, 1875-11-20

deal to say about washing and dressing and
eating and drinking. At least, what is said
on these great subjects is said in private, and
we are not particularly proud of our talks
thereon. But as to education, there is no end
to the repetition of the same truisms about it.
Does not every one know by this time that
it is better to know much than many things,
and that a child should have its mind reused as
well as its memory exercised, and all the rest
of i'll Has not primary education, at least,
got to the working stage, and out Of the talking
stage? Why not try and be a little silent
about it-give prizes and hold cur tongues
or as the country gentleman said when the
ladies left the dinncr-table, Now let US be
jolly, and not talk"
The accounts Of the Arctic Expcditicn are
most favourable. Tbs weather, it 81 pears, is
determined not to disgrace itself in all parts of
the world at once. In Europe and Asia it has
been most unreasonable, aud if swearing be a
crime, has added heavily to the oIiminaIity Of
the world but up there, behind the wind,
where there IS no one to swear at it, and bears
and seals get their great-coats for nothing, and
the whales mackiDtoshes protect them even
against the rain of 1875, the weather has been
quite benign. Captain Mares writes on July q.
that the season was most favourable, and be
expected to be within Smiths Sound in two
days. Captain Markham, of the Alert even
thinks, as he says in y letter to Rear Admiral
G.. II. Richards (July 241 that they may be
able to steam straight up to the North Pole
his year. On July 26, having passed Cane
York, he expects soon to reach Littleton Island,
and says not a speck Of ice can be seen to the
northward, and the Temperature Of the water is
high. Here the veil drops, but We know from
Captain Young, Of the Pandora, who brought
these letters, that tbeso favourable condi ions
continued throughout August,
NJ. Jules Ferry, an eminent French Rerub.
licau, lately made a "civil" marriage, and did
not have it con5ecratcd at any church. His
friend, NJ. Barbour, not only a Deputy, but an
Under. Secretary Of State at The Ministry Of
Justice, attended the marriage as one Of its
witnesses, Whercupon q great cry was raised
against NJ, Bardoux in all the Impcrialist and
Conservative papers for ''s4nCtioning" so very
heatheni,h a proceeding. Only the Bonapar-
fist Libc2te has spoken ou5 courage0Esly for
NJ. Bardopx, pointing cut that it is one thing to
be a sceptio or even an atheist yourself, aud
Quite another to think it your duty to break
friendship with every one who is so and If
this be right, where is the difference between
refusing to be present at what your friend
conscientiouSly regards as a great event in his
lie, ana Ufcdklu& IGtGHuc4tiD viii MN
am no Free Thinker" says NJ Detroyat, the
writer Of the article, "and l have good reason
to believe that NJ. Barbour is not one either.
But | do not see that because one Of my friends
considers it his duty to commit Free-Ibinker's
act, or even to be an Atheist, | am bound to
hold aloof from him, or to be wanting, when
occasion arises, in the duties which friendship
would impose on me. My deepest conviction
is that civil marriage is one of the greatest
mistakes Of the Revolution. A religious mar
riage alone is logical; that it alone has a
7aison d'ehe; but this woJld not prevent me,
if one of my friends whose friendship l had
proved, married ciyilly, from attending, with
out shame and without scruple, thinking this no
bad action, even if I were an Under-Secretary
of State" These are simple and natural notions
enough, but they seem to US expressed with a
breadth and sincerity of tolerance now rather
rare in French literature,-in q spirit which
would do more to soften the bitterness of
French Voltaireanism, and the bigotry of
French religion, than all the intellectual dis
sertations in the world.
Mr.. Bright has written a letter against ex-
pensive funerals and expensive mourning,
recommending the practice of the Society of
Friends to the imitation of all true friends of
society. We heartily hope his advice may be
taken. The Stiffness of buryiug grief in pomp,
and of wasting money most lavishly when, as a
rule, the poor have lost the means Of arDing
more, is a Stiffness not the less deliberately ar