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JDUCATIOHAIi DSPARTMSNT. Organ of the Georgia Teachers Association- Organ of the State School Commissioner, G. J, Orr. B. W. BONNELL, Editor. The Educational Situation at tlie South. Everywhere, and especially among the civi lized nations of the world, the general educa tion cf the people is receiving more careful at tention. The opinion is constantly gaining strength that the most important factor in the progress of civilization is the universal educa tion of the people, and that this is true what ever the form of government. Education exerts a strong conservative influence upon all civil institutions; it adds to the material resources and prosperity of a country; it renders all the people more self-helpful, and more self-respecting, and consequently more independent. Education thus undoubtedly tends greatly to diminish pov erty and crime by giving to the masses increased intelligence and greater resources for obtaining employment and support. England, in which for centuries the higher institutions of learning have been supported by munificent endowments and by government grants, while the elementary education was left to take care of itself, has during the last ten years completely reorganized its education, and now has a most complete and effective system of shools from the lowest to the highest. Germany, in which the universal education of the people has been vigorously pressed for the last fifty years, now as a consequence eiijoys the distinction of being the foremost nation of Europe. France under the Republic is rapidly perfect ing its education of all grades. Reconstructed and united Italy has establish ed a system of elementary education that is re quired by law to be ‘secular, gratuitous, and obligatory upon all classes.’ Even the semi-civilized country of Japan has during the last few years organized a most com plete system of public free education. In the several provinces comprising the Dominion of Canada education receives the most careful attention, and schools of the highest character, both for primary and secondary educa tion, free to all, are maintained throughout the entire Dominion. In the New England states, New York, Penn sylvania, and most of the western states of this country the schools, in their organization, aims and methods are perhaps the best in the world. In all these states and countries referred to education is well organized, and is within the reach cf the entire people. In all cases the elementary education is free, and in most cases the secondary, and higher education are free or nearly so. In addition there are tech nical, industrial, and art schools, as well as normal schools for the preparation of teachers. By every means available, through intelligent supervision, teachers’ instftutes, associations, educational conventions and teachers’ semina ries, methods of instruction are constantly im proved, courses of study revised, and the entire work of education, in its philosophy, its aims and methods, is becoming more rational and more effective every year. What is the educational situation in our own southern states? Are we keeping pace with this rapid advance in educational progress through out the civilized world? Is our education well organized ? Have we good elementary schools free to all our people, rich and poor ? Are our high schools and colleges well supported and well equipped for their work ? Are our teachers well qualified foi their high duties, and are they gaining professional skill and experience through wise supervision, and by means of associated effort? Alas ! no. The work of educating our chil dren is almost wholly unorganized. It is left to the uncertainty and caprice of individual effort. Our people manifest little interest in the subject, and our statesmen seem to utterly ignore it. The question of most vital impor tance to the future well-being of the state is set aside for the consideration of matters of compar atively subordinate value. As a consequence the eductional statistics of the country show a fearful percentage of illiteracy in some of the southern states, reaching 25 to 35 per cent among the white population, and fully 95 per cent among the colored. Before we look for the remedy for this some what discouraging state of affairs let us consider the causes that have hindered our educational progress in the sonth. The first settlers of the southern states were certainly not inferior in intelligence and culti vation to those who settled the northern states. Among them were fine specimens of the English gentry; Huguenots, learned and thoughtful, with a heroic devotion to their faith; and the Scottish- Irish who combined the brightness and persist ence of the two peoples. Indeed the most in tellectual races of Europe were represented in the early settlement of the south. But their so cial organization was diffe.ent from that of the northern settlements, and in the end proved un favorable to general education. Land was cheap, and temporary settlements were made to be abandoned for a new home whenever the lands became exhausted. This practice, com mon to most countries, was continued longer in the sonth than in the north, because it was easy for the large planter