Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

5 Origin of all Things. Science and God.—Dr. Vincent's Easter Sermon in Atlanta at the first Methodist chnreh had for its text ‘In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth,' and was in advocacy of Science, showing that its late researches instead of tending to infidelity help to interpret and elucidate the mysterious and scantily out-lined Biblical account of the origin of things. He be* lieves that Religion has nothing to fear from Science, and that the farther the researches of the latter extend, the broader and more beauti. ful will be the light of knowledge thrown up on the state-ments of the Bible. His views coincide with those of Prof. Joseph Le Conte who, in his late address before the Chit-Chat club in San Francisco eloquently denied that evolution and materialism were synonomus. He says : First of all I wish frankly to acknowledge that I am myself an evolutionist. I may not agree with most that evolution advances always cum oaquo pede. On the contrary, I believe that there have been periods of slow and periods of rapid, almost paroxysmal, evolution. I will not agree with most that we already have in Darwinism, the final form, aDd survival of the fittest, the prime factor of evolution. On the contrary, I believe that the most important factors of evo lution are still unknown—that there are more and far greater factors in evolution than are dreamed of in the Darwinian philosophy. Nev ertheless, evolution is a grand faot, involving alike every part of Nature; and more especially evolution by the organio kingdom, and the ori gin of species by derivation, must be regarded as an established truth of science. But, re member evolution is one thing and materialism another and quite a different thing. The one is a sure result of science; the other a doubtful in ference of philosophy. Let no one who is led step by step through the paths of evolution, from theTmineral to the organic, from the organic to the animate, and from the animate to the ra tional, until he lands logically, as he supposes, into blank and universal materialism—let no such one, I say, imagine for a moment that he has been walking all k the way in the domain of science. He has stepped across the boundary of soience into the domain of philosophy. Yet the step seems so easy, so natural, so inevitable, that most do not distinguish between the teach ings of science and the inference of philosophy, and thus the whole is unjustly accredited to science. Now, as most people not only do not make, but have never imagined, any such dis tinction, I am anxious to make it clear to you. This I can best and most briefly do by some fa miliar illustrations. It is curious to observe that no sooner did we find out, in any work of Nature, how it is made, that we all say that it is not made at all; it made itself. So long as the origin of species was a mystery, every one admitted that species must have an intelligent Maker. But no sooner did we discover the process, than every one seemed to think that no Maker was necessary at all. Now, the whole object of science is to discover processes by which these things are done; or how things are made. Is it any wonder, then, with this perverse tendency of the present mind, that science should ever and anon seem to destroy belief in a Supreme Intelligence? Again, it is curious to observe how an old and familiar truth, coming up in a ?ietc form, startles us as an impossible paradox. I well remember some twenty-five years ago, when the little in strument. the gyroscope, first made its appear ance, how it startleu everybody by its seeming violation of the laws of gravity. Imagine a heavy brass wheel rotating rapidly at one end of an axle, while the other end is supported on a vertical column. So long as it rotated, the heavy wheel, instead of falling, remained sus pended in mid-air, revolving meanwhile slowly about the point of support at the other end of the axle. At first signt it seems as wonderful and as paradoxical as the body of Mr. Home, the spiritualist, sailing in mid-air in full view of his gaping and noble audience. In the case of Mr Home, we suspect some mistake or de ception; but there is no mistake about the gyros cope. Yet this strange paradox, which startled people so, and which so flooded scientific liter ature with explanations, is an old familiar fact in a new form. The problem is precisely the same as that of the boy's top, whioh spins and leans, and slowly revolves in its leaning, but does not fall so long as it continues to spin. Now, in evolution, also, we have no new truth, but only old truth in a new form: and Io ! how it startles us out of our propriety ! The evolution of the individual by a slow process from a mi croscopic germ. Everybody knows this. Yet it has never heretofore interfered with a belief in an intelligent Maker of each of us. Perhaps most of you may remember, when first at your mother’s knee, you were asked, “Who made you ?” and you answered as you were taught, “God made me.” But you had asked in return, “How?” The only true answer would have been, “By a process of evolution.” Yes, every one of us was individually made (and is not this far more important for us individually than any origin of species, even of the human species ?) by a