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V
PUBLISHED 1 -T7-/-XT r
TWICE A MONTH.| V ULi. I.
No. 9. {'
A memorial Service 111 Mouth America.
There is doubtless quite as much sincerity
in the tributes which the native South
American pays to a dead friend or chieftain,
as in the more polished, though scarcely
more elaborate ceremonies to which Chris
tian nations resort in similar cases. There
is perhaps no established natural language
of grief, or signs by which it is testified. In
that as nearly as all other matters of social
life, the force of custom is absolute, the
proper mode of expression is that to which
we have been educated. Any other seems
to us meaningless or grotesque, according to
the degree in which it varies from our own
practice.
When Jules Crevaux and his companions,
in our illustration. The actor for the time
being,'held in his hand a whip with a lash
nine yards long, and as he turned himself
round stamped on the ground with his right
foot, raised the whip, bent his body back
ward, and with a sudden motion made a
stroke which cracked like a pistol shot.
Each member of the group in his turn was
obliged to go through with this performance,
the others squatting on the ground, clapping
their hands, and crying “he! he 1" at each
stroke of the lash.
This singular ceremtmy, which is called
the Pono-Dance, is graphically illustrated
in our engraving. It does not appear that
any but the male members of the tribe are
allowed to participate in it.
must confine his stock on his own land or
hire pasturage for them from others. The
natural consequence of such requirement
will be a reduction in the number of stock
kept and an improvement in their quality.
More attention will be paid to providing
suitable pastures for the stock of the farm,
which will naturally improve the quality of
the stock. It will compel the bestowal of
more care upon the stock of all kinds, and
those who can avail themselves of the servi
ces of thoroughbred bulls will now have an
opportunity of grading their stock, and will
no longer be annoyed by the highway scrub.
Cecil said: “Duties are ours; events are
God’s.” A consciousness that we have dis-
food did notsatisfy him and that all the water
he drank ran out on the ground. As his
master was away, he knew that he must take
care of himself in some way. So whenever
he ate or drank anything he ran to his bed
in the carriage house close by, turned on his
back, and remained so for an hour or more,
or until he felt satisfied that it would do for
him to get up. Coaxing, threatening and
kicking by the domestics about the house or
by those whose attention was called to his
actions were alike unavailing to drive him
from his place or his supine position.
Finally, some one knew for what purposes
the dog was used, examined his fistula and
found the cork gone. This being restored,
he was soon persuaded to go about as usual,
A SOUTH AMERICAN PONO-DANCE—A MEM0RIAL..8ERVICE,
in their journey through the northern part
of South America, which he has so vividly
described in his work entitled “ From Cay
enne to the Andes,” arrived at a village
called Caneapo, they found the natives
keeping a solemn holiday, a month having
passed since the death of a Tnmuschi, one
of the dignataries of the tribe. In that
community two festivals arc celebrated in
honor of the dead, one called Pono, end the
other Toule. On this occasion, all the men
were dressed in coverings of long black
strips of leather reaching from the neck
down, and wore caps which Creveaux com
pares to those of French advocates. Only
one at a time stood up, the others remaining
seated on the ground in the attitude shown
Ntock Law and lla Influences on Stock
Breeding.
The practice of turning hungry cattle upon
the public highways to steal or starve must
give way before the wheel of progress and
the advent of a more just appreciation of
the rights of property. Grass, whether wild
or cultivated, is as much the property of the
owner of the land on which it grows as is
corn, wheat, cotton, or any other produce,
but hitherto our laws have required the
land-owner to guard his grass by a most ex
pensive fence, or have it depastured by his
neighbor’s stock.
Under the operation of the stock law,
which has been adopted in a number of
counties in this State, each stock-owner
charged our whole duty to the best of our
ability, and an abiding faith and trust in
God, is the only condition in which we
can securely lay down our beads and close
our eyes in sleep.
An Intelligent Bog.
Dr. Bardeen, of Rochester, N. Y., tells an
interesting story of animal intelligence in
the Scientific American. At the mediical
college where he studied there was a dog
named Pon to with a gastric fis tula. The sil
ver tube from \he animal’s stomach was
stopped with a cork, which was removed
whenevergastric juice was wanted. On one
occasion when Ponto was in thecountry the
cork was dislo dged. He discovered that his'
and indicated by his actions that he under
stood that everything was all right.
Owe writer has said: “If you do not keep
pride out of your souls, and your souls out
of pride, God will keep your souls out of
heaven. Solomon says: “Pride goeth before
destruction.” What have we to be proud of?
We are not our own. Wo are bought with
a price.
Two things are essential for the success of
a religious pap»r: 1. That it carry to the
reader a good supply of spiritual food. 2.
An untiring, persistent effort on the part of
the preachers and patrons to increase its
circulation.
THIS IS A. SPECIMEN COPY.