to transfer his slaves from place to place. Thns with large plantations the settlers were farther separated, and were more independent of one another. Schools were im possible under snch circumstances. Elementary education was given by private tutors, while the higher education was obtained abroad. In the more permanent settleinents, the planters would sometimes form a village within reach of their plantation and live there during the summer for the sake of health, as well as to obtain the advantages of schools and religions worship; but aa they generally lived on their plantations in the winter, this mode of life tended to indi vidualism rather than to unity of organization. As the population of the states increased, those who lived upon the outskirts of civilization, and those who were too poor to pay for educa tion allowed their children to grow up in igno rance. To provide in part for the education of the poor the plan was afterwards devised of supplementing the existing private schools with subsidies from the Btate and county, allowing the ohildren of the poor to attend these schools without charge. This plan was never satisfac tory. It did not reach one-third of the poor, and it served to introduce undemocratic and odious distinctions. Gradually our people were accepting and ap proving the theory of publio education, and in all the principal cities of the Sonth, public schools were established before the war. But for the war, in all probability, the public school policy would have been successfully established in all the Southern States before 1870. But the 'war came and passed, and left a desolated and impoverished country. The taxable wealth of most of the Southern States was diminished Snore than one-half Georgia’s from 675 millions to less than 200 millions. Their entire circulating medium was swept away, their railroads, bridges and fences destroyed, their mills and manufac tories of all kinds burned or otherwise render- ad valueless, their cattl6 and horses gone, farm ing implements used np— it was literally begin ning anew with nothing but the soil. The en tire laber system bad been overthrown, the la boring class who had been nnder the control of oapital were now free, and thoroughly demoral ized by the great change in their situation, while at least three-fourths of the capital of this portion of the country bad been buried beneath the ruins of the great disaster. Add to all this a heavy burden of indebted ness in almost every slate, brought about by misrule during the unhappy reconstruction pe riod. Considering all these depressing influences it is not to be wondered at that so little advance has been made in the matter of educa' ion. Soon after the close of the war a public school law was passed in every state, but it was a mere form. It was utlerly distasteful to the poople, not so much because they were not ready for a wise educational policy, as beoanse it was forced upon them by carpet baggers and ne groes, and officered by men from other stales. Within the last ft w j ears, however, the gov ernment of these stales has returned to their own citizens, and our legislators have marked the advance of public sentiment on the subject of education by incorpora'ing in the organic law of every sta'e a provision for a system ot public instruction. As yet in some of the slates this is indeed but a mere form. Outside of the cities the public schools are few and feeble, be cause the state does not furnish the money nec essary to sustain them. Our people are still too poor, or what is practically the samething, they think they are too poor to tax themselves for general eduraiion. The insufficiency of the appropriations in some of the states may be seen from the follow ing statistics of school population and expendi ture: STATE. School! Population. White, Colorod. Cost per Scholar. X •3 QJ Georgia oil 1,0:17 220,000 175,000 1 00 8435,000 Iowa 5b7,8ti9 9 5>- 5,199,428 Alabama.. 400,000 2:!5,<X>o 170,6 K) £5 350, (MX) Michigan.. 400,000 s 00 3,180,000 Mississippi 37.5,000 175.000 ’266.066 1 ot 400,1 NK) N. Carolina 400,000 260,000 110,1 >00 8(1 340,000 S. Carolina Louisiana.. Tennessee 220,000 260,000 441,972 81,000 i45,000 90 3 00 1 .50 226,000 776,000 ............ 698,000 Kentucky.. 530,000 470,666 6’),t>00 3 00 ’1,315,461 Virginia .. 483,000 250,000 200,000 2 .50 1,050,317 Maryland.. 250,000 6 00 1.500,000 Minnesota 200,0 0 5 5-) 1,181,000 Illinois 1,000,000 9 00 9,000,000 Penn 1,000,0IH) 9 00 9,000,600 Ohio. 1,000,000 9 oil 9.000,000 New York. 1,200,000 9 50 11,000,000 It needs no argument to prove that 75 cents or a dollar a year per scholar will not go far to wards the education of a people. But now that the difficulties are apparently removed, and the people understand and desire public schools, why not at once move forward and adopt a wise and liberal educational policy? Unfortunately all the difficulties have not been removed; and a review of the educational situation in these states would be very incom plete if it did not refer to the fact that many of our people are unwilling to tax themselves to educate the negro. They do not oppose his ed ucation as many believe; they are willing he j shall have every chance for his improvement; but the majority of our tax