slow process of evolution from a micros copic spherule of unorganized protoplasm—the germ cell. Yet the knowledge of this faot did not make us ridicule the reverend answer of the little one, or despise the pious teachings of the mother. Why, then, should it be different in this case of the origin of species by evolution ? Again, all vexed questions are such, because there is truth on both sides. Unmixed error does not live to plague us long. Error lives only by a contained germ of truth. In all vexed questions, therefore, there are three views, viz., two opposing, partial, one-sided views, and a third, more rational and comprehensive, which combines and reconciles them. I can best illustrate this by the familiar story of the fabled shield. You well remember how, in the good old times of knight-errantry, this shield was hung up in the sight of all men in token of the fact that the owner challenged the world to mortal combat. You well remember that the shield having been seen by many knights, these knights, on comparing notes, could not agree as to its color, some declaring that it was white, and some equally certain that it was black. You will remember that after many lances had been splin tered, after many broken heads and bloody noses had been endured in the vain attempt to settle this vexed question, by the blundering logic of blows and knocks, as was the fashion in those days, (alas! do we not even settle many questions now in the same way, only we call the process now, the ‘logic of events')—after, I say, many blows had been given and taken in the sacred eause of truth, some one who, strange to say, had some thing of the spirit of science, and who therefore thought the truth was to be discovored, not by conflict but by observation, proposed that the shield be examined. The result you all know- one side was white and the other was black. Now do you not observe that both parties in this dispute were right and both were wrong? Each was right from his point of view. Each was wrong in excluding the other point of view—in imagining his truth to be the whole truth. And do you not observe also that the true view com bined and reconciled the two partial views ? There old adage that ‘truth lies in the middle,’ be- antagonistic extremes. Now, while there is a kind of truth in this adage, yet, as usually understood, I believe it contains a pernicious er ror. It is the favorite adage of the timid man— the trimmer, the time-server, the politician, the fence-man. Suppose there had been present on this occasion one of these fence-philosophers. He would have reasoned thus : ‘ These gentlemen are of equal intelligence, equal veracity, and equal strength (an important element in making up ah opinion for these fence-men;) the one says the shield is white and the other says it is black; now, truth lies in the middle: therefore I conclude that it must be a kind of gray or neutral tint, or perhaps a sort of ‘pepper-and-salt.’ Do you ro observe that of all the crowd he is the only one who has no truth in him ? No, gentlemen; truth and natural philosophy is not a mere mixture of opposing views—truth is not what our English friends might call a philosophic ‘’alf-n’alf-’ It is rather to be sought in a more comprehensive view, which combines and reconciles opposing partial views—it is a stereoscopic combination of two par tial surface views into one objective reality. So it is, gentlemen, with many vexed questions; so it is with the question of the origin of species. There are three possible views in regard to the or igin of species. The first asserts Divine agency by miraculous creation, and therefore denies any process; the second asserts evolutionary-process, but denies Divine agency; the third asserts Divine agency by evolution process. So, also, are there three corresponding views in regard to the origin ol the individual—of you, of me, of each of us. The first is that of the little innocent who thinks that God made him as he (the little innocent) makes dirt-pies; the second is that of the little hoodlum, who says, ‘I wasn’t made at all, I growed;’ the third is the adult oelief—that we are made by a process of evolution. Do you not observe, then, that in the matter of the origin of species many good theologians and pietists are in the same posi tion of the little innocent ? They think that spe cies were made without natural process. On the other hand, most evolutionists are in the position of the little hoodlum; for they think that species, because they ‘growed,’ weren't made at all. But there is a higher and more rational philosophy than either, which holds that tue ideas of making and growing are not inconsistent with each other —that evolution does not and can not destroy the conception of, or the belief in, an intelligent Cre ator and Author of the cosmos. This view com bines and reconciles the two preceding antagonis tic views, aud is therefore more comprehensive, more rational and more true. But let us not fail to do justice—let us not overlook the fact that the most important and noblest truths are overlooked only by the hoodlum and materialist. Of the two sides of the shield, the little innocent and and the pietest sees, at least, the whiter and more beau tiful. The end and mission of science is not only to discover new truth, but also, and