The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-06-17
FoR THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
The Late Assembly at Baltimore.

Somewhat unexpected circumstances
opened the way for the writer Of this to
be present at the sessions Of the late As
sembly in Baltimore. | am sure thatsno
one who was there on such visit, could
have come away and not brought with
him remembrances of it that will be a
pleasant picture in the galleries of memo
ry for time to come.
What fine growing city that Chesa-
peake metropolis Barnum's hotel and
the Battle monument used to be great
centre of the city-now Barnum's is
away "down town" And what elegance
about many of the buildings, public and
private some of the church edifces ex-
hibiting degree of stately and costly
magnifcence which | confess am hard
ly yet, with all the progress of taste and
fashion on the subject, able to reconcile
with Christian simplicity and modera-
ton; for is there no limit in this matter !!
and some of us from the country could
not help saying, in our hearts, oh for but
a thousand, to help us to build or repair
some dear rural sanctuary-out of the
hundred thousand spent on this grand
structure
And do you want to enjoy delight
full excursion, on foot, or in some friends
kindly offered vehicle, or by avenue cars
and "dumpy," (the little steam car that
runs passengers into the park there are
Greenmount and the other beautiful
cemeteries where you may wander in
pensive and salutary thought; and there
is the city park-a grand affair of the
kind, having an area of some five or six
hundred acres, where, on one of those
beautiful evenings of yet lingering May,
Y onS ,aisht see q~it0 a ourn-ouI oi Ihe
Baltimore beaux and bellies, beside the
more sober danes and gentlemen, and
many of the young folks, larger and
smaller, dressed in the tidiest summer
costume,-some in elegant carriages,
others on horseback, and many others
pedestrianly enjoying the rural beauties
of the place, where, at any time, with
the trouble of few steps, you can leave
the gay scene of the open grounds and
plunge into profound solitude of deep
woods.
The Baltimore people are not yet,
take it, as a generality, very literary
people. But, beside two religious pa
pers,-one devoted to the interests of the
Methodist Protestant Church, the other
the now pretty well known episcopal
Methodist" edited mainly by that geni-
al, Gberal-minded and most remarkably
multifarious man, DR.. Bond, this city
is the seat of two important literary pc.
riodicals, Prof. Bledsoe's Southern Quar-.
terly and the New Eclectic, now con.
Quoted by those worthy gentlemen,
Messrs. Turnbull & Murdoch. And lei
me in passing say that think Baltimore
and Maryland might in great measure
support these periodicals; and ask, will
the Southern people continue to be SC
foolish as to patronize the magazine and
weekly newspaper literature Of the
E North, much of it so trashy, and much
, of it so detestably scurrilous toward the
South, ,-spewing out, as the Harper
publications of the sort do, the most in
famous slime and venom on the name Of
our glorious mother land of Virginia anC
the South, and on the graves of oul
heroic dead, as on the reputation of vi
who are living-patronize such literature
, as this, when we can have for the reading
of our families such periodicals as those
, Just mentioned, along with Gen. HilPi
monthly,-all of most pure and unex
ceptionable and even more POSITIVELY
commendable in their morality, and edi
ted by men who themselves cherish {
deep love to our wronged and suffering
!, Southern land? l was told in Baltimor
of one of our Virginia towns where NOR
than one hundred copies of the aforesai'
various Northern periodicals. are regularl..
! distributed from the post office, ant
where our own, above mentioned, hav
+ had but few! The "hard times thel
t can hardly be an excuse, in such case
for not supporting the latter.
j But Baltimore is going to becom
great in her educational, literary an
: eleemosynary institutions. On Noun
s Vernon square, which is about the centr
e of fashionable Baltimore, stands tn
: substantial, stately white marble PeabOd
I Institute-a noble monument to the libe
q rality of most noble man, and a Tin
I illustration of his abiding attachment tc
n and grateful remembrance of the cit
e where he gathered the first few Thousand
I which have since swollen to many mi
y lions. One million of these successfl
e earnings he has appropriated to the el