payers and of our legislators are unwilling in the present depressed state of our finances to tax themselves tor this purpose. This is the real difficulty in the way of present progress, and we may as well look it fairly in the face. If we were a homogeneous people there would be no hesitancy, and within less than two years every southern state would have in successful operation an tffioien systemof public education. But here are side by side the extreme types of human race, in some of the states in equal num ber, struggling for equality or supremacy, political and social. In those states in which the number of the inferior race is small the bur den of educating them is not great and it ought to be willingly borne. But even in Kentucky, where the colored population is only about one fourth of the whole, the taxes of the white citi zens are not made available for the support of the colored schools. If felt to be a burden there, how much heavier the burden in the gulf states, where the colored out-number the whites, and where the people are far lese pros perous? I do not now wish to discuss the justice of this matter. It is my purpose simply to state what are the hindrances in the way of securing general education at the south, and I wish to present all the difficulties. The higher motives of humanity would prompt us all to do the best that can be done for the colored race; but men are apt to apply these higher motives to test the conduct of others, while they are governed in their own affairs by the ordinary motives of human action. The work of civilization proceeds upon business principles, not upon high humanitarianism. The few are so influenced; the many are governed by interest. The people of the northern states are ever ready to tell us what we ought to do with the negro. Perhaps if they had the prob lem to solve they would exhibit the motives and methods of ordinary hupvanity. There are two views entertained at the South respecting the future of the colored race. There are those who contemplate the negro as a per manent factor in southern civilization, equal in civil and political rights, but forever occupying a separate and subordinate social position. There are others who consider it impossible for both races to live together permanently and prosperously with such inequality, and that a true and vigorous civilization cannot be main tained under such a social organism. They be lieve that the iron rule of the ‘survival of the fit test’ will ultimately solve the question, and that the weaker must give way. Tnose who hold the latter opinion are probably not so numerous as those who take the other view of our future, but they constitute the more intelligent and thought ful of our citizens. The lessons of history as well as the present aspect of many of the social and political ques' tions now agitating the public mind in other parts of our country all sustain the latter view, The Pacific states are already alarmed for their future, and the feeling is in general,and becom ing more and more intense, that no tinge of As! atic civilization can be tolerated in this country —that measnreB must at once be taken to meet and to thwart a danger so grat and so threaten ing. The antagonism of races that cannot commin' gle is a constant source of irritation and a seri ous check to progress, and no civilization shonld be pat to such a strain. Suoh a burden has been imposed upon the Southern people—a burden heavier than any ever borne since the world be gan. Lest a wrong influence be drawn from the pre ceding statements and opinions, I desire to say that the Southern people, among whom I count myself one, would not re-enslave the negro if they could do so to-day. I am sure this con vention of Southern men will endorse my state ment when I say that nine-tenths of the South ern people and 99 one-hundredths of the intel ligent classes among them, would prefer to take any risk to our future civilization with the ne gro free, than to have slavery re-established in this country. Bat, whatever view we take of the future of the colored people, whether we regard them as •ike.y to be permanently ingrafted into our civ ilization, constituting in general the laboring class, or whether we look for their ultimate re moval by emigration, it is manifest that neither view furnishes a strong stimulus to the superior. race to make sacrifices for the education of the lower race. And yet, such sacrifices must be made if we would keep up with the tapid progress Oi the age. We cannot longer neglect the education ot our own childreu.nor can we leave the children of the colored people in ignorance. The cry that we are too poor to do this is blind foolishness, we are too poor not to educate. Education is the only way out of our poverty. Educated peo ple can take care of themselves; it is the igno rant in general who cannot. . . The ever-shifting phases and conditions ot civilization are constantly requiring a new ad justment of the forces of society, and especially of the relation of capital and labor. The inven tion and employment of labor-saving machinery has greatly increased the productive power of the community, and as a consequence the num ber of laborers required in the lower depart ments of industry is