even more dis tinctively, to give new and more rationaljform to old truth—to transfiure the old into the more glorious form of the new. Science is come, not to destroy, but, aided by a rational philosophy, to fulfill all the noblest aspirations, the most glorious hopes of our race. Waiting for the Minister—Mishaps at a Mar riage. Recently, in Bollwood, Tenn., the two daugh ters of Col. Melvin were to be married in time to leave on the 4 p. m. train for Nashville. The guests were all present, the elegant dinner ready to be served and the two bridal couples anxiously waiting the arrival of the minister who was to perform the marriage rites. Still he did not oome. When patience was nearly exhausted, a message came from the minister. He bad be«r> seized sndderviy, with a cos.gestiT: chill. Impossible for him to officiate. A mes senger was instantly dispatched for another clerical gentleman, resident four miles away. But misfortunes do not come single. The guests, the dinner, the impatient bridegrooms, the fair, pouting brides, had yet longer to wait for the sanctioning word that should make the quartette a duo and the affair a success. While minister No. 2 was coming in hot haste, with the messenger riding by his side, a dilapidated old bridge gave way under the two galloping horses, and the clergyman and the messenger were both severely injured. A negro was hired to convey the intelligence to the bridal parties; and these for a moment were in despair, for there was no other available minister. In the emergency, a country Squire was summoned; he began the ceremony in slow, measured tones as befitted his sense of the importance of the occasion. Suddenly, the shrill whistle of the locomotive was heard around the curve; he had been warned to get through in time to permit the bridal parties to reach the train. “Cut it short,” said an audible whisper, and the Esquire “cut it short,” by exclaiming loud and fast: “I pronounce you men and wives.” Off hurried the married pairs to the train, fol lowed by their friends, and just succeeded in getting there in time. The hungry guests then returned and sat down to the table to do full justice to the dinner, albeit it had grown cold. Ho fob Afeica !—We take the following para graph from the New York Herald of the 17th instant: We borrow this heading from the very inter esting and circumstantial sketch of the “Exo dus Association,” by our correspondent at Char leston, printed in the Herald yesterday. It was kept standing for many months at the head of the columns of the Missionary Reoord, a Southern religious newspaper, edited by the Rev. Richard H. Cain, the colored Representa tive in Congress from the Seoond distriot of South Carolina, furnishing the keynote to ani mated and persistent appeals to the colored population of the South to improve their con dition by emigration to Africa. The seed thus widely sown fell into a congenial soil, and at present emigration to Africa is the uppermost topic among the most intelligent and energetic portion of the freedmen. This inspiring idea is not a freak of excited negro imaginations, but a business enterprise which will bear its first fruit in the sailing from Charleston to-day or to-morrow of the Liberian emigrant ship Azor with all the passengers she was allowed to carry. This interesting voyag9, whioh will be com memorated in the future history of Afrioa as that of the Mayflower is in the history of Amer ica, is the result of many months of prepara tion, and is the first step of what may turn out to be a mighty movement whose ultimate con sequences will be the Christianization and civ ilization of Africa, the oreation of a new and lucrative commerce and the solving of the des tiny of the African race in Amerioa." The Sweet Pbihce Again,—Wales seems to inherit the old traditionary character of Wales, and tries his moral old mother a good deal. It seems that he and his royal mamma have had a misunderstanding. During his last stay in Paris he visited the office of the Figaro at night time. Some opera bouffe ladies, headed by Mile. Theo, were present, and a collation was served about 3 o’clock in the morning. The manager of the Figaro proposed the toast of the queen’s health. Mile. Theo gave* a signal for applause, and the prince responded to the toast. Subsequently he seems to have received a serious intimation that the auguBt old lady did not care about her health being drunk in this kind of society. The courtesy which the prince has shown to Mile. Theo has gained for him the name of “Theo- phile.” Petals plucked from a Sunny Clime. Leaving of the Indians—Orange Marmalade and Syrup —Olive Wine-Three Classes of Visitors —Bad Weather—Tropical Scene—Bailroads— All Kinds of Tourists — Their Curiosities. St. Augustine, April, 1878. The Indians have gone! Yes, the pets of some and the pests of others, have left St. Augustine, amidst the sympathetic demonstrations of a crowd, followed by the best wishes of all that they may arrive safely at their points of desti nation. The marks of civilization are evident on the outside of them, but none need nurse the delusion that it has struck in yet. On be ing asked what they were going to do with their clothes when they got West, they said with a symbolic jerk, “Tear them off and throw them away.” Think of Mrs. Black