Smyrna times., 1868-12-16
The Last of the Samaritans.

he does take so laundering much pains, and
put on so many frills about it.
The Last OF the Samaritans.
In that same valley Of Palestine where Abra-
ham and his grand.On, Jacob, built their altarS
to Jehovah and where some sixteen centuries
later the Saviour talked with the women Of
Samaria by Jacobs Well, the last remnant Of
the sect of the Samaritans, numbering only |
about forty families, is now rapidly dwindling |
away.
A traveller who has recently resided three |
months among these unmixed descendants of |
the best blood of ancient Israel, assures US,
that as regards their dress, manners, social Gus |
TOMS religious rites and other tribal pecuiari- |
ties they are the fac Sinilies of their ancestors
of thousand years ago. They have never in
termarried with any other race, and claim to
be true sons of Joseph, whose tomb is in
their valley. To observe their domestic life is |
to live in Biblical atmosphere, an to return to
the days of the patriarchs The law is read to
them from Gerizim. 1t was read to their fore
fathers from the same sacred mountain as early
as the days of Joshua and along the base of
Mount Ebal camels wind their way, carrying on
the traffic between Jerusalem and Galilee as it
was carried on in the era of the Evangelists
From 1906 to 1916 the Samaritans were pre-
vented by the Mahometans from celebrating
the Passover on Mount Gerizim; but twenty
lege was restored to them. Their days are
numbered; but their history and traditions will
cling to the " Valley Of Shechem" as long as
time lasts. The Greek Church has purchased
the Well of Jacob, and filled its tomb with
stones, preparatory to erecting temple over it.
1t would have been in better taste to leave it as
it was when the patriarch watered his focks
there, and as it remained when the Holy Foun-
der of the new dispensation G;ank of its pure,
" sweet water.
The few surviving Samaritans are said to be
worthy of their lineage and of the ancient
! fame of their sex-upright, benevolent and re-
markable for their physical beauty and lofty
bearing. Their surroundings are so grand and
solemn. that they could scarcely be otherwise
than poetic people. Tabernacled under the
shadow of Mount Moriah, on the site of the
City of Refuge, and with the rock of the Holy
Palace, the stones set up by Joshua, and the
spot on which Abraham prepared his son
Isaac for the sacrifice, close at hand, we may
well suppose that these, the noblest specimens
of .he Hebrew race, pass their lives in a sort
of religious ecstacy, in which the comparative
degradation of their present condition is forgot
ten in the contemplation of miraculous past.
ARTIFICIAL EGG HATCHING.-The Matching
of eggs by artificial means is an old invention
1t was known in Egypt during the time Of the
Pharoahs, and revived in England thirty years
ago, where a machine for the purpose, called
an Eccaleobion, was extensively exhibited
This was brought, ten years later, TO this coun-
try. A company attempted to raise chickens
by this machine, but failed in business, on ac-
count of the difficulty of keeping up uniform
temperature. This difficulty has been lately
Obviated by means of an electric battery com.
municating with the thermometer among the
eggs IF the mercury rises above 104 degrees
Fahrenheit, or falls below 96 deg, the wire
causes the ringing Of little bell. The only
Inconvenience attending this is that, as the old
process, an attendant is needed at all hours of
: the day and night. The mercury may range
within the above degrees of heat, but must
; not transgress their bounds. The invention
belongs to DR.. Preterre, of this city at whose
house the apparatus may be seen. 1t consists
of wooden box three feet long by one-and-a-
half wide, and foot deep, lined at the side:
and back with a thin metallic compartment,
which is filled with water This compartment
! communicates with little boiler about the
:. size of bucket. In this, the water is kept al
: q tolerably uniform temperature bya self feed
ing kerosene lamp, placed beneath it, which il
: constantly replenshed with oil through pip'
. from neighboring can.
3 Its desirable that the lamp should be KEEP
= full otherwise the heat would vary as the wicl
:. became charred Kerosene is superior for thi
! use to any other oil, its warmth being NOR
4 uniform.
o q The eggs are placed in the drawers upon
z sheepskin, or upon straw or chips. LII kept a
% the proper temperature, an average of eigh
y In twelve will hatch, in from nineteen to TWEEN
" ~ ty.two days. When the chickens appear the
- receive no food for twenty four hours. The.
~ find what they need in the she'll After tina
= period hard boiled eggs, chopped fine, wit
80 Indian meal, cracked corn or other sultabl
4. grain, is given to them; ..
off Of hntohsnV artificial a1lu mo
=, ~ easily be counted. 1t is thought that if th
to to machine is placed in deep cellar the batter
90 may be dispensed. with, as the 'temperatuI
of would be more equable than above the surfaC
u of the earth-N Y Post.
az y" PLAIN SPEAKING AT A PRAYER MEETIY,
as At recent prayer meeting in Chicago son
one rose and stated that the Erring Women
r. Refuge in that city was in great need, al
:: asked the nravers Of the congregation in its b