growing relatively less, while the cumber in the higher departments is constantly on the increase. Ignorant men thrown out of employment are without re sources; they cannot do other work requiring a higher degree of skill and intelligence, and in sheer desperation they are driven into commun ism. Educated men, on the ether hand, can readily adapt themselves to new conditions. The very beet investment in a material point of view is the general education of the children of the community. A glance at the map of the world will show that where education is most general both the capitalist and the laborer are best pro tected, aiid there also, all forms of property reach their highest values. We must not, therefore, be content with our present imperfectly organized education. Ex perience everywhere shows that education left to individual effort reaches effectively less than half of the community. We must organize our education in village and city and State. We mast establish public schools tree to all our children, good enough for the wealthy and the cultivated of our people, and thus only good enough for the poor. We must give them a lib eral support and thus secure their stability and their effectiveness. We mast also educate the children ot our col ored citizens. It would not be difficult to show that this will tend to lighten our burdens, and ultimately lead to a satisfactory solution of our complex social problem. Education will surely improve the colored peo ple both as laborers and as citizens. The train ing of good elementary schools gives habits ot order, punctuality, obedience to authority and to duty, neatness, attention and orderly thought. These are all important elements ot character, which would not be acquired by colored chil dren if left to the guidance of their ignorant pa rents. Indeed, the training of character in good schools everywhere is of more importance than the amount of knowledge acquired. The col ored children now growing up without school education are being prepared neither for good ? servants nor for good citizens. But it is said, ‘If the colored people are edu cated they will thereby be spoiled as laborers.’ This is a superficial judgement. It is a narrow view, taking in only the immediate and the pres ent. When all are educated, the lowest forms of labor will still fall to those who are least edu cated, while those who are better educated will, of course, seek to improve their condition by at tempting work requiring greater skill and in telligence. No doubt, at first some will be over-ambitious and will aim too high; but the inexorable law of supply and demand will soon remand everyone to his own place. It is our duty and our interest not only to give the children of our colored people a good ele mentary education, but we must also give to such as can receive it the higher education. They be the teachers oi their own race; and we r ‘,\. Yqhelp those who have the capacity to acquire/tie necessary quab hcations tor that work. They have already shown that with a lair opportunity a good proportion cf them can reach such a standard of scholarship and attainment as will fit them for teachers. Thus there is a chance for them through our assistance to work out the possibilities ot their race. And in this direction—it may seem far off to some—there is to come release from our dual civilization. The educated negro with bis wider outlook for the future of his people will see that the weaker race must continue to occu py the subordinate position, and that in the end it will be utterly crowded out of existence. He will see that there is but one remedy, and that is migration. This has been the resource in the past for over-crowded peoples, as well as for the persecuted. For the last two hundred and fifty years America has furnished a home for the oppressed, the unfortunate, and the ad venturous of Europe, and, while the tide of em igration has beon constantly flowing westward, a new nation with a ntw civilization has been developed in the new world, and at the same time the complex social life of the old world has been greatly relieved. There is no new America still farther we3t to invite the dissatisfied and unassimilated ele ments of our new life, but for the negro, who can never become thoroughly incorporated into our civilization, there is the great continent of Africa, with its splendid possibilities tor the race. The great plateau of central Africa with its healthful climate and its wonderful fertility offers an attractive home to the colored race. Under the fosteriDg care and protection of the two great English speaking nations, England and tne United States, a stable government might be established in the heart of that great conti nent, snch as would lift the people of Africa out of their barbarism, and through the new civili zation thus developed prove a blessing to the indue tries and the commerce of the world. Thus the ultimate migration of the negro to Africa will furnish the solution to our great so cial problem, a solution, too, on the side of hu manity. , Let the day hasten when we shall be a homo geneous people, with nothing to retard our on ward progress! I have thus recounted the many and peculiar hindrances to our educational progress here in the