Horse and Mrs. Medi cine Man with fashionable Mother Goose hats, plumes and white tissue veils on that had been given by lady vistors, and their figures rolled up in a buffalo skin before a camp-fire after a long march, or participating in a war dance, with the dripping scalps of white men sus pended from their waists. They were delighted at the prospect of free dom. The restraints of society and the circum scribed boundaries were hard to be borne. They left their literature, religious picture books and buffalo hunts not being in harmony with each other, the “Moody and Sankey” Bong books suddenly losing all charm for them—“Hold the Fort” being changed to Leave the Fort! They said “me man no school! A few of them could speak a little Spanish, some English. Their relations on the plains corresponded with them by picture writing. A lady wished Minisnic or Eagle’s Head to give her a letter written to him by his wife, when he replied: “What white squaw do with my squaw’s let ter?” The poetry of the idea was evidently lost on the Indian. The “noble Red man” of the novel writers, and these coarse creatures, whose rough nature repels all polish, are altogether different. Three of the Indians which have taken to civilization more kindly than the others, are to be sent North and educated, the expense incurred being the enterprise of private individuals. Those who imagine St. Augustine has no at tractions but its antiquity, mu^-imember that new industries are constantly Being developed here, among the most recent of which is the manufacturing of marmalade and wine from the native wild orange fruit. We had the pleas ure of visiting both these enterprising estab lishments. First, the marmalade factory, in charge of Senor S. B. Vails, a Cuban exile. His father, Senor Jose Vails under the well-known brand of El Pavo Real. Fabrioada de Dulces, or sweet meat and guava jelly maker in Havana, has won a world-wide reputation, having re ceived the Paris Exposition Medal, 1867. His method is original, and his sweet meats better adapted to the American taste than those of Scotch make. His enterprise has met with great success, the demand always exceeding the supply. His moderate charges are an attractive feature alao. He preserves limes, lemons and figs in such a manner that they will keep for years. He makes an orange-bloom cordial, which must be, without doubt, the original nectar of the gods, for certainly there is noth ing like it. The flavor resembles the odor of the orange blossom perfectly; the sensation produced in swallowing it is like sailing on a summer sea with a silver surface. The orange wine manufacture., 1 , by Tenovar A Co. well deserves to supplant nany of adul terated, yeasty fermentations. 1, T’a* straqgaas here*Mke .n, birds, have begun returning North, jfiure are three classes of visitors who come to St. Augustine; the indifferent, the enthusiastic and the defiant. The indifferent manifest the same amount of susceptibility to their surroundings as does the oyster in his shell, except when the direct routes of travel are interrupted, or the bill of fare scant in quantity or poor in quality. Traveling and eating are all they desire, the loveliness of a land scape, the song of birds, or the aroma of orange blooms is all lost on them. The enthusiastic who visit here are always full of raptures over the oraDge groves, the soft skies, the delicious moonlight,the flowers,birds, ruins, alligator jewelry and everything else. The defiant spend their time in assailing with withering irony everything which is in their vicinity, ringing changes upon any object which appears disagreeable to them with tedious repe tition, until the enforced listener is filled with disgust and weariness. As the spring has been rather capricious and the sunshine has hidden itself under rain clouds and the wind has blown more boisterous ly than sight seekers like, I fancy the note books of some of these tourists are full enough of growls. The weather is delicious now, the air all balm, the sky all blue, the palms an. A bananas wav ing in the gentlest of breezes,' the sea heav ing softly under the sunlight, i shall miss this changeful sea, when I leave St. Augustine, the reviving air, the lovely palms, the mockin- bird upon whose happiness the day eloped too soon, and he is fain to trill his joy to the night. Our short ride on the railroad gives us an op portunity of seeing the country, and what mis takes some settlers make by planting orange trees in a hammock without draining where the poor strangers, not being aquatic droop,and die. Tourists, who go up the St. John’s, always bring back something in acoordance with their varied tastes. Imagine yourself a passenger on the steamer Hattie Barker, a craft of somewhat smaller di mensions than the Great Eastern, that can do more travelling in the way of making a fuss, than any boat on the river, her progress never being less than eight miles per hour. All kinds of travelers are now returning from the Upper St John’s, and more than that. they have all kinds of Florida curiosities, su^oient to start a small museum. No steamer could have ever contained a greater variety of visitors with more varied tastes. A lady sitting near us has a chameleon in a piokle jar, while another is catching flies alive for its dinner. What a pleasure it appears to give them, when darting out its coral colored tongue and winking its bright eyes it gobbles them up. There is a lad with two young alliga tors, who persists in taking water from the cool er to turn on them for fear they will die. The stewardess endeavors to thwart his ^movements by telling him ‘that water is for de folks and not dem nasty black gaitors.’ He then retorts by saying ‘the water is not olean.’ The stew ardess responds: ‘Yes ’tis; only a few settle ments in de bottom.’ A sound comes from the state rooms which is unmistakably young tur keys going North in April. How the keen winds will pierce their downy coats; they had better save their voices for the cries they will have to utter then. The ornithologist is represented here too, with his stuffed birds, a flamingo, plume crane, an owl, eagle and living red birds. Another has a paroquette which he imagines can be made, by some mysterious manipulation to talk like a parrot. One man from Indian River has an immense peliean, which some of the anxious mothers have heard eats children. What terrible looks they give this poor fellow, who appears so hap py with his newly found treasure, a creature with an enormous bill, below which is attached a pouch containing his rations. Another has a crane, Grus Cinerea, which stands erect on his stilts, showing fight. How he snaps at every thing that approaches him, like some crabbed people in the world. A young man has a slenderly-built, not grown animal, which he informs us is a Cervix Virgin- ianus or fawn, which he proposes presenting to a friend. Big cages with young mocking birds and tame red birds, are setting around, while the tables are piled with palmetto, air plants, the American pitche plants. Every available space is occupied, baskets stuffed with oranges, lem ons, and grape fruit, while gray moss fills the interstices. Many of our best people are found traveling over Florida during the winter, some looking for homes and others only pleasure seekers. The number of old people with whioh we meet is quite remarkable; some have sweet, sunny faces, and others look as though life with them had always been a continued strug gle until the present, when their solicitude was on the alert for fear they should get in be hind time, or some impending danger might befall them, they did not know exactly what. The indefatigible sportsman with gun in hand is ubiquitous in Florida. He is constant ly watching for game, but many a bird at which he has fired flies away unharmed. The excite ment of shooting appears to be sufficient com pensation, if nothing is killed . Silvia Sunshine. The Romance of Accident. Many of our most important inventions and discoveries owe their origin to the most trivial oireumstances; from the simplest causes the most important effects have ensued. The fol lowing are a few culled at random for the amusement of our readers: During the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, the little village of Gosorow in the island of Usedom, on the Prussian border of the Baltic, was sacked by the contending armies, the vil lagers escaping to the hills to save their lives. Among them was a simple pastor named Schwerdler, and his pretty daughter Mary. When the danger was over, the villagers found themselves without houses, food or money. One day, we are told, Mary went up to Streckelberg to gather blackberries; but soon afterwards she ran back joyous and breathless to her father, with two shining pieces of amber each of very great size. She told her father that near the shore the wind had blown away the sand from a vein of amber; that she straightway broke off these pieces with a stick; that there was an am ple store of the precious substance; and that she had covered it over to conceal her secret. The amber brought money, food, clothing, and com fort; but those were superstitious times, and a legend goes that poor Mary was burned for witchcraft. At the village of Stamen, amber was first accidentally found by a rustic who was for tunate enough to turn some up with his plow. A cooper in Carniola having one evening placed a new tub under a dropping spring, in order to try if it would hold water, when he came in the morning he found it so heavy that he could hardly move it. At first, the supersti tious notions that are apt to possess the minds of the ignorant made him suspect that his tub was bewitched; but at last perceiving a shining fluid at the bottom, he went to Laubach, and showed it to an apothecary, who immediately dismissed him wifh a small gratuity, and bade him bring some more of the same stuff whenever he could meet with it. This the poor cooper frequently did, being highly pleased with his good fortune; till at length the affair being made public, several persons formed themselves into a cuoioty in vrdfir to search fai^ner iizto uke quicksilver deposits, thus so unexpectedly dis covered, and which were destined to become the richest of their kind in Europe. Curious discoveries by ploughmen, quarry- men, and others of caves, coins urns, and other interesting things, would fill volumes. Many valuable literary relics have been preserved by curious accidents; often turning up just in time to save them from crumbling to pieces. Not on ly mineral but literary treasures have been brought to