The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-01-27
February Magazines.


| ne ODeUlnp tItlIIS 'AA -.
ner is the third in the illustrated series Vi
outdoor sports, and treats of Trout flshihg
- in the Rangely Lakes, in Maine waters
which have acquired fame among sportmeh
,or the great size OF the brook trout there'
snecImens being often taken weighing SIX 10
!, eight pounds. The next illustrated paper Is
the second part of Gen. McClelIan's winter
ON the Nile, in which vivid description IS
given of the passage Of the CataractS'
third illustrated paper is sympathetic study
by f. S. Nadal, Of that delightful writer
White of SelbOurne, "the father oil English
natural history, and the most charming wri-
ter upon the subject in any living language"
The Microscope Among the Flowers, is an
other richly illustrated paper, by Mrs. 5. B.
Herrick. A sketch of John Romeyn Brod
head, a cultivated writer OF New YORK In the
las, decade, Is the last OF the illustrated ar
ticles
The serials-Dr. Hollands Nicholas Min
turn. and the Lass o Lowrie, by Miss Burnett
are continued, and the latter is apparently
at the climax of its plot.
Among the unillustra'ed papers, A Morn
ing with Sir julius Benedict by Kate Field
will be read with delight 1t abounds in
pleasinc sketches and incidents of various
celebrities, among which the following OF the
great Paganlni is fair specimen:
He was u wonderful fellow, and some call
ed him the devil He was even imprisoned
and had his violin taken away from him be-
cause he was supposed to be a dangerous
character. Ore day, great lady IN Rome
said TO him, "Signor Paganini, understand
that you can execute an air on one string OF
your violin"
MADAME, you have heard the TRUTH" re-
piled the great vrtuoso.
"Will YOU allow me and my friends to hear
Iyou?'
"Certalnly.'
So the great lady gave arecepuon, at which
Paganini was invited to perform his violin
trick. After actually playing the prayer
from Rossni's Moses IN Egypt on one
string, Paganinl was thanked by his hostess,
who said, Nov, Signor Paganini, as you do
wonders on one string, can you perform on
no string at ally
Most assuredly," answered Paganini.
"Will you, tor me"'
| "With pleasure"
A day was set, the great lady invited a
number of friends to assist at the miracle,
and when all were assembled, Paganini fail
ed to appear. News came soon after that
he had that day lett Rome. This was his
performance without any string, ana us re-
.ort to the social queen who had treated MIN
as mountebank rather than as an artist.
Poor fellow! he wasted away before death.
In fact, the hundred steps he daily mounted
Ia l. annnDh Kill n
man in his state OF health. HIS body lay In
the palace seven weeks after death, because
the clergy refused to allow it Christian burr
al In his last moments, Paganini had eth.
er refused TO sec priest, or had not received
absolution, and this was the punishment 1
believe that eventually the body was taken
out of Italy for burial.
Farragut IN Mobile Bay is vigorous
sketch by Henry Baldwin, an eye witness
How do Know What is The Bibleg is fine
display both of learning and polemical skill
uy riyo. III "aids, from which VIC clip an
interesting paragraph:
Jews, Protestants, and Romanists all agree
in receiving as canonical the books of our
Old Testament. But as the Romanlsts
would add to these the apocryphal books, so
the Jews insist on adding their oral law.
/ They say that when the written law was CIV
en- TO Noses inscribed on two tables of stone,
God also gave another and verbal eXplana-
tory of the first, which he was commanded
not TO commit to writing, but to deliver
down by oral tradition. When Moses came
down from the mount, they tell Us that he
| first repeated this oral law to Aaron and his
sons, and then to the seventy, and finally TO
all the people, each of whom was obliged to
repeat 1t in his hearing, to insure his correct
remembrance. Just before his death, they
say, he spent a month and six days in repeat
ing 1t to them again; and then, they assert,
he committed 1t in special manner to Josh.
ua, through whom it was impaired to Phi
meas, and so on through the long line of
prophets, and afterwards of teachers, down
to the time of Judah the Holy, who lived in
the second century, by whom 1t was commit
ted to writing lest ii should be lost This
work, consisting of six books, is the famous
Mishna of the Jews, which, with its Gemara,
or commentaries, constitutes their celebrated
Tamud, in which is comprehended all their
learning and much of their religion as a PEG.
pie. The whole work is held by them in far
higher esteem than the Bible, SO much So
that they say the Bible Is water, but Talmud
! is wine; and they even declare that he who
studies the Bible when he might read the
Talmud does but waste his time; and that
to sin against the latter Is far worse than to
sin against the former. So implicit is their
confidence IN this oral law, that it is almost
useless to reason with a Jew out OF the Old
Testament; for he is ever ready with an an
swer from the Talmud, with the authority OF
which he is fully satisfied.
And there are couple Of stories-Ilow
Mr.. Storm met his Destiny, and Farmer Bas
sets Romance-wi,h various poetlcal contri
1 buttons, Topics of the Times, The Old Cab
met, and the other departments, all filled
with the usual interesting variety
Penn Monthly.
I The usually discriminating and instructive
/. editorial summary under the title of The
5 Month, in the January Penn Monthly, i,
mainly OccuDiel with a lahore,l nartisan do