sonth. I have endeavored also to point ont that education and migration will prove to be our chief reliance in onr efforts to overcome these adverse influences, and that these forces will finally carry us on to a high and noble civ ilization. _ . . , As to the mode of organizing our education and the methods of instruction, we have most excellent models, not only in the Northern states but in Missouri and Maryland, which have very successful educational systems. Kentucky and Virginia are not far behind. We can sately fol low the experience of these states. But in a mat ter of such vital importance we ought not to be content to follow any state. We ought at once to undertake the training of our youth in a way so far-reaching and so effective that the black clouds of ilieteraoy now hanging over ns shall be forever dispelled by the glorious sunshine ol universal education. Poor as we are, the cost of this education is within our ability. Were we poorer still, as I have shown, we must educate if we hope to main tain a high rank among civilized nations. A state tax of two mills, or one-fifth of cue per cent, together with a local tax of one mill, will sustain liberally a system of elementary educa tion in any atate; and by increasing the local tax to two mills, the combined income of state and local tax will cover the cost of both elementary and high schools. , .. . . The friends of public education throughout the Sonth must organize, agitate and discuss this great subject, until our people are thorough ly aroused to a sense of its overwhesltniDg im portance. Q B - Mxuuon. Atlanta, August 5tb, 1878.. Religion and Science. Closing Extract from Prof. Iflenrs Essay on 4 Stumbling (Clocks to Teachers.’ But if the baleful, career of a lecturer like Ingersol 1 may be tracked by these later scinti I- lations, the coincidence of his assaults upon re ligion with the turbulent and communistic movements of the year ought not be overlooked. Irreligion and disorder go hand in hand. Men who do not believe in God will not believe in- any object of reverence or fear. Those times and ages must prove unteachable, in which the idea of responsibility is attenuated, and in which a jealousy of the recognition of the De ity and of religious authority in the state and in the school is proclaimed and cherished. The zeal, energy, and success of the men who are la boring to expunge the religious element from the American system of education will yet be avenged in the inherent decay and rotteness that will invade the system, if their efforts are not thwarted. Education, according to Plato (.Republic, Book II.), begins with inculcating right ideas of God. Education with the Jews began and con tinued in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the divine law; the Saracen schools, which from the tenth century did such great service in preserv ing and diffusing classical learning, began with an elementary school attached to every mosque; in the Christian schools which arose beside the pagan iBStitutions of learning, the Bible became the leading text-book; and when the Roman Empire was overthrown by northern barbarians education was cariied on almost exclusively in monasteries and abbeys. It was the religious impulse that created and fostered the great and ancient universities of Europe, and with Pro testant Reformation schools and institntiobs of learning and educational appliances broke forth everywhere in Germany, and a splendid gym nasium arose in Geneva under the impulse of John Calvin. Scotland owes her free schools to John Knox. The Pilgrim Fathers, imitating Knox, overspread New England with similar institutions, and all the older colleges in the country, all, in fact, but perhaps haif-a-dozen, owe their existence to the zeal of religious de nominations for education, and recognise more or less explicitly the fundamental necessity of teaching a specific and positive form of religion. The modern missionaries, from John Elliot in New England to Albert Bradwell in Africa, are the creators of written languages, the founders of literatures, and the organizers and promoters of education wherever they go. Rtligion, says Rosenkranz, must form the culminating point of education. Education, he contends, must not be content with inculcating morality, but must accustom the youth to the idea that in doing the good he unites himself with God, and in doing evil he separates him self from Him, Education must superintend the development of the religious consciousness. Nohing is more absurd than for the educator to desire to avoid the introduction of a positive religion or a definite creed as a middle stage, between the natural beginning of religious feel ing and its end in philosopicial culture. Pp. 83, 93, 98. You will not, fellow teachers, regard these words and pleas for retaining the religious ele ment in our teaching as irrelevant, when such centuries of use and tradition and such pro found philosophy can be quoted in its favor, and when, on the other hand, such a complica tion of cirumstsnces and such an over-ready spirit of concession have arisen to allow and al most to compel its exclusion from our system of public schools. For the sake oi education it self, for the sake of the pupils, for the sake of