light when excavating mother earth. For instance, in the foundations of an old house, “Luther's Table Talk” was discovered lying in a deep, obscure hole, wrapped in strong linen cloth, which was waxed all over with beeswax within and without. There it had remained hidden ever since its suppression by Pope Gre gory XIII. The poems of Propertius, a Roman poet, long lurked unsuspected in the darkness of a wine cellar, whence they were at length un earthed by accident, just in time to preserve them from destruction by rats and mildew. Not only from beneath our feet but from above our heads may chance revel the hiding-places of treasure-trove. The sudden falling in of a ceil ing, for example, of some chambers in Lincoln’s Inn, revealed the secret depository of the Thur- loe state papers. Other literary treasures have turned up in an equally curious manner. Mil ton’s essay on the ‘Doctrines of Christianity’ was discovered in a bundle of old dispatches; a monk found the only manuscript of Tacitus ac cidentally in Westphalia: the letters of Lady Mary Montague were brought to light from the recesses of an old trunk; the manuscripts of Dr. Dee from the secret drawer of an old chest; and it is said that one of the cantos of Dante’s great poem was found, after being long mislaid, hid den away beneath a window sill. The sudden prosperity of many a famous painter has resulted from some fortunate acci dent. Anthony Watteau, when a nameless, struggling artist, timidly offered a painting to a rich picture dealer for six franos, and was on the eve of being scornfully rejected, had not a stranger who happened to be in the shop, come forward, and seeing some talent in the work, spoke encouragingly to the youth, and offered one hundred and fifty francs for the picture; nor was this all, tor he became Watteau’s pat ron and instructor. One day a little shepherd- boy was seated near the roadside on the way from Vestpignano to Florence drawing up a pol ished stone, his only pencil another polished stone which he held in his tiny fingers* A rich ly-dressed stranger, who had descended from a conveyance that was following him, chanced to pass, and, looking over the boy’s shoulder, saw that he had just sketched with wonderful truth and correctness a sheep and its twin lambs. Surprised and pleased, he examined the face of the young artist. Certainly it was not its beau ty that attracted him. The child looked up, but with such a marvelous light in his dark eyes that the stranger exclaimed: “My child, you must come with me; I will be your master and your father; it is some good an gel that has led me here.” The stranger was Cinabue, the most celebrated painter of that day; and his pupil and protege became the fa mous painter, sculptor, and architect, Giotto, the friend and admiration of Dante and Petrarch. A Chinese Solomon-—A version of the real Solomonic story is to be found in China. As in the Hebrew tale, two woman had each of them an infant, one of which died by some misadven ture, the bereaved mother claiming the surviv ing child. The official before whom they came did not suggest so cruel a means as the division of the infant, but simply ordered that it should be handed to a domestic, to be brought up for official life. The real mother gladly accepted so good a chanoe for her offspring, while the pretended mother demurred against that decis ion. Judgement was then rendered in favor of the tearful accepter of the proposition. Destruction of" the Brown House of Macon, G*».—Oar appreciation of this familiar and popular old house and its whole- souled proprietor, E. E. Brown, has always been so great that we feel as though we had sus tained a personal loss in its destruction by fire. We cannot find words to express our regrets and our sympathy for our esteemed friend, Col. Brown. In speaking of the fire, the Telegraph says : “The loss of the hotel is a serious one to Macon. It is nothing short of a calamity to our city. The Brown House was a landmark in the town, and no one who had ever stopped in our city was ignorant of its existence. Situated just by the depot, it was a place which it was comfort to reach when worn and wearied with a jour ney. It was built in 1855, and opened with a grand ball on January 1st, 1856. In 1869 an addition was made and was used for the first time during the State Fair of 1869. It con tained one hundred sleeping apartments, be sides other rooms. But while the regret of the city is awakened at the loss of the house, the greater sympathy is awakened for Mr. E. E. Brown and family, who are burned out of house and home. Mr. Brown has devoted his whole life to Macon; has lived his young manhood here; devoted to the place the energies of his riper years, and now in the evening of his days is visited by this sweeping calamity, and the work of a lifetime is swept away in a single night. We yesterday sought for him and found him seated in the familiar arcade smoking a cigar and contemplating the wreck. He bears his misfortune like a philosopher. He esti mates that one-third of the furniture was saved, but in a damaged condition. The bridal cham ber furniture was saved. The most costly por tion of the furnishing of the house was in the new part of the building and was lost. The handsome grand piano was taken out, but dam- amged. The parlor