.’ (