the land and the national life, into which the irreligiously educated are already entering—the irreligiously educated meeting the masses of the uneducated at an era of unusual and dangerous excitement—I appeal to you to defend and cher ish so far as lies in your power the measure of opportunity still left to us to inculcate positive religions principles into the minds of the youth of our State committed to your care. I venture to assert that in the Albany Acade my of fifty years ago the youthful Joseph Hen ry’s mind was daily trained in the knowledge of duty and in the fear ot God. Hence arose a character not more distin guished for scientific ardor than for reverence and piety. We teachers may accept Joseph Henry himself as our teacher, and listen tc-day, as we and all the public have already listened, to the last words put upon record by that emin ent man, whose name will shine as one of the brightest upon the rolls of America’s original investigators, with Franklin, with Rumtord, with Rittenhonse, with Dana, when arlatan- ism and false science have had their day and passed into oblivion. ‘How many questions,’ writes Professor Henry, ‘press themselves upon us. Whence came we? Whither are we going? What is our final des tiny? The otject of our creation ? What mys teries of unfathomable depth environ us every side ! But after all our speculations and at tempts to grapple with the problem of ttie uni verse, the simplest conception which explains and connects the phenomena is that of the ex istence 1 ^ one spiritual being, infinite in wis dom, in power, and all divine perfections, which exists always and everywhere, which has creat ed ns with intellectual faculties sufficient in some degree to comprehend his operations in nature by what is called Science.’ John W. Meabs in Barnes Ed. Monthly. Hamilton College, AT. Y, Self-Improvement. A want of thoroughness in whatever study is undertaken is, perhaps, one great cause of most failures. A practical writer gives the following directions: ‘Never leave what you undertake to learn, until you can reach your arms around it, and clench your hands on the other aide.’ It is not the amount of reading you run over that makes you learned; it is the amount you con solidate with your previously acquired knowl edge. Dr. Abernethy maintained that ‘there was a point of saturation in the mind’ beyond which it was not capable of taking more, and that whatever was pressed upon it afterward crowded out something else. Every t< acher should endeavor to perfeot him self in the science of the business he has chosen. Without this, he must always coEtent himself in the lower walks of his calling. The cost of things he can spare will buy all the books he requires, and his own diligence may be made to supply the rest. But steady labor is necessary; without it the best and greatest libraiies in the world ceunot manufactuie him into a Scholar. If once going over a point will not master it, he must tackle it again. Better give a week’s study to a page than to conclude that you cannot com prehend it. But though it is wipe to give your main strength to jour own specialty you should not confine yourself to such studies exclusively. The perlection of all your powers should he your aspiration. Those who can only think and talk on one subject may be efficient in their line; but they are not agreeable members of society in any of ita departments. Neither have they made the most ot themselves. They become one sided and narrow in their views, and are re duced to a humiliating dependence on one hianch of industry. It costs nothing to carry knowledge; and in times like these, to be able to put his hand to more than one branch of in dustry often serves a man a good turn. The Normal Class, Atlanta Public School. The teachers of the Public Schools met in Normal Class, on Saturday morning, Nov. 9th. Rev. Mr, Foute, rector cf St. Philip's church of this city was present, and by invitation of the Superintendent delivered to the teachers a most interesting and instructive lecture on ‘Per sonal or unoonscious influence.’ Messrs Slaton, Isham, Moore and Mitchell made some amusing statements in regard to their difficulties in teach ing spelling - , each seemed to think he had some scholars who could carry off the prize for mis spelling the commonest words. Mej. Slaton thinks there must be some weakness in the human mind in regard to the word sep-a-rate, as almost aDy boy will spell it improperly with the word before him on the black-board. Mr. Bon- nell thinks that scholars should be taught from the first to observe carefully the form of every new word with which they meet, and this aide greatly in making good spellers. Mr. Isham would have more individual work done in the lower grades, that scholars may thus be better prepared for what is required of them in the grammar grades. Mr. Mitchell would like some changes in the reading books used in the schools; as some of them contain many pieces beyond the compre hension of the children who use them. Mr.Mallon wants scholars to appear well when called on to recite; if prepared as they sould be, teach them to respond at once, and not to become confused by criticism from the teachers, or if unprepared let them .rise and excuse them selves