, 1876-09-17

menced the erection of new church edifice on
Hastings formerly Fourteenth) street, the Rev
II. A. Tueier, pastor. The congregation ut
present worships in the large frame church on
Dcsplalnes street, between Van Buren, and Har-
rison, and will move to the more favorable loca-
ton near Ashland avenue. The building is to be
English,, i:;,, Gothis, stained windows, slate roof
ana VIII . nave lslo9t @ easements for school pur-
red pressed brick, depth IS feet The total cost
will be about s12, 900. Otto II. Matz is the arch
itcct. The work is being pushed ahead to Law
the cornerstone on the lst of October.
SPEEDY CONVERSIONS.
The ancient supernatural fears which one
would suppose to last longest are all gone. A
Polynesian that minute converted will chop up
an idol, or cut down sacred grove, or bid out
rageous defiance to 4 visible, and, rs it were,
denonstrablc hell, in the shape Of lake OF
fear. The karcns become iii IN hour, in their
relation to the Powers Of the Air, altered be-
ings, and the Coles defy their old 1cities with
q serenity that modern sktptics have never
displayed. A scene OF this kind, OF almost un-
equalcd picturesquencss, and even grandeur,
described by the Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon,
in letter to private friend. Sir Arthur Gordon
is perhaps the most noteworthy man now in the
Colonial Scryice-a man, We fear, Of domineer-
ing temper, who accumulates dislikes on him.
SELF as other Men accumulate money, but for
thinks the poor and weak ought to have JUS
tcc, and will sacrifice not only his time but his
comfort in the effort to insure that they do have
it. His testimony is beyond all doubt, even if it
were not backed, as in thsinstance it is by indc-
pendent evidence, and he relates this extraor-
dinary story: IL wish could give you some
idea Of the intense picturesqeness and curious
events OF this last month. One must tell you.
The Christian army was cncamped round Bu-
katia, very strong place, vast mass Of rock
rising somewhat like the Acrocorinthus above
the river and the plain. This town had never
been taken, and was regarded as impregnable
by the cannibals. The oracles Of their gods are
shouted aloud by the priests speaking as in the
gods name, and this night an oracle wes de-
ciared. The moon shonc on the white river-mists,
and threw the great black shadow Of the rock
far over the plain. Out of the stiffness, from
tle very top of the rock, rang out the hoarsc cry
Or the priest, audible nearly mile of, Fire
is unknown to my house i'll Bukatia-' With
one accord the whole belcaguering host shouted
out III slow aud measured terms the reply,
Bukatia was taken and the devil-temple
burned" Another narrator mentions the
spontaneousncss of the reply, its defiant tone,
and, rolling as it did from the lips Of l. 400
men, suddenly moved to the same triumphantly-
defiant ejaculation, its nlarye1ously startling
effect. No description we have ever read in
history or in fiction has more about it OF dra-
matte grandeur,-the grandeur OF intense sur
prise,-and none excites deeper sense OF be-
wildcrmcnt. Here were LOO criminal savages
converted, as it were, but yesterday, all born
l,agans, trained cannibals, habitual murdcrers,-
there is no story in Dante more horrible than
Jaekson's history Of his life in Fjji,-and they,
under circumstances that might have moved
old Christians to awe-struck emotion, hurl
into the air at night, and with bloody battle
before them, open deianccs to the gods whom
they lad been bred since childhood TO adore
TIE SpecI4t0r.