furniture was saved, but broken and injured. Mr. and Mrs. Brown saved nothing of their personal effects. Mrs. W. F. Brown saved nothing. He spoke calmly of the catastrophe—said he expected, if he ever was burned out, that the fire would come front that side. He said he felt very thankful to the young men for their efforts, and never saw men work harder. Mr. Brown hopes from the wreok to save enough and to make arrangements to rebuild the house the size it was before the ad dition was made. He estimates the loss on the house at $100,000. The furniture and fixtures cost about §40,000, but were not new, of course. Mr. Brown fortunately saves the furniture of his late residence on Orange street, it not being in the hotel. His indebtedness is much smaller than we supposed, and he hopes from the in surance to save $10,000, which will, with the ground, be a very good beginning. The losses may be summed up as follows: The Brown House building $100,000t insurance $40,000. Some of the guests lose heavily. Capt. John Rutherford lost nearly everything in his room. Mr. Wm. Mason lost everything. Mr. Drey- fous and Mr. Nussbaum lost many things. Others more or less. Mr. T. H. Harris, bar and billiards. Loss unknown. Tables saved. Wm. Savage, barber shop. Loss S80. The stores suffered as follows: Chas. Waehtel, clothing; loss on stock $2,000; insurance $1,500 in Con tinental. J. B. Williams, fruits; loss $100. Peyser, cigar manufactory and tobaccos; loss between $1,200 and $1,500; insured for $1,000 with Jewett and Rogers. The next store was vacant. J. L. Kennedy, bar and billiards; loss unknown, hardly les3 than $1,000. Wheeler’s bar and restaurant; insured for $1,600 with W. W. Carnes; about covered. On building $500 insurance in West Chester with T. IT. Conner. Other losses were slight. Mr. W. A. Wylie loses about $150. The origin of the fire is sup posed to have been incendiary. Mr. Wheeler was in his saloon at 12:10 and all fires were out. Several attempts have been made to fire the building in the recent past. Active steps are being taken to endeavor to rebuild the hotel with flattering prospects of success. With some energy a house can be put up in a short time. It is absolutely necessary that it be replaced by October for the success of the State Fair, and we believe it will be done. fouling from Church—How the Quaker City Bells and Beaux Looked on Easter Sunday.—As they streamed into Walnut Street from the various city churches, they were well worth looking at. The ladies poised their new parasols, bell-topped and canopy-topped, over new bonnets and new suits. The new suits were mostly dark. There was green, almost every where—in light moss suitings, bonnet ties, bon net garniture, or, more prettily, in sprigs of grass, smilax or arbutns, which were belted to or pin ned to the bodice. No two bonnets were alike. There were some that looked as if they had been dipped in a solution of gold and silver, gay coiffures from the first Parisian importa tion. ‘Marie Stuart,’ Countess of Roseberry,' and cottage bonnets were plentiful, but capote shapes in blaok, white and ecru, and Frenoh chip evidently prevailed. Young misses—who were,by the way.almost all dressed in light goods —wore the capote with a flaring front. Os trich tips, growing from soft folds of satin, and feathers, generally were more numerous than garniture in flowers. This was, of course, among the yonng people; black lace bonnets wfth real lace trimmings, appeared among those more el derly. Light suitings were very noticeable in the other sex. Young fellows in bannockburns, of the same goldish.-gray color as their grand mother’s hair, walked by the side of their grand mothers, who themselves stepped quite briskly, remembering few such Easters. Half of the yonng men, or such a number, had in their but tonholes the pansy, which is most fragrant just at this time, and which, if pressed this Easter, will retain its deep purple color and eanary spot nntil another Easter comes. A Texas Lady in Distress. The Herald has the following: Mrs. Franois Ironson, residing at No. 304 Elm street, Newark, attempted to commit snicide on Thursday night by swallowing a dose of poison—corrosive sub limate. The prompt intervention of neighbor ing physicians saved her. She said she was the daughter of a once very wealthy planter at Aus tin, Texas, who during the war lost his all. She afterwards married a man in good circumstanoes, and for a while life seemed to have renewed its charms for her. Death, however, followed in the wake of loss of fortune, and, with her or phaned child, she came North in search of em ployment. She procured needlework and man aged to support herself and child. Of lato, however, she has been unable to obtain work, in consequence of which she became dejected and resolved to end her life. ‘The world, she said, ‘had lost all of its charms for her, and she wanted to die.’ Mrs. Ironson is a widow of about thirty and of attractive appearanoe and manners. She was in a fair way of recovery yesterday. General Grant was in Florence on Saturday. He visited the art galleries of the Uffozi and Pitti Palaces and attended the religious cere monies of Holy Saturday. In the evening he was entertained at dinner by Mrs. J. Lorrimer Graham, widow of the late United States Con- sal at Florence.