promptly and politely. Concert work is appropriate in reciting tables and practicing vowel sounds or mis-pronouneed words; in giving dates in history, or for a drill in speaking, in emphasis or inflection, but not in reading. Mr. Mallon knows it is impossible, with such an unreasonable number of scholars as mo3t of the teachers now have, to do gcod, earnest, per fect work; but ttachers must be patient, and do all the good work that is possible, must study methods and learn to work rapidly and skillful ly, and to lose no time. Miss M. F. Andrews. Secretary. Scissor Sheaves. Richmond, Ya., schools have enrolled 5.65G scholars. Dr. Willard of the Chicago High School, de clares that school-room walls, for the sake of pu Pil's eyes,should be tinted with a pinkish,green ish or blueish tinge, and the blackboards should be green, brownish and drab in color. He adds that it is a mistake to think that the board must be black to make the chalk mark distinct. The French Government has, during the sum mer, sent the school teachers, composed iargely of ladies, to visit the Paris Exhibition, and paid their expenses for them. They went in batches of one thousand at a time, holding conferences in the morning and then dividing into parties to visit different points and study systematically. Castor-oil has been introduced into the Texas schoois as an instrument of torture. A teacher in Galveston compelled a boy to take a heavy dose as punishment for smoking, and rubbed castor-oil on a girls lips forswearing. The pun ishment proved effective, but the people swell with indignation and pronounce it barbarous - Russia and the Jews.—A Russian paper pubs lishes a copy of a contract which has been conclu ded by the district lutendant of Sf. Petersburg with the merchant Isaac Malkiel, of the firm of Malkiel brothers, for the supply of provisions for the arc The firm is a Jewish one, and yet ii p. i, from the contract that the government iu- s fi u that the contracting party should en gage not to employ as a representative or clerk, in the operations consequent on supplying the food, anyone who was a Jew. This is a very charac teristic of the intolerance still maintained by the Russian Government. What to do with Books and Papers.—Har pers Weekly makes the following timely sugges tion : ‘ Those of our readers who are accustomed to be surrounded by books, magazines, and newspapers, whose libraries are overflowing, and upon whose tables lie the last ntw novels and tLe freshest periodicals, can scarcely imagine what it is to be almost utterly deprived of read ing matter. Yet such is the condition of hun dreds among us, and others isolated from the world, who know how to read, ana v/onld gladly avail themselves of any means within their pow er of thus spending some of their time. Intelligent middle ckss laboring people and farmer's familits are often unable to taki more than one literary periodical and have few boots. VY WAS DAT ? A GOOD DUTCH STORY, Let me tell you a Dutch story right here, be cause it comes from a Dutchman in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and must be a true story. The Dutchman was never ashamed of his religion. In his neighborhood there was a skeptic, who said: « You can’t believe anything you can t under* stand.’ Some of the people asked the Dutchman if he weuld not have a conversation with him. lie said: ‘Yes, if you tink best.’ ‘Have you any objections to the neighbors com ing in ?’ •No, shust as you tink best.’ So they made the appointment, and everybody was there. The old gentleman came in, and laid by his hat, end was introduced to the skeptic, and he begu- suddenly / saying : ‘Well! now look —.e, I pleefs the Bible—what you pleefs?’ Said he: •I don’t believe anything I can’t understand.’ ‘Oh ! you must be one very smart man. I was mighty glad to meet you. I ask you some ques tions. The odder day I was riding along the road and I meet y ‘ dog ; and the dog he had von of his ears stand u, .a this way, and the odder von he stand dun so. Now, vy was dat ?’ Now that was very unhandy just then, very un* handy. He either had to prove that the dog did not have one ear standing up and the other stand ing down, or else say he did not believe it. So he said: ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Oh ! then you are not so very smart after all. I ask you anoder question. I saw in John Smith’s clover-patch, the clover ccme up so nice, and I looked over into the fields, and dere was John Smith’s pigs; and dere come out hair on dere packs ; and in the very same clover-patch was his sheep, and dere came out wool on dere packs. Now vy was dat ?’ Now that was as bad as the other, because the same perplexity aiose. He had to prove there was wool on the hack of the pig, or hair on the back cf the sheep; and he couldn’t tell why, and there fore he had no business to believe it. Finally he said: ‘I don't know.’ ‘Well! you are not half so smart as you link you are. Now I ask you anoder question. Do you pleef dere ia a God ?' ‘No, I don't believe any snch nonsense.’ ‘Oh ! yes, I hear about you long ago. I know all aheut yon. My Bible knows all about you, for in my Bible He says : ‘The fool says in his heart there is no Gcd,’ but yon, big fool, you blab it right out.’